Chapter Twelve
Aidan awoke with a start, instantly alert, senses tingling.
No sunlight filtered in through the drapes, letting him know it was night. They must have slept the day away… when they hadn’t been making love, that is.
He frowned.
Something was wrong. He could feel it.
Careful not to wake Dana, he sat up.
Despite the darkness, Aidan had little difficulty seeing the room around him. But nothing appeared to be out of place.
No intruders lurked in the shadows. No hearts beat in the room, aside from his own and Dana’s.
So what was raising the hairs on the back of his neck?
He sent his senses exploring.
Heather slept. Ethan slouched beside her on their bed, watching a movie, the sound turned down low. Ed was tapping away on a computer keyboard somewhere. Brodie was with him and sounded as though he was ensuring Chris had sent enough network employees over to Dana’s home to make the necessary repairs.
The rest of the house was quiet.
Rising, Aidan crossed to the window. Careful not to make a sound, he unlatched it and raised it enough to allow a gentle breeze to waft inside.
Closing his eyes, he let the sounds of the night tease his ears while his nose sorted through the plethora of scents that floated on the wind.
His eyes flew open.
Emitting a snarl of frustration, he swung around and grabbed his discarded pants.
Wake up Heather, he ordered Ethan telepathically as he dressed at preternatural speeds. Roland Warbrook is coming.
“Shit!” Ethan spat in the other room.
Exactly.
With everything else going on, did they really need another go-around with the irascible immortal?
Aidan leaned over the bed and drew a hand over Dana’s mussed hair. “Dana? Wake up, sweetheart.”
She slept so deeply he had to call her name a couple more times before her eyes slowly opened to half-mast. Her lips curled into a soft smile. “Hmm?”
“I need you to wake up, sweetheart,” he urged. “Quickly now.”
That reached her.
Swiftly rolling onto her back, she looked up at him with alarm. “What is it? Are vampires attacking again?”
“No. Roland is coming.”
Her brows slammed together. “The Roland who wants you dead?”
“Yes. He’ll be here momentarily.”
She sat up, face darkening with aggravation. “Well, shit. We just can’t get a break, can we?” she grumbled, throwing the covers back and rising.
Aidan laughed.
Dana sent him a smile full of chagrin. “I’m sorry. Now might be a good time to tell you I’m not a morning person.”
“Nor am I,” he said with a grin. Damn, he loved her. She even appealed to him when she was grumpy. “And it isn’t morning. It’s night. Get dressed, love.”
Dana hurried over to her bag and began yanking out clothing while Aidan tried not to let her nudity distract him.
“Don’t worry,” he said, refocusing his attention too late to keep his body from responding. “I’m at full strength now and will have Heather and Ethan at my back. Heather matches me in both speed and strength, so Roland poses no real threat to us.”
“You say that, but I know you and can tell you’re uneasy about his coming here.”
“Only because—if he intends to try to kill me again—I’ll have to find a way to stop him without inflicting so much damage that it will piss off Seth.”
“Great,” she groused as she stomped into the bathroom with a pile of clothes tucked under one arm. “Don’t worry about the nutcase who’s trying to kill you. Worry about pissing off the great and powerful Oz.” She slammed the door behind her.
Laughing, Aidan grabbed a couple of katanas.
The bathroom door eased open enough for Dana to poke her head out. She sent him a rueful smile. “Sorry. The whole I’m not a morning person thing might have been a bit of an understatement.”
Closing the distance between them, he pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “You’ve gotten very little sleep in the past forty-eight hours. And I think you’re cute when you’re cranky.”
She laughed. “Then maybe you’re the nutcase.”
Aidan chuckled. “Get dressed. If Roland sees you looking so enchantingly disheveled, I’ll end up wanting to kill him.”
All concern and crankiness leaving her expression, she ducked back into the bathroom.
Still smiling, Aidan crossed to the bedroom door and opened it.
Ethan and Heather waited in the hallway, already dressed and armed.
Heather grinned. “I like her,” she whispered.
“Me, too,” Ethan seconded.
Aidan shook his head. “I’m a bit fond of her myself.”
Heather laughed. “Just a bit, huh?”
The three headed toward the front of the house.
“So what do you think this is?” Ethan asked. “Is he going to try to kill you again?’
“I have no idea, but I think it a distinct possibility.”
“You know we have your back, right?” Ethan said.
Heather nodded.
Aidan smiled. “I appreciate that. But you should know that Sarah is with him.”
Heather’s brow furrowed as she glanced at her husband.
