Katie's Hellion

She couldn't imagine an upbringing with no parents, a clan of brothers who hated him, and no ability to change his nature.

"Gabriel, he's protected and helped me more than once since the dungeon and done it out of some sort of sense of duty. Even if he's done bad things…I don't know. I don't think he's the lost cause you're making him out to be," she said, disturbed.

"You saw what he did in St. Louis."

Her gaze shifted from him to the dark form seated on a boulder. She assumed…she hoped…all of the dead were bad guys. Even so, she'd seen what he could do to a human-esque body in a few seconds.

"Are you saying I should go with you?" she asked.

"I believe your choice to be the right one."

"Do you think…why do you think he chose me as his mate?"

"Daniela seems to think it was preordained. You're an Ancient's mate, and maybe you were meant for him and only him," he said.

"He told me he chose me."

"You didn't ask why?" he challenged, amused again.

"Of course I did. He said he wanted me. He's not a man of many words, Gabriel."

"Maybe that's the truth of it."

"I know there's more," she insisted.

"Maybe you stabilize his wild power, though he doesn't know it yet."

She considered the new possibility. He certainly didn't seem to have much control, as far as she could tell. He'd massacred every human she'd run across to date.

"You mean he was worse than this before?" she returned, surprised.

"Much. Would've wiped out the island by now and half of Cuba without realizing he'd done so."

"He's using me."

"He needs you and wants you. He needed his brothers and still left them. As much as he's done wrong in his life, he's not a liar."

The information filtered through her skepticism until she admitted he spoke too logically to be anything but right. Her disbelief that Rhyn had chosen someone like her over a supermodel was softened by the rationale that he would also innately recognize his intended mate, even if he didn't recognize her ability to help him control his power.

What a horrible life he'd lived, if this was the best it'd ever been for him! Yet he didn't seem too affected by a life of pain, exclusion, and conflict. If anything, he seemed absolutely sure of himself and what he wanted, even if his nature didn't allow him to control his own wild talents.