Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Series Book 19)

by I. T. Lucas

  She inspired love.

  It wasn’t only in the words she spoke, although there was ancient wisdom in them, it was in her entire demeanor. Somehow she was the mother, and the lover, and the angel, and a temptress. Annani was an impossible amalgamation of all female archetypes. Young, and yet ancient, inhuman, and yet more human than most.

  For the first time in his life, Turner felt inferior, and it didn’t even bother him. There was no comparison between a human, no matter how talented and unique, and this godly creature. She was other through and through, and yet somehow approachable. Not to him, as long as he was still a human, but to every member of her clan.

  Her people loved her. He could see it in their expressions. Heck, he could feel it reverberating through the crowd.

  Love.

  It must’ve been an incredible force if even he felt it. Like a powerful flame, it melted his ice shield, leaving him exposed, raw.

  It was damn terrifying.

  But was it really Annani’s doing?

  Perhaps the ice shield had been developing cracks for a while now, just waiting for the tiniest of hammers to deliver the final blow that would shatter it to pieces.

  “What’s wrong?” Vanessa, who he’d just noticed was standing next to him, asked in a whisper.

  He shook his head. “Indescribable.”

  She chuckled quietly. “Yeah, I know. One can never get used to her impact.”

  The goddess finished her short speech with the traditional, “You may kiss the bride.” It was the only nod to the wedding traditions Turner was familiar with.

  That, and the groomsmen and the bridesmaids. Then again, the bride and her bridesmaids were all wearing saris. Bridget’s was green, and it accentuated her red hair beautifully. She sneaked a little smile and a hand wave at him as Bhathian lifted Eva in his arms and kissed her.

  The crowd erupted in claps and cheers.

  The goddess’s cheerful laugh rippled through the noise as if carried on a different wavelength. She lifted her glowing arms. “My children, let us celebrate this blessed union. Eat, drink, dance, and be merry!”

  Music blasted from loudspeakers mounted on poles around the village square, and the podium, which the goddess had used for both ceremonies, was turned into a dance floor in a matter of minutes.

  Except, the dancing wasn’t done in couples.

  The groomsman, together with others, Guardians by the looks of them, started forming a line on the stage.

  “Come on, Turner.” Anandur beckoned him. “Come dance with us.”

  He shook his head. “You go ahead.”

  “Don’t be a wuss. What’s the matter, you have stage fright?”

  Damn, Anandur must’ve figured out that Turner was incapable of refusing a challenge.

  “Go!” Vanessa pushed him forward.

  “Do you want to come?” he asked her.

  She laughed. “I don’t know the steps to the sword dance. But I love watching the guys do it, especially since my son is up there. Jackson told me that you’re a great dancer. Bridget will be disappointed if you don’t join in.”

  Now he really had no choice. Besides, perhaps the goddess was watching. She might warm to him if she saw him dancing with her kin.

  “Fine.”

  Grinning from ear to ear, Anandur jumped down and strode toward him. He wrapped his arm around Turner’s shoulders. “We dance, and we get drunk. That’s the Guardian tradition.”

  “I’m not a Guardian.”

  Anandur waved a hand. “Technicality. I think of you as one of us. An honorary Guardian.”

  That was news to him. “What made you change your mind? A few days ago you were trying to convince me to stay in the car while you and the other two real Guardians went in.”

  “I was wrong. You did well. I’ll gladly have you at my side in a fight. You can think fast, and I can swing fast.” Anandur made a fist and demonstrated.

  It seemed that the guy was already drunk. Though Turner wasn’t sure if it was on whiskey or on the wave of love the goddess had released into the air.

  As they climbed up the podium, Turner was dwarfed by the burly men. For a moment, he felt self-conscious about being the shortest guy on the stage, but then he glanced at the tiny goddess and smiled.

  She was by far the smallest figure among the crowd watching the podium, and yet she eclipsed them all. Size didn’t matter. It was the inner power that made the difference.

