SKIN (Demon Chaser 4) (4 page)

He made an agonized sound. Tears had
welled in his eyes and sweat beaded on his forehead. “My mother raised me
better than this. I can’t take my hands off you. I’m doing everything in my
power to stop myself from tearing your clothes off.” Whatever was happening to
her, it was getting worse.

She punched him square in the face,
blood gushed from his nose. It momentarily broke the spell and he turned and
ran. Poor kid, it wasn’t his fault. Gaby had to be certain though, she got into
the car and locked the door pushing a number on her cell phone as she did.

“Dev, sorry to interrupt.”

“Are you home yet?”

“Nearly. You said I smelled good yet you
treated me like something that came up from the sewer.” For the first time in
her life she felt her cheeks heat.

“Yeah and the point is?”

“Were you turned on by me?”

There was a moment’s silence. “Um yes,” he
cleared his throat.

“How bad was it?”

“It was bad, really bad, even with the
mask,” he paused. “I’m really sorry Gaby. You know I view our relationship as
strictly business and all that. I would never...”

“I know, Devlin. Chill.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the
Gods. I’ll call you.”

“Thanks.” She dropped her phone on the
seat next to her. There was no reason to feel so upset about this. She’d had
fantastic sex with a gorgeous demon wolf, so what if he was only there because
she was excreting something from her skin. Who was she kidding? She dropped her
head onto her steering wheel. The thought left her feeling depressed. What was
wrong with her? Men couldn’t keep their hands off her to the point of wanting
to rape her, she was about to become sick for the first time in her life and
all she could think about was Phoenix and the fact that he’d only wanted her
because of how she had smelled. Best she suck it up, she only had ten minutes
to make it home. The first minor pang of nausea hit.

Phoenix pushed his way through the doors
at the entrance and walked straight up to the reception desk. This was his
first time at the Demon Control Agency Operations Department. It was the base
for all Demon Chasers in this region. He took in the vinyl floors and tacky
finishes. Not what he expected and yet it made sense since the front of the
building portrayed just another government office.

“Is Gabriella in please?”

“Miss Elliot is not in today. May I take
a message?” The receptionist was an older woman. Slightly overweight, not
unattractive.

“Please, can I get her number?”

She smiled at him shaking her head, “I’m
sorry, sugar. It’s company policy not to give out employee numbers.” She handed
him a small square of paper and a pen. “Write down your details and I’ll make
sure she gets it.” The receptionist winked.

He believed her. Phoenix knew that this
woman would give Gaby the message, but he also knew with a fierce certainty
that she wouldn’t call him. Damned if he was going to wait around until she
showed up. For four months he’d tried to get her out of his head and had
failed. He hadn’t been able to so much as look at another woman let alone date
one. There had been something there. It had been more than just sex. He wanted
to ask her out, get to know her, explore what he was sure was more than just a
strong attraction. No more waiting, he had made up his mind.

“No thanks, I’ll come back another
time.” He had an acquaintance that worked for the Agency. Although he’d been
tempted to call in a favor right off the bat, he’d been reluctant because
Jessica was definitely interested in him and would probably expect dinner in return.
Right now, he needed to find Gaby. Phoenix turned to leave, he’d call Jessica
the moment he got to his car. He’d find a way to deal with it if she asked him
out.

“Hey, wait up.” A human woman took a
step towards him.  She had big blue eyes and blond hair. “You’re looking for
Gaby?”

“Yeah. We’re old friends, I lost her
number and would like to catch up with her again.” Not a complete lie.

“How long have you known her?” She
cocked her head up at him.

“Only a couple of months, but I swear
she’ll want to see me.”

“She’s not working in this building
anymore.”

Strange, Gaby seemed to love her job.
Why wouldn’t she be working out of the ops building?

“She’s at head office on...”

“Are you him?” A big human male walked
from the elevator lobby towards them.

“Him who?”

“The wolf?” His hands were fisted at his
sides and his jaw was tense, in short, he looked pissed.

“I’m a wolf but...” The human clocked
him, square on the jaw. The blow was surprisingly strong, so much so that he
grunted on impact and even took a small step back to rebalance.
Impressive...for a human.

“This would be an unfair fight.” Phoenix
put up his hands.
It wouldn’t be a good idea to hit a Demon Control Agent in
DCA
. “Can I at least know what it is that I did?”

