by I. T. Lucas
Dark Choices: The Quandary
The Children Of The Gods Book 41
I. T. Lucas
Copyright © 2020 by I. T. Lucas
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Dark Choices The Quandary is a work of fiction!
Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations and/or events is purely coincidental.
Also by I. T. Lucas
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS ORIGINS
1: Goddess’s Choice
2: Goddess’s Hope
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS
Dark Stranger
1: Dark Stranger The Dream
2: Dark Stranger Revealed
3: Dark Stranger Immortal
Dark Enemy
4: Dark Enemy Taken
5: Dark Enemy Captive
6: Dark Enemy Redeemed
Kri & Michael’s Story
6.5: My Dark Amazon
Dark Warrior
7: Dark Warrior Mine
8: Dark Warrior’s Promise
9: Dark Warrior’s Destiny
10: Dark Warrior’s Legacy
Dark Guardian
11: Dark Guardian Found
12: Dark Guardian Craved
13: Dark Guardian’s Mate
Dark Angel
14: Dark Angel's Obsession
15: Dark Angel's Seduction
16: Dark Angel's Surrender
Dark Operative
17: Dark Operative: A Shadow of Death
18: Dark Operative: A Glimmer of Hope
19: Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love
Dark Survivor
20: Dark Survivor Awakened
21: Dark Survivor Echoes of Love
22: Dark Survivor Reunited
Dark Widow
23: Dark Widow’s Secret
24: Dark Widow’s Curse
25: Dark Widow’s Blessing
Dark Dream
26: Dark Dream’s Temptation
27: Dark Dream’s Unraveling
28: Dark Dream’s Trap
Dark Prince
29: Dark Prince’s Enigma
30: Dark Prince’s Dilemma
31: Dark Prince’s Agenda
Dark Queen
32: Dark Queen’s Quest
33: Dark Queen’s Knight
34: Dark Queen’s Army
Dark Spy
35: Dark Spy Conscripted
36: Dark Spy’s Mission
37: Dark Spy’s Resolution
Dark Overlord
38: Dark Overlord New Horizon
39: Dark Overlord’s Wife
40: Dark Overlord’s Clan
Dark Choices
41: Dark Choices The Quandary
42: Dark Choices Paradigm Shift
PERFECT MATCH
Perfect Match 1: Vampire’s Consort
Perfect Match 2: King’s Chosen
Perfect Match 3: Captain’s Conquest
SETS
The Children of the Gods books 1-3: Dark Stranger trilogy—Includes a bonus short story: The Fates take a Vacation
The Children of the Gods: Books 1-6—includes character lists
The Children of the Gods: Books 6.5-10—includes character lists
TRY THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS SERIES ON
AUDIBLE
2 FREE audiobooks with your new Audible subscription!
Contents
1. Rufsur
2. Edna
3. Kian
4. Kalugal
5. Kian
6. Kalugal
7. Kian
8. Jacki
9. Vlad
10. Wendy
11. Vlad
12. Wendy
13. Annani
14. Rufsur
15. Kian
16. Edna
17. Rufsur
18. Edna
19. Rufsur
20. Kalugal
21. Rufsur
22. Edna
23. Rufsur
24. Edna
25. Rufsur
26. Edna
27. Rufsur
28. Edna
29. Rufsur
30. Kian
31. Kalugal
32. Edna
33. Rufsur
34. Kalugal
35. Vlad
36. Wendy
37. Kian
38. Vlad
39. Wendy
40. Vlad
41. Kian
42. Jacki
43. Kian
44. Syssi
45. Kian
46. Vlad
47. Wendy
48. Edna
49. Rufsur
50. Richard
51. Vlad
52. Wendy
53. Vlad
54. Wendy
55. Vlad
56. Wendy
57. Vlad
58. Wendy
59. Vlad
60. Roberts
61. Wendy
62. Kalugal
63. Vlad
64. Richard
65. Kian
66. Edna
67. Richard
68. Rufsur
69. Kian
70. Edna
71. Rufsur
72. Edna
73. Rufsur
74. Jacki
75. Wendy
76. Rufsur
77. Edna
78. Rufsur
The Children of the Gods Series
The Perfect Match Series
FOR EXCLUSIVE PEEKS
1
Rufsur
Rufsur stretched his legs in front of him, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back against the clinic’s wall.
The bench he and Hivak had been occupying on and off for the past thirty hours was a torture device, but the view was worth it.
