by I. T. Lucas
Other than Phinas, the rest of the men hadn’t been told yet, but Kalugal hadn’t kept it a well-guarded secret either, so rumors about his godly mother must have already spread.
“I don’t know how much talking you do with Atzil, but he and the rest of the men don’t know about Kalugal’s mother being a goddess. For now, I think it’s best to keep it that way.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why? Don’t you trust them?”
“I do, and so does Kalugal, but I don’t know how he wants to handle it.” Rufsur leaned closer and smiled. “With one exception, my job is to look out for Kalugal’s interests.”
“What’s the exception?”
“You. As long as I think that I still have a chance, it’s every man for himself.”
23
Jacki
Jacki hated to burst Rufsur’s bubble, but he would find out soon enough, and it was better that he heard it from her.
“The game never started. I like you, a lot, but as a brother.”
He grimaced. “Ouch.”
“I’m sorry.” She glanced at the kitchen entrance, making sure that Atzil wasn’t coming back, and leaned closer to Rufsur’s ear. “Kalugal and I are getting married.”
He recoiled. “What?”
“We are getting married.”
“I heard you. But why? Do you even love him?”
She did, but she wasn’t ready to admit it. “Love will come later.”
“What about your conviction that a relationship between an immortal and a human is not possible?”
“I figured that two good decades with Kalugal were worth the compromise.” She sighed. “I’m only twenty-two, and if I take good care of myself, I will still look good at forty-two, maybe even a little longer. After that, I doubt that Kalugal will still want me.”
This was just empty talk.
Jacki hoped that Kalugal would love her so much that wrinkles and saggy skin would make no difference to him, and that he would keep her until she died. But that wasn’t fair to him. In thirty or forty years, he would still look the same, and when she lost her physical appeal, he would crave a young replacement.
Maybe they could remain friends and companions, though. Sex had never been all that important to her anyway.
Rufsur shook his head. “I don’t understand. Marriage is just a meaningless piece of paper. Why go through the charade? I don’t get what either of you has to gain by it.”
He was right, of course, but their marriage wasn’t about getting a written certificate. It was about a pledge that would be witnessed and therefore binding at least to some degree.
“We are going to pledge ourselves to each other in front of witnesses, and that’s stronger and more binding than a piece of paper. Both Kalugal and I have trust issues, and this pledge will help us overcome them and move our relationship to the next level.”
He arched a brow. “Are you referring to sex?”
She was sleeping in Kalugal’s old upstairs office, and if the two of them had been getting it on, no one would have been any the wiser. Except, Rufsur had kept his eyes and ears on them, and it seemed as if so far their relationship had remained platonic.
“In part, yes. I made a vow to myself that I would never get intimate with a man who didn’t cherish me, respect me, love me, and who would stand by me in sickness and in health. I don’t have Kalugal’s love yet, but a wedding will ensure that all my other requirements are met.”
“How did you arrive at that conclusion?”
“Kalugal wouldn’t marry me in front of witnesses if he didn’t respect me. He’s much too prideful to take a wife he doesn’t hold in high regard, especially in front of his men, and hopefully Kian and Lokan as well. And since people he cares about and respects will hear him promise that he will always take care of me, he will lose face if he doesn’t fulfill that promise.”
Rufsur took a long moment to ponder her response. “Your logic is not totally flawed, but you are basing your assumptions on human behavior, and you don’t know Kalugal as well as I do. He’s not a bad guy, but he has no problem lying and cheating if it serves his purpose. He can promise you the moon with no intention of ever delivering. And as for the loss of face, he will find a way to excuse his behavior or compensate for it. He will not hang you out to dry, and he will most likely ensure that you lack for nothing for the rest of your life, but that’s a far cry from what you expect him to deliver.”
Rufsur hadn’t told Jacki anything new. Ever since she’d agreed to Kalugal’s proposal, she’d been struggling with the same doubts.
But then, Rufsur hadn’t been there when Kalugal had convinced her to marry him either. He’d sounded so sincere, and the things he’d told her were as close as it got to telling her he loved her without actually using those precise words. And it hadn’t been rehearsed either because it had started as her idea, and she doubted Kalugal could lie so convincingly on the spot.
Besides, why would he go to all that trouble if he didn’t believe in a future for them?
It couldn’t be just about getting her to have sex with him. Jacki refused to believe that.
“I’m willing to take the risk,” she said. “If I don’t, I might miss out on the best thing that has ever happened to me. And if eventually I get disappointed, I will at least have something wonderful to remember. The only downside is the heartache I’ll suffer once Kalugal lets me go, but I can prepare myself for it.”
He arched a brow. “Can you?”
She sighed. “Do I have a choice?”
“Yes, you do. Don’t marry him and save yourself the heartache.”
“It’s already too late. I will be devastated no matter when I leave. But if I marry Kalugal, I will at least get a taste of wonderful, and I’ll savor it for as long as it lasts.”
24
Jin
As Arwel turned their new motorhome into the dirt road leading up to the cabin, Jin realized that her idea wasn’t as brilliant as she’d thought it was.