  Annani took his breath away as she smiled back at him.

  Reflexively, Turner bowed.

  She dipped her head in acknowledgment, honoring him beyond measure.

  Anandur grabbed a huge set of bagpipes. Another immortal, whom Turner didn’t know, jumped on the podium with a large drum strapped to his middle.

  Jackson, who was a baker and not a Guardian, and the youngest of the men on the podium, took center stage.

  “Follow my lead, guys,” he said before nodding to Anandur.

  This was very different than the short number they had done at the bachelorette party. The men danced on and on, and at some point, Turner had to concede defeat. There was no way he could keep up with them.

  Thankfully, Kian stepped down too, allowing Turner to save face as he followed.

  “You look winded, my friend.” He clapped Turner’s back.

  “I was a second away from passing out. Thank you for bailing me out.”

  Kian laughed. “Any time. You should know when to quit. For a human, keeping up with immortals is difficult. Keeping up with Guardians is impossible.”

  “I found out the hard way.”

  “You did well, for an old human, that is. Come on, let me get you a drink.”

  Turner glanced at the crowd watching the dance, looking for a head of fiery red hair, but the only one he spotted belonged to the goddess. Bridget and the other bridesmaids had disappeared.

  “I don’t know if I should drink.” He was already lightheaded from exertion. Alcohol was going to make it worse.

  Kian cast him a hard look. “It’s a wedding. Tradition demands that you get at least a little drunk.”

  Bridget hadn’t mentioned that part. But then she might have thought it didn’t need mentioning. After all, most of her clansmen came from Scotland.

  “Do the women get drunk too?”

  “If they want to, but for the guys it’s mandatory.” Kian winked.

  Was he joking? It was hard to tell.

  “Well, if it’s tradition, I guess I can honor it with a couple of drinks.”

  39

  Tessa

  As Bhathian kissed Eva and the crowd erupted in cheers, Tessa and the other bridesmaids and groomsmen were free to go and enjoy the party.

  The problem was pushing through the crowd of well-wishers. No one paid attention to the small woman trying to get away from the podium instead of closer to it. And the damn sari wasn’t helping.

  How did Indian women walk in those things so gracefully? They must’ve been using a lot of safety pins. Tessa was struggling to keep the long swathe from sliding off her shoulder, and the skirt from tangling between her legs.

  Perhaps she could sneak into Amanda's house and change into the original bridesmaid outfit. It wasn’t as beautiful as her sari, but she could walk and dance in it without worrying about it falling apart.

  It had been a beautiful ceremony, and Tessa had shed a few happy tears, but now all she wanted was to find Jackson.

  Her guy was stuck babysitting Nick. She should join him because Nick was probably freaking out big time. Tessa still remembered Annani visiting her in the clinic and her reaction to the goddess. It had been one hell of an experience, and unlike Nick, Tessa had known what to expect.

  Well, she’d thought she had. It wasn’t as if anyone could mentally prepare for Annani.

  “Well hello, beautiful.” Jackson intercepted her, taking her hand, the one that wasn’t holding up the skirt, and pulling her behind him as he pushed through the crowd.

  “Thank you for
saving me,” she said as they reached the tables. “I was afraid of getting trampled.”

  “I was watching you the whole time.” Jackson sat down and pulled her into his lap. “You look stunning in this outfit.”

  “Thank you, but I’d rather get it off and put on the dress I was originally supposed to wear.”

  “No problem. I’ll take you to Amanda’s.” He pushed to his feet with her still in his arms.

  Tessa giggled. “I’m not the bride.”

  “It’s a practice run.”

  She wrapped an arm around his neck. “You just like carrying me around.”

  “I do.”

  “Wait a minute, aren’t you supposed to watch Nick?”

  “I did, up until right before the ceremony. Then I got the brilliant idea of asking Ruth to take my place.”

  “I wonder how Nick reacted to seeing Annani. That would be a memory hard to thrall away.”

