The Gazelle Who Caught a Lion (13 page)

words for a single second. All the while, he couldn’t help but think at Morgan. Clark knew Morgan well, and the shark shifter had fallen for Alexis hard.

“Does Morgan know about this?”

“Some,” his werewolf father replied. “He didn’t take it well.”

No wonder Morgan and Layton were acting a bit strange earlier.

Clark turned away from his parents and hugged Angel tight. He had

no idea how to approach this situation and how to deal with an enemy he’d thought a friend. Why would Alexis do this? Why?

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Chapter Seven

Angel and Clark met up with their friends just before classes

started. Everyone looked a little livelier, and Alexis was hanging onto Morgan’s neck as if nothing had happened earlier.

When he saw Angel, Alexis hugged him tight. “I missed you, my

little cherubim,” he cooed. “What have you been up to?”

Angel broke out of Alexis’s embrace, wondering what game the

incubus was playing at. Alexis seemed to have made a complete one-

eighty from earlier, which once again led Angel to question his

friend’s guilt. He couldn’t make himself believe Alexis could be so

cold and calculating.

“The usual,” he replied tightly. “Come on. Class is about to

begin.”

Alexis’s expression of glee disappeared, replaced by a frown.

“Angel, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Angel replied, forcing himself to be calm. “We’ll talk

later, okay?”

Alexis nodded, but he seemed wary. “Sure. Later.”

Thankfully, no one paid any particular attention to their exchange.

They entered their building without further incident. However, as they walked through the corridors, they couldn’t help but notice people

were giving them odd looks. It wasn’t something necessarily unusual, not when Angel and Clark were concerned, but it seemed different

somehow.

Angel shook himself, gathering that Leiland’s killing and his

accusations might have made him paranoid. For all he knew, Alexis

could have his own problems, and judging him without finding out

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91

what they were was unfair. Morgan and Layton had inherited certain

traits from their father that made them somewhat inscrutable at times, and the reasons behind Reed’s strange trip would eventually be

revealed by Reed himself.

He half managed to convince himself of this when a snicker

sounded behind him. It was enough to trigger chaos, and more than

one student burst into laughter. Others booed and threw stuff at them, shouting expletives and making rude gestures. The men were

particularly graphic, cupping their crotches and giving them lewd

glances, while most of the women sneered in disgust. There were a

few students that seemed to just want to mind their own business, but they were lost in the sea of anger, disgust, laughter, and hatred.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened, but Angel

still couldn’t make himself believe it. He noticed many of the students held fliers in their hands and spotted one on the floor. Almost in a daze, he picked it up and almost hurled at the words written on the

paper.

The flier had obviously been something manufactured quickly,

since in this day and age, no one ever used them. Even school books

had been replaced with electronic devices. Paper was only kept in

stock since more old-fashioned members of the board insisted on

having the reports in physical form as well as in electronic format.

Some of the students were holding their electronic pads and

browsing them, so Angel gathered there must have been e-mails sent

out as well. And they all said the same thing, that Angel and Clark

were sleeping together, all in rude, coarse words.

Angel allowed the flier to fall back on the floor, suddenly feeling

like he wanted to wash his hands. He looked up and noticed Jonathan

staring straight at him. “Come on, deny it.” Jonathan laughed. “Lie.

We all know it’s true. Bunch of freaks.”

Strikingly, everyone seemed to believe the same thing. It was a

strange thing since the flier didn’t provide any actual facts, just

accusations. Angel stiffened. Who were these people to judge him and
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Clark? They couldn’t possibly understand their bond. Besides, Angel

and Clark’s mating was no one else’s concern.

“Fuck off, Jonathan, and mind your own business.” The guy was

basically a killer and had the nerve to accuse Angel and Clark on their bond. Angel had the urge to punch Jonathan’s face in. The lion must

be behind it all. Alexis couldn’t have pushed Jonathan into murder.

“This
is
my business,” the lion replied with a self-satisfied grin.

It wasn’t hard to figure out Jonathan had been the one to reveal

Angel and Clark’s bond. But other than their parents, only one other person knew about it. Alexis.

Angel didn’t turn toward his friend. He made no move to show the

fact that he realized the truth. It didn’t mean anything. Even if he only knew Alexis for a few days and the facts seemed to condemn the

incubus, Angel still wanted to trust.

“Talk to him,”
Clark said through their bond.
“This can’t wait. We
need to know.”

“Thanks,”
Angel replied. He turned toward Alexis and grabbed his friend’s arm. As he stalked away, he heard Jonathan start to

protest, something that just made Angel more suspicious. He ignored

it and found the first free room.

As soon as they were out of the hallway, Alexis broke out of his

hold and glared at him. “What’s going on, Angel? You’re acting

strange.”

“Strange?” Angel laughed. “I’m acting strange? What about you?

Why in the world are you involved with Jonathan? Were you the one

to tell him about me and Clark?”

“What? What are you talking about? I barely know Jonathan, and I

would never put you in such a difficult situation. You know that.”

He sounded so confused that Angel ached to believe him. “What

about earlier, when we saw you with Jonathan?” Angel asked. “You

even kissed him.”

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93

Alexis just stared at him. “Are you high, Angel? How could I do

something like that? You very well know I’m with Morgan. I would

never cheat.”

Angel suddenly felt very tired. “And I suppose you weren’t

sleeping with Leiland either.”

Alexis now looked angry. “No! I realize I’m an incubus and we

have a certain reputation, but seriously, Angel, how many guys do you think I can fuck at the same time?”

