by I. T. Lucas
“The problem is that Kalugal has a dangerous power, and Kian is afraid of getting near him. Not that I blame him. I wouldn’t trust my own mate with the power to take over my will. I don’t know how Kalugal’s men deal with that.”
“They trust him not to use it on them, that is how. He must have proven himself to them.”
Alena shook her head. “As I said, I wouldn’t want someone with the power to compel anywhere near me, even if he professed his undying love to me, and we were bonded mates.”
“It raises an interesting moral question. As an immortal, you have that same power over humans. Does it mean that they should shun you?”
“If they knew about it, they would.” Alena smiled. “Thralling is not the same as compelling, but it’s similar enough. That’s one of the many reasons for keeping who we are and what we can do a secret. If word got out that creatures like us existed, we would be hunted down and killed. Humans like their position at the top of the food chain, and they will do anything to keep it.”
“Yes, you are right. I just wonder how the Dormants react once they realize that their mates can control their minds.”
“You could ask Syssi.”
“I will do that the next time I visit, which I plan on doing very soon. I need to be there as a safety precaution for Kian. Kalugal cannot compel me, while I might be able to compel him. My presence will level the playing field.”
“Kian would never agree to that. What if Kalugal can overpower you?”
Annani huffed. “Inconceivable. I am not like my sister. I am a powerful goddess, and he is just an immortal.”
Alena arched a brow. “You don’t know that. It would be a very unpleasant surprise to find out that he can compel you.”
“He asked Areana to convey his wish for an audience with me.” Annani reached for the tea. “If I refuse, it would insult him, and it would also give the impression that I am afraid of him. Both are unacceptable.”
“Then we have a problem. Maybe we can go on a trip to Europe or South America and use it as an excuse for why you can’t grant Kalugal his audience.”
“I am not going to run off like a coward.” Annani put her cup down and pulled her phone out of the hidden pocket in her gown. “I am calling Kian.”
“Oh boy.” Alena chuckled. “I think I should leave you to it. I don’t want to hear you two yelling at each other.” She rose to her feet.
“Sit down.” Annani pointed at the armchair. “I know that you prefer to avoid conflict, but that is a luxury a leader cannot afford.”
“That’s why I’m not a leader. I’m happy to be your companion and to help run the sanctuary.”
“That is a leadership position. And there will come a time when you will have to make difficult decisions and stand your ground when facing opposition.”
With a sigh, Alena returned to her seat. “Fine. Just try to be civil. Kian has been through a lot over the last week, and his nerves are frayed.”
“I will do my best.”
Except, as soon as Kian answered the phone, Annani’s good intentions flew out the window. He sounded exasperated even before she said anything, and once she was done, his answer was precisely what Alena had predicted it would be.
“Not happening, Mother. Are you not aware of the risks?”
“There is no risk to me. Kalugal cannot compel me.”
“And you know that how?”
“Because his father could not do that, and Navuh is more powerful than Kalugal. He has an entire island under his control.”
“Did Navuh ever try to compel you?”
“He might have. But since he had no effect on me, I do not know if he tried.”
“That’s all you have? That doesn’t prove anything.”
Annani sighed. “If Navuh had the power to compel me, he would have used it when he came with Mortdh to my father’s palace. Mortdh wanted to convince Ahn to uphold his promise and to order me to marry him instead of my beloved Khiann. Back then, Navuh was Mortdh’s obedient and devoted son. He would have done everything to help his father.”
“You don’t know that. If he was smart, and we know that he is, he kept his compulsion ability a secret from Mortdh. Using it on you would have tipped his hand. That’s one option. The other is that he wasn’t as powerful back then. His powers might have grown over the five thousand years since you last saw him.”
“That is possible. But Kalugal is still young. In fact, he is about the same age now as his father was then. Which means that I am more powerful than him. Do not forget that my powers have also grown over the years.”
“Have you ever tried to compel more than one person at a time?”
“No.”
“Kalugal compelled all the Guardians who were connected to Arwel’s earpiece in one shot. Can you do that?”
“That is the best idea you have had so far. I am going to test my compulsion power on my people and check how many I can control at once.”
“I’m glad we came to an understanding. Let me know how it goes.”
Annani felt her anger rising, but she kept her voice neutral. “You assume that I will fail. I assure you that I will not, and I will have Alena witness and verify the results.”
“I trust you, Mother. I’m only concerned with your safety. You are the engine that keeps the clan going. Imagine what would happen to us if Kalugal managed to compel you to surrender yourself to Navuh.”
“He would not do that even if he could.”
“We can’t risk it.”
43
Jacki
In the kitchen, Jacki chopped parsley for a garnish while humming along to Atzil’s rendition of 'The Girl from Ipanema.'
“…Yes, I would give my heart gladly. But each day as she walks to the sea…”
After the initial awkwardness of sharing the kitchen had passed, it was fun to work alongside him. The place was big, and they each had their workstation, so it wasn’t as if they were stepping on each other’s toes.
