LOVE BEYOND LOYALTY - An Outsider Story by Rebecca Royce
Gabriel Ward has no problem with the fact that he's an Outsider. Hell, he's always known he was different. What he takes issue with, is the idea that he has to follow any destiny at all. He's taken care of himself--and others--since birth. There's no way he has to start following rules now. But when Gabriel and Loraine are forced together by the destiny he denies and she is ignorant of, they will both finally have to accept their Outsider legacy and help the others in the quest to defeat the ultimate evil--a demon bent on world domination. That is, if they can both survive to find their way to the most important part of their destinies: love.
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Excerpt:
Gabriel stood outside his house. Like all his neighbors and most of the properties in North Shore, Louisiana, his home rested upon pillars meant to protect the structure from the flooding of the river during massive storms. Lord knew Louisiana weather could get out of hand fast. He wiped a hand over his sweating forehead before taking another sip of his locally brewed beer.
There was nothing like hard work and cold alcohol to make him feel tired on a hot, humid afternoon. He picked up his hammer and went back to work nailing the extra boards on to the pillars that held up his house.
Humming to himself, a tune he recognized as nothing other than musical nonsense, he hoped that the boards would take more of the brunt from the debris in the river the next time it flooded. Of course, he hoped it never flooded again, but it would be foolish to assume that would happen. For the first time in a long time, he felt really good about things on the home front. He set down his hammer deciding he could give himself a brief break from the work he loved.
Smiling, he sat down on the riverbank and looked up at his house. He'd built it himself. When he'd purchased the property, it had been nothing but a beat-up lot with no home left standing on it. It had taken two years to get it where it was now. The smile fell from his expression as he ran a hand through his dark hair.
Was he just supposed to give it up?
That's what it would mean if he joined the Outsiders, who were forever in his thoughts, and became a real player in the battle to save humanity. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them.
It wasn't that he didn't care about the struggle or the outcome; in fact, there was little he worried about more. But if he did what they wanted, if he embraced his heritage, and joined their world fully, there was no going back.
He didn't care what promises they made about a normal life when the battle was done. That would never come. No, if he gave in and joined them in Maine where they plotted, planned and bit their nails over the upcoming war, he'd be saying goodbye to all of this -to everything he'd always valued.
That wasn't an easy thing for a man like him to do.
Raised alternatively in terrible foster homes or on the streets of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, he had sworn to himself that someday he would have a place to call his own. A home, that he owned which he could live in and never have to leave.
So help him that was going to be this building. And, despite the fact that he knew he might be fighting a losing battle in resisting the Outsiders. call, he couldn't seem to bring himself to leave it. Not even to go engage in an epic struggle that had been raging long before he was born and would continue when he was six-feet under.
Sighing, he rubbed his nose when a fly swept past it. He knew the requisite evening phone call would come. Leonardo, the unofficial leader of the Outsiders, called him every night just to 'check in'. Gabriel wasn't stupid. He realized the guy was trying to wear him down. In some ways it was working. He was at least thinking about the subject of leaving on a regular basis. But Gabe was a stubborn bastard. Always had been.
The answer three months ago when the conversations had begun had been 'no' and it continued to be 'no' now.
Not to mention he couldn't leave Alexa. Even if she wasn't currently speaking to him.
When he'd first heard the notion that all Outsiders had soul mates, another Outsider picked by the Heavens to be their one and only love, he'd been intrigued
and actually wondered for a while if his might be Alexa. He'd quickly dismissed the notion. One of the requirements for being a soul mate was an overwhelming sexual interest in the other person. When he looked at Alexa, he could see that she was pretty but did he want to fuck her?
Absolutely not.
She was the first friend he'd ever had. They'd met on the brutal streets of New Orleans and bonded over the fact that they could both do 'things' they shouldn't as human beings be able to do. But, while he had managed to resist the demon 'Sebastain' that wanted to control them, she had not. Out of all of his problems, that one ranked first on his list and he had no idea how he'd handle it.
Sebastian was always impeccably dressed, most of the people of his acquaintance thought he was a kind, charitable person raised in the genteel south where men were called 'sir' and women 'ma'am'. Little did they know he was a hell beast called forth by an ancient prophecy to kill them all.
Those same people would probably suspect even less that he, Gabriel Ward, sometime carpenter, sometime plumber, sometime handyman, was actually a member of an almost dead race of people called upon to defeat Sebastian. The idea might be laughable if it wasn't so damn real.
He stood up and shook his hair, hoping some of the sweat would drip out before he refastened the tie. It was really fucking hot.