Ethan’s look turned uneasy. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable fighting Sarah. Roland may be an irascible pain in everyone’s ass, but Sarah is a real sweetheart.”
Heather nodded. “And Seth does not like fighting among the ranks.”
Ed strolled into the room, garbed in black jeans, a black T-shirt, and scuffed black boots.
Brodie followed in similar garb.
“Roland and Sarah are on their way,” Aidan informed them.
“We heard,” they said, unconcerned.
Dana entered.
Aidan motioned to the Seconds. “Dana, this is Brodie, my Second. You met Ed when we arrived.”
The three exchanged hi, nice-to-meet-ya’s.
Dana eyed the two men curiously. “You aren’t worried?”
“Nope.” Brodie motioned to the immortals in their midst. “These guys tend to overthink things.” So saying, he held something up in one hand. An EpiPen-like auto-injector, no doubt loaded with a strong enough sedative to drop Roland in his tracks.
Ed held up several more.
“Oh,” Heather said. “Right. Duh.”
When Dana opened her mouth to ask what it was, Aidan shook his head to silence her. It’s a sedative, he explained telepathically. The only one on the planet that affects us. Don’t say anything aloud so Roland won’t be forewarned.
Ed gave each immortal two auto-injectors. One for Roland and one for Sarah.
Aidan hoped they wouldn’t need them. Like the others, he didn’t feel comfortable fighting or tranqing Sarah.
The immortals pocketed the auto-injectors.
Ed turned to Dana. Reaching behind him, he produced a tranq gun. Pressing a finger to his lips to indicate a desire for silence, he moved to stand behind her and tucked the gun in the back waist of her jeans.
She looked up at Aidan and raised her brows.
Aidan ground his teeth and fought back… what? Jealousy?
He did not like seeing another man touch her but supposed he would have to get used to it. If, by some miracle, all this ended well and Dana agreed to transform for him, Brodie would become her Second, too, and would touch her every time he helped her arm up for a night of hunting.
The doorbell rang.
All regarded each other with surprise.
“Interesting approach,” Ethan mumbled, then opened the door.
Roland and Sarah stood on the front porch.
Roland looked grim as usual.
Sarah held his hand and looked anxious.
“Hi, guys,” Ethan greeted them cautiously. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to speak with Aidan,” Roland announced, his tone revealing nothing.
Ethan glanced over his shoulder at Aidan, then looked around the room. “Yeah. Why don’t we take this outside?”
Probably hoping to save the furniture.
Roland and Sarah backed away, down the front steps and onto the neatly mown lawn, allowing Ethan, Heather, and Ed to exit.
Aidan turned to Dana. “Wait here.”
“I don’t think so,” she said with a definite hell no inflection.
Sighing, he exited with her, his Second following. “Brodie?”
Brodie nodded, needing no further words, and moved to stand beside Dana.
Aidan walked several yards away to draw Roland away from the mortals.
Ethan and Heather moved to stand on either side of him. And damned if that didn’t make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
“So?” Aidan asked, no aggression in his tone. He had no beef with Roland and would prefer to keep the peace.
“Seth doesn’t believe you had anything to do with Veronica’s disappearance,” Roland pronounced.
“Because I didn’t.”
“Reordon believes otherwise,” Roland continued, “and has video evidence to back up his suspicions, but…” He looked down at his wife, who nodded her support. Roland met Aidan’s gaze. “I trust Seth’s judgment. So I’m here to apologize and see if I can make amends.”
Aidan could not have been more shocked.
Nor could Ethan, Heather, Ed, and Brodie, whose jaws dropped in astonishment.
Dana continued to eye Roland with distrust.
Roland glanced at Dana, then strolled over to Aidan and motioned to the long drive with a tilt of his head. “Walk with me?”
Curious, Aidan accompanied the taciturn immortal down the driveway.
“Stay within my sight,” Ethan ordered behind them.
Roland sent Aidan a look of inquiry. “Because he thinks I’ll try to kill you?”
Aidan shook his head. “Ethan is impervious to mind control and remembers every detail he sees, hears, smells, et cetera. So Seth has assigned him to be my babysitter. If I’m always within Ethan’s sight or hearing, then he can prove absolutely that it wasn’t me if another gifted one goes missing.”
Roland nodded, his brow furrowed.
Minutes passed as the two continued their slow stroll down the gravel driveway until they were out of earshot of Dana, Brodie, and Ed.
“I didn’t know you were seeing someone,” Roland said, his voice low from either a reluctance to speak or a reluctance to be overheard, Aidan guessed.
