A box of pastries under his arm, Jackson walked into the keep’s café and scanned the small crowd. It was late morning, after the breakfast rush was over and before the lunch one began, and yet four out of the café’s twelve tables were occupied, most by more than one immortal.

Mid-morning coffee break for those working in the keep.

He put the box down on one of the barstools. “Hi, Carol, how are things going?”

She shrugged. “Business as usual. What about you?”

“Same, though not for long. Everything is going to change after the move to the new place.”

She nodded. “I’m still stuck with running the café unless someone volunteers to take it off my hands. I don’t think Nathalie is ever coming back. Not until little Phoenix is old enough to go to preschool.” Carol shook her head. “The little darling will have a long commute. I don’t know how far it is to the nearest school, but my guess is about an hour’s drive. The place is so isolated that it will make socializing with people outside the clan difficult.”

“Do you prefer it here?”

“No. I prefer my own little home which I’m renting out.”

So did Jackson’s mother. As a therapist, she worked mostly with humans and shared a clinic with several other therapists in an office building that wasn’t anywhere near the keep but was ten minutes’ drive from their home.

Her home, he corrected himself.

Jackson no longer lived there, and he had no intention of going back. The next place he was moving into was the house he and Tessa were going to share in the village. Which would make his commute a nightmare too.

“I’ve been thinking. What if I take over the new café?”

Carol’s eyes widened. “What about Nathalie’s old café? I hear it’s doing very well.”

“It is. But I’m thinking about the commute too. Besides, Vlad and Gordon are starting college. Vlad is staying in town so he can work part-time, but Gordon is going out of state.”

“You can hire humans.”

Jackson swiped his long bangs back. “I will, if I have to. But what do you think about my idea?”

Carol tilted her head, taking a few moments to think. “If Nathalie doesn’t mind about the other place, then I’m all for it. I can work part-time too, help you out until you get settled.” She sighed. “I would love to reclaim my old life and chill a little. I miss the clubs and the partying and inviting friends over for dinner.”

Fates, he knew the feeling. Ever since he’d taken over the café and then started dating Tessa, everything else had become less of a priority, which meant nonexistent. When was the last time he’d chilled with his friends? Except for performing and practicing their music?

With the guys leaving for college, even that would be over.

It hit him then that he and Tessa were like an old married couple. Tessa didn’t know any better, she’d missed the entire high school experience and started working for Eva at sixteen or seventeen, but he did. They should get together with other couples. Go out dancing or something. For Tessa’s sake more than his.

There was a whole chunk of life she’d missed out on, and it was up to him to help make up for that.

Jackson opened the large box and pulled out a smaller one. “Here are your pastries.” He closed the bigger box and tucked it under his arm. “I’m going to restock the vending machine.”

“We are all out of muffins.”

He patted the box. “I have plenty of them here.”

The vending machine needed to smarten up and send messages when it was running low on something. The technology was available. He should check it out. Someone must’ve thought of that and already built smart vending machines.

Perhaps he should suggest it to Kian. Unless they were available for lease, Jackson couldn’t afford to buy even one. But the good thing about Kian was that he was generous with money if he deemed the expense justified. Given that automation was the only alternative to employing humans, which Kian was refusing to consider, Jackson had a feeling the boss would be all for getting the new and improved vending machines.

Not that he could blame the guy. Jackson didn’t like working with humans either. It was a constant strain to watch himself and not let on that he could hear conversations from across the room, or lift things that took the strength of two human males.

Opening the machine, he started filling up the slots with wrapped pastries, when a pair of legs stopped next to him.

“Is it going to take long?”

Jackson lifted his eyes. “Sylvia? What are you doing here?”

“Same as everyone else. I want to grab something to eat.”

“I meant in the keep.”

“I came to be with Roni.”

“Who?” He didn’t know any Roni.

“Didn’t you hear about him?” Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Where have you been, on the moon? I thought everyone knew.”

Jackson went back to filling the machine. “Apparently not everyone.”

“I thought you were tight with Andrew. Roni is, or rather was, a hacker for the government who worked with Andrew. He found Eva’s trail. That’s how Bhathian knew to look for her in Brazil.”

“Now I know who you’re talking about.”

“Long story short, Roni’s maternal grandmother, who had supposedly drowned when Roni’s mom was a young girl, applied for a driver’s license not once but twice since, looking the same way she did at twenty-something. So naturally, we assumed she was an immortal and that Roni was a Dormant, right?”

“Right.” Jackson closed the vending machine.

“So we staged this elaborate setup, a dojo where he was supposed to train, and Anandur pretended to be the instructor. He got bitten several times, and after the last time, he developed a fever and we thought he was transitioning, but it turned out to be pneumonia. So now he is here, and Kian agreed for him to stay even though he is a human.”

Jackson rubbed his jaw. “I’m obviously missing some important parts of the story. Why the elaborate setup? And since when are you working for Kian?”

For some reason his questions caused Sylvia to blush. “I don’t work at the keep. I’m Roni’s girlfriend. And the reason we needed the dojo excuse was that Roni wasn’t free to go as he pleased. When he was a kid, he hacked into some classified information, got caught, and instead of going to prison, or a juvenile correction facility, he was offered a job. He couldn’t go anywhere without his handler. Andrew convinced the bosses that Roni needed physical activity to keep his mind sharp, which was obviously important to them as he was their top hacker, so they agreed, and we staged the dojo.”

That was one hell of a story, and there was probably much more to it. But Jackson couldn’t spend all day chatting with Sylvia. The guys needed him back at the café. Still, there was one quick question that could satisfy his curiosity for now.

“How old is your Roni?”

“About your age.”

“You don’t say.” Jackson smiled, an idea forming in his head. “And he now lives here in the keep?”

“Yes.”

“Did you move in with him?”

“Not yet. But I’m here a lot.”

“How about we all get together? My girlfriend and me, you and Roni.”

“Roni is not allowed to leave the keep.”

“We can hang out at his place. Who is he rooming with?”

“For now, no one. And that’s a wonderful idea. Roni could use some friends his age. He spent the last few years surrounded by agents who were way older than him.”

This was just perfect. Both Roni and Tessa had missed a big chunk of normal growing up. They should get along splendidly.

Jackson pulled out his phone. “Let’s exchange numbers. Check with Roni when is a good time and let me know. We’ll come over, and I’ll bring the pastries.”

Sylvia frowned. “Who’s your girlfriend? I’m not aware of any girl who has recently transitioned.”

“She didn’t. Tessa is a Dormant just like your Roni, and Kian gave me permission to tell her who we are.”

Sylvia put her hands on her hips. “How come your girlfriend knows about us and is free to come and go, while my boyfriend is a prisoner?”

Damn. Telling her about Tessa’s special situation was the last thing he wanted to do. Having a good time with people their age didn’t involve sharing her horrific past with them.

“How about we talk about it when we get together? I have to go back to work.”

“Fine.” She pointed a finger at him. “But you owe me an explanation.”

Not really, but he didn’t want to argue the point with her. Until the four of them got together, he would think of a good excuse that didn’t involve revealing Tessa’s past.