The clan ladies passing by were friendly, and so far at least twenty had introduced themselves. All were lovely and seemed eager to sample an immortal’s lovemaking prowess, but none had stood out from the rest.
No matter.
The day was still young, and the rumor about the two visiting immortal bachelors was spreading fast. Soon, every woman in the village would come to check him and Hivak out.
Luckily for him and Kalugal’s other men, only a few were taken, and since he knew most of the mated females, he could enjoy the view guilt-free.
Rufsur smirked. By the time Jacki got discharged from the clinic, he would have seen every available clanswoman and made his choice.
At least one had to have that elusive extra something he was searching for.
Look at me suddenly being picky.
Until mere weeks ago, Rufsur had never even dreamed of encountering an immortal female, and if he had been fortunate enough to find one, he would have pursued her regardless of her attributes. But now that he had a virtual buffet, he was choosy.
The thing was, he and Hivak were the first unrelated and unattached immortal males to visit the clan, and therefore they had a temporary advantage over the rest of Kalugal’s men.
They were a hot commodity, and it would be unwise not to make the most of it.
Th
at was the main reason Rufsur had been sitting for hours outside the clinic, flattening his ass on the hard, concrete bench, and checking out the ladies.
Keeping vigil for Jacki’s successful transition was just the pretext.
He wasn’t really worried about her. Kalugal’s mate was young and healthy, and even though she’d lost consciousness yesterday morning and had been slipping in and out of it ever since, the doctor had reassured them that it was a normal part of the transition process.
Besides, Jacki had the heart of a warrior, and she would make it through just fine.
Nevertheless, Kalugal was stressed out of his mind, and to be there for his friend, Rufsur would have gladly suffered through much worse than sitting on a hard bench.
Naturally, he could get up and stretch his legs, do some pacing in front of the clinic’s door, or even get something from the café that was less than fifty feet away. He had already done all of that, and he had also dashed back to the house for stuff that Kalugal had asked for.
But the thing was, Rufsur had noticed that the ladies found it easier to come up and introduce themselves when he and Hivak were sitting down.
Maybe they seemed less threatening from a seated position?
After all, in a different lifetime, Kalugal and his men had been members of the Brotherhood of the Devout Order of Mortdh. Not only was the Brotherhood the clan’s sworn enemy, but its members had also earned a well-deserved reputation for being misogynistic pigs.
To approach them even hesitatingly, the clan ladies must know that Kalugal and his men had escaped the Brotherhood during WWII, and that they were not the typical Doomers, as the clan nicknamed Mortdh’s followers. And yet, they still regarded them suspiciously. In their eyes, former Brotherhood members were guilty until proven innocent.
Rufsur didn’t fault their cautious approach. In their shoes, he would have done the same. In fact, he was also suspicious and considered clan members he hadn’t met yet as potential enemies.
Hell, he wasn’t so sure that those he’d met and befriended were truly his friends either.
Hivak pushed to his feet. “I’m going inside to check what’s going on.”
Rufsur shook his head. “Don’t. Kalugal would have told us if anything has changed.”
“He might be busy celebrating Jacki’s successful transition.”
Hivak was such an optimist. No one knew when Jacki would complete the first stage of her transition. It would probably take days.
“Not likely. But even if that is true, do you want to walk in on them celebrating?”
Hopefully, Rufsur’s gut feeling was right, and Jacki’s transition into immortality would be successful, but the odds against it were not entirely negligible.
If she didn’t make it, Kalugal would be devastated.
Ruined.
For a time, Rufsur had thought that he had a thing for Jacki, but after seeing his boss fall hard for her, he’d realized that his feelings paled in comparison. What Jacki and Kalugal had was special. The real deal.
Rufsur wanted that too, and that was why he was choosy.
Such a special bond couldn’t form with just anyone.
Hivak sat back down. “I’ll wait for Kalugal to come out and tell us.”
“Good choice.” Rufsur glanced at the Guardians who’d been assigned to keep an eye on their group. “Maybe they know something.” The two were sitting on a bench on the other side of the clinic’s door.
He waved at them. “Any news?”
Jay, the one who looked a little like Beckham, shook his head. “It’s too soon.”
“That is what I thought.” Rufsur enunciated each word carefully, so their translating earbuds would have no problem getting it.
Fearing Kalugal’s compulsion ability, which operated by manipulating sound waves, the Guardians assigned to them were wearing the same kind of earpieces that Kian and his crew had worn during the summit.
