Free The Mountain's Shadow by Cecilia Dominic Page B

afternoon.

Chapter Six
    The caffeine and sugar from the chocolate pie and latté buzzed happily through my bloodstream as I rode up the mountain in the back of Ron’s compact car. Lonna still had the car keys with her, so I left a note on her Jeep, and the guys brought me home. Leo had originally offered me the front seat, but I was the shortest, so it made sense for me to take the back. After about ten minutes, the guys seemed to forget I was there.
    For a moment it felt like I was back in graduate school. Most of my friends had been men, and I’d learned to fade into the background and listen to them tease. The differences between the thought processes and communication styles of men and women had always fascinated me. Now I had to learn a whole new vocabulary—that of the werewolves.
    Leo and Ron bantered about women of their past, but when they slipped into a debate about a certain reconstructive surgical procedure in the most recent issue of JAMA, I became bored and watched the world out the window.
    “It’s been a long time since I’ve used the road to get up here,” Ron commented as we pulled up to the gate, which was closed. Lonna had the remote, too, so I hopped out and pushed the buzzer.
    “Wolfsbane Manor.” Gabriel’s clipped accent came through with some static. “State your business.”
    “It’s me, Gabriel, and I have guests.”
    “Very good, Madam.”
    I hopped back in the car as the gate swung open. Ron maneuvered the car up the long drive to the circle in front of the house. Gabriel had cleaned out and turned on the fountain, and the water droplets sparkled in the sunlight. For a moment, all felt right with the world, but then Ron’s comment about not having used the road to approach the manor jolted me back to the present sticky situation.
    “How long have you been coming up here?” I asked.
    “Months.” Gabriel appeared in the door, which opened without a creak. He’d been busy.
    “Gabriel,” Ron said with no trace of his former joviality.
    “Ronald. Good to see you again.”
    But it obviously wasn’t.
    Leo frowned. “Gabriel? When did you get back in town?”
    “Yesterday. Apparently you don’t remember our conversation last night.”
    “What conversation is that?”
    “The one during which I taught you a lesson about threatening ladies.”
    “I don’t remember.”
    “You were fresh off the hunt.”
    Now I was the one rubbing my temples. It seemed impossible the violent, angry Leo of the night before could be the same affable chap who had just bought me lunch. The conflict had slipped my mind even though my wrist throbbed when I moved it in the wrong direction, and most directions were wrong. It seemed like everywhere I turned today there would be some sort of surprise waiting. I just didn’t want to end up with a fight on my hands, but Leo didn’t look like he wanted one. His frown was of concentration and frustration.
    “Would you care for a drink?” Gabriel asked.
    “I’d love one,” Ron replied and bounded up the stairs.
    “I need one,” Leo added and followed. Gabriel held the door open for them but moved to block me.
    “A moment, Madam,” he said.
    “Okay.”
    “The drinks are on the bar in the den,” he called over his shoulder, then shut the door.
    “What is it?”
    “As you can tell, there is some, ah, tension between us.”
    “No shit.” I crossed my arms and tried to look as stern as I could even though I barely reached his shoulder. “Tell me why?”
    “We were part of the same pack. There was a falling out. I became a solitary hunter.”
    Gabriel’s revelation jolted me.  
    “You’re one of them, too?” I whispered.
    He looked at his feet. “I thought you might have guessed after last night. My case was from childhood. Your grandfather had hired me for research, and the domestic help thing was just to be a cover-up.
    “So why are you still here?”
    He inclined his head toward the inside of the house. “The same reason they are, I