It wasn’t her fault, though. She hadn’t known that to get up there they would need to drive on a goat trail that was barely wide enough for a compact.
The motorhome was the size of a bus, and the entire thing shook and clunked until Arwel stopped in front of a flimsy-looking metal gate.
“I don’t think we are going to make it up to the cabin with this thing.”
He left the motor running and opened the door. “It will be fine. If William’s van made it up there in one piece, this brand new motorhome will climb it no problem. Besides, I’m an excellent driver.”
As if any guy who’d ever gotten a license thought of himself as less than that. For some reason, men felt that driving reflected on their masculinity.
She needed another excuse. “We should turn around and drive this thing straight to San Francisco. I want to attend Jacki’s wedding.”
“She didn’t give you a date yet, and Kian didn’t greenlight your participation either.” He shook his head. “I still can’t wrap my head around her and Kalugal getting married.”
“Why not? It happened just as fast for us, and Jacki is an old-fashioned girl with old-fashioned values.”
Jin hadn’t told Arwel that her friend was a virgin, but he was smart enough to figure it out.
As a gust of cold wind ruffled Jin’s hair, Arwel closed the driver's side door. “If Jacki was about to get married to one of my friends, I would wish the couple best of luck. But I don’t trust Kalugal. He is good-looking, smart, charming, manipulative, and he’s paying twenty-five thousand dollars per day for the privilege of her company. No wonder that she’s fallen for him. But that doesn’t mean that he feels the same about her. The only reason he wants her is that she can possibly give him Dormant children who will turn immortal. What will he do with her if she doesn’t transition?”
Jin sighed. “I know, and I even thought about warning her or asking Kian to convince Kalugal to tell her before the wedding. But Jacki is not stupid, and she knows that she and Kalugal a
re not going to last forever. She thinks that she is a plain human, but that she has plenty of time until she gets too old to be attractive. If she is willing to marry him under those assumptions, then learning about her potential dormancy will only reinforce her decision. So, what’s the point?”
“Would you have agreed to marry me if you didn’t know about your potential to become immortal?”
“I’m not old-fashioned like Jacki, so I wouldn’t have married you, but I would still have moved in with you and enjoyed our time together for as long as it lasted. What about you?”
Arwel frowned. “Kian would have never agreed for you to move into the village, but I would have quit my job, said goodbye to my family and friends, and gone to live with you among humans.”
“There you go.” She waved a hand. “Now you understand why Jacki is marrying Kalugal.”
“Yeah, I guess, but that doesn’t ease my mind. If she doesn’t transition, he might kick her out sooner than she thinks.”
Jin put her hand on Arwel’s shoulder. “Nothing that’s worthwhile in life comes with guarantees, but it’s better to take a chance and fail than to give up without trying.”
Arwel’s lips curled in a smile. “I come with guarantees.” Then his smile faded. “That’s not entirely true. I’m a Guardian, and there is a small level of risk involved in that.”
“Don’t remind me.” Jin pouted. “That’s the only reason I’m not overly eager for my transition to start. As long as we are still working on it, you are not going back to work.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything. The risk factor is negligible, and we haven’t lost a single Guardian in centuries.”
Jin let out a breath. “That’s good to know.”
As Arwel opened the door, Jin grimaced. “I still think that we should head to San Francisco. What if Jacki emails me that she’s getting married tomorrow? It’s an eight-hour drive, and Kian took the clan’s jet. Do you have another one?”
“We do, but I could drive through the night while you sleep. Besides, the whole point of getting this motorhome was so you could join Wendy and Richard in the cabin.”
Apparently, using Jacki’s upcoming nuptials as an excuse wasn’t going to work, and Jin had to admit that she was scared to ride in the huge motorhome up a dirt lane that was way too steep and narrow for it.
“True, but neither you nor Kian told me that the road to the cabin was a goat trail. I’m still a fragile human, and I’m scared that this thing is going to topple over.”
Arwel leaned toward her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Do you think I would ever take unnecessary risks with your life?”
She pouted. “Guys have a tendency to get overconfident. Especially immortal Guardians who are practically indestructible.”
“Would you feel safer going up there in a car?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll call Bowen and ask him to come get you. You can go up with him, and I’ll drive the motorhome by myself.” He smirked. “Let’s make a bet. When I make it to the cabin without a hitch, you’ll owe me a massage.”
“Deal. But if you get all banged up because you failed, how are you going to give me one?”
“You’ll have to settle for an IOU.”
25
Kalugal
“Walk with me for a few minutes.” Kian gestured to Kalugal as they stepped out of the conference room.
“Of course.”
Before heading home, Kalugal would have preferred to catch Lokan for a quick private chat, but he couldn’t refuse Kian’s invitation.
By the disappointed expression on Lokan’s face, he’d been hoping for the same. “I will see you tomorrow morning.”
Kalugal nodded. “Ten o’clock.”
After taking the elevator down to the lobby, Kian and Kalugal crossed it to the back exit and started on the same path that they’d taken only a couple of hours ago. No other guests were enjoying the hotel grounds. The humans were either holed up in their rooms or had left.
