by I. T. Lucas
“Right.” Kalugal regarded the two, looking them up and down. “As if a ferocious redheaded Viking and a fallen angel are not going to attract attention.”
The redhead grinned, taking Kalugal’s comment as a compliment. The blond’s expression didn’t change, but then Kalugal hadn’t expected it to. Throughout the meeting, the Guardian had done a great impersonation of a statue.
But then, he surprised him by actually opening his mouth to speak. “I can make us both invisible,” the Guardian offered. “And if you wish, I can make your men invisible as well.”
Kalugal waved a hand. “Make it so. And if the rest of you want to join us, you’re welcome. It seems that Kian and I will not have our privacy after all.”
“I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs as well.” The immune got up and joined the group. “But I’ll keep my distance and not intrude on your conversation.
“I’ll stay here,” Lokan said. “And so will my men.”
“Thank you.” Kalugal dipped his head in appreciation.
As the seven of them left the room, Kian cast Kalugal a sidelong glance. “It comes with the job. I’m so used to having Brundar and Anandur with me at all times that I often forget that they are there.”
“You don’t ever go out alone?”
Kian shook his head. “I’m the regent, and with the position comes responsibility. If I take unnecessary risks, I’m endangering more than myself. My people depend on me.”
“Makes sense for you because you are in charge of a community that includes females and children. My men might not like it when I travel alone, and Rufsur gives me the same speech, saying that they would be lost without me, but I do it anyway. If anything happened to me, they could take care of themselves.”
Kian nodded. “It’s different when you are in charge of only warriors.”
Kalugal glanced behind him, making sure that his men were a fair distance behind them. Unlike Kian’s guards, they didn’t have earpieces that muffled the sounds of his conversation with Kian.
“Things might change for me soon, though. Jacki and I are getting married.”
Kian stopped and turned to him. “Married? Why?”
Kalugal took his cousin’s elbow and kept walking. “My men don’t know about it yet. Jacki is an old-fashioned girl, and she has trust issues. For our relationship to progress to the next level, she needed assurances, and a marriage proposal satisfied that need.”
Kian chuckled. “She wouldn’t have sex with you without a ring on her finger. Clever girl.”
“That she is, but the idea was actually mine.” It had been Jacki’s, but she hadn’t been serious, and Kalugal had run with it, taking it to the next level. Besides, he didn’t want Kian to think of Jacki as a manipulative gold-digger. “Because of Jacki’s immunity, I need her commitment and loyalty before I can tell her about her dormancy, so marriage works for me as well.”
“Jacki can’t get married using her real name. We prepared fake documentation for her, but it won’t pass closer scrutiny. We can make her better ones, but it will take time.”
“Given our special circumstances, we decided to make it a private ceremony without anyone officiating over it. We will pledge ourselves to each other in front of witnesses. The thing is, Jacki wants her friends to be there, and I want her to have a proper wedding, with a beautiful bridal dress and an elegant reception. The celebration could be a great opportunity for our people to mingle.”
As he’d expected, Kian immediately assumed that this was a hoax designed to lure him and his people into a trap.
Chuckling, he cast Kalugal an amused look. “With my people wearing earpieces, that would be a very strange party. And since we don’t have enough of them, and William is producing the devices one at a time, only a couple of Jacki’s friends will be able to attend.”
That was better than he’d expected. Kian was willing to allow two of his people to attend, which would fulfill Jacki’s minimum requirement for having at least some of her friends witness their pledge, but it wouldn’t make her happy.
Kalugal wanted more for her, and to achieve that, he was willing to make unusual sacrifices.
“I have a better solution. You can have William make me a cuff like the one he made for Jacki, but instead of it producing interference, it will be equipped with a zapper. Turner can hold the remote, and if I try to compel your people, he can immobilize me.” Kalugal smiled. “Problem solved.”
Kian stopped again, turned, and looked into Kalugal’s eyes. “You are willing to put your life in my hands to give Jacki a proper wedding?”
Kalugal smirked. “I don’t fear you, Kian. I know that you don’t harbor malicious intentions toward me.” He leaned forward, getting into Kian’s face. “I trust you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do. Your main concern is your people, and the only reason you would ever attack me is if I pose a threat to them. I have nothing that you want, and you have nothing that I want, except for your clanswomen, that is. My men would love to have a chance to meet them, but that’s up to you. You probably consider former Brotherhood members unworthy of your clan females.”
Kian snorted. “That’s true, and yet my sister is mated to an ex-Doomer.”
That was a piece of shocking news. “How did that happen?”
Kian resumed walking. “He kidnapped her, and when we found them, I wanted to tear his throat out with my bare fangs. My sister attacked me to protect him.”
“Unbelievable. What did you do?”
“For many weeks after that, I couldn’t even look at her. Our mother got involved, naturally siding with Amanda. Everyone thought that I was the unreasonable one.”
Kalugal shook his head. “Why would the goddess encourage your sister’s mating to a former Mortdh follower?”
“Because Annani is a romantic, and she believed that Amanda and Dalhu were fated for each other. She was right, of course. They are.”
