Gabriel's Mate by Folsom, Tina (read this if .txt) 📕

Was there pity in Gabriel’s gaze? No, she didn’t want pity.

“Yvette, I’ve never given you any reason to believe that I had any interest in you other than as a valued colleague and friend. I have no other feelings for you. If I ever gave you the impression that I did, I apologize.”

He apologized to her? That was rich! “You men are all the same.

Nothing will ever change that, will it? A new woman shows up, and suddenly you start panting. Damn it, you don’t even know her!” She knew she was out of line talking to him like that, but at this point she didn’t care anymore. Let him fire her. Maybe that would be the best for all of them.

“No, I don’t know her. But I love her.”

His words were like a stab to her chest with a sharp knife. She met his gaze, and there in his eyes she saw it. It was true. He loved her. No pretense, no bravado, just pure and simple honesty. Something in her shut down. If she’d had any hope left that one day there could be something between them, that his infatuation with Maya would fade, the sparkle in his eyes told her it would never happen. He’d found what he was looking for.

“She’s your mate?” Her voice cracked.

“If she’ll have me. Unfortunately she’s misinterpreted something and hates me right now.”

Yvette recalled the look she’d caught from Maya. “I don’t think hate is the right word. A woman who hates doesn’t cry, not like Maya did.”

Tears had streamed down her face, pain so clearly edged into her features. “She wants you still.”

There was a glint of hope in Gabriel’s gaze now, and something inside Yvette snapped. She wasn’t a bad person, just a misguided one.

All these years she’d hoped for Gabriel to turn to her for more than just friendship, yet he was right: he’d never given her any reason to believe he was interested in her. She’d been the one imagining it. Because she’d been lonely. How pathetic was that?

She was better than that, stronger. “I’ll help you find her.”

“You will?” Gabriel took a step toward her and opened his arms in an awkward attempt to embrace her, emotion clearly overwhelming him.

Yvette pulled back. “No hugs.”

He dropped his arms and lowered his lids, looking embarrassed by his exuberance and her rejection, but at the same time relieved. “Thank you.”

“She’s headed south.”

Gabriel blinked. “Her apartment in Noe Valley. Let’s go.” He looked to the door than back at her. “Is that your dog?”

Yvette turned. On the threshold the dog who’d been following her for the last few blocks sat waiting patiently. Before him, it had been a different dog. And before that, a cat. “I have no idea why every damn cat and dog in this town keeps following me. It’s like I’ve turned into some goddamn dog whisperer or something.” She motioned to the dog.

“Shoo!” She didn’t even like animals.

“I think he likes you.”

She sniffed and was about to retort when a whiff of something entirely disagreeable caught in her nostrils. Within a blink of an eye, she swiveled and looked up at the stairs where a woman she’d never seen before stood. “What the hell is a witch doing in Samson’s house?”

Maya put the Audi in park and switched off the ignition. As she stepped out of the car and into the night, she took in her surroundings.

p. Never before had she been so aware of her senses. At the end of the residential street, a neighbor walked his little white Westie. When she concentrated, she could hear the clutter of dishes in a kitchen nearby.

The news blared from a TV in a house across the street.

She’d never noticed these noises before, and had always thought of Paulette’s neighborhood as eerily quiet. It wasn’t – not anymore anyway. With her enhanced senses she could hear that life was happening inside the little houses dotted along the hill. From her vantage point she could see the ocean, or could have seen it if it weren’t for the fog hanging out at the beach.

Midtown Terrace was a middle class neighborhood, the houses all built in the late 50s, their floor plans all essentially the same with a few variations. Paulette’s house was no different: three bedrooms and one bathroom over a two car garage. A small yard out the back. Maya had spent many an evening here with Paulette and their friend Barbara, drinking, eating, joking, and ultimately bitching about the horrible dates they’d had. Just like all girlfriends did.

Maya hesitated as she approached the front door, stopping at the foot of the terrazzo steps. Would she look any different to Paulette?

When Maya hugged her, would she crush her with her superior strength just like she’d smashed the little night table in Samson’s house? Maybe it was best not to hug her. Safer for Paulette.

She lifted her foot and set it on the first step. There was a chill in the night air, but Maya didn’t feel cold. Her vampire body seemed to protect itself from the cold despite the fact she’d forgotten to don a jacket. And in June in San Francisco you needed a jacket – a thick one.

Clearly, there were some advantages to being a vampire. Maybe one day she’d truly accept that and make the best of it.

Would Paulette freak if she found out what she was now? Would she even believe it? They had always played pranks on each other. It was their way of showing friendship, and so Paulette would think that she was joking. She’d then have to prove what she was. And she’d have to do it without frightening her best friend.

She didn’t want to frighten anybody.

Maya took a deep breath to give herself the courage to walk up the steps and face her friend. Something stung her nostrils. Her stomach flipped. She’d only ever had that same feeling of disgust when she’d