“You need to turn your dog ass around
and get the fuck out.”

“Hang on, Jack.” It was the little
blonde. “What if Gaby wants to see him? Shouldn’t this be her decision?”

“How is you telling him where to find
her making it her decision?”

She looked down at her shoes and shook
her head. “You know what, I’m out of it.” She turned and made her way to the
lobby.

“I don’t want to cause trouble. I just
want to see Gaby. Five minutes is all I need, if she doesn’t want to see me
again then I’ll be out of her life forever.”

The human made a sound of disbelief.
“You fucked her and left her. You have no right to want to see her.”

Phoenix was fast losing his patience
with this male, but he was clearly a friend of Gaby’s so it would be better to keep
his cool and talk his way out of this. “Not that it’s any business of yours, it
was no strings attached sex between consenting adults,” Phoenix shrugged. “I
left but I need to see her again.”

“Why?” Jack folded his arms across his
chest.

Then it dawned on Phoenix that there
could be something between Gaby and this human. Come to think of it, the male
did look jealous. The thought of this man touching Gaby made his heart pump
faster. “Who the fuck are you?” It came out in a vicious growl. His canines had
distended and his nail beds tingled meaning that his claws had distended also.

The human just stood there, his eyes had
narrowed slightly. No scent of fear, which much to his irritation impressed
him. Most humans would have pissed themselves by now. This was a Demon Chaser
he reminded himself, but the guy had better not have touched her or Phoenix
would take him down.

“I’m her friend you demon fuck. You hurt
her.”

It didn’t make any sense. They had
agreed to one night. How had he hurt her? Phoenix lowered his eyes. “I didn’t
mean to.” He spoke more to himself than the human and Jack must have believed
him because he relaxed somewhat, his arms dropping to his sides. Phoenix
continued, “I think that there was more there than just sex and I want to ask
her out. I want to get to know her better. Give us a chance.”

“You did hurt her. I don’t think she’ll
want to see you, but I do think you guys need to talk. Once you’ve said your
piece and if she doesn’t want to see you again you disappear or I will come
looking for you. For the record, I still think you’re an asshole.”

He ignored the comment. “She’s at DCA
Head Office?”

“Yeah. Don’t ask for her at reception.
The code for the elevator is 7726. She’s on the sixth floor. The only reason
I’m doing this is because...forget it...if you don’t leave her alone after
this...”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks.”

“I’m not doing this for you.” Jack
paused and shook his head taking a deep breath. “She doesn’t look the same.”

“I’ll find her.”

Phoenix could sense that the human
wanted to say more so he waited. Jack finally added, “She’s changed.”

“Yeah you said that.”

“No, I mean she’s not as”—he paused—“not
as attractive.”

Phoenix only just managed to rein himself
in at the last millisecond so that the fist that connected with the human
didn’t do any permanent damage. Again the human impressed him by managing to
stay on his feet. Sure he staggered back and almost fell, but didn’t.

“Don’t you ever say such a thing about
Gaby again.”

The human squared his shoulders, already
his right eye was almost swollen shut. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just
that...go and see her and you’ll know what I mean when you do.”

****

Phoenix keyed in the code that activated
the elevator and waited for the doors to open. He was nervous as hell. Once he
was there she would have to give him a chance, the worst that could happen was
she’d shoot him down but at least he’d have closure.

The elevator arrived and the doors
opened, he pushed the button for the sixth floor. It still puzzled him why she
was working here. The only thing he could think of was that she’d been injured
on duty. Maybe that was what the human had meant when he said she had changed
and was less attractive. It was possible she had scars, when he had left her
she was a susceptible human. It wasn’t important though and wouldn’t change
anything.

The elevator doors opened, the scent of
cherries smothered in chocolate caught him deep in the nose. Gaby was here. There
was also a subtle hint of a human scent attached, but the scent was not entirely
human which meant that her demon was back. Sort of. Phoenix let his eye scan
the open plan office area. It was spacious with clusters of desks at periodic
intervals. Not every desk was filled, but there had to be at least fifteen
people in the room most of which were females. None of them sprang out at him
as being Gaby.