Walking to the river, he decided that maybe tomorrow he'd stop his construction and take his boat on the river to do some fishing. He didn't have much of a knack for fishing. All he ever caught were the Croakers and they made such a disastrous noise when he pulled them out of the river that he'd throw them back.
Still, for him, the point of the exercise was to spend the day out on the Gulf with his thoughts and no work to distract him. He stared down at the water. It was looking a little bit greener today than usual. Were they having an influx of some kind of moss or algae infestation? Admittedly, for living on the river, he knew little about these kinds of issues. Stealing money on the streets of the French Quarter to feed Alexa had not provided him with the right education when it came to marine life and water problems.
Taking one last swig of his beer his lager finished off, he decided to do an Internet search on the subject and maybe buy some books.
It was so peaceful here he could stare out at the gentle swell of the water all day. He bit down on his lip as he rubbed his nose. Except today it wasn't gentle. Something caught his attention.
Narrowing his eyes, he tried to make sense out of what he was seeing. The water appeared to tremble. How much alcohol had he drank? Kneeling down, he took another look. The river was, in fact, vibrating.
"What the hell?" he asked. Reaching out to lean over the bank to feel the water, it buzzed on the rough pads of his fingers.
Looking left, he sucked in his breath. "Holy shit."
He took two steps backwards as a scene he'd never thought to see in his life took place in front of his eyes. A giant tidal wave, the kind you saw on television after a tsunami hit, barreled down the thin canal of the river. No way. Not under any circumstances should that big of a wave be here on a perfect weather day in North Shore, Louisiana.
Truly, the storm surges they got during hurricanes weren't that big.
He gasped as he realized the wave was going to destroy his house. His, and everyone else's who lived on the block by the river. No one would be prepared.
"Hey," he started screaming. People needed to get out of their homes. "Hey!" He tried to move toward his neighbor's dock but his feet wouldn't work. He pulled again. His feet seemed glued to the wooden planks of the dock.
"Oh, damn it." This wasn't natural. It was magic, and the dang wave that was going to destroy his neighborhood was also not of the normal variety.
Fuck. He should have known this was going to happen. He tried to pull his leg up again, shouting for someone to hear him. Hell and damnation, if he was to die he
didn't want to take any innocents with him. Anyone who was home was going to be killed.
Why was he surprised? Sebastian didn't value human life. He thought of them as no better than insects.
"Ah!" he screamed, as he tried desperately to move. It was no use. He was stuck.
The noise the wave made was beyond loud. It was like a jet engine coming straight at him. His ears rang from the intensity. Lifting his hand, he rubbed his ear and felt the trickle of hot blood on his hands. Great, that couldn.t be good in terms of permanent hearing loss. Not that it mattered since he.d be dead soon.
In the distance, the barking of a dog cut through the ringing in his ears. Oh, hell, some neighbor had gone out and their animal was home with no way of avoiding the onslaught. Now he could go on to the great unknown with the deaths of both people and animals on his conscience.
The wave hit him. He closed his eyes as what essentially felt like an airplane crashing slammed into his body. Even the magic that had been holding him in place couldn.t stand against the wave. One second he was frozen, the next his body was engulfed in such physical pain he couldn.t make one sensation out from the next.
And then, finally, there was just water.
After the pain of the wave slamming into him, the water felt almost blissful even as he realized it would kill him. Still unable to move very much from the combination of the magical assault and the destruction of the wave, Gabriel had no choice but to float. Pushed and pulled inside the body of the wave, he knew it would be over soon.
He'd never have to decide if he wanted to join the Outsiders. No one would know they needed to save Alexa from the demon. All of the choices he.d thought he needed to make were about to end in the green water that bordered his house.
The water hoisted him upwards and then suddenly stopped. Something pulled him to the surface. Still not able to move, he had no idea what dragged him to the surface but seconds later his head passed over the surface. Dragging in a breath, he sputtered.
"Good boy, Futon." He heard a woman.s voice behind him and was surprised to see the owner of that voice standing on his dock. How had he not travelled farther away with the wave? He shook his head. He.d never be able to explain it since it was, no doubt, going to turn out to be one of those magical things that defied basic human logic.
The dog pulled him along the top of the water as Gabriel gasped for air. "Don't worry, Sir, we've got you. Futon is a strong dog. He's never dropped anyone yet. Well, anyone he didn't want to drop."
"My body," Gabriel.s voice felt scratchy when he spoke. "It's not working so well. I.m not going to be able to get myself out of the canal."
