by I. T. Lucas
“I see that I can’t talk you out of this.”
“Nope.”
“It will have to be today, though. Anandur has rotation tomorrow, and the day after that he is off to vacation with Syssi and Kian. Theirs, not his. He is going as the bodyguard.”
If Brundar thought to dissuade her from inviting his family for dinner by not giving her enough time to prepare, he had another thing coming. “Make the calls and tell me who is coming and who is not. I can have everything ready by five.”
Brundar cocked a brow. “And what about work?”
She leaned and kissed his cheek, then whispered in his ear, “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m sleeping with the boss. I can take a day off whenever I want.”
That got a chuckle out of him. “What do I tell Franco when he asks why you are not coming in tonight?”
Callie pretended to think it over. “You can tell him that you’re giving your girlfriend the night off.”
Chapter 42: Brundar
“It’s a shame Syssi and Amanda couldn’t come.” Calypso cut an avocado in half and scooped the flesh out with a spoon.
“Syssi is packing for their trip to Hawaii, and Amanda didn’t want to leave Dalhu alone at home.”
Calypso reached for the next avocado. “She could’ve come with him. Is he as scary as Kian?”
Brundar chuckled. “That depends on what you find scary. Dalhu is even bigger than Anandur, and he lacks my brother’s sunny disposition.”
Callie started mashing the avocado flesh she’d scooped out with a fork. “Amanda is tall. I figured her guy would be tall too. Is that why she doesn’t want him to come? She thinks he’ll intimidate me?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“As I told you, Kian doesn't know that I’m not staying at the keep. Amanda and Syssi are okay with keeping my secret. They think of it as a game. The thing is, if Kian finds out, he will have no choice but to forgive them because one is his wife and the other his sister. Dalhu is not in the same position.”
“I see. So Amanda prefers not to get him involved.”
“That’s right.”
Crouching down, she disappeared behind the counter to reach into one of the bottom cabinets, then reappeared with a large cutting board in hand. “To tell you the truth, I’m relieved. I didn’t have time to prepare anything elaborate, and I would’ve felt bad about serving fajitas to Syssi and Amanda. Especially Amanda. She seems so fancy. Next time, when I have a few days to plan, I can really wow them with my culinary skills.”
There wasn’t going to be a next time.
In a few days, he would be back at work and have a talk with the few people who knew about Calypso.
He would keep her for as long as he could, but he knew better than to delude himself that it would last more than a few weeks, or maybe a few months if he were incredibly lucky.
The less talk there was about Calypso, the longer his time with her could be. Amanda and Syssi and Bridget needed to pretend like they had never met her. Perhaps he should thrall her to forget them. Her memory of Anandur coming to their rescue was too traumatic to suppress, but he trusted Anandur to keep his mouth shut and act as if he knew nothing if asked.
Amanda was pretty good at that too. But if confronted, Bridget and Syssi would spill the beans.
“I’ll set the table,” he offered.
Calypso lifted a brow. “Do you know how?”
“I think I can manage.” He might have had zero skill in the kitchen, but he could manage a tablecloth and four place settings.
An hour later, Brundar welcomed their two guests and showed them to the table.
“It smells good,” Anandur said, clapping Brundar on the back, then headed to the kitchen to pull Calypso into a brotherly hug, which was how Brundar forced himself to think about it to stop the growl building up in his chest from coming out of his mouth.
“Hello, Brundar.” Bridget entered. “Hi, Callie.” She waved at Calypso then turned back to him. “I see you’re moving around without the crutches. Any pain?”
“Only when I bend my knees.”
Bridget nodded. “Let me take a look.”
Sitting on the couch, he lifted a leg and propped it on the coffee table. Bridget took hold of his ankle with one hand and put the other one on his thigh, a little above his knee.
“I’m going to bend your leg, and you need to tell me when it starts to hurt.” She eyed him with a stern expression on her face. “And don’t try to be macho about it and pretend like you don’t feel any pain. I need to know exactly when it becomes uncomfortable.”
After checking both knees, Bridget lowered his feet to the floor. “You’re doing very well. I want you to exercise bending your legs a few times every hour. This will speed up your recovery.” She leaned closer and whispered, “If you were a human, I would have said to do it once a day, but at the rate you’re healing, it needs to be done every hour.”
Brundar cast a sidelong glance at Calypso. Her frown indicated that she’d seen Bridget whisper in his ear, and she didn’t like it one bit.
Damnation. Later, she would put him through one hell of an interrogation. In fact, once the dinner was done, she would probably have a long list of things to ask him about. Bridget and Anandur would have to be very careful with what they said around her.
“Just don’t say anything you’re not supposed to,” he whispered to Bridget. “Calypso is very bright. There isn’t much that escapes her notice.”
Bridget nodded, then crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m your doctor, Brundar,” she said loud enough for Calypso to hear. “Whatever you choose to share with others is your prerogative. My job is to keep your health issues confidential.” She winked at him.
A good cover-up, but he expected many more would be needed before this get-together was over.