  Jackson propped her up on his knee while pushing the door open. No one locked their doors in the village.

  “I hope Ruth kept him too busy to notice.” He carried her to the guest bedroom the bridesmaids had used as their changing room and put her down on the bed.

  “Busy how?”

  “I told her to kiss him.”

  Tessa laughed. “And did she do it?”

  “I don’t know. Get dressed, and we’ll go find them. I’m curious.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Tessa was out of the sari in seconds. She shoved it into the plastic bag it had come in and grabbed her dress from the closet.

  “Help me zip up?”

  Naturally, Jackson copped a feel or two while at it.

  “Don’t.” She slapped his hands away. “We don’t have time for that. We need to find them.”

  What if Nick was freaking out and Ruth couldn’t handle him? Female immortals weren’t good at thralling because they hardly ever needed to use the ability. Ruth would be helpless, and she would panic.

  Sylvia had said that her mother was emotionally fragile.

  “You shouldn’t have left her alone with him.” Tessa rushed out, not bothering to take off the fake gold bracelets and dangling earrings. They didn’t go well with her dress, but her own panic was rising with every passing moment.

  Jackson caught up with her in no time, his long legs eating the distance that her shorter ones had to trot through. “Relax, kitten. Ruth is not alone. The entire Californian clan is here. If she needs help with Nick, there is plenty of it available.”

  “Yeah, and most of them are drunk. Take a look around you.”

  The boisterous mood everyone seemed to be in must have been alcohol induced. They were too loud, their smiles too big, and their limbs too uncoordinated.

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, forcing her to slow down. “People are happy, and they are exaggerating, but trust me, even slightly inebriated, they can still outdo any human at any task.”

  Tessa wanted to tell him that what she was seeing was way more than slightly drunk clansmen, but then she spotted Ruth and Nick, and neither one looked panicked.

  “You see? I told you they’d be fine,” Jackson said.

  They were sitting next to each other on a bench, Ruth had her arm around Nick, and his head was resting on her shoulder. His eyes were closed, but there was a satisfied smile on his face.

  “Hello, guys,” Ruth said very quietly.

  “Is he sleeping?” Tessa asked in the same low voice.

  “No, I’m just resting. My head is spinning, and Ruthie is keeping it from falling off.” Nick’s eyes remained closed throughout his slurred declaration.

  “How did you like the ceremony?” Jackson hazarded.

  “I couldn’t see much. The spotlights were so harsh that everything looked like it had a corona. It hurt my eyes and I had to close them. Ruthie had to tell me what was going on because I couldn’t hear anything either. They should have used loudspeakers.”

  Tessa exchanged a relieved look with Jackson. “If you feel up to it, you can go and congratulate Eva and Bhathian. The mob should have dispersed by now. I’m telling you, for a moment there I was afraid they’d trample me in their rush to get to the newlywed couple. I was so glad Jackson showed up and saved me.”

  Annani had most likely already retired to Kian’s house. If she’d remained, she would have stolen the spotlight away from Bhathian and Eva, and that wouldn’t have been fair to them. After all, this evening was about them.

  Nick grimaced. “I’ll do it later when the world stops spinning. I’m afraid to move a muscle.”

  Ruth waved a hand. “Go and have fun. I’ll stay with Nick.”

  “Are you sure? We could stay here with you and keep you company.”

  The pinch Jackson delivered to her behind indicated his opinion on the matter.

  “We are fine here all by ourselves. Right, Nick?”

  With his eyes still closed, he grinned from ear to ear. “Right.”

  Tessa covered her butt with her hands. “Can we at least bring you food? Something to drink? And by that, I mean a non-alcoholic drink.”

  “That would be nice. Thank you,” Ruth said.

  “Come on, kitten,” Jackson said in a resigned tone. “Let’s get these two something to eat and drink. And then I’m taking you to the dance floor.”

  “We could join them for dinner,” she said as they neared the buffet. There was a long line of people holding plates and waiting for their turn to load up. It didn’t make sense to stand in line twice. They could each carry two plates and then go back for the drinks.

