The Traitor and her Hybrid Husband

Chapter 17~RedRush

Octavia

A few weeks after meeting Atlas, my relationship with Gabriel had drastically changed. We’ve agreed to stay in touch with each other on a regular basis, making sure that we know each other’s schedules. I've learned that he is disturbingly intelligent but blunders when I'm around. He has a wicked sense of humor and can be ridiculous when he wants to be.

I’m eager to meet up for our meals together. I’m excited to tell him about my day and become absorbed when he talks about his and what he does for the clan. His face scrunches up when he's concentrating and when he genuinely smiles my heart skips a beat. I feel nothing but happiness when he interacts with Raven.

I hate to admit it but I've become quite smitten with him. At first, I blamed the power of the pairing. But the more time I spent with him, the more I desired his presence. I don’t know when he took over my heart. It made me feel helpless and exhilarated at the same time.

My feelings weren't the only thing that changed. Atlas is let out everyday, standing proud with his luxurious fur glistening in the moonlight. He was very well behaved when he was introduced to Raven, who had become obsessed with his 'Papa Atlas'.

I grinned, speaking of the devil. Atlas came bumbling around the corner with Raven on his back. Raven's laugh was shrill as he jumped down. “Papa, again!” Atlas let out an exhausted huff.

“Come here, love. Let your papa take a break.” I opened my arms, smiling as Raven shuffled his feet. Once he was safely in my arms, Atlas shifted back. I quickly turned my head away from Gabriel's naked form, my cheeks growing hot. It wasn't as if I hadn't seen him naked before. It’s just been a while since the last time and even then I didn't get a good look. I mentally shook myself, it was silly of me to feel flustered.

Gabriel tugged on his shirt then sat next to us. “Papa, I want to play together with Papa Atlas and Kain’s wolf.” Raven gave him his best pleading face.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and answered gruffly, “Well, I don’t want to play with him.”

Raven frowned, “You don’t like Kain?”

“It's not that I don’t like him. I don’t like that he’s close to your mom.”

“Ohhh, Papa’s jealous.” Raven stated matter of factly.

Gabriel was caught off guard and coughed. “I am not.” He declared, avoiding eye contact.

“It’s ok Papa. I’ll play with Kain’s wolf later so that you don’t get jealous.” Raven said with a sheepish shrug. “I’m gonna go look for him.” Raven ran towards Kain’s post outside the garden.

“I’m not jealous!” Gabriel yelled back. I snorted. “I’m not jealous.” He repeated. I gave him a sympathetic nod which made him huff. Hm, now that I think of it, I’ve never seen Kain’s wolf before. I knew he shifted, often leaving me with one of the men in the family to do so. I wonder why he’s being so secretive.

I looked back, catching Gabriel staring. I raised an eyebrow when he didn’t turn away. “Atlas is doing better.”

Gabriel nodded, “He is. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him this full of energy.”

“Since he lost his mate?”

Gabriel looked away, “Yeah.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure what to say. We still haven’t discussed the fact that he used to have a mate. I honestly felt uneasy about it. “You mentioned before that you lost her. Did she pass?”

Gabriel stared into the distance for a few moments. “Losing her was one of the most painful experiences of my life.”

“How did she…” my sentence trailed off. I could see the pain in Gabriel’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry or to bring up hurtful memories.”

Gabriel sighed, “It's all in the past now.”

I nodded and dropped the subject. My chest was tight, ashamed that I felt threatened by a dead woman.

“I’m going out later for some business.”

I furrowed my brows, “For the main business? I don’t remember seeing anything planned.” I’ve recently taken over a lot of tasks for the clan’s main business operations and I’m normally informed when something needs to be addressed.

“No, for our other business.”

I knew the dark side of the family business was dangerous. Considering what he does never phased me until I cared about him. My worry must’ve been noticeable because Gabriel smiled softly. “It’s ok. It's nothing too serious. It’s just some information gathering.”

“Do you have to go?” If he needed to see to something personally, then the situation must be serious.

“I’ll be fine.” he said, his hand cupping my cheek. A wave of pleasure ran through me. Damn it, he really felt good. He dropped his hand, “I gotta get ready. I won’t be back until late, so you’ll have to read Raven his bedtime story tonight.” I chuckled, as if Raven would accept a story from his mere mother.

Gabriel

I sat down in Abel’s office, briefing him on what we planned to do with our stake tonight at one of our clubs. We were hoping to catch a RedRush dealer. We needed information on what was in the drug, who was producing it and why we were being framed. Abel seemed satisfied and wished me luck. I smiled as I thought of the past weeks.

Blissful. That was the perfect word to describe how content I’ve been since I’ve mended my relationship with Atlas. We thoroughly discussed my mistreatment and our trauma, making sure that we wouldn't return to those dark times. After learning about Octavia's past, I became more interested in finding out what happened to my mother. Why did she leave me? Where is she now? I wanted to know.

Daunte met me outside the door. “Gabe, I’ve found some information about the thing you requested.” He said in hushed tones, handing over a file. I turned back to make sure Abel wasn’t paying attention before accepting it. “It could be something, or it could be nothing. But considering how hard it was to find it and how many layers of secrecy and security was around it, I’d reckon it’s worth looking into.”

I nodded my thanks, hopefully I’d have answers soon. “Let’s head out.”

“Daunte, wait. I need you to grab something for me.” Abel called, pointing to the tall book shelf.

“I’ll meet you downstairs.” Daunte said, walking over to Abel.

I secured the file in my office safe before heading down. Octavia and Raven were waiting at the door with my crew. “Be safe Papa.”

