"She's in there, Ray. She's at the door. Gabby, open up, honey! Are you all right?"
Gabrielle slid the chain free, saying nothing. Not sure whether she should assure her friend that she was okay, or shout for Megan and Ray to get the hell out of there.
A look behind her at Lucan gave her no indication either way. His sharp features were emotionless and still. His silver eyes were rooted on the door, cool and unblinking. His powerful hands were empty, down at his sides, but Gabrielle knew he could spring into motion with no warning at all.
If he wanted to kill her friends - even her, for that matter - it would be done before any of them knew to take the first breath.
"Let them in," he told her in a low growl.
Gabrielle slowly turned the knob.
The door was barely open a crack before Megan pushed inside, her boyfriend, still in uniform, right behind her.
"Holy shit, Gabby! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Why haven't you returned my calls?" She pulled her into a fierce hug, then released her, only to frown at Gabrielle like a frantic mother hen. "You look tired. Have you been crying? Where have you - "
Megan broke off abruptly, her eyes, and Ray's, catching a sudden glimpse of Lucan in the middle of the living room behind Gabrielle.
"Oh... I didn't realize you had someone here..."
"Everything okay here?" Ray asked, stepping past the two women and letting his hand rest lightly on his holstered weapon.
"Fine. Everything's fine," Gabrielle quickly replied. She held her hand out toward Lucan. "This is, uh... a friend of mine."
"Going somewhere?" Megan's boyfriend strolled forward, and gestured to the stuffed duffel bag that lay on the floor beside Lucan's feet.
"Um, yeah," Gabrielle interjected, walking swiftly past Ray and putting herself between him and Lucan. "I've been a little shaken up tonight. I thought I'd go to a hotel and chill out. Lucan stopped by to give me a ride."
"Huh." Ray was trying to peer around her to where Lucan remained rudely stoic and silent. Lucan's scathing stare said he had already sized up the young cop - and dismissed him in that same instant.
"I wish you hadn't come, you guys," Gabrielle said. And that was the God's honest truth. "Really, you don't have to stay."
Megan walked over and took Gabrielle's hand protectively in hers. "Ray and I were hoping you'd consider coming with us to the police station, honey. It's important. I'm sure your friend would agree with us. You're the detective Gabby's mentioned, right? I'm Meg."
Lucan shifted a step. The small movement brought him right up in front of Megan and Ray. It was such a slight flex of muscle, so fast, time seemed to slow around him. Gabrielle saw him take those handful of impossibly quick strides, but her friends blinked and found Lucan standing in their faces, crowding them with his massive size and a menace that vibrated in the air around him.
Without any warning at all, he lifted his right hand and took Megan by the forehead.
"Lucan, no!"
Meg cried out, a half-uttered noise that died in her throat as she stared into Lucan's eyes. With viper speed, he reached out with his left hand and clamped Ray in a similar hold. The officer struggled for a mere second before his face drooped into a trancelike stupor. Lucan's strong, clutching fingers seemed to be all that was holding the pair upright.>For her own safety and that of the Breed, she was going to have to leave her apartment, her friends, her career. Leave behind everything that had been a part of her life so far.
And she was going to have to do it tonight.
"If you have any other photographs like these, Gabrielle, I need to see them."
She nodded, lifting her head. "I have everything on my computer," she said, pushing her hair out of her face.
"What about the ones in the darkroom?"
"They're on disk, too, along with every image I've sold through the gallery."
"Good." Her mention of art sales tripped an alarm in his memory. "When I was here a few nights ago, you mentioned having sold an entire collection to someone. Who was it?"
"I don't know. It was an anonymous purchase. The buyer arranged a private showing in a rented penthouse suite downtown. They looked at a few images, then paid cash for all of them."
He swore and Gabrielle's already stressed expression slipped toward true terror.
"Oh, my God. Are you thinking it was the Rogues who bought them?"