by I. T. Lucas
They’d been together for nearly a week, they had fallen in love, and yet she didn’t know much about him. Did she even know who the man she’d fallen for was?
It was time he opened up to her and told her more about his life before he’d met her, but that wasn’t the type of conversation she could have with him in front of Bowen and Margaret. Perhaps after lunch, she could invite Leon to go on a hike with her. Margaret couldn’t join, and Bowen would need to stay with her because she needed help with getting around.
“What are we going to have with the steaks?” Bowen asked.
“How about French fries?” Ana suggested.
“Perfect.”
“I’ll also make a salad.”
“What can I do?” Leon asked.
“You can peel the potatoes for French fries.”
Margaret sighed. “I hate being useless.”
“You have a job to do.” Bowen pointed at the phone he’d given her. “You need to learn how to use the internet.”
She looked at the device as if it was an alien artifact. “Can you show me again how to do the search thing?”
Poor Margaret. Even preschoolers knew more about technology than she did.
“Of course.” Bowen sat next to her on the couch, and with the patience worthy of an angel showed her step by step what to do for the fifth time.
When he was done, he took the tray he’d prepared out to the front porch where the grill was.
“Your friend is a really nice guy.” Ana opened the fridge and pulled out a head of lettuce, two tomatoes, four cucumbers, and a red onion. “I would have lost patience by now.”
Leon opened the pantry and took out a bag of potatoes. “I think she’s scared of it,” he whispered. “That’s why she doesn’t get it.”
Ana lifted a brow. “Scared of information?”
“Yeah. She has like twenty years of catching up to do. Finding out all the things she’s missed out on must be overwhelming.”
“We had some newspapers and magazines in Safe Haven. We weren’t completely isolated.”
Leon looked surprised. “So if Emmett allowed that, why not allow access to the internet and television?”
“Because those are time wasters, especially social media, and he wanted us to be productive. Before joining Safe Haven, I used to waste hours on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, you name it. I would start with something that interested me, and then I was offered something related, and before I knew it, two hours had gone by, and I hadn’t done my homework for the day yet.”
Smirking, he leaned closer to her ear and whispered, “That’s because you lack discipline. You need someone to keep you in line.”
As memories of last night rushed in, heat washed over her cheeks. “And you appointed yourself to be that someone?” Ana turned her back to the counter so Margaret couldn’t see her from the couch.
“It’s a tough job, but I’m looking forward to years of doing it.” He winked.
She didn’t know whether what he’d said was sweet or naughty, but she could think of no smart-ass comeback. “Save if for later, lover boy. You have potatoes to peel.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Outside the bedroom, her guy was so easygoing and accommodating that she would have thought that he was a pushover. His bossy attitude in bed, though, proved that he was anything but.
Last night, her plans for taking the blindfold off and catching him unguarded had been foiled because he had tied her hands behind her back. Hopefully, tonight she’d have better luck.
Did it mean that she shouldn’t bring up his odd reaction to Margaret’s comment about children?
She could wait with that for tomorrow, but finding out whether he had kids he hadn’t told her about was more important than watching his face when he climaxed, or even finding out what he did to her that felt like a bite but left no marks.
“After lunch, would you like to go on a hike with me?”
“I’d love to.” Leon paused his peeling. “But are you okay with leaving Margaret alone?”
“She’s not alone. She has Bowen.”
“What if she needs to go to the bathroom?”
“I’ll take her to pee before we leave. She should be fine for a couple of hours.”
“Then it’s a date.”
20
Arwel
“Ready?” Arwel glanced at Alfie before punching in the numbers on the keypad to open Emmett’s cell.
The Guardian pulled out the gun that had been tucked into the back of his pants. “Do we really need this? He can’t take on both of us, no matter how strong Eleanor claims he is. She’s a female. Of course, he’s stronger than her.”
“I’m not taking any chances. Just look menacing and point the gun at his head.”
“I can do that.”
Doubtful. Alfie was a good-natured guy, and he couldn’t pull off menacing if his life depended on it. But he was a good Guardian, and his aim was perfect.
As the door swung open, Arwel didn’t enter right away. Instead, he made sure that Emmett was following his instructions and was sitting on the couch with his hands tucked under his ass.
The guy glared at him. “Did you bring me anything I can actually eat this time?”
Arwel motioned for Mason to step in with the tray. “As per your request, this is pure carnivore fare. Six burger patties medium rare and a bottle of water.”
The sandwiches he’d brought him before had remained wrapped, and the only thing the guy had consumed other than water had been a cup of coffee.
“Thank you.” Emmett eyed the tray hungrily. “Can you leave now so I can eat? I’m starved.”
If not for the dark circles under the guy’s eyes, Arwel would have thought that it was an exaggeration. Then again, Emmett hadn’t eaten anything yesterday or this morning, claiming that his stomach couldn’t tolerate carbs.
“In a moment. When you are done eating, I’ll come back, put chains on you, and take you to another room. The boss wants to talk to you.”
