Gregor (Stone Society Book 2) Read online

  Gregor

  Stone Society Book 2

  Faith Gibson

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction.

  Copyright © 2015 by Faith Gibson

  Published by Faith Gibson

  Editor: Jagged Rose Wordsmithing

  First e-book edition: February 2015

  First print edition: February 2015

  Cover design by KPG, photos from Shutterstock and Natalya Sidorova /123RF

  ISBN: 978-1-4951-4056-3

  This book is intended for mature audiences only.

  Dedication

  Kendall – Without your dedication, the series wouldn’t be off to such a stellar start. Thank you for all you do, and just basically being my sunshine.

  The man – Thank you for each and every woohoo when I sell a book. I love you, babe.

  Acknowledgements

  My writing posse: Kendall, Jen, and Nikki – we did it. Again.

  My beta readers: Alex B, Sharon B, Tanya R, Candy R, and Shannon P, thank you for your invaluable input.

  KPG – Another stellar cover. Your talent just grows.

  All the ladies at TaSTy WordGasms, thank you for blogging, pimping, Gregor’s Cover Reveal and Release, and just basic stellarness.

  Pam Brooks – the ultimate Rock chick. Thank you for the shout outs, my rock and roll hoochie koo.

  Ashley Westphall-Carr – I like having a shadow. Thank you for following me around.

  JAG – you are there every single day, rooting me on. Dude.

  Contents

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-Two

  Thirty-Three

  Thirty-Four

  Thirty-Five

  Thirty-Six

  Thirty-Seven

  Thirty-Eight

  Thirty-Nine

  Forty

  Forty-One

  Forty-Two

  Epilogue

  The Beast

  Coming Soon

  About the Author

  Other Works by Faith Gibson

  Prologue

  2044

  A sleek, black Harley pulled up to an open gas pump. Gregor Stone eyeballed the bike, comparing it to the one he was currently filling up. His was a couple of years newer, but the other one had more chrome. Sharp. The driver pulled their helmet off and hung it over the mirror on the handlebar. Long red hair cascaded down the back of the rider, as a black leather boot swung over the seat. A blue jean clad ass sashayed into the store. Fuck me.

  Gregor put the nozzle in the holder and waited. “Please see cashier for receipt.” He strode inside the store, stepping up behind the redhead. While he was waiting his turn, Red pulled several bills out of her pocket to prepay, and one floated to the floor. Sandalwood and leather filled his nostrils, making him lightheaded. Red bent over to retrieve the wayward cash, and her divine ass landed firmly in Gregor’s crotch. A groan escaped his throat as the biker stood up and glanced over her shoulder. “If you’re gonna ride, Stud, make sure you pull my hair.”

  With a wink, she turned around and paid the cashier then strolled out the door, not looking back. Gregor just stared, mouth agape. His body was humming.

  “She’s feisty, that one,” the cashier said with a chuckle.

  “I need my receipt, Peg. When are you going to add paper to the pumps?” Gregor’s eyes never left the redhead as she put high octane into her ride.

  “Now, Warden, if I put paper out there, you wouldn’t have a reason to come in and see me. Here you go.” Gregor turned to the woman behind the counter. If Peggy was a day younger than sixty, he’d put the paper out there himself.

  “Thanks, Beautiful.” Gregor leaned across the counter and kissed her cheek.

  By the time he was done flirting with his old friend, the back end of that hot piece was rolling out of the lot.

  What the hell is wrong with me? Tessa Blackmore rode her bike hard. She felt fine until she stopped to get gas and bumped into the warden, literally. Gregor Stone. What an ass. Too bad his nice backside was attached to the rest of him. Fucking full-blood. Gods, she ached all over. Just how fast can the flu come on? Pretty damn fast.

  She parked behind her house, not bothering to garage her Harley, then climbed off and made her way into the kitchen. She stripped out of her clothes and headed to the shower. The ache was so much more than the flu. Pain shot through her hands, and her gums felt like they were going to explode. She dropped to her knees and grabbed her head. “Aggggggg! NO, this is impossible!” Tessa had helped several of her kind through the change, so she knew what to expect. “He CANNOT be my MATE!” She yelled to the cosmos.

  Tessa’s job within the family was to watch over the offspring of human women and full-blood Gargoyle shifters, helping them through their transitions. Half-bloods didn’t come into their powers until they met their mate. This was an unknown fact within her community. She stumbled on the information when she found her Uncle Jonas’ journal. A journal that was now in her possession, locked in her safe. He didn’t know Tessa knew nor that she had the journal.

  Her fangs elongated nipping her lip. “Shit!” She reached up to wipe the blood and nicked her chin with a claw. “Dammit!” This was easier when she was watching someone else go through it. She held her hands out in front of her. Imagine going in for a manicure with these suckers. Laughing at her sick joke, she poked her mouth again. Concentrating, she thought about her human hands, and her claws retracted. She did the same with her fangs.

  Collapsing on the floor, she was really glad she didn’t get wings.

