Page 3 of Touched By Destiny
“We’ll ensure that you’ve already spent your last night in a cell even if you refuse our offer,” Clark confirmed. “You’re an inspirit and are already healing faster than a human. Your blood tests are also raising questions. I’ll hush them.”
“I want Samael’s money.”
“And you deserve it,” Rosalind said. “It’ll give you independence too. The last thing we want is for you tofeel beholden to us. Our lawyers will ensure Samael’s will is honored.”
Gabriel would be insanely wealthy, and he’d devote substantial funds to aid the destiny-touched. It was the least he could do, and if Rosalind and Clark Marwood added one of the gifted to their own family, Gabriel would stop at nothing to keep them safe. How else could he pay back the innocent for the crimes he’d helped hide? His resurrection had been carried out so Samael could have the perfect guard—a broad-shouldered goon with flawless aim. It was time to use the few skills he’d acquired in his life for good.
“I accept your offer,” Gabriel replied quietly.
Rosalind smiled brightly. “Welcome to our family, Gabriel. You won’t regret this. I promise.”
He wanted to believe her, so he smiled back even as a strange feeling crept up his neck. What the hell had he just gotten himself into?
Chapter 2
Present day
The Marwoods hadn’t disappointed. Since the moment Gabriel had entered that limousine thirty-three years ago, they’d offered kindness and honesty, and tried to provide him with a family. And somehow Clark had ensured Gabriel controlled all the assets Samael had left behind. His murder was settled as an act of self-defense, and Gabriel hadn’t spent another night in jail. Although grateful to them, Gabriel was their employee and refused to pretend otherwise. At his own behest, he’d spent several years in the military and gained more skills he thought were necessary to be a proper protector.
Upon his return, Gabriel had agreed to live on the Marwood family’s property but insisted on a separate residence. They’d moved a few times in the ensuing years, and Gabriel hadn’t relented or given in to Rosalind’s pleading that he move into their house.
Clark had a mixture of business ventures, but his favorite was casinos. Which was how the Marwoods had wound up at their current address in Las Vegas.
Gabriel’s job was to keep the family safe, but he also oversaw security for Clark’s businesses. It was a fun and rewarding existence, and the Marwood family was more than just the couple that had rescued Gabriel from jail after Samael’s murder. The seven surviving members of the Marwood family were his entire world, but his most important task was guarding the youngest of them.
With cornflower blue eyes and inky-black curls, Eric Marwood had had his entire family wrapped around his finger the moment he was born twenty-five years ago. Eric was a destiny-touched necromancer, so he was feared by evil people determined to end his life. Gabriel refused to allow anything to happen to him. As Clark and Rosalind had surmised, destiny-touched necros were special and had abilities beyond those of their brethren.
Which was why Gabriel was standing outside a casino in the blistering heat of an August morning in Las Vegas, wishing for a cool drink.
“I can open a way for you,” Eric whispered. His gaze was directed toward Gabriel, but even though they were the only two people present, Eric wasn’t speaking to him. His entire focus was on the ghost only he could see. “I promise it’s safe.”
The mark on Eric’s skin—which had started as a skull but now had roses and bones traveling up his fingers and over his wrist—turned silver.
“No need to thank me,” Eric continued in that same soft tone as magic drifted through the air. “You’ve lingered here far too long, and I’m happy to help. Be well.”
Eric blew out a breath, and a small smile crossed his nearly pouty lips as his blue eyes finally met Gabriel’s.
“I take it she’s gone?” Gabriel asked. The spirits Eric conversed with were of utmost importance to the necromancer, and Gabriel loved hearing about Eric’s gifts.
“Yes, but I wasn’t sure I could convince her to go today. She kept talking about her husband. He died a decade before her. I thought she wanted to be with him, but the way she kept procrastinating about allowing her spirit to cross…I nearly asked her if she really wanted a reunion.”
Gabriel chuckled. “And everyone thinks being a medium is so glamorous.”
“There’s nothing glamorous about the way my balls are sweating,” Eric retorted. “But there’s nowhere else I’d rather be today. I’m so happy she’s no longer lingering here.”
“Me too, you did a great job. The car’s waiting out front; did you want to get out of the heat and head home?”
“Yes, please.”
It was second nature for Gabriel to constantly scan his surroundings for any hint of danger as he followed Eric around the expansive property to where the limousine waited for the youngest Marwood. Since Gabriel considered himself a strict professional, it annoyed him that he noticed Eric’s rounded ass in his floral shorts. Gabriel didn’t know what the hell it was about Eric that routinely had him noting things he shouldn’t.
Irritated with himself and wondering if he’d wind up having another sweaty jerk-off session later with Eric’s name falling from his lips, Gabriel didn’t speak a word as he pulled open the car door for Eric. The necromancer gracefully slid his five-foot-nine-inch frame into the limousine, and Gabriel was grateful for the heavily tinted windows blocking out the sun as he joined him inside.
“I’m already sensing another spirit. I’ll need to find them,” Eric murmured. It was Eric’s habit to mutter to himself, so Gabriel offered no comment as the sorcerer dug a tablet out of his dark satchel and used the stylus to scribble his notes. To the human world, he was a medium—albeit a poor one.
He couldn’t control which spirits spoke to him, and his gifts allowed him to aid those lost on this plane to step across to wherever their ghosts were meant to travel. Eric didn’t try to find their living relatives or impart messages. Many of the spirits didn’t have enough consciousness left to bother with the living anyway. They were stuck, and Eric was the only one who could offer them a portal home.
Eric was the most powerful necromancer Gabriel had met, and he constantly focused on how to expand his gifts. His goal was to aid as many spirits as possible, and only Eric knew how many lingered. No one else could see them, let alone communicate with them. When he wasn’t helping ghosts, Eric was poring through books and trying to increase his knowledge about his people. It was difficult.