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a second mother than an employee. Rose reciprocated by worrying and fussing over her like Gabi was one of her own brood. 
    "Good grief , where did you get those bruises?" Rose exclaimed, taking Gabi's face in her hands and turning it this way and that to inspect every bruise and cut.  "What happened?  I thought you were off duty." 
    "I'm fine , Rose," Gabi cut off her concerned litany. "It’s nothing serious.  I just had a…uh…training session with Derek.  We had a bit too much fun, that's all."
    "Fun?" Rose’s voice went up an octave in disbelief. 
    Gabi grinned.  "Yep, best fun I've had in weeks."  She kissed the other woman's cheek and turned to head out of the kitchen before she got more of a tongue-lashing.  "I'm hitting the shower . Would you mind putting some breakfast in my office for me?  I've got a hectic day, and I need to answer some emails before I head out." 
    Rose was still grumbling , but Gabi knew she'd be over it soon.  She was used to Gabi's attitude towards injuries.  A couple of months ago Gabi would've had to at least put an ice pack on some of the worst bruises, and possibly surgical tape over some of the cuts.  She'd always healed fast, in about a third the time a healthy norm would’ve, but nowhere near as fast or as well as a Werewolf or Vampire.  However, with regular ingestion of Julius's blood, she now healed twice as fast as before.  It was a serious plus in her books; she'd always resented Kyle's ability to heal faster than her. 
    It was in the shower that she finally came to some kind of decision about dealing with Julius.  As the hot water coursed over her, rinsing the subtly scented body wash from her skin, she knew she needed to crack someone in the know.  Aside from Julius, that would be Alexander and Trish, she couldn't be sure of anyone else.  Though honestly , after the way Kyle looked at her last night, she wouldn't count him out of the loop, at least to some degree.  Much as she hated to put her on the spot, Trish was definitely the weakest link; the others knew her too well.
    She shut off the water and stepped out to towel herself dry, then caught a glimpse of her body in the full -size mirror and was instantly torn between annoyance and pleasure as she looked at the stamp of Julius's mouth and hands clearly imprinted all over her skin.  The only place he'd avoided was her face and neck. She needed to present the world with a professional face for work, and he respected that.  For the rest, well, she'd be wearing a long-sleeve shirt for the next day or two.  Pity she hadn't told Derek the no-face rule, she'd have to come up with a way to explain the black eye, cut lip and shiner on her right cheekbone before one of her clients put her on the spot.  She left the bathroom, shaking her head. If she didn't have a plausible excuse, someone would think she had an abusive boyfriend and start handing out 'women's help' cards again.  She quickly picked out a smart but practical pants suit from her wardrobe and brainstormed how to get Trish alone to do some interrogation. 
     
    It was much later in the day when she finally settled on the perfect way to get Trish alone and where no one could overhear them.  She'd spent the morning working with a big cat trainer who was a regular supplier of cats for movies.  He had a female black panther who'd recently given birth to a litter of five, but she was struggling to cope with the cubs, and the trainer feared she was about to give up on them completely.  The cubs could, of course, be hand-raised, but that was never a preferred choice.  Gabi was their last resort.  She'd worked with the big cat before and liked her calm, mature character.  She'd had to come up with some believable mumbo-jumbo to feed the trainer while she spent nearly two hours locked in the cage with the panther and the tiny, still-blind cubs. 
    In the confines of her mind she spent the time first calming and reassuring Ciara and then calming the