What little color Emmett had left on his face faded away. “The goddess?”
Arwel frowned. Had Peter told him who led the clan?
“No. It’s not the goddess.”
The guy let out a breath. “Is it her first consort?”
Emmett’s assumptions fit with the story he’d told Peter about his supposedly matriarchal society, with males outnumbering females four to one and the females being in charge. It was either true or just true in the guy’s head. Mental disorders were a bitch.
“No. You are about to be visited by one of her regents and several of his advisors.”
Arwel saw no reason to reveal Kian’s identity as Annani’s son even though Emmett wasn’t going anywhere, and he wasn’t going to tell anyone either. He also hadn’t detected any psychic powers except for the compulsion ability, so the guy wasn’t transmitting the information that way either. But it was up to Kian how much he wanted Emmett to know.
“What will they do to me?”
“At this point, they will just ask you questions. I suggest that you cooperate to the best of your ability to avoid less pleasant forms of interrogation.”
Emmett didn’t project much, but fear was a powerful emotion, and Arwel had no problem picking up on it.
“I’m not going to betray my people.”
The earplugs translating Emmett’s speech into machine voice prevented Arwel from evaluating his tone. However, his other senses told him that the guy might have meant it but without much conviction behind the words.
Arwel shrugged. “I’m not the interrogator, but I know the guy who is. You don’t want the boss to call him in.”
There was no specific guy, but any Guardian could assume the job, including Alfie.
Emmett swallowed. “What would you do to my people if you find them?”
“Hopefully, we will form diplomatic relationships with them and reach a cooperation agreement. We are not violent people.”
Emmett eyed him suspicio
usly. “Why should I believe you?”
“It’s your choice whether you believe me or not. You missed your opportunity to ask Peter all the relevant questions.” Arwel tapped his earplug. “We know how to protect ourselves from compellers.”
“I guess that means I’m not the first compeller you have encountered. Peter said that we were rare.”
“That’s true, but we have several among our people, and some of them are stronger than you and can override your compulsion. Otherwise, Peter would still be stuck in a sitting position.”
“It wasn’t my fault. Your people attacked me and rendered me unconscious. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have left him like that.”
“I know. And I’m not blaming you for that. But you are guilty of kidnapping Peter and biting Eleanor against her will. Those two offenses alone are sufficient to get you whipped.”
For some reason, the implied threat didn’t seem to scare Emmett. “I’m not bound by your people’s laws, and therefore I can’t be punished for transgressing them.”
“Tell it to the judge.” Arwel turned around. “Be ready in half an hour.”
21
Kian
“Sorry for keeping you waiting.” William climbed into the back of the SUV.
“Do you have anything for me?” Kian asked.
“I wish I had.” William sat next to Andrew. “The key that Emmett included in the email was phonetic. So I could read what he wrote but not understand it. Without knowing what at least some of the words mean, it’s impossible to decipher a language that has no known sisters or cousins.”
“What about the ranking system that Peter and Eleanor found?”
“I suspect that it’s numbers. It doesn’t help me. I need a Rosetta Stone.”
“I assume that he didn’t get a response email yet,” Andrew said.
William shook his head. “And he’s not going to. Kumei is an enormous conglomerate, and like most of the big tech companies in China, it’s government controlled. The names, pictures, and bios of its original founders are easily found on the internet, so unless they are fake and were planted, it doesn’t seem possible that Emmett’s people founded it.”
“Can Emmett pass for an Asian?” Anandur asked. “And if not, can he shroud?”
“I don’t think that he looks Asian.” Kian opened his laptop and pulled up Safe Haven’s brochure to take another look at its former leader’s picture. “Except for his coloring, Emmett doesn’t look Chinese. He has an upper eyelid crease, and his eyes are not almond shaped. Also, his hair is slightly curly in this picture, and we know now that it wasn’t a wig like Eleanor thought. Peter watched him getting a haircut and a shave.”
“Let me see.” Anandur leaned to take a look.
“Keep your eyes on the road.” Kian closed the laptop. “Emmett’s people might have the ability to shroud their appearance. If they are like most of us, they can’t keep it up for long, but if they can hide behind a shroud for as long as Yamanu or Kalugal, that would open up a lot of opportunities to them, including infiltrating the government and forming influential business enterprises. That’s why I’m not ready to dismiss Emmett’s claim. If I were the leader of a small group of immortals living in China, and I wanted to gain worldwide influence, I would have formed a global telecommunications company as well. Especially if I had advanced technological knowhow.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Andrew asked.
“Because when Annani started us on our mission, telecommunication didn’t exist yet, and we used different tactics to achieve our goals. By the time the technology was available, we were already set up the way we needed to be. Besides, the clan’s mission is not to take over the world or to spy on every government on Earth. Our goal is to nudge humanity in the right direction and help promote innovation that will make everyone’s lives better. We don’t seek global control.”
Anandur cast Kian a sidelong glance. “Why do you assume that Emmett’s people want to take over the world?”