It was a clever use of existing technology. The clan’s tech guy had modified them from translating speech into another language to just repeating it in a machine voice.
Rufsur would have loved to have a pair, but regrettably, they were not for sale. To ensure a perfect fit, the clan’s tech guy was custom-making them for each wearer, and it would be hard to explain why Rufsur needed them.
Up until recently, he hadn’t feared his boss’s compulsion ability, probably because Kalugal had never used it on him before.
But after Rufsur’s first experience of trying to break through the voice command that had frozen him in place and rendered him powerless, things had changed. The memory of his impotent rage was going to stay with him for a long time.
Hell, thinking about it still got him angry even though he knew that Kalugal had been just testing a theory. His boss’s fake attack on Jacki had looked so damn convincing that it had embedded itself in Rufsur’s mind, as did the memory of rushing to her rescue and getting stopped with one damn verbal command.
Perhaps as a precaution, he could purchase top quality earplugs and carry them in his pocket.
Rufsur loved Kalugal like a brother, but the guy was too powerful for his own good, and given his family history, that was potentially dangerous.
Mortdh, Kalugal’s grandfather and the god the Brotherhood worshiped, had gone insane because he’d been spurned by Annani. That had pushed him into singlehandedly ending the gods' era by killing all but two—Annani, the clan’s mother, and her half-sister, Areana, who was Kalugal’s mother.
Navuh, Kalugal’s father, was not as crazy as Mortdh, but he was a piece of work nonetheless.
Bottom line, Kalugal had to be watched, and after they had escaped the Brotherhood and Navuh’s control, Rufsur had appointed himself as his boss’s watcher.
Kalugal’s intentions were good, and he was a decent man, but the guy was three-quarters god, brilliant, had the ability to compel other immortals, and carried crazy genes that were a ticking bomb just waiting for the right trigger.
Having a pair of good earplugs might make all the difference between being able to stop Kalugal and failing.
Hopefully, it would never come to that, but it was better to be prepared. If anything happened to Jacki, it might be just the trigger to push his boss over the edge.
As the sound of wheels rolling over pavement pulled Rufsur out of his own head, he looked up and saw Wonder pushing a food cart toward the clinic.
“Hold on.” He jumped up to open the door for her.
“Thank you.” She pushed the cart through.
“Any news on Jacki?” he asked.
“Bridget called me and asked that I bring breakfast for everyone, so maybe Jacki is awake. I’ll tell you on my way out.”
“Thanks.”
Rufsur went back to his spot on the bench.
Twenty minutes later, the clinic’s door opened again, and he jumped up to hold it for Wonder.
Grinning, she rolled her cart out. “I have great news. Jin has officially transitioned, and Bridget is about to test Jacki, who is feeling much better.”
Rufsur felt like hugging the woman. Instead, he dipped his head. “Thank you for letting us know. I’m so relieved.”
“Same here,” Hivak said. “I like Jacki.”
“You’re welcome, but even though it’s just a formality, we need to wait for Bridget to administer the test first.”
“Of course.”
Rufsur sat back down, but then got up and started pacing. Time slowed to a crawl as they waited for Kalugal to come out and tell them the good news. Finally, when the door opened, and their boss stepped out with a big grin on his face, it wasn’t hard to guess the test result.
“Jacki is officially an immortal now.”
He pulled Kalugal into a bro hug. “Congratulations!” He slapped his back. “Can we see her?”
“Not yet. Now that she’s feeling better, Jacki is concerned with how she looks. She wants to shower and change out of the hospital gown before seeing anyone.”
“Do y
ou need me to get her anything from the house?”
“I’ll ask her to check what’s in the bag you packed for her. If she still needs anything, I’ll call you.”
Rufsur nodded. “Congratulate Jacki for us.”
“I will.” Kalugal slapped his back. “You don’t need to sit on this bench anymore.” He glanced at the two Guardians sitting on the other side of the door. “Perhaps you could invite your new friends to celebrate at the café.”
“Good idea.”
His boss’s intentions were clear—take the opportunity to get friendly with the Guardians and pump them for information.
Rufsur walked up to them. “Are you guys hungry?”
“I could eat,” Theo said. “Congratulations on Jacki’s transition. Now the four of you can go home.”
“So eager to get rid of us already?”
The Guardian shrugged. “I’m tired of this babysitting job.”
“I hear you.” Rufsur clapped him on the back. “But that’s your boss’s fault. We came in peace, and we mean no harm. We don’t need to be guarded twenty-four-seven.”
