45: Timing is Everything

     Nate awoke with a start and sat straight up in bed. What the hell? ... Bitch! he thought, thinking of Marge. She knocked me out again! He looked out at the window. Nightfall had occurred. Gabriella! he thought suddenly, then he screamed a torturous cry.

      "No!!! Oh God no!!!" he yelled, and he balled up his hands into fists as rage consumed him.

      Marge came dashing into the room when she heard Nate's cry. Nate looked up at her with a furious expression.

       "You bitch!" he cried as he flung himself at her. "You let this happen! You stopped me from saving her!"

        "I stopped you from suicide." Marge spoke as calmly as she could manage.

        "Fuck you! I couldn't sit here and do nothing! Then you knock me unconscious and allow her to be raped!" His voice broke as he said, "She's pregnant! And they've tortured her!" He flung her to the side, causing her body to slam into the adjoining wall before he ran out of the room. He dodged her attack as he almost flew out of the house.

       I'll kill them all. Each and every one will die a painfully slow death, he thought as the realization hit that Gabriella carried multiples and that her gestation period had been drastically and very painfully reduced. I will not share with Derek the knowledge that the 'meeting' will be a waste of time. Why should I tell him? He's done nothing but prevent me from leaving to save her. He continued to race through the woods in the direction he knew Hidden Springs to be.

       "Your plan will not work." he heard his maker say to him from where they both now stood on a mountaintop.

       "Why should you even care, August?" Nate asked.

       "Obviously this was supposed to happen, and your part to play in this hasn't arrived. You will see your love again, rest assured."

       "Yes, while she lays dying in my arms."

       Gus's voice sounded a little peeved as he said, "I do not believe she will die. You shouldn't either. Have a little faith in yourself and your abilities!"

      "My abilities." he said in a scoffing manner. "My abilities are worthless when up against my 'sister'! Your little pet made it so that her daughter could be raped, impregnated, and tortured!"

        Gus gasped. "So, Tanner has finally achieved it. I suppose Katharine allowed it with her as her surrogate."

        Nate looked at him in confusion. "Tanner? This was Julian's doing. The torture is Tanner's fault, but the pregnancy is Julian's idea."

        Gus laughed, making Nate incensed. "Oh my!" Gus said with a huge grin on his face. "Tanner has his beta going behind his back with his own scheme! Oh, I love it!"

        "Fuck off, August." Nate said with disgust that his maker could be so happy about Gabriella's condition.

         "My, my. Language, Nathaniel." he lightly scolded him like a parent would a disobedient child.

       "I cannot let her just remain with them. I must do something." Nate spoke his thoughts aloud while he stared at the granite beneath his feet, ignoring Gus and getting back to the more important matter at hand.

        "Ever impetuous." Gus said with a tsk noise following. "You cannot just go charging into battle this time. Yes, I understand your want to rescue her, but you have to be smart about this. Pick the time and place to your advantage."

          "So, you're going to stop me as well?"

          "Me? No." he chuckled to himself. "I am choosing merely to observe. I am most curious of this turn of events and how I may benefit from it. Two of my enemies going head-to-head in the not too distant future. This shall be quite a show."

        "If Derek is your enemy, why send your best weapon to aid him?" Nate asked, deciding he may as well get a little information from his irritating maker while he was around.

        "I'm not worried over my Marge, and I will not reveal all of my secrets, Nathaniel."

        "Stay away from Gabby." Nate growled, knowing she was part of the 'secrets' that Gus kept from him. That, and she couldn't stay out of his thoughts for more than two seconds.

         Gus smiled. "Now, you know that's not going to happen, so why threaten me?"

       Nate ignored him again. He had other things to worry about ... like how he would get into that compound. She thinks I've tuned her out! After everything, she actually believes that I'd close my mind to her! he thought incredulously. There must be a way to her.

       "I wouldn't recommend going any further, Nathaniel." Gus said because he could sense Nate's desire for flight. "This pack is more powerful, and they won't give a fig about your respect for human life. They've always got sentries on duty scouring these hills."

        "Then let them find my scent. I want them to know I'm stalking and looking for a way in." Nate responded with venom in his voice.

         "So that Tanner will increase his forces? Complete and total surprise is your best option. Derek knows this, and he's had him as an opponent for a long time."

        "I cannot allow that bastard to sit there and try to comfort her. I want to rip his head off ... right after I castrate him."

         August laughed probably a little louder than the situation warranted. "So, after all these years, I finally see the solider I wanted, and all it took was a woman." He walked up to Nate and clapped him on the back like an old friend. "Wait, my son, and you just might get your chance."

         "Derek wants to attack at the full moon." Nate said almost at random, his thoughts flying from one topic to the next as he desperately sought a way to rescue the woman he loved.

        "Yes, of course he does. That's why I sent Marge. She wanted to help, and I'd rather the .. forgive the pun ... underdog weaken his opponent." His teeth shown in the moonlight as he smiled a wicked smile at Nate.

       Nate turned to his maker to ask, "What do you have against Tanner? And for that matter, Derek?"

      "That is none of your concern." Gus answered quickly and stiffly, his smile fading immediately as his arm fell off of Nate's shoulder.

      "There has to be a way inside."

      "And if you get in, what then?"

      "I kill Julian, get her, and get out."

      "It cannot be done alone. You must wait for Derek's decision."

      "That, I can't do. You don't have to help me, August. I'm going to free her."

      "Suit yourself then. Don't say I didn't warn you. Just remember you're no good to anyone dead."

      "I'm already dead, remember?"

     Gus growled and rolled his eyes. "Don't start that again." Then he left Nate standing alone on the mountaintop.

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       Gabriella found herself curled up in Julian's arms as they both sat on the bed. She'd not been aware of the goings on around her after Katharine and Tanner left the room because she had mentally escaped somewhere deep inside herself to maintain her sanity.

       She wiggled in his arms and lifted her head. "No, let me go! Leave me alone! Stop it!" she ordered as she pushed against him.

        "Shh," Julian said as he held her firmly, "Kitten, calm down. It's okay now. They're gone."

       "Okay? You have a twisted sense of 'okay'. I said let me -- Ah!" she cried as she tried harder to move away from him when pain suddenly struck every joint she moved.

       Julian easily pulled her close again as she started crying. He held her to him and rocked her a little as he stroked her hair and face. Her tears wrenched at his heart. "Shh, I know it's not really okay, but they're not going to mess with you anymore."

        "No, just you are." she sniffed.

        "I promise I will never again harm you in any way." he said as he cradled her in his arms. "I can't go against Tanner's commands, but he's assured me he won't bother you."

        "And you believe him?"

        "No, not really, but I have to try to."

        Deciding to drop the topic of Tanner, she cried, "I hurt everywhere! Why? Why me? Make the pain stop."

         "Rest." he offered as a solution. "Stay right here and just rest." He lightly encouraged her to curl into him and rest her head on his shoulder like she'd had it earlier.

         Exhausted, Gabby didn't feel like fighting him. She already knew he wouldn't hurt her again from her visions, so she obeyed his wishes and let him hold her. He slowly and gently rocked her as he sang a quiet song in a language she didn't understand. The sound of his deep voice mixed in with his heartbeat relaxed her, and she soon fell asleep.