“Very few did.”
Roland studied the landscape around them. Nothing but field and trees as far as the eye could see. “I lived alone for nine hundred years before I met Sarah.”
Aidan nodded. He’d heard as much. Roland had lived in almost total isolation, refusing even the company and protection of a Second, having been betrayed too often in the past by those he loved and trusted most.
“I know how wretched it can be to live that long without love and affection,” he continued. “And from what I understand, you’ve lived without it far longer.”
Again Aidan nodded. “I have.”
Roland shook his head. “I’m not as cold and heartless as they say I am.”
“I know.” Aidan had seen how the dour immortal had opened his heart to Sarah and Adira and had witnessed his fierce determination to protect Sarah, Adira, Marcus, and Ami at all costs.
Roland’s Adam’s apple rose and fell with a swallow. “I was furious when I thought you’d harmed my descendant. It took Seth a while to calm my arse down after I got back to David’s. But when he did and told me that Reordon had skewed the information because he was pissed at you about something… When Seth told me he believes you had no role in Veronica’s disappearance and that I had just outed you in front of the mortal woman you love…” He shook his head. “I felt sick.”
Surprise stole any response Aidan would’ve made.
“What, I asked myself, if someone had done that to me?” Roland continued. “What if Reordon or… hell, almost anyone else who knows what a surly pain in the arse I am… had scared the hell out of Sarah and turned her away from me?” He shook his head. “What if I didn’t have Sarah in my life today? What if she hadn’t chipped away at my distrust, stolen my heart, and helped me grow closer to Marcus and Ami and beautiful little Adira? What if she hadn’t made my life so much fuller in every way? What if someone had taken all that from me by frightening her away?”
Silence reigned, broken only by the nocturnal creatures that foraged for late-night snacks.
When Roland next looked at Aidan, remorse and self-recrimination filled his eyes. “Have I done that?” he asked with dread. “Have I stolen that from you?”
“Roland—”
“You put your life on the line to protect Adira last year, and now I’ve wronged you so sorely that I don’t even know how to begin to make amends.”
Aidan sighed. “I would’ve had to tell her the truth eventually.”
“Telling her is one thing. Shoving it in her face all at once is another.”
It was indeed. “Didn’t Bastien pretty much shove it all in Sarah’s face?”
Roland released a mirthless chuckle. “Yes, he did, the bastard. I believe I had one afternoon with her before he and his vampire army attacked.”
Aidan sighed and sheathed the weapons he only then realized he still held. “Maybe that’s the way it always is for us. No slow and easy breaking of the truth. No long courtship and slow getting to know one another. Look what happened with Richart.”
Roland nodded. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve wronged you.” He glanced over at Dana, who stood beside Ed, arms crossed, eyes squinted as she scowled at them through the darkness. “Dana is here with you now. Does that mean she hasn’t turned away from you?”
“She’s here because Seth mandated it. Had he not and did a threat not remain that compels me to watch over her…” Aidan shook his head. “I don’t know what she would’ve done.” She might have instead sent him on his way, gone to bed alone and—having missed out on the hours they had just spent making love—opted to not see him again.
“She looks pissed.”
Aidan smiled. “Actually, that’s all for you. She’s angry about your trying to kill me and fears you may attempt to do so again.”
Roland regarded him with something akin to hope. “Well, that’s a good sign, isn’t it? If she wanted nothing more to do with you, she wouldn’t care if I killed you.”
Aidan nodded. “She seems to be accepting it all. Accepting me. I just don’t know if she’s willing to…”
“Accept it all—and you—on a permanent basis?” Roland finished for him.
“Aye.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No, but I thank you for offering.”
“It’s because I’m antisocial, isn’t it? You think I’ll make things worse.”
“No, I don’t think things can get much worse than they are now. At this point, I just have to wait and see and hope that it won’t all prove to be too much for her.”
“Then at least let Sarah and me remain here and help guard her,” Roland insisted.
He really did seem to want to make amends. The other immortals would be shocked.
“As you will,” Aidan agreed.
Roland thrust a hand toward Aidan.
Before Aidan could shake it, a dart struck Roland in the chest.
Roland frowned down at it. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, his knees buckled, and he sank to the ground.
Aidan turned to the small group watching them.
Ethan, Heather, Brodie, and Ed all gaped at Dana, who aimed a tranquilizer gun in Aidan and Roland’s direction.
“Roland!” Sarah cried and started forward.
Dana fired the tranq gun again.