Kalugal shook his head again. “I think of myself as a reasonable guy, but I don’t know if I could have accepted a former enemy as a brother-in-law.”
“It wasn’t easy. But Dalhu submitted to a terrible test to prove his love for Amanda, and after that, I had to accept that he was the right choice for her. I still put him on long probation, but I allowed him to move in with her.”
“How is your relationship with him now?”
“Excellent. He’s proven himself trustworthy time and again. You can ask Jacki about him. She met him.”
“But she didn’t know who he was.”
“She didn’t know who any of us were.”
“Perhaps he could attend the ceremony? I would love to meet him.”
“I don’t know if he’d want to go. Dalhu is a bit of a recluse, spending most of his time with his canvases, painting beautiful landscapes, and occasionally portraits.”
“He is the talented artist who provided you with portraits of my brothers?”
“Correct. But he didn’t remember you.”
“I wasn’t part of the Brotherhood’s high command. When I escaped, I was only a junior commander.”
“That was what I assumed. But the other Doomer that crossed over to our side remembered you.”
“I’m sure there is a story there too.”
“There is. You can ask your brother about it. He is mated to the woman who that former Doomer rescued from Sharim, Losham’s adopted son.”
“Fascinating. I will do that as soon as I can.”
Kalugal couldn’t wait to have a few moments alone with Lokan, and not just because he was curious to hear the story of how his brother came to be mated to a clanswoman. He wanted to know how Lokan managed to infiltrate the harem and deliver a communication device to their mother. But first, he needed to finalize the details of his and Jacki’s wedding.
“You didn’t give me an answer about the ceremony yet. Will you be okay with letting more of Jacki’s friends attend if I wear a cuff? It’s very important to her.”
&nb
sp; “I’ll discuss it with Turner in regard to security, and I’ll also talk with my sister. Amanda is the queen of organizing parties. If anyone can pull off a beautiful wedding on short notice, it’s her.”
Kalugal stopped and offered Kian his hand. “Thank you. This ceremony means a lot to Jacki and me, and it also symbolizes a new beginning for all of us.”
Nodding, Kian shook Kalugal’s hand. “Let’s hope it’s a good one.”
21
Lokan
As Kalugal left with Kian, Lokan leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.
Kalugal was difficult to assess. He seemed easygoing, relaxed, and surprisingly charming. His self-confidence was a good indication of the power he wielded.
Surrounded by men who were his potential enemies, he hadn’t looked concerned. Kalugal was either a superb actor, an excellent judge of character, or had tricks up his sleeve that none of them were ready for.
Could he trust him?
Lokan’s instincts said yes, but they weren’t reliable. They were influenced by his desire to have Kalugal as an ally, a true brother who he could count on, and not someone he should be wary of as he had been of his adopted brothers.
Except, wishing it didn’t make it so, and he needed to tread carefully with Kalugal.
His brother’s agenda wasn’t clear. He claimed to have no interest in the island or in Annani’s clan, and to wish to be left alone. And yet he’d agreed to participate in the summit and was willing to strike some sort of a cooperation agreement.
When the conference doors opened, and the group walked back in, the first thing Lokan noticed was Kian’s upbeat mood. Whatever they had discussed on their walk must have been good news, and he wondered whether they were going to share it with him and the clansmen pretending to be his bodyguards.
Kalugal cast him a quick smile. “I apologize for not including you in the conversation, but it’s a personal matter, and I had to get Kian’s approval first.”
“Did you get it?”
“It’s contingent on several things that he needs to check, but it looks good. I’ll fill you in as soon as I can.”
Damn, the guy was too charming.
Lokan nodded. “We should meet outside of the summit.”
“Perhaps after we adjourn for the day, you and I can grab a drink in the hotel’s bar?”
“Sounds great, but I can stay only for a short time. My mate is waiting for me.”
“I know what you mean. I want to get back to Jacki too.” He tilted his head. “She tells me that the two of you have met.”
“We did. I was the one who removed the recruiter’s compulsion from Jacki’s friends.” He smiled. “She is one hell of a lady. I heard that she went after you and your second-in-command and tried to take you both on.”
“She did.” Kalugal looked proud. “And if we were human, she might have succeeded.”
Turner cleared his throat. “Shall we get back to our agenda for today?”
“Yes.” Kalugal pulled out a chair and sat down. “Let’s finalize the tentative plan for rescuing the rest of the trainees and shutting down the program. I think that my plan can work.”
“Which one?” Turner asked. “You had several.”
“A combination of all of them. You capture the director and his recruiter and keep them away from the facility. I shroud myself to look and sound like him, walk in, and collect the trainees. After that, you can either let the pair of them go or get rid of them. Roni will infect their database with a computer virus, and if he can make it look as if the director did that before disappearing, that would be best. We also need to get rid of Roberts. I have a feeling that he is the real brain behind the operation.”
“I’m not going to kill three people over this,” Kian said.
Lokan shook his head. Kian’s sanctimonious attitude could be a real pain in the ass.