"That.s no problem, I'll pull you."
"No." He shook his head. "No way will you be able to lift me."
"You.re right. I can't. But between me and Futon, we'll get you up."
The dog let go of him and he started to sink but hands grabbed him. Futon jumped on the dock and leaned over with his mistress. Together, much to the dismay of Gabriel's ego which didn't like being rescued by a woman and her dog, they hoisted him onto the dock. He shook his head as he coughed and tried to regain his equilibrium.
Still unable to move his legs, he groaned. "This isn.t happening."
"Mind telling me what's going on? Did you see the size of that wave?"
The dog barked as if he answered the woman. Gabriel strained to turn his head to look at her.
Although she was disheveled, squatting next to him was the most beautiful woman he'd ever beheld. With red curly hair flying every which way, she had a long face with high cheekbones and pointy little chin. Skin the color of white soap, her angular nose was speckled with freckles giving her face true character beyond her obvious beauty. As did, he noted, her arms, bared in a tank top. Clearly an athlete, her toned body showed off a figure most women would kill for.
Breasts, shapely and round, poked out the top of tank top exposing the top of a white bra that had lacy, frilly looking decorations on it.
But it was her eyes not her breasts that held his attention. They were violet. He blinked just to be sure he wasn't hallucinating about the color and was pleased to see they didn't change shades. He'd never seen anyone who had eyes like that before. Swallowing, he tried to think of something to say. Hadn't she asked him a question?
"Are you going to tell me what happened to you? You just stood there and let that wave slam into you. I thought you were dead but Futon knew you were alive."
Futon? He regarded the dog. A medium sized border collie with black spots stared back at him. His heart sped up. He.d heard that name for a dog before. In fact, it was the same damn dog.
"I know you." He pointed at the creature. "But the last time I saw you was with an old woman on Magazine Street in New Orleans."
Gabriel had been working for a shady lingerie storeowner on the bad side of Magazine Street at the time. Trying to find out what Sebastian wanted with the man, he would later uncover that the demon had employed Trent, the owner, to kill virgins by bleeding them to death. Gabriel still didn't fully understand how it benefited Sebastian and he wasn't sure he ever would. On his second day, he'd been hassled by an old woman on the street who'd told him Sebastian was in New Jersey and that he needed to hurry up and get there.
She'd spoken of fate and a lot of mumbo-jumbo he hadn't understood. It had turned out that she was right and he'd high-tailed it off to New Jersey to help stop Sebastian's assault on the Outsiders. The woman had been with Futon.
The woman shook her head. "There are lots of border collies around this area. You must have seen a different one because Futon never leaves me."
That was possible. And, it was also possible that crawfish were going to fly out of his ass. How many dogs named after bedroom furniture that happened to be black and white border collies did she think were running around the great state of Louisiana?
Soaking wet, he had started to shiver even though the air was hot and moist. "Look, miss," and he knew she was a 'miss' because she didn't wear a wedding ring. "I can't tell you how grateful I am to you and Futon, but I think you'd better go. It's not safe here."
"My name is Loraine Peacock."
He raised an eyebrow. "Like the bird?"
"Exactly, like the bird, and if you could refrain from making sexual innuendoes that star my last name my estimation of you will be much higher."
He laughed. "I.m way too cold right now to be thinking that hard. You're safe from sex jokes."
Futon barked, and Loraine glanced at the animal. "You.re right, we need to get him inside. But where?"
He hated to ask them for any more help. Wait a minute. Had she spoken to the dog? "Did you just answer that thing like you understood it?"
Her violet eyes flared with temper. "He is not a thing. He is a male border collie, and it is likely that he is smarter than you are."
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend Futon." He looked at the dog that glared at him through small eyes. "I'm not much of an animal person. My only experience with animals is the time one tried to maul me to death in a back alley when I was eight years old."
Loraine gasped. "What were you doing in a back alley at eight years old?"
"That.s not important right now. If you could just bring me inside and then run away, forgetting you ever met me, that might be best."
Shaking her head, Loraine stepped forward and stroked his hair. "I.m afraid there are two reasons we can.t do that."
Startled by the feel of her small hand on his head, he couldn't speak for a moment.
Could she keep doing that? If he asked nicely, would she? It was such a simple gesture, just comforting, and yet despite the fact that his legs were still not working his cock got hard as a rock. He swallowed.
Holy hell. That had never happened to him like that. Not even when he was a teenager. He'd always been able to control it. Looking down at his shorts, he was sure she would notice. Fortunately, she seemed to be staring at his face. Good.