Sarah stumbled to a halt, then sank to the ground, unconscious.
Aidan stared. “What the hell are you doing, woman?” he called loud enough for Dana to hear him. “Why did you tranq Roland?”
“It looked like he was going to stab you!” she called back.
Since she didn’t have the preternaturally sharp vision of Ethan, Sarah, and Heather, he supposed it could have.
“He was apologizing,” he called with exasperation, “and wanted to shake my hand!”
“Oh!” she yelled. “My bad!”
Her companions burst into laughter.
Shaking his head in amusement, Aidan tossed Roland over one shoulder and rejoined the others. “Why did you tranq Sarah?”
Dana shrugged. “I thought she was going to rush over there and try to finish what Roland had started.”
Ethan knelt beside Sarah and gently lifted her into his arms. “Ed, do we have any of the antidote on hand?”
“Yeah.” Ed headed inside. “I’ll get it.”
Aidan nodded toward the open front door. “Let’s go.”
Dana chewed her lower lip as Ethan carried Sarah inside. The unconscious immortal’s long brown hair flowed over his biceps, dancing with every movement.
Aidan followed with Roland draped over one shoulder, the surly immortal’s arms dangling down his back and swaying back and forth.
“Will they be okay?” she asked anxiously. She really had thought Roland was going to hurt Aidan. Sarah, too. It had just been so dark. Unable to see them clearly, she had caught the quick movement and figured better safe than sorry.
“They’ll be fine,” Aidan assured her.
“Fine, but pissed,” Heather corrected with a wry smile as she followed them inside and closed the door.
Ethan lowered Sarah to the sofa.
Aidan seated Roland beside her and stepped back.
The couple looked as though they had fallen asleep while watching television, shoulders brushing, heads lolling back against the cushions.
Dana, Aidan, Ethan, and Heather stood in a semicircle, staring down at them as they waited for Ed and Brodie to reappear.
“I can’t believe he said that,” Heather whispered, her eyes on Roland.
“Which part?” her husband asked.
“All of it.”
Dana looked at Heather and the others. “What did he say?” They seemed stunned, as if whatever Roland had told Aidan had made them completely rethink everything they knew about him.
“I feel sort of bad now,” Heather admitted in lieu of answering. “I really did think of him as being kind of…”
“Cold and heartless?” her husband offered.
“Well, not heartless,” she qualified. “No one who has seen how he is with Sarah and Adira can call him heartless.”
Aidan and Ethan nodded their agreement.
“But cold?” Heather went on. “Yeah. I mean, he’s always so—I don’t know—unapproachable. So closed off to the rest of us. But now? After this? After what he said to Aidan? And the emotion I heard in his voice?” She shook her head. “I gotta admit, I teared up a little.”
Dana looked up at Aidan. “What did he say?”
Aidan shifted his weight from one foot to the other, unease creeping into his handsome features. “He apologized.”
Dana waited for him to say more, but he opted not to elaborate.
Heather frowned up at him. “There was a little more to it than that, Aidan. You should tell her. Or, better yet, show her. All of it. You can do that, right?”
Dana looked to Aidan. Show her? How?
“Yes,” he admitted with obvious reluctance.
“Then you should,” Heather urged him. “Let her see it all. Because it sounds like Roland intends to stick around. And the last thing Dana needs on top of everything else is to worry about him attacking you again or not being fully on your side.”
Dana turned a doubtful gaze on Roland.
“See?” Heather pointed to her. “She doesn’t believe he can be trusted.”
All eyes turned to Dana.
She shrugged. “Of course I don’t. He tried to kill Aidan.”
And still Aidan looked reluctant to comply. But he did, nevertheless.
Turning toward her, he touched the tip of one finger to her temple.
The living room around her vanished, replaced by Ethan and Heather’s front yard. Aidan’s stroll with Roland and the words they spoke played out before her as clearly as a movie on a big-screen, hi-def television. Except Dana was in the movie, seeing everything from Aidan’s point of view.
Soooo cool.
And she didn’t just hear the words and see the images. She felt what Aidan had felt, because all of that was part of the memory he retained.
Her breath caught.
Aidan withdrew his touch.
The memory dissolved.
Ed and Brodie entered the living room.
Dana barely noticed as she stared up at Aidan, her heart beating faster.
Aidan met her gaze, his handsome face somber, his brown eyes unreadable.
Again she heard Roland’s voice in his memory. When Seth told me he believes you had no role in Veronica’s disappearance and that I had just outed you in front of the mortal woman you love… I felt sick.
