"After you, my love." Kian held open the door to the rooftop vestibule for Syssi.

"Your mother was in an awful hurry to get back home this time," she said. "Do you think something happened while we were away?"

As soon as they'd returned from Hawaii, Annani had been in such a rush to leave, the chopper's engines hadn't had a chance to cool off after shuttling them back from the clan's airstrip.

"She doesn't like to be away from her sanctuary for too long."

And thank the merciful Fates for that. Kian couldn't wait to reclaim their penthouse. At last, they had the place to themselves, with no family members invading their space and demanding his attention.

Guests, even loved ones, stretched his patience to the limit. His home was his sanctuary, the one place he could let go and be just Kian—not the regent, not the head of the keep or the clan's business empire, but a guy chilling at home with his wife.

Besides, the sooner his mother was back at the sanctuary, the better. Kian had enough on his mind without adding concern for the goddess's safety to the mix.

Just as he'd known she would, Annani had hardly kept her presence a secret. His mother had visited Tessa in the clinic, not at all concerned about bumping into someone who wasn't on the need-to-know list.

But then Annani considered his insistence on secrecy an overkill. After all, she could pull a number of tricks her immortal descendants couldn't, like sneaking into Tessa's room under the cover of a shroud with no one any the wiser.

The goddess had the power to manipulate human and immortal minds with ease, while he and the other immortals could only affect those of humans. Thankfully, she refrained from using those powers on her family.

His mother was manipulating them the old-fashioned way. Like any other mother worth her salt, Annani guilted and bullied them into doing her bidding.

"She visited the catacombs again," Syssi said.

Not a big surprise. Every time the goddess graced his keep with her presence, she paid her respects to their dead.

Thank the Fates the catacombs in his keep housed only a few. The final resting place for most of those they had lost over the years was at the clan's old Scottish stronghold.

Kian shrugged. "Annani is sentimental."

"I know. It's just strange that she includes the Doomers in her walkabout."

"Tell me about it. My mother holds on to the naive belief that one day the entombed Doomers she forbade us to kill could be resurrected and brought into the clan's fold."

"I understand her reluctance to kill them. Even though they are brainwashed to hate her and seek her demise and her progeny's demise, she feels that they are still her people and there aren't many of you left."

"Us," he corrected her. "You're part of the clan."

Syssi waved a hand. "Naturally. But I meant your family. I wasn't born into it. Though you are right, I should say us."

He wrapped his arms around her. "You are my family first. The clan comes second."

"I love you too." Syssi reached for his cheek and cupped it in her soft palm. "I would never tell Annani this to her face, but I agree that her thinking they could be reformed is naive, especially for someone who is older than most civilizations and should know better. She should never put her family in danger like that."

"Don't worry. I would never let her do something so idiotic. It's like freeing a bunch of deadly vipers inside your home, hoping they will play nice and go peacefully about their business."

Syssi nodded. "The moment they are able, they will attack."

"Exactly."

Not on his watch.

Letting Syssi out of the cocoon of his arms, Kian walked over to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey. "Do you want a drink?" he asked.

"No, thanks. I want to go visit Brundar and Anandur and welcome Callie into the clan. You need to come too."

"Why? Can't you go as my representative?" Kian grimaced. "I was quite rude to the girl when I caught her hiding in their apartment."

"It wasn't her idea to sneak into the keep. It was theirs. You should have been nicer to her." Syssi shook her head. "Poor girl. She'd been through a horrible trauma, and then you had to go and scare her even more. Do you know how terrifying you are when you're angry?"

Kian raked his fingers through his hair.

If Syssi was trying to make him feel guilty, she was succeeding. Except, his anger had been justified and he had done nothing wrong. The girl was a human, and humans were not allowed in the clan areas of the building. Kian was willing to relax the rules for a potential Dormant, but even Brundar hadn't suspected her of that. Callie had none of the indicators. Her transition had taken all of them by surprise.

"I did what I had to. There is a reason no humans are allowed on the floors occupied by the clan. I don't make up rules to make everyone's life more difficult, they are there to ensure the safety and survival of my people."

Syssi waved a hand. "Before Amanda met Dalhu, she'd been bringing guys up to her penthouse and breaking your rules all of the time. I'm sure many of the others are doing so as well. They are just better at hiding it from you."

Anger, hot and sharp, filled his chest. What else was happening right under his nose that he wasn't aware of?

"I'm going to fire the entire goddamned security department. They should have informed me of what was going on. It's not like the rules are unclear. It's their fucking job to monitor who goes where!"

"How would they've known?" Syssi rolled her eyes. "Amanda parked in the clan's private garage and used the penthouse's dedicated elevator, which has no surveillance cameras. That's a big gaping hole in your security protocol, Mr. Regent in charge of everyone's safety."

Fuck. Syssi was right. But to put cameras in the parking garage and in the clan's private elevators was an invasion of privacy he wanted to avoid. "I'm walking a very thin line between ensuring safety and a big-brother-watching type of security."

Syssi sighed. "I know, my love." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "These kinds of problems will no longer be an issue once we move everyone to the village."

He held her to him, burying his nose in her hair. "Then there will be new ones. I feel like I'm in charge of a kindergarten full of misbehaving children, instead of people who've lived long enough and have experienced enough to know better. And what's worse, my own mother is the ringleader."

Syssi caressed his back. "After living with danger for so long, people get tired of hiding and worrying. They just want to live normal lives. You can see it on the news when a terrorist bomb explodes in a busy café, killing and maiming dozens of innocent civilians. The next day, the same street is teeming with people again. Life goes on."

