Secrets of the Blood

Gabriel left Megan in the library and walked quickly to the study. Entering the large room, he closed the door behind him. He took a moment to take a deep breath. He was still reeling from the intense kiss he had shared with Megan. He had been overcome by the need to touch her and kiss her. He hadn't expected the kiss to take on a life of its own. 

Gabriel had felt overwhelmed by the need to claim his wife during that kiss. The feeling was so strong, he had struggled to keep it at bay. Even now the beast was clamoring against its cage demanding he take what was his. Gabriel kept breathing deeply for a moment trying to calm his racing heart and reset. 

Megan had responded to him in a way he never would have expected, only adding to the fire that burned in him now. He wanted her badly. It had been a long time since he had been with a woman and none of them in his long life had ever made him want them like Megan had. Desire was coursing through him and pulsed with aching clarity with every beat of his heart. Groaning Gabriel ran a hand over his face and through his hair. 

Walking over to the conference table Gabriel sat down a seat away from Afton who was typing furiously on his laptop. 

"Are you okay, Sire?" Afton asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"I'm fine." Gabriel said though it sounded like a growl because his jaw was clenched so tightly. 

"Finding one's true mate must be quite intense especially when you must hold yourself back because she is a human and doesn't understand our ways." Afton remarked understandingly. 

Four and a half years ago when the call had begun for Gabriel. The call was an internal tracking signal that told him that his soulmate had reached a suitable age and where to look. At first he had been overjoyed. The timing could not have been better since him joining with a mate meant he would be at full power for the conflict that raged over his kingdom.

Then he had realized that the call was coming from the mortal realm meaning his soulmate was human. She would not be able to hear the call herself so he would have to search for her, and she would not understand what was happening even if he found her. 

Despite this Gabriel had begun the search assuming that it would be easy to pinpoint the source of the call. He had been wrong. Seven times he had been disastrously wrong. Doing this every six months had been torture and for the last three tries in a row, especially.

However, he knew he couldn't afford to stop because his mate was aging and likely preparing to start a family of her own soon. So, he had to actively seek her before she was unavailable to him, but he had begun to despair of ever finding her. All the years it had taken for her to be born and come of age. How long would it take to happen again if it ever did.

"Finding a soulmate is rare enough but finding a soulmate in a human is nearly impossible. They don't feel the call and have no knowledge of the existence of soulmates or our world." Gabriel explained. 

Afton stopped typing and sat forward reading for a couple minutes. "Gabriel, I think I found something. I wasn't finding anything in human records, so I decided to search our records and the more obscure Enochian database." 

Afton's mouth was a thin line as he continued to read while he explained. "I skipped over the Steele side of the family since you told me that Ryan Steele is fully human." Gabriel nodded along. 

"The mother's side of the family is the Willis line. They are tracked in the Enochian database. Apparently, four generations ago the eldest daughter Kathryn claimed to have been visited by the angel Condia and was seduced. She gave birth to a son dying in childbirth. The son was reported to be strong, intelligent, charming, uncommonly attractive and healthy. He completely changed the family's finances and built an empire. Micheal was the golden boy of the family." Afton paused glancing at Gabriel. 

"Then Micheal married, and his wife gave birth to a son dying during childbirth. The same things were true about this son but to a lesser extent. However, he married in his early thirties and the pair had a daughter. The wife did not die in childbirth and the daughter Cloe grew up to marry Ryan Steele and produce three daughters and a son. The eldest being Megan. Each of the sons of those first two generations died suddenly in their fifties after people noticed how young they still appeared." Afton sat back looking at Gabriel. 

"They're saying Micheal was a Nephilim? Do we know who Condia is? Which of the upper echelon gods is he in service to?" Gabriel asked, his brow furrowed deeply. There were fourteen upper-level gods each with their own race of angels. The power these angels had was a direct reflection of the god they served. 

Afton shook his head. "Not yet. That will take a lot more research." 

"How much grace could transfer from one generation to the next?" Gabriel wondered aloud. 

"Historically, it's not that much. Just trace amounts. Either the grace was nearly gone by the time Megan's mother was born or her grandmother was a claimed soulmate. That would have granted her grace of her own and allowed her to survive the birth of her daughter." Afton replied carefully, trying to consider all the aspects of this report. 

Afton leaned forward typing something into the laptop but frowned. "I am sure it would be enough grace to allow Megan to be more aware of fluctuations in the veil. She would see more than the average human generally does." 

Gabriel sighed. "We don't really know anything except that there may be a valid reason that Megan is more aware." Gabriel stood, "Is there any way we could test to see if Megan's blood contains grace?" 

"You can taste grace, can't you?" Afton asked seriously. 

"Oh yeah, tell me how I am supposed to ask Megan to let me taste her blood. Do you remember what that does to me? If we want her fleeing in terror, that would probably do it." Gabriel laughed. 

"I doubt it would be any worse than the battlefield years ago. It might burn as it went down but you would survive." Afton smirked at Gabriel goading him. 

"You are an ass." Gabriel told his friend chucking a pen at him from the table. 

"I will use my angel blade and get close to her. If she has grace in her blood, it will glow blue." Afton said his voice level. 

Gabriel headed toward the door. "We need to figure out how this will affect the claim. Do you think that this will affect her?" Gabriel asked near the door. 

"I don't know, Sire..." Afton responded from across the room. His senses alerted him to a noise outside the room and he motioned to Gabriel who realized the door was open a crack. Hadn't he shut that. 

Gabriel's mood soured as he wondered how much Megan had heard. What kind of chaos was waiting for him on the for him on the other side of the door. Opening the door, he saw Megan in the process of knocking. 

After speaking to Megan briefly he realized she hadn't heard anything or even been snooping. They needed to be more aware in the future. This had come close to putting Gabriel in a situation that he wasn't ready to explain just yet.

Gabriel was becoming more confident that Megan was his soulmate, but humans were rarely told about the other world until after they were part of it. For her safety and for his it was better if Megan didn't know anything. This was more complicated than usual since she saw more than a human normally should. 

After speaking to Megan and her heading upstairs, Gabriel sat back down with Afton for a few more minutes discussing what their next steps. Afton explained how he planned to sneak up on Megan to see his blades' reaction to her. Gabriel told his friend he was going to go spend some time with Megan and he would catch up with Afton later. 

Gabriel left the study and headed upstairs. He arrived at the bedroom in time to hear Megan end a conversation with someone by telling them that she would see them soon. Gabriel had no idea how she had gotten the phone. His phone was locked in his desk drawer in the study. He purposefully kept such items from her to make it harder for Megan to try to escape him. So how had this come about and where did she think she was going? She wasn't leaving him; he knew that much. 

Gabriel walked into the bedroom finding Megan in the walk-in closet. She looked like she was deciding on a dress to wear. Where was she going that she needed to get dressed up? He leaned against the door frame watching her. She hadn't realized he was there yet. When she finally caught his presence she jumped letting out a small gasp. Her hand flew to her chest, and she stared at Gabriel, annoyed. 

"Do you always have to sneak up on me?" Megan snapped with a scowl. 

Gabriel smirked at Megan, "where do you think you're going?" 

Megan grabbed a dress out of the closet and pushed past him. "I'm meeting friends in town for dinner." 

"I don't remember clearing this with you Megan." Gabriel stalked up to her before she could head into the bathroom and spun her around, so her chest bumped into his and he locked his arms around her.