“Why not? They are not good people.”
Kalugal lifted a hand. “If you are squeamish about it, my men can do it for you. Those three humans need to be eliminated, and the best way to make sure they don’t ever cause trouble again is to end them.”
“I don’t agree,” Kian said. “By solving one problem, we will create another. The director and his cronies have access to an incredible infrastructure that collects information on paranormal talents. Some of those talented humans are potential Dormants, and we need them. Without Simmons and his cohorts, we will lose the only access we have to those Dormants. We don’t have the means to identify them on our own.”
“How are you going to get the information out of them?” Kalugal asked. “You’ve said that the recruiter is probably watched closely and has an implanted tracker on her.”
“We will follow the recruiter around and keep track of the trainees she brings into the program. Once they are sent out on missions, we will approach them.”
Kalugal reached for one of the bottles and refilled his glass. “We can’t let the program continue. That’s more important than collecting possible Dormants. We will have to find a way to tap into the collected data and deploy our own bots to search for trigger words.”
Kian eyed him with both brows raised. “As I said, we don’t have the resources. Do you?”
“I might.”
“How?”
“The American government is not the only one collecting information. The Chinese do that as well, and it will be easier to hack into their servers.”
Kian looked doubtful. “Are you sure about that? They don’t have installations spread out all over the world.”
“You mean the Western world. But who said that all the possible Dormants are in the West? Jin and her sister are proof that you need to broaden your horizons.”
“That’s true. Still, perhaps we can come up with a solution that would enable us to take control over the program, giving us access to the information, but not letting it leak to where it shouldn’t.”
Kalugal shook his head. “I can’t pretend to be Simmons indefinitely. I have a business to run.”
“Of course not, and I would never suggest it.” Kian glanced at Turner. “What do you think? Can that be done?”
“I don’t see how, but I’ll give it some thought.”
“Thank you.” Kian poured himself another shot. “This was a very productive meeting. Let’s make toast to our future cooperation.”
Kalugal lifted his glass. “To family.” He looked at Lokan and then at Kian.
Leaning toward his brother, Lokan clinked his glass. “To family.”
22
Rufsur
Rufsur wondered what had prompted Kalugal to leave him in charge instead of taking him to the summit.
On the one hand, it made sense to leave the most senior officer behind. In case things went wrong, and Kian’s intention hadn’t been cooperation but capturing Kalugal, Rufsur was the most capable of leading the men and organizing a rescue.
But on the other hand, leaving him alone with Jacki was like putting the cat in charge of guarding the cream.
The boss was well aware of his infatuation with the girl. And even though Rufsur had backed away after Kalugal had made it clear that she belonged to him, it didn’t mean that those feelings were gone.
Was it a test of loyalty?
And if it was, what was he going to do about it?
It depended on how Jacki felt. On the face of things, it seemed like she was taken with Kalugal, which wasn’t a big surprise, but maybe her feelings didn’t run deep, and Rufsur still had a chance.
Then again, was Jacki worth alienating his boss and maybe even losing his position as second-in-command?
Tough question.
Perhaps the best thing to do was talk to the girl and see where both of them stood.
Checking the security feed, he found her in the kitchen, which was a good sign. With Kalugal and Phinas gone, she had no reason to make lunch unless she was cooking for him.
A smile curving his lips, Rufsur pushed away from the desk and headed t
o the kitchen.
“I thought that you would take the day off.” He walked up to her. “What are you making?”
“Mushroom and onion filled crepes.”
“Sounds delicious. Who are you making them for?”
“The usual suspects. It’s just a snack, not a meal. Atzil has dinner ready for this evening.” She gestured at the ovens. “He has a roast in there.”
Rufsur glanced around the kitchen, but Atzil wasn’t there. “Where is he?”
“Taking a break.”
Excellent. He had Jacki all to himself. “I’m a little peckish.” He leaned over the platter with folded crepes. “Are those ready?”
“In a moment. I need to add garnish. Take a seat.” She pointed at the kitchen table. “It will be done in a moment.”
“Thank you.” Rufsur walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. “What would you like to drink?”
She looked at the beer he was holding. “Is that Blue Moon?”
“Yes. Do you want one?”
“Please.”
The beer was tasty, which was the only reason to drink it. The alcohol content was negligible for an immortal.
He took the two bottles to the table and sat down. “I hope things are going well at the summit and that it wasn’t a trap.”
“It wasn’t. Kian is a straight shooter.” Jacki brought the platter to the table and went back for plates. “He really wants an alliance with you guys.” She put the plates and utensils down. “Dig in.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Rufsur put four crepes on his plate. “How well do you know Kian?”
She shrugged. “Not well, but I’m a good judge of character, and Kian is an honorable guy. Besides, you forget that their mothers are pulling strings in the background, and both goddesses would be majorly pissed if Kian did something underhanded to his cousin.”
That was true. Kalugal would have wished to please his mother even if she was only an immortal, but given the shocking revelation that she was a goddess and Annani’s sister, he probably was even more inclined to do so.