"And I bet the security personnel in charge of keeping all those civilians safe are going nuts."

She chuckled. "Probably. But I don't want to talk about depressing subjects, especially when we have reason to celebrate. We have two new clan members—two new females to start two new hereditary lines. Not so long ago, you would've been jumping with joy at such news."

True words. With his lack of gratitude, Kian was probably courting the Fates' wrath. Instead of complaining, he should be offering his thanks. After millennia of turning their capricious backs on his family, recently the Fates had bestowed a bounty of gifts on his clan.

He, in particular, had a lot to be grateful for.

The Fates had been incredibly kind to him, bringing him Syssi, the love of his life, his truelove mate, and the first Dormant ever discovered.

Kian kissed the top of his wife's head. "What would I have done without you? Who would have called me out on my bullshit?"

She chuckled. "Your mother, Amanda, and your two other sisters."

Yeah, he was surrounded by smart women who he couldn't intimidate no matter how hard he tried, and who had no problem chewing him out whenever he deserved it. "Let's go and get the visit over with. Is Callie staying at Brundar's?"

"They plan to live here until the village is ready."

"What about Anandur? Did he move out?"

"The three of them are staying together." Syssi laughed. "I don't think they could've gotten rid of him even if they wanted to. Callie is an amazing cook, and you know how Anandur loves it when someone makes food for him, especially when it's not vegan."

"That didn't stop him and his brother from taking every opportunity to show up just when Okidu was serving lunch or dinner. They kept complaining about it being vegan and eating it anyway."

"As I said, having someone else cook for him is more important to Anandur than what is served."

No wonder the guy wanted to stay. Having a cook at home who had no problem with preparing meat dishes was a dream come true for him.

The question was whether Brundar was happy with the arrangement. Kian would have hated having one of his nosy siblings around. A mated couple needed their privacy. Anandur needed to move out.

Perhaps the girl should ruin a couple of dishes on purpose.

Except, her cooking might be a source of pride for her. Kian wondered what her level of skill was. Had she studied the culinary arts, or was it just a hobby?

"How do you know Callie is a good cook?"

"Bridget told me." Syssi's cheeks were getting pinker by the minute.

Kian cocked a brow and looked down at his wife, who was trying to avoid his gaze. "And how did Bridget learn of the fact?"

Syssi looked away. "Hmm, Callie invited her and Anandur to dinner."

"So soon after her transition?"

"It was before that."

"I knew it, the bastards kept hiding her in their apartment even after I ordered them to take her home. I'll have those two whipped."

Syssi paled. "The dinner wasn't here. It was at Callie's apartment."

He didn't smell a lie, but it didn't make sense for Bridget to accompany Brundar to his girlfriend's place. It wasn't as if the doctor and Brundar were close friends. Unless, she'd gone there to check up on him, which meant that he'd been staying with Callie while pretending to be in the keep.

Since Kian hadn't asked, he couldn't even accuse the guy of lying, but apparently the conspiracy to keep this from him involved more than Brundar and his brother.

"Who else knew that Brundar was staying at Callie's?"

Syssi's pale cheeks flushed with color again. "Bridget and Anandur."

"And who else?"

She chewed on her lower lip.

"Spit it out, Syssi."

She sighed. "Amanda and I knew as well. Amanda even dragged me over there to check Callie out. She is very nice. All of us liked her even when she was still a human, which should have clued us in about her being a Dormant. We all felt an affinity for her."

He cast her a stern look. "Tsk, tsk. You kept a secret from me."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but it wasn't my secret to share, and besides, you would've gotten mad and demanded that Brundar return to the keep. We all thought he needed to be with her, for his sake and for hers. They helped each other heal. She didn't know who we were, just that we were Brundar's family. There was no harm in that. I didn't break any clan laws."

It was all true, but there was still the matter of Syssi practically lying to him by not telling him that she'd gone to visit Callie.

"I think you earned yourself a spanking to remember, my love."

Without looking up at him, Syssi nodded, but for the first time ever, she didn't seem excited by the prospect. Instead of arousal, Kian smelled fear.

With a frown, he hooked a finger under her chin. "Look at me, sweet girl."

She raised a pair of worried eyes to him.

"I can't believe that the promise of a spanking makes you anxious. Did I ever hurt you?"

"No, but you were never mad at me like this either."

He shook his head. "I'm not mad, and this is still the same game we love to play for both of our enjoyments and nothing else."

Syssi expelled a breath. "For a moment there, I wasn't sure. You looked so disappointed."

"I am disappointed. Apparently, you don't trust me. The omission of truth is almost as bad as a lie, but thinking that I could ever do anything to hurt you is worse."

Tears pooled in the corners of Syssi's eyes. "I'm sorry. Can you forgive me? What can I do to make it up to you?"

Damn. When Syssi looked so remorseful, it was impossible to stay even slightly peeved at her or pretend that he was.

Wrapping his arms around his wife, Kian lifted her so their faces were aligned. "I'm glad to finally have something to be disappointed about. You're so damn perfect all of the time, while I'm so utterly flawed, that it's a relief to catch you doing something wrong."

As he kissed her, she melted into him, her anxious scent dissipating.

"I love you, my sweet girl, with everything that I am, and with everything that I've got."

Love shining in her beautiful eyes, Syssi cupped his cheeks. "You keep saying that you are not a romantic and that you're not good with words, but you always find the perfect ones for me."