“Dinner is served. To the table, everyone,” Calypso called out.
Anandur took a seat and rubbed his hands. “I hope you made enough to feed this.” He waved over his middle.
“Don’t worry. I made enough to satisfy even your and Brundar’s appetites.”
“Is that a challenge?”
Calypso laughed. “I think Bridget and I should load our plates first. Otherwise you boys are not going to leave us anything to eat.”
As dinner progressed, Brundar enjoyed watching Calypso chatting with Anandur and Bridget and laughing at Anandur’s jokes. Admittedly, spending time with his family wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. His contribution to the conversation was limited to a few nods and grunts, but Calypso was so animated and happy that nothing more was needed to keep the lively atmosphere going.
Unfortunately, as pleasant as this evening was, it would probably be the last. Brundar would eventually have to choose between his family and Calypso.
Coexistence was impossible.
He knew better than most that humans and immortals didn’t mix. The two could coexist only if the immortals kept to themselves and didn’t befriend humans. Romantic entanglements were not the only kind of human and immortal interactions that were fraught with danger.
Brundar had once thought he could be friends with a human. The results had been disastrous not only for him but for his clan as well.
Knowing that as soon as the villagers discovered the bodies, they would come after their number one suspect—their strange neighbors—his family had had to pack up and run.
Back then, the clan had been much smaller, poorer, and scattered throughout the countryside. Escaping in the middle of the night, they had left behind everything they had worked so hard for, with only the clothes on their backs and the few provisions they could amass on such short notice.
After that incident, Annani had gathered the clan, announcing that they were all going to live together in one defendable location, far away from the humans.
It had taken them decades of back-breaking work and all of their combined resources to build their Scottish fortress. The Scottish Highlands were freezing cold
in the winter, and living in temporary shelters while every able-bodied male and female worked on building the fortress had been miserable.
Even the food had been scarce.
One stupid mistake had cost the clan decades of misery. How they had managed to forget and forgive Brundar was beyond him. Other than Anandur, none of them knew what had been done to him. All Anandur had said was that his little brother had been attacked and Anandur had killed his assailants. The violation Brundar had suffered remained a secret he and Anandur were going to take with them to their eventual grave.
Chapter 43: Callie
“I had fun,” Callie said after Anandur and Bridget had left.
Brundar nodded.
He hadn’t said much throughout dinner, but while he’d looked as if he was enjoying himself at the start of the evening, a gloom had settled over him toward the end.
Maybe he was in pain.
The guy had pushed himself too hard on his first day of walking without crutches. He should've taken it easy as Bridget had told him to.
Typical man. Less than two weeks after having his knees blown to pieces, he couldn't wait to prove that he was back to his old self.
Freaking Doctor Bridget was a miracle worker. Or a witch.
Brundar and his family were all a bit strange, but as far as she could trust her judgment, they were good people. So what if sometimes it had seemed as if there were two separate conversations going on at the table, one of which she hadn’t been privy to. All families had secrets, some more than others.
Brundar came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Andrew texted me while we were having dinner, but I didn’t want to spoil the mood.”
Callie stilled. “Shawn’s body has been found?”
“Yes. Apparently, he was found a week ago. But because it was a clear case of suicide, it didn’t make it to the news.”
“How did Andrew find out?”
“He checked the morgue records.”
“I see,” she whispered. “I feel sorry for Shawn’s family. I don’t think they knew he was insane.”
“You should call your father.”
“Yeah, I should.” Shawn’s parents had probably contacted Donald looking for her. Hopefully, he hadn’t told them anything.
Callie left the dirty dishes in the sink and dried her hands with a paper towel. “I’ll finish these later.”
“I’ll do it. Make the call.”
“Thanks.”
Callie walked to the bedroom on shaky legs and retrieved her phone from her purse. Sitting on the bed, she wondered what exactly she was supposed to say. With Shawn’s suicide not making it into the news, how was she supposed to know that he was dead?
Should she pretend she was calling to let them know she was okay and wait for her dad to break the news to her?
That was probably the only way.
Her dad, who’d always been happy to let Iris get the phone, answered on the first ring as if he was sitting and waiting for her call. “Hello?”
“Hi, Daddy.”
He released a breath with an audible whoosh. “Callie, thank God you called. I’ve been so worried.”
“I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t call before.”
“That’s okay. You had a good reason. Did you hear about Shawn?”
Callie hated to lie to her father, but there was no other way. “No, is it anything that I need to worry about?”
“Not anymore. He committed suicide.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Good riddance, that’s what I have to say.”
Amen to that. “Did he leave a note?”
“No, but they found the divorce papers on the floor, right under where he hung himself.”
Callie sighed. “I feel so sorry for his parents.”
“Don’t. They had some choice words to say about you.”
“I hope you didn’t tell them what I’ve told you.”
“I’m not a heartless bastard. They were out of their minds with grief. I wasn’t going to tarnish the memory of their son. I just told them the regular crap about fifty percent of marriages ending in divorce. I also said that you were devastated by it, and that was why you left on a long trip to meditate over the breakup, leaving your phone behind.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I don’t think I could’ve gone to the funeral.”