Phoenix sniffed as he strode forward
trying to hone in on her scent. One of the women came to her feet, she was
holding a stack of files. She didn’t seem to notice him as she turned and faced
the other direction. She made for the far side of the room and disappeared
through one of the doors taking Gaby’s scent with her. His heart hammered in
his chest and his legs threatened to buckle out from underneath him. There was
no way that woman had been Gaby unless...unless she was undercover or
something. She was a skin after all wasn’t she? Able to look like anyone or
anything? He had to force himself to take a step forward, but once that first
step was taken he found himself racing to the closed door she’d just entered.

The door led down a hall, she was in the
room at the end of the passage. So busy with her filing that she didn’t notice
him enter. She was exquisite. Not in the supermodel beautiful way that Macy had
been. More like the home grown girl next door who you didn’t notice till you
gave her a second look and then it was impossible to stop staring once you did.
Her skin held an olive tone. She wore a dress which showcased a pair of amazing
legs that seemed to go on for miles. Her hair was just past her shoulders and
had the color of vanilla sprinkled with cinnamon.

It was her distended belly that kept and
held his attention though. Her rounded abdomen had his mouth gaping and blood
rushing to his ears. It could not be. Yet, he knew that it was more than
possible. They’d had unprotected sex and now she was pregnant. Gaby had
promised him she’d take something to prevent herself from falling pregnant.
She’d assured him that demon skins hardly ever came into heat and that there
was nothing to worry about. He’d been such a God damned fool and had believed
her.

He was angry at himself for having sex
without a condom in the first place, something he’d never done before. Gaby had
made him completely lose his mind which was no excuse. Another thought wormed
its way into his head, one that had his blood boiling even though it should
have left him feeling hope,
potential relief
. What if the child was not
his? Her belly was well rounded, there was even a possibility she‘d already
been pregnant when they were together. This didn’t add up though because she
was clear that she hadn’t had sex in a long time. It was possible she was lying.

“Is it mine?”

Gaby shrieked as she spun and dropped
all the files. They went down in a haphazard flurry of pages. Her eyes were
wide. They were beautiful. He could only describe them as hazelnut threaded
with just enough green to pass as green instead of brown. She looked...afraid. He
had his answer, it was written all over her face.

“What are you doing here?”

“Is it mine?” He had to hear her say it.

“I’m at work. You shouldn’t be here.” Gaby
was trying to brush him off, which irritated him. He would have his answer one
way or another. Phoenix dropped to his knees in front of her, she gasped when
he gently took hold of the sides of her belly and put his face to her dress. He
sniffed. The unmistakable scent of wolf pup. His whelp. It had to be. His heart
clenched, he was going to be a father. It left him with mixed feelings.

“Are you done?” her voice was shaky.

Phoenix stood. This Gaby was much taller
than the Macy version of Gaby, the bottom of her head came up to his chin.

Her tongue darted over her lips. “I know
that you don’t want to be a father. Don’t worry I’ve got this covered.” She put
her hand over her belly. “We’ll be okay without you. I don’t know who told you
about this, but they shouldn’t have.”

“Are you serious Gaby? You’re right, I
didn’t want to be a father but I am going to be one, that changes things a
little don’t you think?” He continued before she could answer, so angry he felt
like erupting and running in his wolf skin in order to blow off some steam. 
Since that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, he put a leash on his demon and
continued, “
We’ll be okay without you
is that is what you said? Don’t I
have a say in any of this? What if I want to be a part of the child’s life?”

“You left. I probably could have tried
to find you, but...” She left the sentence hanging then thought better of it. “You
didn’t want to be a father so I left it.”

“You promised me you’d take something to
prevent this from happening and you didn’t. The least you could’ve done was
contacted me when you found out.”

“I did take something. “

Just then another one of the ladies from
the office walked in eyebrows raised. “Oops didn’t mean to interrupt. Um...”
She hesitated. “Is everything okay here Gaby?”

“Yeah, Sue thanks. I’ll be right out,
my…
friend
was just leaving.”

“You sure?” The lady ignored Phoenix
completely.

“Yes, thank-you.”

The woman raised her eyebrows looking at
Phoenix and then back at Gaby before nodding once, she left.

Phoenix waited till the woman was far
enough away. “Get your stuff, we’re going.”

“I have work to do I can’t just up and
go.”

“Take a sick day. I don’t care. You’re
coming with me and that’s the end of it.”