Chapter Three
Gabriel woke up with a splitting headache. Getting out of bed, he walked over to the bathroom and flipped the light switch. “Fuck!” Gabriel quickly shut his eyes and covered them with his hand before turning the bathroom light off again.
The previous night when he arrived back home, Gabriel had taken out the bottle of whiskey he kept for special occasions. He definitely considered finding out he was a shifter to be an occasion.
A special occasion? Not so much. Having a tail grow out of his ass and his hands turn into paws wasn’t something he would consider special, more like a nightmare.
He opened his eyes and stepped into the dark bathroom. A few seconds later his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and it was as if he didn’t need the light at all. Gabriel saw every inch of the bathroom, from top to bottom, every crevice and every crack.
“Wow, at least there’s something good about being a shifter,” he said to himself as he removed the bottle of painkillers from the counter. Gabriel couldn’t remember how much he drank, but he was pretty sure there wasn’t any alcohol left in his place.
He quickly filled the drinking glass with water before opening the bottle of painkillers and shaking out four into his hand. Gabriel grimaced at the bitter aftertaste the tablets left in his mouth as he tossed them back and swallowed them down with water.
“Urgh!”
Now that he finally understood what was happening to him, all the things that seemed out of place before made sense—his increased speed, his heightened senses, hell, even the damn furry tail and claws. It all made perfect sense.
He was a panther shifter.
Gabriel placed the glass back on the counter and stepped back into his bedroom. The moment his eyes fell on the discarded pants lying on the floor, Gabriel’s thoughts wandered back to the information written on the piece of paper Aldrik had given him.
His entire life Gabriel had been under the impression that he was an only child. A few times, he recalled asking his parents why he didn’t have a brother or sister. They would always tell him that he was their special baby.
When he was in his late teens, Gabriel overheard his parents talking in their bedroom one evening and found out that his mother couldn’t have any children. Worst of all, that he was adopted. After that night he felt even more lost than ever, always looking for something that was out of his reach.
Now he understood why.
Gabriel walked over to his closet, opened the doors, and rummaged through the clothes. Settling on beige cargo pants and a striped short-sleeve shirt, he pulled it from the hanger. His eyes caught sight of the green LED lights on the clock. Shit, he was late. The damn clock read seven forty-nine in the morning. He was due at work by eight o’clock.
“Damn it!”
Quickly as he could, Gabriel got dressed, grabbed the piece of paper from the pocket of his discarded pants from yesterday, and rushed out of the house. The good thing about where he lived was that he was only a few blocks away from his work.
Gabriel walked into the building of Family Services a minute before eight. His supervisor, Mr. Peterson, stood just inside the door and gave him a deep glare. There wasn’t anything the man could do. Gabriel had been through the door before eight.
With a sigh of relief, he clocked himself in and headed toward his desk, the piece of paper burning a hole in his pocket.
“Hey, Gabriel! Made it just in time,” his coworker, Travis, shouted at him.
“Yeah, it’s been a rough night.” Gabriel continued toward his desk, ignoring the man. Travis seemed to be a competent employee, but Gabriel didn’t like him too much. He was always pushing to get together, and he very rarely took no for an answer. If Gabriel hadn’t known that the man had a girlfriend, he might have suspected that Travis was gay.
Gabriel dismissed Travis from his mind and pulled the piece of paper from his pocket as he sat down. He flipped on his computer and waited. Within moments the computer started making a wheezing sound as it booted up. The things were as old as dinosaurs. Gabriel shook his head. How the government expected them to do their jobs with equipment that should have been thrown in the dumpster a long time ago amazed him.
As soon as his computer was ready to go, Gabriel started searching. He was so lost in reading the information on the paper that he startled when a shadow fell over his desk.
“What’s that? A girlfriend’s phone number?” Travis teased and reached over to grab the paper from him. With his quick reflexes, Gabriel stuffed the piece of paper into his shirt pocket. “Come on. I won’t tell anyone her name.”
“Not today, Travis.” Gabriel smiled at him. That was close. He thought to himself as Aldrik’s words came back to him. In the wrong hands, that information can be extremely dangerous.
Gabriel got up from his chair with a smile plastered on his face and slapped Travis on the shoulder. “Excuse me. I have to go to the men’s room.”
He started to head to the bathroom just around the corner, but Mr. Peterson stepped out of his office. Gabriel swore the man gave him the evil eyes as he walked past. He wasn’t a bad supervisor, just one that cared more about looking good to the higher-ups than he did his employees.
Gabriel had always suspected the man was so angry all the time because he couldn’t get promoted. He was also pretty sure if the guy was nicer, he would get promoted.
Gabriel bypassed the restroom in his division and made his way to the one on the other side of the building. He sagged back against the door of the stall and let out a deep breath. He pulled the piece of paper from his pocket again and memorized the information before ripping it to tiny little shreds and flushing them down the toilet.
His heart beat like a drum against his chest. An uneasy feeling crawled through his body as he opened the stall door and stepped out of the restroom. He knew he had been alone in the bathroom, but it felt as though someone was watching over his shoulder.