“Three apparently,” Angel replied. He took a deep breath and

shook himself. He had to give his friend the benefit of the doubt. After all, he hadn’t seen the videos with his own eyes. Besides, electronic evidence could be manufactured, couldn’t it? Of course, Sara would

probably take all precautions before she made accusations based on

surveillance feeds, but still, a mistake could sneak in. And yet…What about Alexis’s kiss with Jonathan? Angel had seen that with his own

eyes. Why was Alexis even lying now?

“Look, I saw you with Jonathan myself just a few hours ago, so

there’s no sense denying that.”

“I was with Morgan all day, Angel.” Alexis gave him a confused

look. “Seriously, I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

It was Angel’s turn to grow angry. Lying was one thing, but this

was ridiculous. “Alexis, you came by the dorm. You talked to Clark.

What the hell?”

Alexis shook his head. “I haven’t been to my room since this

morning. I don’t understand why you’d even say something like that

when you know I left with Morgan and the others.”

It was too much. Angel dropped on a nearby chair and buried his

face in his hands. Truly, Alexis had no reason to lie about something like that.

“Someone was there. I’m not crazy, Alexis.”

For a few moments, the incubus didn’t speak. Angel almost

thought Alexis would come up with some sort of excuse. However,

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his friend surprised him again. “Okay, I believe you,” Alexis replied softly.

Angel’s eyes shot up. “What?”

“You wouldn’t accuse me of something false, so there’s clearly

more to this than we know. Someone’s walking around the school

pretending to be me.”

The thought had never occurred to Angel, but it made sense. He’d

felt something was off about the way Alexis had been looking at him

back at the dorm. Perhaps it hadn’t been Alexis after all.

“Don’t get excited,”
Clark told him through their bond.
“It might
be a ruse.”

But Angel was already excited. It was a possibility he hadn’t

considered, and the more he thought about it, the more obvious it

seemed. Of course Alexis wouldn’t sleep with Leiland and Jonathan.

Hell, he wouldn’t physically have the time since he was with Morgan

three-quarters of the day.

“But how is this possible?” he asked his friend. “Do you have an

evil twin or what?”

“Not that I know of,” the incubus replied. When Angel gave him a

confused look, Alexis added, “In our world, the concept of monogamy

is different, but I’ll tell you about that later. The point is I have a lot of half siblings, both from my mother’s and from my father’s side. But it’s quite unlikely that either of my brothers would be identical to me.”

Angel chose not to pursue a line of questioning to inquire into the

mating habits of incubi. Instead, he inquired, “So what could it be, then? Magic? A spell?”

“Maybe.” Alexis didn’t seem convinced. “I have to talk to the

principal. This is very dangerous.”

Angel agreed. He hadn’t actually told Alexis that the impostor

could be involved in Leiland Travers’s killing, so the incubus didn’t even realize just how many things his doppelganger had done. They

needed to talk to Sara at once. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to discuss the
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situation with Morgan’s parents. They were probably furious with

Alexis if they thought the incubus had cheated on their son.

As if his thoughts had power to bring about events, Clark

suddenly said through their bond,
“Heads up, Angel. Jonathan just
told Morgan he’s sleeping with Alexis and basically claimed

ownership of Alexis in front of the whole school. Whatever you do,
don’t come here.”

But the incubus seemed to sense something was wrong, too. He

frowned and, before Angel could do anything to stop him, rushed out

of the room. Angel hastened after his friend, but only reached Alexis when the incubus was already in the middle of the chaotic hallway.

Indeed, Jonathan and Morgan were in the middle of a somewhat

uneven fight. The balance should have been on Jonathan’s side, since unlike Morgan, the lion could shift anywhere. Being a water creature, Morgan didn’t have this ability. However, that didn’t seem to matter.

In fact, Morgan was holding a lion-form Jonathan down without too

much trouble, making Angel realize just how strong Morgan was, and

moreover, how many other abilities Layton and Morgan had inherited

from their father.

The problem, it seemed, was that Morgan, while generally kind

tempered, turned out to be quite defensive where Alexis was

concerned. In fact, there was no sign of the nice, sociable, calm young man Angel called a friend. This was a killer, and one who could

strangle a lion with his bare hands.

Clark tried to separate the two, but Layton pushed him away. Isaac

and the others attempted to help, but the seahorse watched his

brother’s back with more hostility than Angel would have thought

possible. Clark might have managed to dodge past him eventually, but Jonathan might be dead by then.

Thankfully, Alexis called out, “Please, stop, Morgan. Don’t waste

your life for someone who isn’t worth it.”

At first, Angel thought Morgan would ignore the sensible words. It

was, indeed, dangerous, since if Morgan killed Jonathan, he would

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receive a severe punishment, and Layton as well, simply for helping.

Thankfully, Morgan understood this and slowly got off the lion.

Together with Layton, he stepped away from Jonathan. Morgan didn’t

delay in making his way to Alexis’s side. “He was throwing wild

accusations at you,” he said. “I couldn’t allow it.”

Alexis smiled, and Angel’s heart hurt at the affection he saw in

that simple twist of lips. He might not know everything about incubi relationships, but he shouldn’t have judged Alexis so rashly, especially in a world like theirs, where magic could be used to fool all senses.

“Thanks,” Alexis replied. “I really appreciate you defending my

honor.”

Morgan laughed lightly. “Brat,” he said, affection obvious in his

voice.

Of course, the situation couldn’t be resolved so easily. Jonathan

shifted back to human form and shot to his feet. “You idiot. Do you

think Alexis belongs to you? That slut’s been banging half the

carnivore dorm.”

“That’s not true,” Alexis cried. “Morgan, don’t believe him. He’s

crazy.” Or perhaps he had been fooled by the impostor like all of

them. Of course, Angel knew neither he, nor Alexis could say that.

“Of course, I don’t believe him.” Morgan sneered at Jonathan as