Still, Jacki made sure to compliment him on everything she possibly could, so he wouldn’t kick her out. It was easy to do. Atzil was an extremely fast chopper, he kept his work area meticulous, and best of all, he sang while he cooked, and he was good.
“You sound exactly like Frank Sinatra.”
“Thank you. I’m surprised that a young girl like you even knows who he was.”
“I’m twenty-two, so I’m no longer a girl. I used to work in a diner that played an oldies track, and I liked humming along to Frank.”
He smiled. “I’m one hundred and seven years old, so you are a girl to me.”
Jacki shook her head. “I took a trip down the rabbit hole. You all look like you are in your late twenties or early thirties. That’s so confusing.”
“Immortality comes with many benefits.”
“Are there any negatives?”
He nodded. “We are isolated. Contact with humans is best kept to a minimum.”
“Because they might get suspicious if they notice oddities about you.”
“Correct. Like if I cut my finger while chopping onions, it would heal in less than a minute. And there are other tells. I need to make sure that my eyes don’t start glowing and my fangs elongating as soon as I see a sexy lady.”
He cast her a sidelong glance. “You know that’s what happens when an immortal male is aroused, right?”
She nodded. “Arwel told me a little bit about it. But I’ve never seen it, nor do I want to.” She shivered. “No offense, but I’m not into vampires, and fangs would scare the hell out of me. What do you do when that happens?”
“I need to hold it off until I get her alone. Then I can erase the memory from her head. But if it happens while there are a lot of people around, I’m screwed. I don’t have the boss’s ability to affect many humans at once.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the worst part. Since there are no immortal females, I can’t even dream of one day having a family. It gets lonely.�
��
“That’s because you escaped from your community. Is there a way to get some of the immortal females out?”
He shook his head. “It’s complicated. I’ll leave the explanation to Kalugal. I don’t know how much he wants you to know.”
“I’ll ask him over lunch.” Jacki put the finishing touches on her salmon dish, adding the parsley garnish and several slices of lemon. “How does it look?”
“Very nice.”
She had no experience in preparing fancy dishes, so she'd winged it, and Atzil had given her a few pointers even though he cooked pretty much in the same way she used to in the foster homes. Uncomplicated recipes in large quantities.
“I’m going to serve it in the library.”
He nodded.
“Do you think the guys mind the new arrangement?”
“Only because you are not eating with them, and they are jealous of Kalugal, Phinas, and Rufsur. We don’t dine all at once anyway because there isn’t enough space in the dining room. We have a schedule.”
“Good.” She lifted the tray. "I don’t want to cause unnecessary strife.”
“Let me help you carry it.”
“Thanks.” It was big and heavy, and she was grateful for his offer.
When they entered the library, Kalugal and his lieutenants weren’t there yet, which was good since she had time to set up the game table to look like a place to eat and not play chess.
But when ten minutes had passed, and neither of the guys showed up, Jacki started to get annoyed. After all the work she’d put into preparing a nice lunch, it was getting cold.
She was about to walk out and march into Kalugal’s office when the door opened, and her three lunch companions entered with packages piled high in their arms.
“What’s all that?”
“I ordered clothing and other necessities for you,” Kalugal said.
She gaped at the mountain of bags and boxes the men put down by the door. “When? And how did you know my sizes?”
Smirking, Kalugal pulled out a chair for Jacki, waited for her to be seated, and then pulled one out for himself. “I got the sizes by checking the clothes and shoes you arrived in. And I ordered things from a local boutique and had one of my guys pick everything up.”
She glanced at the large pile by the door. “It looks like you’ve bought out their entire stock.”
“Everything they had in your size.”
Wow.
“Thank you. But that’s way too much. When am I going to wear all that?”
Rubbing his chin, Kalugal pretended to ponder the question. “You can wear a different outfit for every meal. That’s breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. Four a day. And then you can change into a fifth outfit, something leisurely for the evening.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m not going to do that.”
“It’s up to you. After you go over the purchases, let me know if you are still missing anything, or if I need to exchange items for a different size.”
“I will, thank you. Now let’s eat before everything gets cold.”
When lunch was over, Kalugal told Rufsur and Phinas to carry her things to her room, which Jacki suspected was a clever way to get rid of them as soon as he could. He wanted her all to himself.
“Where am I going to put everything? There is no closet in my room.”
“I’ll clear a section of mine for you. The entrance is through the master bath, so you’ll have privacy getting dressed.”
“I see that you thought of everything.”
He smiled. “I’m a thorough guy.”
Jacki folded the napkin and put it on the table. “I need to cook you something really fancy for dinner. I don’t know how else to thank you.”
“My thanks will be seeing you in those beautiful clothes.” He looked her over. “Nothing can detract from your beauty, but what you are wearing is like framing a masterpiece in cheap plastic. It won’t do.”
