Love Beyond Sanity by Rebecca Royce Page B

smiled at Trent who bowed his head again. "I suppose you want to be thanked."
    Trent blinked frantically. "No, Master, of course not. No thanks, not ever."
    Nodding, Sebastian turned towards the door. "This place is disgusting. Don't you have any pride in your work?" Behind him, he let the door slam.
     
    * * * *
     
    Gabriel waited for a few minutes and watched the man sweep up the mess in his store. He could hardly believe what he'd witnessed. His sane, rational mind that had all but stopped functioning properly when he was twelve and discovered he could teleport people disappeared completely. He supposed he shouldn't be shocked Sebastian could turn into a fire-breathing dragon.
    He wondered if he should have video recorded it on his cell phone. Now, that would be a video people would want to watch on the Internet. The real question was what had the large man given his foster brother, and what did it do for him? Was Sebastian actually a dragon and the substance kept him in human form or was there something else happening entirely?
    If the scene had gone on another minute, Gabriel was going to intervene. Not that he had any idea how he'd stand up to a dragon, but he would have tried to do something.
    Sighing, Gabriel put his hands in his jacket pockets. He was going to have to get this information one way or another. Walking through the door, Gabriel wasn't surprised when the man leapt to his feet and backed up a step. If he'd just been through what the storeowner had endured, he'd jump around too.
    Examining the mess in front of him as if he'd not seen it earlier through the window, Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Rough night, man?"
    He hoped his friendly manner worked as well on this person as it did on most of the population. No one knew better than Gabriel what he looked like and just how disarming it could be. Once upon a time, he'd looked as genteel as the human version of Sebastian however it had never fit well on him. The older he got, the less civilized he became and the harder it got to dress himself in the clothes of people who behaved properly, who always said the right thing.
    Hell, he couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten a haircut. Most days, he just pulled the black strands into a ponytail and moved on. His jeans and plain t-shirt spoke of a person who didn't care for appearances and knew it. All of this was absolutely true. What most people didn't realize was that it also let almost everyone he met underestimate him.
    "I'm sorry, as you can see we've had an incident. The store is closed tonight. I forgot to turn the sign on the door." The man gestured to the door. Gabriel heard Uptown New Orleans in his voice, which meant one of two things. Either the storeowner practiced his speech because he wanted to sound richer than he actually was, or he had been raised amongst the elite.
    Before Sebastian's family had adopted him, he and Alexa had lived all over the state of Louisiana. His adolescence had been spent in the most prestigious private school and he had grown up knowing all the right people. It bored him to death. "Maybe I can help you clean some of this up. What happened? Did you get robbed?" Gabriel knelt down to gather some of the merchandise strewn all over the floor.
    "Don't think you're walking out of here with any of that for free."
    Snob to the 'nth degree . Gabriel actually had to work to suppress his smile. It would be like taking candy from a baby, and if it wasn't, then he'd do what had to be done. The second Sebastian had breathed fire, all rules ended.
    Pretending to smile, Gabriel stood up. "Don't worry, sir. I came in here to buy some merchandise not steal it."
    Sighing, the other man looked forlorn. "I'm sorry that was rude. As you can see, I'm having a day."
    Nodding, Gabriel set the disgusting panties that he wouldn't purchase for any woman he ever knew, down on the counter in front of the flaming cash register. "I can imagine getting robbed would do that to you. Hey, do you need me to