Page 16 of The Wolf and his Witch

That didn’t sound so good forhisAnnabelle.

“Oh, and there aretwopotential Bella Rodriguezs,” interrupted Louis. “Step-sisters.”

Pierre must have him on speakerphone. “Mmm-hmm. Annabelle and Isobella.”

“Oui.” Louis huffed. “You could have led with that and saved us the trouble. I’m not sure why we bother, Pierre.”

Merde.“Just give me the news, you two.” Sometimes Louis was a little overdramatic.

“Fine, but you owe us. We spent all night working on this.”

“No, you didn’t. If you had, you would’ve answered my call. Let me guess, you were busy horizontally. Both of you.”

Pierre chuckled. “You know us too well, brother.”

“We met her atLe Duplex,” added Louis. “She had the hottest little ass I’ve ever seen, and that mouth of hers…well… Let’s just say she—”

“Let’snotsay anything.” Pierre and Louis were his little brothers. Twins. Even as children, the two of them had shared everything, and that practice had continued into adulthood. They shared an apartment, a car and clothes. And women. Gabriel didn’t know how that was going to work when one of them found their mate. Probably like his ancestors. They’d share her. He’d like to be a fly on the wall forthatconversation. “Just give me the information I need. Please.”

“Testy, testy,” said Louis.

“Things not going well with Annabelle?” asked Pierre.

Gabriel growled and a couple passing him in the lobby gave him a wide berth, a look of alarm on their faces. “Stef told you, didn’t she?”Bloody Stef. She probably found his situation amusing. “Look, just…just give me the information, Pierre.”

Of the two of them, Pierre was the more serious, sensible one. He kept Louis in line, for the most part.

Louis huffed down the phone line, but it was Pierre who answered him. “I’ve matched our family genetics through medical records to—”

“Isobella?”

“Oui.Though you had to have guessed by looking at her. She’s the one, Gabriel. The one who mated Edmond and Aubert.”

Gabriel’s relief at Pierre’s confirmation was palpable.

“She’s where we get our stunning good looks from,” added Louis.

“But…” Even over the phone, Gabriel sensed Pierre’s disquiet. “We have a problem.”

Ice slivered down his spine. “What sort of problem?”

“A big one.”

Merde.He paced about the lobby. As if things weren’t complicated enough.

“Isobella’s sick, Gabriel. That’s why she has medical records in the system.”

Gabriel glanced over at the table. Annabelle and Dutton were arguing. Isobella sat quietly, her hands resting in her lap. The wrongness of her scent. She was ill. Of course.

“How sick?”

“It’s not good.”

He raked his hand through his hair. “How long?”

Pierre sighed down the phone line. “It’s hard to say. The diagnosis is only recent, and the cancer is at stage four.”

“Cancer? Stage four? She doesn’t look that sick?”

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