Ed leaned over Roland.
“No.” Ethan stopped him. “Wake Sarah first. Roland may not blame Dana for tranqing him, but if he sees she tranqed Sarah, too, he’ll be pissed.”
Nodding, Ed moved to stand over Sarah and leaned down.
Dana is here with you now, Roland had said. Does that mean she hasn’t turned away from you?
She’s here because Seth mandated it, Aidan had responded, so much emotion buffeting him.
Did he really believe that? That she wouldn’t be with him tonight if Seth hadn’t forced her hand?
Ed pressed an EpiPen-like thing against Sarah’s neck.
Sarah’s hazel eyes opened, then flared bright green as she sat up straight and looked around for her husband, almost bumping heads with Ed.
Dana didn’t hear whatever Ethan and the others told her. Didn’t really care, truth be told.
She seems to be accepting it all. Accepting me. I just don’t know if she’s willing to…
Accept it all—and you—on a permanent basis?
Aye.
Aidan loved her.
Deeply.
He wanted to spend the rest of eternity with her. And—even after the amazing day they had just spent together making love—feared she either didn’t or couldn’t feel the same way.
“Aidan,” she whispered.
Face somber, he cupped her face in one hand. “You still have choice,” he murmured, stroking her cheek with his thumb.
Because he would always place her needs and desires above his own. No matter how much he dreaded the centuries of loneliness and regret he believed would follow if she walked away, he wouldn’t press her.
Tears welled in her eyes. Emotion suffusing her, she moved forward, buried her face in his chest, and hugged him tight.
Aidan said nothing, just closed his arms around her and rested his chin atop her head.
“Roland?” Sarah said.
“What the hell happened?” the British immortal replied groggily.
“Dana tranqed you,” his wife told him. “She couldn’t see clearly in the dark. So when you went to shake Aidan’s hand, she thought you were trying to stab him and tranqed you to protect him.”
Dana couldn’t help but notice that Sarah didn’t mention being tranqed herself.
“She did?” Roland asked, his voice lightening with amusement. “First she Tasers me, then she tranqs me.” He chuckled. “I like her. She reminds me of you.”
Laughter filled the room.
A chuckle rumbled through Aidan’s chest beneath Dana’s ear. Tilting her head back, she smiled up at him, and his answering smile bore a hesitance that twisted her heart. She lifted her lips, inviting a kiss.
Smile broadening, he started to lower his head to comply but stopped just short of making contact. He frowned, then turned to look at the front door.
Releasing her, he drew his swords.
The other immortals all followed suit as Aidan stepped around Dana and placed himself between her and the door.
Ed and Brodie both drew what appeared to be 9mms.
“What is it?” Dana asked, wondering if the tranq gun she’d tucked back in her pants still held any darts.
Aidan answered telepathically. Someone just teleported onto the front porch.
All shared an intense look, so Dana assumed he had told everyone, not just her.
Hell. Was it Seth? The other vision wasn’t about to come true, was it? Had Seth returned to kill Aidan?
The doorbell rang.
Heather’s eyebrows rose. “Really?” She took a step toward the door.
Ethan blurred and got there first.
Heather frowned as she moved to stand beside him.
Unperturbed, Ethan opened the door.
Dana’s jaw dropped.
The tallest man she had ever seen in person—even taller than Seth—stood on the front porch beside an absolutely gorgeous woman. The male was only an inch or two shy of seven feet, the woman about five foot six. Both had black hair. The man’s fell below his shoulders. The woman’s was pulled back in a long braid. Both also wore the clothing Dana was coming to associate with just about everyone in the Immortal Guardians world: black pants, black shirts, black boots, and long black coats.
Did the black clothing help them blend into the night better? Or did they wear it to conceal the bloodstains they accrued on their nightly hunts?
She suspected the latter and found the idea unsettling.
Ethan smiled as everyone sheathed and holstered their weapons. “Zach. Lisette. What are you two doing here?”
“Defying Seth’s orders,” Zach muttered with what sounded like a British accent.
Lisette elbowed him, never losing her smile. “There was a game on earlier.” Her voice carried a lilting French accent. “I was hoping Ed recorded it so we could watch it together.”
Ethan laughed. “Bullshit. You’re here to check up on me.”
Her smile turned sheepish. “Mmmmaybe I was a little worried after hearing what happened last night.”
Ethan motioned for them to enter and closed the door behind them. “Dana, this is Lisette and her husband Zach. Both are immortal.”
Lisette strode forward with a big smile, offering her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dana.”