“I will.” I smiled, pulling him into a hug and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Octavia cleared her throat as I stood up. “Your hair,” She pointed, “Here, I’ll fix it.” She brushed my hair back into place. I never imagined a simple gesture would be so personal. I’ve noticed how much she’s changed around me. She doesn’t push away when I touch her. I could talk to her for hours or be in complete silence and still comfortable.

I needed moments like this. The small openings of vulnerability were making me become attached. Octavia’s presence was becoming such an integral part of my life; It honestly scared me. My goal of dissolving our marriage has long dissipated. I just wanted her to be with me, always. She pulled her hand away, pleased with her work.

Raven pulled on my pants, “Papa, what about Mama’s good bye kiss?” The crew behind us laughed. Goddess, this child was always saying the most absurd things.

“Er- I don’t think Mama wants me to do that.”

Octavia pressed two elegant fingers to her cheek, “Well,” she cleared her throat, “I don’t mind.”

My heart raced, I wasn’t expecting that. I turned around, glaring at my men as they teased me. Octavia turned her expectant cheek to me. I ran my hand through my hair, leaning in to kiss it. She quickly moved her head, capturing my lips. My chest rumbled with pleasure as she allowed me to pull her against me.

The guys cheered and whistled, one of them yelling for us to get a room. Octavia softly pulled away, covering her mouth from embarrassment.

Daunte clapped as he came forward. “Now that was one hell of a goodbye. I’m jealous!” Everyone voiced their agreement.

“Shouldn’t y’all be loading up the car?” I growled. Daunte threw his hands up and ushered the guys outside.

Octavia rubbed the back of her neck, her smile timid. “Be careful.”

I couldn’t help the stupid grin that was plaster on my face. “I’ll be back soon.” My little family waved me off. My steps faltered for a second before I made it into the car, alarmed by my word choice. Family? Something in me was shifting and I didn’t know if it was good or bad. I was exposing myself to danger, the feeling was crushing me.

The music blasted throughout the club as I laid back in the VIP section. I booked the room under a false name so that I wouldn’t spook the dealer who should be showing up soon. The team was stationed around the club, blending in with the crowd. If everything went according to plan, we’d bag the dealer and bring him back for interrogation.

“I got eyes on the dealer, he’s headed up.” Daunte advised through the earpiece I was wearing. I looked over at the staircase, watching the man in a dark green sweater and sunglasses. I looked at my burner phone, he was matching the description he had sent in the text. I took a deep breath, preparing myself when a woman stormed into my section.

“You rotten bastard. How dare you show your face!” she spat. The dealer stopped to listen.

“Excuse me? I think you’ve got the wrong person.”

“As if I could forget your face. Gabriel Noctem. You murdered my brother!” she screamed, throwing her drink at my face. The dealer quickly turned around and ran down the stairs.

“He’s running!” I told the team, who quickly covered the exits. He looked around, desperate to escape. I needed to handle this woman so that I didn’t bring further attention to myself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I told her.

She started to cry, “He took the drug. I told him not and he didn’t listen. He overdosed within seconds! All because of you and your wretched clan!” She tried to hit me, making me focus on dodging her drunken punches. Damn it! I couldn't see what was happening on the dance floor.

Sudden terrified screams broke out, the sounds of panic ensuing. I stood up and pushed the woman away, her body plopping on the couch where she passed out. There was pure chaos on the dance floor as the crowd created a stampede towards the exits.

The dealer was nowhere to be seen but my men were fighting. Three men with bloodshot eyes and bulging veins were grabbing anyone who passed them. They were mercilessly maiming them, ripping of limbs with ease. I ran down the stairs to join the fight.

“Daunte, what the hell is going on?!” I herded as many people towards the back door, their screams deafening.

“They’re on RedRush. The dealer gave us the slip!” He yelled back. The men were rampaging. Soon the club was empty with just us and these jacked up lunatics. There were eight of us but I don’t think we have the man power to take them down. Daunte and I rushed at the one directly in front of us. He brushed us off with ease, throwing us against the wall. I groaned, having to dodge immediately to avoid this monster’s foot.

The rumors were true, these users had double, no, triple the strength of a normal vampire. Daunte and I threw everything we had at this guy but he wasn’t going down, it looked like he wasn’t taking on any damage at all!

“Look at his eyes!” Daunte yelled. They were rolled back with nothing but the whites showing. He wasn’t conscious, just blindly reaching out at us.

I swept my foot at the guy’s leg, knocking him to his knees. Daunte swiftly delivered three hard punches to his head, finally knocking him down. He started to seize, foam spewing out of his mouth as he jerked. He stopped moving, then Daunte moved to check his pulse.

“Don’t bother, he didn’t have a heartbeat to begin with. He was dead before the fight started.” What the hell was going on?

“Aim for their heads!” Daunte instructed as we rejoined the ambush. The other two males fell quickly, following the same pattern as their comrade. We were beaten and battered but all of us somehow survived. I shook my head as I surveyed the wreckage. At least ten people were dead, not including the users.

Daunte patted down the bodies, locating a small baggie of crushed red crystals. He handed it over. I knew it was bad, but seeing first hand what this did to you had me worried about the clan’s future. There was no mention of the comatose state or the lack of a heartbeat. They barely took any damage, as if they were invincible. What was in this drug?

“This is serious Gabriel. Do you recognize this one?”

“F*ck. It’s Dominic Solomon, cousin to Samuel of the Necrosis Clan.” Sh*t. Necrosis was a clan almost as powerful as us, a clan I’d prefer to keep as an ally. My fear of a gang war was becoming true. First the rumor of the drug coming from Noctem and now the death of a rival clan’s family member. There’s no way they’d let this slide. “Let’s clean this sh*t up.”