"Why should I?"

Gabriel looked at the stubborn set of Alex's jaw and felt like shaking her. He took a calming breath, reminding himself that she had been through a hellish day.

"I want to help, Alex," he spoke gently,"Tell me, so I can help you."

There was uncertainty in the green eyes stared into his, then he felt her back relax. "Alright."

Gabriel waited patiently for her to keep going. Those who knew him would have been surprised at how long he managed to sit in silence as she bit her lip, trying to order her thoughts. They would have been surprised, because they wouldn't have realised how grateful he was that Alex was willing to speak to him at all.

Half-turned. He still couldn't quite imagine it. He remembered the first time he turned at a full moon. Like most of his race, it happened after his body matured when he was almost seventeen. His senses had sharpened to an unbearable degree, nausea had doubled him over and his bones felt like they were coming apart. He had been taught not to resist the wolf that rose within him, had been taught to breath through the pain and that it would only happen once and never again. Despite that, only when he allowed his wolf to surface and transformed, did that hellish state ebb away.

How had she survived this long with no relief? Anger at what she had been made to endure warred with pride in the strength of his mate as he watched her finger the bracelet on her wrist.

"Ten years ago, my parents and I were driving to go hiking just outside of Hong Kong." She didn't look at him as she spoke, choosing instead to stare out the window. "We hit something big, or maybe it hit us, I don't know. The car flipped. Dad called for me. I was bleeding. Mom was unconscious. Then a wolf appeared." She swallowed hard. "It tore at dad's throat then came for me. I was in the back, the seats were crushed, so he couldn't reach me."

Gabriel reached out for Alex, wanting to protect her from the memory, wanting to kill the bastard who did this to her. She looked down at his hand on her knee, then up at him. "It was a werewolf wasn't it?"

He could only nod in shame, "I'm sorry, Alex."

"The wolf disappeared, then there was a man. Or it was his human form. He took the gun my dad kept in the glove compartment, put it in his hand and shot my mom." Alex shifted, straightening her back and pushed his hand away. "After that I don't remember."

The bastard. The fucking bastard. He had run into a family, then decided to leave no loose ends. "I will find him."

Alex looked at him in surprise.

"I will find him," Gabriel repeated. "Harming humans is not tolerated by our laws. I will find him and he will pay with his life for what he did to you and your family."

He saw her shiver and tried to soften his voice. "We will find him, Alex. Then, when justice is done, I will turn you and you will finally be free of the pain."

"No." The firmness in her reply surprised him. He understood that she hated the wolf who killed her parents, she had every reason to, but why would she continue living in pain when there was an alternative? There was something he didn't know, something he had to uncover to understand...

"Why did you come here?"

Alex looked confused, so he rephrased his question, "Why did you accept this job? Why did you ask for my personal time? Wasn't it because you wanted something from me?"

She looked away, "I wanted to learn how you were blocking your pain from me."

Blocking? He thought about it, realising that the wall he raised to stop werewolves from using their talents on him must have blocked her ability as well. "So you came here to learn how to stop drawing pain. It's easily done, I can teach you."

"You can?" Her eyes lit up with sudden excitement, "That's all I want. Just teach me that and I will leave. I won't complicate things for any of you, I'll head back to Hong Kong, I won't say a word about you or your kind, I swear."

Gabriel's smile faltered, his wolf balking at the though of their mate leaving them. He wanted to grab her, to hold her tight so she could not go anywhere, but he pushed his feelings aside. Right now, he had to focus on Alex. She had to understand. "You need to complete the Turning for me to be able to teach you."

The hopeful gleam slipped away from her expression and Alex stood."I would rather be in pain for the rest of my life." His jacket fell from her shoulders, landing in a pool around her feet."I will not become one of you."

Gabriel's eyes moved from her clenched jaw to the red stains across her white jumpsuit. Those damned bastards, he should have killed them. His patience had finally run out.

Needing to get their dirty blood off of her, he grabbed Alex by the wrist and dragged her to the bathroom.

"Stop! Damn it, Gabriel, I told you to stop dragging me!"