  One

  Present Day 2047

  The first time Tessa had been followed, she found it exhilarating. The second and third, annoying. This time it was just downright pissing her off. Once again, a Mustang got on her tail and began a chase through the side streets and back roads of New Atlanta. Once again, she lost her pursuer. When she felt the coast was clear, she looped back around the way she had been traveling and headed to her cousin’s house. Isabelle refused to answer her calls. Ever since Tessa told her the truth about who and what they are, the doctor had been keeping to herself.

  Tessa hadn’t seen her cousin since she accompanied Isabelle to the Penitentiary. The Pen’s previous doctor was killed in a riot, and for some reason the warden felt Isabelle would make a good prison doctor. If he knew about her background, that would make sense. Isabelle was the da
ughter of Jonas Montague, the famous scientist and doctor who created the first cloned human. Being the largest prison in the south that contained the Unholy, they needed a doctor who was capable of dealing with non-humans.

  Isabelle was a half-blood Gargoyle shapeshifter who hadn’t yet gone through the change herself. She had, however, watched one of her older brothers go through his transition recently. Tessa needed to visit Dane and see how he was faring now that he was back at work as a detective with the New Atlanta Police Force. Being a half-blood shifter would give him an advantage when hunting the bad guys.

  When Isabelle had been approached by Gregor Stone about the position at the Pen, Tessa knew in her heart her cousin would take the job. Her feelings were hurt, her pride wounded. Tessa really couldn’t blame her, though. If she were the one with the medical degree and her father chose to share his secrets with her rebel cousin, she, too, would feel slighted. Arriving at Isabelle’s home, she drove her Harley around back. Isabelle’s car wasn’t in the drive, but she could have parked in the garage.

  She shut the bike off, put the kickstand down, pulled her helmet off, and hung it over the handlebar. Tessa threw her leg over the bike and walked to the backdoor. She knocked then used her key to let herself in. “Isabelle,” she shouted to her cousin. She stopped in the kitchen when she noticed a stack of papers on the table. Leafing through what appeared to be a new-hire packet, Tessa figured Isabelle had indeed accepted the job. “This might not be a bad thing,” she muttered to herself.

  Tessa’s cloned brother, Tamian, was sitting in the Pen. When she visited the massive structure with Isabelle, she had seen him, mind spoke with him, told him she would get him out of there. For some ungodly reason, he thought he belonged in there. She knew better. She had looked after her brother over the years, and there was no better person on this planet. He was a giver, and she was going to get him out.

  Tessa didn’t know if all cloned siblings could hear each other’s thoughts. She needed to teach Tam how to shield his from her when he was on the outside. There were just some things you really didn’t want to know about your brother.

  Now that Isabelle was working as the Pen’s resident physician, Tessa could visit and scope the layout of the place. She knew breaking her brother out was going to be difficult, but she was up for the challenge. As long as she could avoid the warden, all would be well.

  Fucking Gregor Stone. Why couldn’t she have mated with a nice young Irishman? A nice human Irishman? But no, she must have pissed off the fates somewhere along the way for them to stick her with the hardass who ran the prison.

  Isabelle Sarantos had been at her new job less than a week and was already wondering if she had made a mistake. For the last three days she worked non-stop to clean out her office. The previous doctor had been a slob. Now, she could finally see the surface of the desk. She sorted the abandoned paperwork into stacks. Some were inmate notes, some were random scribblings, and others were items that would more than likely end up in the trash.

  She decided to take a break from sorting and started shuffling through the files. The first thing she did was put them in alphabetical order. Since these files were open and on the desk, the inmates could need immediate care. The phone on her desk rang causing her to jump. She hesitantly picked it up, “Hello?”

  “Doctor Sarantos, there’s a call for you on line one.” The male voice disconnected. Who would be calling her here? She pressed the “line 1” button. “Dr. Sarantos speaking.”

  “So you took the job. I guess I should have known you would.” Tessa must have invaded her home again. The papers detailing her new position were on the kitchen table, and the snoop would no doubt have read them.

  “What do you want, Tessa? And please stop breaking into my home. As a matter of fact, leave the key on your way out.”

  “I don’t need a key to get in the door, but that’s beside the point. When were you going to tell me, or were you? It’s going to be difficult to watch over you there.”

  “I have done well on my own all these years dear cousin. I have a feeling I can manage without you a few more. Besides, the warden is here. I can think of a lot worse men to look out for me.” Isabelle heard Tessa choking. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine. Freaking fine. You might want to watch him, and I don’t mean stare at his ass. I do mean be leery of the man. He’s been known to have a bad temper.”

  “How do you know so much about Gregor?” On the other end of the phone, Tessa coughed again. “What is wrong with you? Are you coming down with something?”

  “You know we don’t get sick, and now it’s Gregor? What happened to Warden or Mr. Stone? You aren’t actually interested in him, are you?” Tessa asked, not sounding like herself. She sounded…jealous.