“I understand. So now that the coast is clear, when are we going to see you?”
“I’ll come when the baby is born. I just started a new job, and I don’t want to ask for time off right away.”
“Sweetheart, your baby brother was born three weeks ago.”
Callie gasped. It was as if ever since she’d fled Shawn, she’d existed in some parallel universe, imagining that the life she’d left behind remained frozen in the same time frame she’d last remembered.
“Oh, my God! How is he? How is Iris?”
“They are both fine. Justin was born a healthy seven pounds and seven ounces.” Her dad sounded proud. And happy.
She hadn’t heard that upbeat tone in his voice for as long as she could remember.
“Justin. I like it. I wish I could hop on a plane and come see him right away. You need to warn him that his big sister is coming to kiss him all over.”
Her dad chuckled. “Don’t do anything rash just because you’re excited about the baby, and don’t jeopardize your new job to come see him. Right now he doesn't do much besides sleeping, eating, and pooping. Come when the time is right for you.”
“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll talk to my boss.”
“Don’t if you think it will upset him. Or is it a her? And what kind of job is it?”
“I serve drinks at a nightclub that is owned by two very nice guys.” Callie rolled her eyes as she waited for her father to disapprove of her new job.
“Do you like it there? Are the tips good?”
“Excellent. And I like the people I work with. We are like one big happy family.”
“I’m glad. What about school?”
“I start in the fall.”
“I’m so happy to hear that.” Her father sighed. “I feel like the rainbow has finally come out after years upon years of nothing but dark clouds.”
Callie felt tears well in the corners of her eyes. “Kiss Iris and Justin for me.”
“I will. Take care of yourself.”
Ending the call, Callie flopped down on the bed and closed her eyes for a moment, opening them when she heard Brundar enter the room.
“Here, take this,” he said, handing her a tall glass.
She sat back up. “What’s in it?”
“Your favorite cocktail. I think a toast is in order.” He lifted his own glass.
A drink was exactly what she needed. “What are we toasting?”
“New beginnings.”
Chapter 44: Brundar
“To new beginnings.” Calypso clinked Brundar’s glass and took a long sip. “You made it exactly how I like it. Thank you.”
He nodded. “Congratulations on your new brother.”
“Thanks. I would’ve asked you how you knew, but I’m not going to, Mr. Bat Ears.”
Her scent was a mixture of happiness and anxiety. The happiness was because of the baby, but why the anxiety?
“How are you feeling, Calypso, everything okay?”
“Happy, relieved, excited about the future but also sad.” She touched a hand to her stomach. “I feel uncomfortable here. I know it’s because of Shawn and his death and his funeral and his poor parents, and I also know that what happened wasn’t my fault, but I still feel guilty. So horribly guilty. If he’d never met me, he wouldn’t have been dead now.”
“True. He would’ve most likely been tormenting some other woman. Someone who didn’t have friends like my brother and me to rescue her. With no one to stop him, he would have had a lot of years to make someone else's life a living hell.”
Calypso’s hand moved from her stomach to her heart. “When you put it like that, it alm
ost sounds as if I should feel lucky and not guilty. Maybe I was put in Shawn’s path and then yours for a reason. Maybe Fate maneuvered us into place so we could take him out and save his next victim.”
The bitter undertone had dissipated from her scent, leaving behind only the familiar scents of sweetness and sunshine that Brundar associated with Calypso.
“Feeling better?” he asked even though he knew the answer.
“Much. What about you? You seemed a little down toward the end of dinner. Are you in pain? Are your knees bothering you?”
Brundar took the glass from her hand and put it on the nightstand. “Let’s celebrate life the way it should be celebrated.” Pushing her back on the bed, he pulled down her sexy black dress. Underneath, Calypso had her beautiful breasts bound in that torture device he’d told her not to wear.
“Tsk, tsk. You disobeyed me.” He reached around her back and unclasped the bra. “I told you I never want to see you wearing this painful contraption again.” He tossed it behind him.
Calypso’s scent became musky with her nascent arousal. “I couldn’t entertain your brother and Bridget braless, and this is the only strapless one I have. Nothing else works with this dress.”
“Then it’s time you went shopping, sweetling.”
“Yes, sir.” She saluted.
He gently massaged the bra’s angry red compression lines. “Marring your perfect skin like this is a punishable offense.”
Calypso’s arousal intensified. “Are you going to spank me?” She sounded breathy and excited.
“I could take you over my knee at last. But I have other ideas.” He glanced at the melting ice cubes in the glass on the nightstand. But first things first, he needed to blindfold her before his own arousal pushed his alienness to the surface.
In one swift move, he divested her of her panties and lifted Calypso up to reposition her in the center of the bed.
“You shouldn’t lift heavy things. It’s too much strain on your knees.”
“I didn’t lift anything heavy.” He pulled the silk scarf from the drawer.
Calypso lifted her head without him having to ask her to, holding it up until he was done tying the blindfold over her eyes.