Concentrate. "Um, what were the two reasons?"
"We can.t bring you into your house because it is destroyed."
Turning his head as far as he could manage, he stared at the structure and wished he hadn't. She was right. While the other houses on the canal had been all but untouched, Sebastian's devil-made wave had destroyed his house completely.
Only the foundation, which was torn in pieces, remained. He could see part of the concrete slab where he'd stored his lawn equipment still rested where it had been, although his lawnmower was gone. It was a nightmare.
He nodded. "Okay." There really wasn.t anything else to say.
Even as a small child he'd learned not to cry. Nothing was different now. Who had he been kidding thinking he'd found a home? He'd never had a home as a child and it had been un-fucking-believable that he'd allowed himself to pretend that he could have one now. Pathetic, really. He bit down on his lower lip wishing he could stand so he could break something with his fists.
Loraine continued to stroke his head and he swatted her hand away, not caring if she thought him rude. Fuck this whole thing. He closed his eyes and recalled her prior comment.
"You said there were two reasons."
What else had Sebastian destroyed? He'd taken his house and he'd taken, hopefully temporarily, his ability to walk. His balls still ached so he knew he hadn't taken his penis. Maybe he'd just taken his ability to control himself. That would be a great maneuver. Sebastian took away Gabriel's control, thus making him a horny dog worse than any fourteen-year-old boy. Shit.
Futon barked and Gabriel opened his eyes to regard the animal again. Gone was the mean gaze of earlier. Now, if he didn't know it was crazy, he would swear the dog looked at him with pity. Maybe that was worse.
"Futon said we had to come and get you. That's what we're doing here."
Gabriel turned his attention to Loraine. He spoke through gritted teeth. "Futon told you to come and get me, which is what you're doing here?"
He watched her clench her fists at her side. "That.s right." Her pinched expression dared him to contradict her.
Even though he was totally dependant on her to get off the dock, he just couldn't not say what was on his mind. Maybe he was just dumb like that.
"Lady, are you nuts?"
She made a sound that was something between a squeak and a groan. "Why is it nuts that I can talk to him? Explain it to me. Is it any more crazy than the fact that Futon got you out of the water? Could a typical border collie have done that? Dragged a grown man out of rushing water?"
"I have no idea what a typical border can or can not do. I told you, I don't like fucking animals."
She raised an eyebrow as the dog barked. "Futon says, I need to give you a break because you are going through a trauma but I don't like your language.. It.s coarse. I'm not used to that kind of talk."
"Are you by any chance from the 1950s or just Uptown New Orleans?"
She shook her head for a second, clearly confused. "I moved around a lot as a child, but I lived the longest in Tucson, Arizona."
"Shit."
She started to complain and he interrupted her. "Okay, I'm sorry. I curse all the time. I'm a total pig. Mostly, I'm a street rat with little education and no drive. Consider this a universal apology for what is bound to be a lot of cursing, and before you insist otherwise, I have to tell you that I have no ability to control it. Think of it as my nervous tick."
She shook her head. "No."
"What?"
He really started to shake. God, it was really fucking cold on his usually hot deck.
Her face fell as she moved forward to touch his cheeks. "You.re burning up."
"No, I.m cold as ice." In front of him, his hands started to shake. Dammit, in his whole life he'd never been so completely out of control.
"I think you.re in really bad shape. We need to get out of here."
"Where will we go?"
"I don't know but we need to get you into my car."
He used one of his shaking hands to grab her arm. "Loraine, I'm such an ass. I'm sorry."
"No apologies right now." He could see her thin neck move as she swallowed. "I don't even know your name."
"I'm Gabriel Ward."
"Pleased to meet you, Gabriel."
Grinning even though it hurt him to do so, he laughed. "Everyone calls me Gabe."
"I'm going to call you Gabriel. It suits you better."
She could call him anything she wanted if she kept looking at him with her violet eyes that made him want to run through fields of flowers. He shook his head. Wow, he was really losing it if he was thinking fucking stupid thoughts like that.
"Where should I take you Gabriel?"
"To New Orleans." He rattled out Alexa.s work address. She didn't answer his phone calls anymore since Sebastian had convinced her he.d gone 'bad', but maybe she'd see him if he showed up in need. She was supposed to be his very best friend.
"I'm going to take care of you, Gabriel. I'm very dependable that way."
He hoped she was since he was fairly certain he was going to pass out. Three seconds later, he did.
**End Excerpt**
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