She chuckled. “That’s a great way to insult me while giving me a lovely compliment. How long did it take you to come up with that?”
Smirking, he waved a hand. “It’s not a line that I pulled out from my sleeve, it’s an observation. Would you put a thousand-dollar perfume in a fifty-cent container? You wouldn’t. It would be an insult to the perfume.”
“Okay. I get it. Thank you again. I can’t wait to check the stuff out.”
“Give me a few more moments of your time, and then you can go.”
She felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. “That’s not what I meant. I’m not in a rush to leave.”
44
Kalugal
Jacki’s peachy blush was gorgeous. But what Kalugal loved the most about it was that it signaled Jacki’s softening toward him. She was lowering her shields, and the thorny outer layer was practically gone. She was allowing herself to feel arousal, which she’d been fighting hard to stifle before.
Frankly, he hadn’t expected her protective walls to start crumbling so quickly. Especially not after the stunt he’d pulled the day before, not to mention the whole abduction and sticking her in the trunk of his car episode.
It seemed that Jacki was the forgive and forget type of girl, who didn’t hold grudges.
Just another reason to love her.
Not that he did, but if she transitioned, he would allow himself to feel more for her. Until then, Kalugal was going to keep an emotional distance.
Falling for a human was a rookie mistake, and so far, he’d been careful to avoid that pitfall.
Jacki was getting under his skin, though. And at the rate things were going, keeping his heart out of the seduction would be more difficult than with any other woman he’d seduced before.
Perhaps he should speed the seduction part up. It was a necessary step in proving or disproving Jacki’s dormancy. The sooner it was done, the better. If she turned out to be just an ordinary human, he would have less of a hard time letting her go if he hadn’t spent a long time with her. And if she transitioned, it would be a game changer.
Once that happened, he could fully commit to her and their relationship.
“I should have asked for a kiss,” he murmured.
Jacki’s head snapped toward him. “What did you say?”
Hearing the alarm in her voice, Kalugal decided to make light of it. “As a thank you. Just a small kiss on the cheek.” He turned his profile to her and tapped the hollow with his finger. “Right here.” He turned the other way. “And maybe one here as well. A triple kiss would be the best. One here, one there, and then one more here.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m trying to think if your request violates your promise to me. Technically, you are still leaving it up to me to touch you first, but you are demanding it, so it’s not really up to me.”
“It is entirely up to you.” He sighed dramatically and affected a sad expression. “That’s okay. You can make me a nice dinner instead.”
Shaking her head, Jacki chuckled. “You are playing on my conscience and it’s working. I’ll kiss you on the cheek if you sit on your hands.”
“Done.” He turned his head.
“And you must promise to keep sitting on them and not grab me.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“Okay.” Jacki rose to her feet and leaned toward him. “Here it comes.” She pecked him on the cheek.
“Now the other one.” He presented his right cheek, and she pecked it too.
“One more?”
“No, that’s enough.” She hurried to sit back down. “Thank you for keeping your promise.”
“I always do.”
Except, he was a master loophole finder. Now that Jacki had touched him, he was technically free to touch her. But he wasn’t going to use that loophole. Having her kiss him was a first tiny step toward intimacy, and then there would be another one, and then one after that.
The idea was to encourage closeness while building trust.
It was like coaxing a skittish kitten to come fo
r a pet. It might hiss and even scratch, but with a soft tone and a gentle touch it would soon start purring.
“I wanted to ask you something.” She reached for the napkin and twisted it between her fingers. “Phinas said that his mother passed away a long time ago, so she wasn’t an immortal. But when I asked him about his father, he said that it doesn’t work like that. I’m confused. How are immortals made?”
“A little bit of magic.”
“Come on. I’m serious.”
“The immortal genes are passed only through the mother. Phinas’s mother was a carrier of those genes, but they hadn’t manifested.”
He was getting dangerously close to revealing too much too soon, but he didn’t want to lie to her either.
“So she was basically a human, right? And his father was a human as well.”
“That’s mostly correct. Phinas’s mother appeared human, but she was partly immortal.”
“Was she aware of that?”
“I don’t know. I never met Phinas’s mother.”
That wasn’t a lie; she was long gone by the time Kalugal was born. Except, as a female Dormant living in the Dormants’ enclosure, she had known that she was different.
What she might not have known was that she could’ve been activated.
As far as he knew, the island’s female Dormants were led to believe that only males could transition. He’d been twelve when his father had taken him out of the Dormants’ quarters to start his training in the warriors' camp, but he still remembered the place fondly. Even though the women’s lives hadn’t been easy, he didn’t remember the place as somber or sad.
“Are there many carriers of the immortal gene among humans?” Jacki asked.
“Not many.”
“How do you find them?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never searched for Dormants. The dormant females on the island are the daughters of other Dormants, and so on. My father had them from the very beginning.”