“I don’t. I was just thinking out loud and playing devil’s advocate to point out how a telecommunications company might be useful for a group of people with abilities similar to ours.”
Anandur chuckled. “Perhaps we should have sent Vanessa to psychoanalyze Emmett first. We might be wasting our time on a crazy dude with an overactive imagination.”
“If not for Mey and Jin’s abnormalities, I would have agreed with you.” Kian looked out the window. “The most unlikely part of his story is that they are newcomers to Earth. I can accept a genetic mutation occurring somewhere along the line and creating a different breed of immortals, but I have a hard time believing that aliens have landed on our planet without us knowing about it.” He turned around to look at Andrew. “Do you have access to government files about extraterrestrials? If anyone knows or suspects that aliens have landed on our planet, it would be them.”
His brother-in-law shook his head. “Unless those aliens engaged in terrorist activities, my department would not have access to that information. But I can tell you one thing. Our government would have never allowed them to roam free, and I know that every UFO sighting, no matter how absurd, is investigated thoroughly.”
“Not all of the sightings were debunked,” Anandur said. “Some remain unexplained, and they were reported by very credible witnesses. Perhaps our super-hacker should do some poking around in secret government files.”
Kian nodded. “The government is notorious for keeping secrets from the public. For all we know, they might have been in contact with aliens for decades. Perhaps I should ask Roni to do some snooping.”
“That could be dangerous,” Andrew said. “And I don’t think the benefits justify the risk of exposure. Besides, they are not as good at keeping secrets as you think.” He chuckled. “It reminds me of what Phoenix did yesterday.”
As Andrew entertained them with stories about Phoenix’s latest shenanigans, Kian listened with only half an ear while formulating the line of inquiry he was going to use with Emmett.
It was a shame that Turner couldn’t join him today. They could have played the good cop, bad cop game with the guy. Not that he really needed him, but it was almost a knee-jerk reflex to include him in every major decision.
Sharing the burden with a capable counterpart was a good thing, but since Turner refused to accept an official post in the clan’s leadership, Kian could only use him as an advisor. The other option was Kalugal, but Kian didn’t fully trust him yet. His cousin had his own agenda and his own goals. He might not interfere with the clan’s mission for helping humanity evolve, but it was unlikely that he would embrace it either.
22
Leon
“It’s so peaceful out here.” Anastasia lifted her face to the clear sky and inhaled deeply. “I love going on hikes around the cabin, but since the bear incident, I can no longer fully relax as I did before.”
“You are safe with me.” Leon wrapped his arm around her waist. “I’ll protect you.”
She smiled. “I know you will. But that doesn’t make me any less anxious. What if next time it happens, you’re unable to hypnotize the animal?”
“Then I’m going to growl and scare it away.” He demonstrated.
Anastasia laughed. “Will it work?”
“Definitely. I’m the most dangerous predator around, and the animals can sense it.”
She laughed again. “You are so full of it.”
“Why? Aren’t you scared of my mighty growl?”
Anastasia chuckled. “I’m terrified. Just try not to do that in front of Margaret. She’s finally starting to relax.” She leaned her head on his bicep. “Yesterday, she was so nervous and unsure of her welcome. We need to make an effort to make her feel like we enjoy having her and Bowen with us.”
“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
All throughout lunch, he’d felt Anastasia’s simmering unease. Something was bothering her, and he suspected that was why she’d invited him on a hike and left her frien
d with Bowen.
“Among other things. You need to act a little nicer to Margaret. She thinks that you don’t like her.”
He had nothing against the woman, except for her intrusion on their time together. Her presence complicated things, and it forced Anastasia to be more reserved.
Leon had worked hard on peeling away Anastasia’s protective armor and insecurities. He loved seeing her bloom into the woman she should have been if not for the tragic death of her mother and her father’s neglect.
The guy didn’t deserve the title of a parent.
If he were less self-absorbed and cared more about his daughter, the voices in Anastasia’s head wouldn’t have become such a huge problem for her. Instead, he’d made her feel like a freak, which was the main reason she’d wanted to hide from life and had joined Safe Haven. After the mother’s death, he should have worked twice as hard at making her feel loved and appreciated. Instead, he had pushed her away.
“Did Margaret tell you that?” Leon asked.
“No, but she seems most uncomfortable when you are around.”
“I can’t pretend that I’m overjoyed to have her and Bowen with us. I want you all to myself.”
“It was your idea.”
“It was a compromise. I didn’t want you to leave.”
“I know.” She sighed. “And I appreciate it. You are an awesome guy.”
“But?”
She chuckled. “Why do you think that there is a but?”
“Because you were casting speculative glances at me all during lunch. Did I say or do something that upset you?”
She shrugged. “Maybe I was upset by something that you didn’t say.”
He stopped and turned to her. “I love you, Anastasia. Forgive me if I don’t say it enough. I’ve never been in love before, and I’m still trying to figure out when it’s the right time to say those words. I don’t want them to become meaningless.”