  “No, I’m not interested, but he is hot. The way his pants stretch over his tight ass. Yum.”

  “Yum? Did you just say yum? Who are you, and what have you done with my cousin?”

  “I can appreciate a nice male physique. I was married to someone built just like him you know.” Isabelle tried really hard not to think of Alexi. She had fallen quickly for the Greek god, and theirs had been a whirlwind romance. She had been young when she met him, and he talked her into moving to Greece to practice medicine there.

  On one hand, she had been scared out of her wits. After seven years of studying, she deserved a nice long vacation; but still, she was too young to pick up and move to a foreign land. On the other hand, she really had nobody at home she needed to get back to. Once she started college, her foster family was out of her life, and she was basically alone. Having Alexi and his family was a huge incentive to stay. She mistakenly read their acceptance as love. What they were really after was her knowledge of her father’s findings.

  “Belle, did I lose you? Are you there?” She was brought out of the past by the one relative who stayed in touch over the years.

  “I’m here. Now, why did you call, or are you just being nosy about Gregor?”

  “I couldn’t care less about him. Just so you are aware, he’s a full-blood. You need to keep that in mind. And no, I don’t need anything; I was just confirming that you did indeed turn your back on the family when we need you most.”

  “I will not have this conversation with you again. Don’t call me at work; it’s unprofessional and unnecessary.” Isabelle hung up on Tessa. God she was so frustrating. “I turned my back?” As far as Isabelle was concerned the family turned their back on her a long time ago. She had sixteen brothers and sisters she hadn’t known about until Dane, and she was a shifter. How in the holy hell do you let your child go their whole life not knowing what and who they are? Somehow she was going to find all of her siblings.

  Gregor Stone is a full-blood? Why did Tessa wait until now to spring that on her? Crap. Is he related to Nikolas Stone? That would make sense. Sort of.

  Returning to the inmate files, she read through several, noticing a pattern in the diagnosis and treatment. Holy crap! What the previous doctor had been doing was not only dangerous, but unethical. She opened another file, and what she read had her head spinning. Oh my god. She picked up her cell phone and dialed her cousin. Hopefully Tessa was still snooping at her house.

  Two

  Tessa had been in Isabelle’s house several times but had never taken the opportunity to really look around. It was more than likely smaller than most doctors’ homes, but Isabelle had never been pretentious or extravagant. She was a beautiful woman who never played to her looks. She dressed modestly and kept her home just as humble. She drove a gas-saving hybrid and had a recycle bin in the garage. Yep, her cousin was a do-gooder.

  The one thing that stood out the most to Tessa was the lack of personal items, namely photos. There were no pictures anywhere in Isabelle’s home. None on the walls, on the mantle over the fireplace, or in her bedroom. Not even a wedding photo. Even though the marriage to Alexi ended in tragedy, she should still have at least one picture of their life together. Maybe it was too painf
ul to remember the happier times. Tessa’s own home was filled with photos, but most of those were of places, not faces. She had the pleasure of traveling all over the world, checking in on her cousins. She did take photos of them, but from afar. Those photos were on a thumb drive she kept secure in a hidden safe.

  Tessa was just starting her position as watcher for the family when Isabelle moved to Greece. Since Isabelle was so young, the family had Tessa watching the older siblings. Tessa still checked in on her cousin when she could. Jonas and Caroline had taken great pains in hiding the truth from Isabelle. When she was little, they lived a life of solitude, keeping Isabelle away from the public eye. If she wasn’t around anyone, she couldn’t spill the secret that Jonas was alive. As a precaution, he continued to wear disguises daily around his daughter. She was allowed to go visit Tessa and Elizabeth every so often. When Isabelle got old enough to notice her mother and Elizabeth were not aging, Caroline left. Jonas placed Isabelle with a couple in Tennessee, explaining that his health was fading. Rico and Maria Sanchez cared for Isabelle until she graduated high school. Caroline watched over her daughter from across the street.

  Jonas had taken Tessa under his wing when she was a teenager. Even though they spent a great deal of time together when she was a little girl, she didn’t truly begin learning from him until she was older. He confided in her, telling her she was special to him since he successfully cloned her. She and her brother, Tamian, were his greatest accomplishment. Tessa felt bad for Isabelle. She should be the one sitting by Jonas, learning about the shifters and the cloning process. When she asked her uncle about it, he told her Isabelle had her own place in the world. She needed to learn independence, something Tessa had in spades.

  Both Tessa and Tamian were sworn to secrecy regarding Jonas being alive, and Tessa’s contact with her cousin waned with time and distance. Jonas hadn’t felt Isabelle was mature enough to handle the knowledge of the shifters nor the responsibility that came with being a watcher. Tessa was an old soul, and even though she acted immature at times, she was mature in the ways that mattered. It helped having Jonas in her life. He raised Tamian until he was a teenager when he and Tessa swapped places. Even though Tam went to live with Elizabeth, he still visited Jonas often so they could spend time together. Once Tessa was old enough to travel, she left her family behind and started her own journey.