Returning her smile, Dana shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, too.” At least she hoped it was. Lisette seemed friendly. But Zach gave off kind of a scary don’t-fuck-with-me-or-I’ll-kill-you vibe and seemed to exude almost as much power as Seth.
Patting their clasped hands, Lisette slid Zach a glance. “I know some find my husband intimidating because of his dark and brooding nature, but I assure you, he’s as gentle as a kitten.”
Everyone snorted in disagreement, even her husband.
Lisette frowned. “He is.”
Zach’s lips curled up in a sardonic smile. “I don’t think that one’s going to fly, love. They know me too well.”
Lisette started to reply, then paused and turned a frown on Aidan. “I wasn’t.”
“Yes, you were.” Aidan’s brows lowered. “Don’t do it again.”
Dana glanced at Zach, expecting the warning in Aidan’s voice to anger him.
But Zach merely chuckled. “Looks like he caught you.”
Lisette wrinkled her nose as she released Dana’s hand. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“Do what again?” Dana asked, wondering what she’d missed.
Aidan curled an arm around her shoulders. “Read your thoughts.”
Dana looked at Lisette, anger rising over the intrusion. “You’re a telepath?”
“Yes,” the woman confirmed. “And I’m sorry. I won’t read your thoughts again unless a dire emergency compels me to. I just did it this time—”
“Because you’re nosy?” Ethan suggested with a grin.
She laughed. “Sometimes, yes,” she admitted, then turned back to Dana. “But I really just wanted to know how you were faring.” Her smile gentled as she reached out to touch Aidan’s arm. “Aidan is precious to us.”
Dana glanced up.
Aidan seemed surprised by the pronouncement.
“He gave me a very special gift,” Lisette continued.
“I did?” Aidan asked.
Lisette’s smile widened. “You told how to me how to strengthen my mental barriers so I can know all of Zach’s secrets without you and the others ferreting them out.”
Aidan smiled. “So I did. And it’s working, by the way. Your mental barriers are already so much stronger that I couldn’t breach them. I just assumed you were reading Dana’s thoughts.”
Lisette laughed. “You assumed correctly.” She turned back to Dana. “As I said, he’s precious to us. And you’re clearly precious to him. So I wanted to take a little peek and see if you were finding our world too overwhelming.” Stepping back, she grinned up at her husband. “Clearly not, because she Tasered Roland and tranqed him.”
Zach laughed. “The other immortals are going to love her.”
Even Roland laughed at that.
Then all levity died as the immortals looked toward the front of the house. Again.
“Seriously?” Heather blurted in disbelief.
Dana consulted Aidan. “What is it?”
“Marcus, Ami, and their daughter Adira.”
Roland swore.
As did Zach. “Seth will be furious.”
Nodding, Heather turned to her Second. “Hey, Ed?”
“Yeah?”
“It looks like we’re going to need a bigger house. You can tack on a few extra rooms, right?”
He laughed. “That’s a little outside my job description.”
The crunch of gravel under tires intruded upon the night, accompanied by the low rumble of a well-tuned engine.
Seconds later, both sounds ended. Doors opened and closed. Then the doorbell rang.
Ethan opened the door.
A man and a woman stood on the porch.
Dana recognized the woman. Ami was the redhead she had seen in her vision. The one with the Chuck Taylor high-top sneakers. Although tonight she wore heavy boots.
Marcus, the man at her side, held a beautiful redheaded toddler in his arms and had a large bag looped over one shoulder. Like all of the other males present, he bore black hair and brown eyes. But his hair fell a few inches below his shoulders like Zach’s.
Both newcomers wore all black like their brethren, so Dana assumed they were immortal.
Although maybe not. They did have a baby.
She frowned. Could immortals have children? She hadn’t thought to ask Aidan.
Ethan shook his head at the couple. “Seth is going to be furious.”
Ami thrust her chin out stubbornly but didn’t deny it as she stepped inside. Marcus followed.
The baby grinned when she saw the gathering and bounced in her daddy’s arms. “Unca Wowand! Unca Wowand!”
As Ethan closed the door, Marcus bent and lowered the little girl’s feet to the floor.
“Dana,” Aidan said, “this is Marcus and his wife Ami.”
The little girl beelined over to Roland, who bent and scooped her up into his arms, giving her an affectionate grin and a peck on the cheek.
“And that’s their daughter Adira.”
Seth abruptly appeared just inside the front door. When his gaze alighted upon the large group in the living room, his eyes lit with golden fire.