  “Kitten, I’m surprised at you. It’s obvious that they want to be alone.”

  “I think Ruth was just being nice and didn’t want to trouble us.”

  “Maybe, but I’m betting on love. I suggest that we each load up two plates, but you stay here and find us a place to sit while I deliver the other two to the lovebirds.”

  40

  Kian

  “Have another one.” Kian handed Turner another martini.

  “I thought that all you Scots drank was whiskey and beer.” Turner took the glass.

  “It’s a wedding, so we have to pretend to be gentlemen.” He was pulling the crap out of his ass, but he had no choice. The sleeping tonic was sweet, and he had to mask the flavor.

  By the third drink, Turner’s eyes started to droop.

  Not knowing the exact dose that would knock the guy out, Kian had been careful with the quantities he’d kept mixing into Turner’s drinks.

  Without the benefit of Bridget’s advice, he had to rely on what the human pharmacist had told him.

  Last night, for the first time in his life, Kian had taken part in one of his mother’s schemes, and he had to concede that it had been fun. No wonder Annani enjoyed her little adventures so much.

  Except, this time she’d done it for him, helping him sneak out in the middle of the night by casting a shroud around him and helping him take care of the security camera feeds from the parking garage. The guys in the control room had no idea he’d even been there.

  After that, Kian had driven to the nearest twenty-four-hour pharmacy and gotten the stuff needed to knock Turner out.

  Secrecy demanded that he went alone without his bodyguards, and it also precluded the use of his contacts and resources. It had been a humbling experience to realize how much he depended on others in his everyday life.

  It had been a very long time since Kian had been completely on his own.

  Not that playing the part of an anonymous customer had been difficult, or even dangerous. He’d thralled the human to believe he was an old man who had trouble sleeping at night and couldn’t swallow pills. She’d been very helpful when he’d told her that anything tasting like medicine made him gag and that he needed something that was either tasteless or sweet.

  The hard part had been sneaking out and then back in. Annani had waited for him to return, casting her shroud again so he could fix the camera feeds from the garage and then get i
n bed without waking Syssi.

  She was also waiting for him to bring Turner to her.

  “One more.” He handed Turner another drink.

  “What are we toasting this time?”

  “Your health.”

  “I thought we’d already drunk to that.”

  “Your health is important, so it deserves another one.”

  Turner accepted the drink, and then glanced at the immortals loading food onto their plates. “Shouldn’t we get in line?”

  “Nah, I’m waiting for it to dwindle down. Besides, don’t you want to wait for Bridget to get back?”

  “Yeah, you’re right, we should wait for them.”

  The ladies had gone to change out of the saris they had worn for the ceremony, providing Kian with the perfect opportunity to take care of Turner.

  But he was running out of time. Hopefully, the last dose was going to do the trick.

  With a grimace, Turner finished the martini and put the glass on the makeshift bar they had erected for the ceremony.

  “I don’t feel so good.” He wiped sweat from his forehead. “I need to sit down.”

  Turner started walking toward the tables, then swayed and lost his balance.

  Kian caught him. “I got you.” He wrapped his arm around the guy’s middle, propping him up.

  Turner took two more shaky steps before collapsing. If not for Kian’s arm holding him up, he would’ve toppled to the ground.

  About fucking time.

  Kian hoisted the unconscious man over his shoulder and started walking briskly toward his house.

  “What happened?” Anandur rushed to intercept.

  “Too much to drink. I’m taking him to my house.”

  Anandur reached for Turner. “I’ll take him, boss.”

  “No, I got it.” Kian pretended to look around and then whispered, “I want to have a quiet smoke, and I don’t want Syssi to catch me. We promised each other to stay away from the stuff.”

  Another load of crap he pulled out of his ass, but that was the first thing that popped into his head, perhaps because he really craved a smoke. Syssi didn’t mind. In fact, they still enjoyed smoking together from time to time.