Half-Blood Curse

6 - Hunted

The first thing Lucas did when he woke up late the next morning was call his mother. He jumped off the sofa so abruptly that Sonia almost fell off with him. She groaned at him sleepily and he covered her with the blanket to make up for it. He ran to his bedroom and found his phone plugged in on the charger.

He needed to warn his mom that Gabriel would be asking questions. He dialed quickly, and the phone line rang twice before it clicked on.

"Mom?"

"She's your mom?" Gabriel's smooth voice shocked Lucas to his core. "Why aren't you a saved contact on her phone?"

"What the fuck are you doing with her phone?"

"I was hoping you would call her. She hasn't told me where I can find you. She says she doesn't know. But now I realize that was also a lie."

"She really doesn't know," Lucas said quickly. "Not exactly. She hasn't kept track of me since I was a minor. Don't get angry with her."

There was a long pause.

"There are many things wrong with what you just said. Firstly, I'm not going to hurt your mom, so get that fear out of your voice. Secondly, why hasn't she been taking care of you? And thirdly, why does she not know where you live? And if you were estranged, why were you visiting her?"

"All of those things are my business."

Gabriel sighed through the phone, and Lucas felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as if the man had just sighed against his skin. He shivered, glad the alpha couldn't see him.

"She won't even tell me your name. She says we need to wait a little longer to 'just see'. What does that even mean?"

"It means she wants me mated to you about as much as I want it, which is to say, not at all."

"You're brutal, you know that?"

"Sorry," Lucas found himself saying against his will, his entire heart clenching at the idea that he had hurt Gabriel, a literal stranger. "God damnit!"

Gabriel chuckled, amused at Lucas's problem.

"Did you feel bad for hurting my feelings?"

"You fucker, give my mom back her phone."

"I think I'll hold on to this one, and give her a new one. I'd like you to call me, if you ever need me. Now you have my new number."

"You-" Lucas cut himself off with a growl, knowing there was nothing he could do about the stubborn alpha.

The sound of soft footsteps came down the hallway. Lucas looked up, already making a shushing motion with his hands, but Sonia was half asleep and barely had her eyes open to see where she was going.

"Lucas? Who are you talking to?"

Lucas tensed, then deflated. "God damnit," he said again. "Please give me a minute," he said to Sonia. She realized something was wrong, so she nodded and fled to the kitchen.

The phone was quiet for a long moment, but Lucas could hear Gabriel breathing on the other end.

"I have a few concerns over what I just heard," Gabriel said, his voice soft and yet so stern it gave Lucas more shivers. "Are you married?"

Lucas couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. "No!" he managed to say between fits of laughter. "No, god no, she's like family to me. And I'm mated to you, it's pretty obvious I'm gay, right?"

"Some gay men get married, anyway," Gabriel sounded much more relaxed. "And you could be into women, too, I wasn't sure."

"No," Lucas said, still giggling at the thought of marrying Sonia. "She's staying with me because-" he cut off. "Well, like I said, I'm helping some friends of mine stay safe right now."