Chapter Five
Gabriel didn’t know if he should push his way out of Chay’s arms or snuggle in closer. The scent of warm sunny days wafting around him made his head spin and had his cock instantly taking notice.
He could also feel something moving under his skin. Now was most definitely not the time for his panther to come out and make itself known.
He struggled to get out of Chay’s hold, just barely succeeding, and stepped away from him. Gabriel watched as Dominic grabbed a hold of Chay and pushed him out of the way. His first instinct was to run over and to protect Chay, regardless of the fact that he was a few inches shorter than the other man.
Dominic stalked toward him with the grace of a real panther, even though he didn’t know it just yet. He leaned forward, their faces almost touching. “Did you not hear me? I. Do. Not. Have. A. Brother!” Dominic punctuated every word.
“Yes, you do.” Gabriel stood his ground. With their faces so close, he looked straight into Dominic’s eyes. “I wanted to do this in private, but you’re not giving me any choice,” Gabriel continued. “You have a tattoo of a black panther on your back.”
“How did you know that!?” Dominic took a step back as if he was physically slapped in the face.
“Because you’re my brother and…” Gabriel stood up straight, slowly turned around, and started to lift up his shirt. “I have one, too.”
“How…how is this even possible?” he heard Dominic say, shock evident in his voice.
Chay walked up to Gabriel. “You can pull your shirt back down,” he said in a demanding tone.
Gabriel pulled down his shirt and turned around to face the two men now staring at him. “Do you believe me now?” He watched as the expression on Dominic’s face slowly changed, Chay’s demand momentarily forgotten.
“I’ll listen to what you have to say, but that doesn’t mean I believe you yet.” Dominic stalked down a short passage. “Come with me.”
Without wasting any time, Gabriel quickly followed his brother down the short passage with Chay right on heels. He didn’t have to look behind him to know that Chay was following. He was surrounded by Chay’s scent. Gabriel continued following Dominic into the office, trying to ignore how good the bigger man behind him smelled.
It was nearly impossible.
“Take a seat,” Dominic offered as he sat down behind the desk and looked up. “You don’t need to be here. I can handle this,” he said to Chay, who now stood directly behind Gabriel.
“I think I could be of some help, regardless,” Chay responded. “I’ll stay anyway.” The look on Chay’s face brooked no argument.
Gabriel looked back over at Dominic.
“So…” Dominic sat up forward in his chair with his elbows resting on the edge of the desk. “You have my attention. Now talk.”
“There’s no need to be rude,” Gabriel admonished Dominic before looking back up at Chay over his shoulder. “Can I get some water? I’m rather thirsty.”
Chay nodded and quickly exited the office.
“Can you trust him?” Gabriel looked back at Dominic in question.
“Listen, if you came all this way to insult me and my best friend, then I think you should just leave.” Dominic reach his hand back and scratched his shoulder, a sure sign that he was getting pissed off again. Gabriel half smirked. It was weird how they had so much in common, yet knew so little about each other.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” Gabriel hesitated. “What I have to say to you involves really…insane…stuff that you might not want just everyone to know.”
“He’s my best friend. I trust him with my life.” Dominic looked up at the office door as it opened and Chay walked back in with a bottle of water in hands.
“Here you go.” Chay unscrewed the cap and handed the bottle to Gabriel.
Gabriel immediately took a huge gulp of the water, the coolness soothing his dry throat immediately.
Chay gave Gabriel a smile. “I hope it’s not too warm. I only put it in the fridge not too long ago.”
“No, thank you. It’s perfect.” Gabriel smiled back at him and turned to look at Dominic who was staring up at Chay and then back down at him with a frown on his face. “Anyhow, as I was saying. We’re brothers.”
Gabriel dreaded having to explain everything. Or at least everything he knew about. He knew how much it would hurt to find out the truth after such a long time. Not to mention the fact that they were panther shifters. That was a completely different kind of crazy.
Gabriel shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued. “A little over twenty-four years ago, not long after we were born, there was a war in our homeland. To protect us, our parents assigned guardians to each of us to help keep us safe and to protect us.”