“Do you play golf?” Kalugal asked.
“No, do you?”
“I don’t, but maybe we should give it a go. A lot of talking can be done on a golf course.” Kalugal glanced back at their five bodyguards who were trailing a respectable distance behind them. “That would have looked much more natural.”
“If you don’t mind talking about Jacki in front of everyone, we could do that in the conference room.”
“It doesn’t feel right to talk about her even with you, but I have no choice.”
“I get it. I wouldn’t want to discuss my wife with anyone either. But what I wanted to talk to you about is not your relationship with Jacki. You should bring her along tomorrow.”
“It has crossed my mind. But I didn’t know whether you’d be okay with addressing the program first. I thought that you would want to focus on our coexistence treaty.”
“Us working together on shutting down the program is a good start, and Jacki could shed more light on its inner workings and the facility it’s in. But that’s not my only reason for wanting her here. Wonder is anxious to meet Jacki and hear all about her vision.”
“Can I meet Wonder as well?”
Kian shook his head. “We don’t have spare earpieces, and I don’t want you anywhere around my people who don’t have them.”
“Maybe Wonder can borrow her mate’s device?”
Kian arched a brow. “Did Jacki tell you about Wonder being Anandur’s mate?”
“She confirmed what I already knew. I met Wonder and Anandur in Egypt, but since they didn’t see me, maybe met is not the right word. I saw Wonder, and I was intrigued by her resemblance to the figurine, so I shrouded myself and came closer for a better look. She sensed me, so I figured that she must be an immortal. Then her mate joined her, and I knew for sure that he was one.”
“Who did you think they were?”
“I assumed that they were Annani’s people. I doubted that my father had reformed his ways and allowed females to transition or warriors to take mates. So I knew that they weren’t members of the Brotherhood.”
“We have a theory about that. We know that he doesn’t want the Dormant females to transition because he wants them to produce as many offspring as human females do. But he might have another reason that is just as important. The mated bond is incredibly powerful, and it can override his compulsion.”
“Fascinating. How did you arrive at that conclusion?”
“Dalhu, the ex-Doomer who fell in love with my sister, said that the longer he stayed away from the island, the more freely he could think. But the final severing cut was his bond with Amanda. His loyalty to her comes first, and he will do anything to protect her.”
Kalugal arched a brow. “And you believe him?”
“I do. That’s why I eventually accepted him as a full-fledged member of my clan. Dalhu is a formidable warrior, and my sister has a tendency to rush head-long into trouble. She needs a strong protector, and the Fates found the perfect one for her.”
“And you believe in that as well?”
Kian chuckled. “I understand your skepticism. I was a skeptic too, but I couldn’t keep denying what was happening right in front of my eyes. After thousands of years of searching, suddenly Dormants started appearing out of nowhere and finding their way to their fated mates.” He smiled. “That’s why I didn’t fight you when you asked to keep Jacki. I think she is fated to be yours.”
A weight lifted off Kalugal’s chest as Kian’s conviction encouraged him to believe in what he already felt in his heart and his gut. It gave him hope. “I have a feeling that she is. But what made you think that?”
“The bizarre circumstances of your meeting. The more convoluted they are, the more I suspect the Fates' involvement. Except, we believe that the Fates reward those who suffer greatly or sacrifice a lot for others, and that doesn’t really apply in your case. I think they favored you for another reason. Given your powers and being that you are Navuh’s son, you can bri
ng change to the status quo that has existed between our people since before the bombing. You are uniquely positioned to unify us, and that may be the Fates’ agenda for you and Jacki.”
Kalugal snorted. “I didn’t take you for the sort of guy who believes in a utopian future. Some causes are lost no matter what, and Navuh and his island fall into that category. Forget about it. Just make sure that your people are protected the way you’ve done so far and let it be. I’m not going to take over the island. First of all, because I can’t, and even if I could, I wouldn’t. The potential loss of life is not worth it. There aren’t that many of us left.”
Nodding, Kian sighed. “I know. I let myself get carried away on the wings of wistfulness. Maybe someday it will become a realistic possibility, but you are right. We still have a long way to go.”
26
Kian
“I don’t know if it will ever be possible, not without bloodshed that would decimate our population.” Kalugal tucked his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket. “It could mean extinction even for the Brotherhood, which has more members than your clan by order of magnitude.” He shrugged. “Maybe my father’s organization will eventually disperse on its own.”
Kian wished that he could have heard Kalugal’s tone of voice to assess the sincerity of his statement, but the downside of using the earpieces was that no matter who the speaker was, everything was delivered in the same emotionless computer voice.
Perhaps the cuff Kalugal had offered to wear would solve that problem as well, and they could forgo the earpieces.
“We had the same hopes, but that was before we realized that he holds the Brotherhood together by using compulsion. A grassroots revolution is not going to happen. But we digress. I wanted to talk to you about Jacki. If you bring her tomorrow, we can ask her to tell us more about the program, and when she is done, one of my Guardians can escort her to see Wonder.”