Dark Spy’s Mission Read online

  “Be careful.” Syssi pulled her purse out of the drawer and pushed to her feet. “A hug from you might give him a heart attack. The old lecher has the hots for you.”

  Amanda shrugged. “And so do ninety percent of my male students and ten percent of the female.”

  “Yeah, but they are young. Gino is in his sixties, and he is about fifty pounds overweight.”

  “You’ve got a point. I’ll just air kiss his ruddy cheeks and leave a big tip.”

  “That’s better.”

  As usual, when they got to Gino’s it was packed. The excellent home-style Italian food, combined with reasonable prices and big portions, attracted customers from as far as the university. Which meant that there was a chance that Amanda would bump into one of her students, something she tried to avoid on her lunch break.

  Thankfully, Gino wasn’t there to give them the look, but since all of his staff knew them, they still got the royal treatment.

  “Follow me, ladies.” Gino’s nephew headed toward the back of the restaurant. “The only table I have available is in the private room on the second floor. I hope you don’t mind. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait.”

  “That’s perfect.” Amanda started up the rickety stairs. “Syssi and I need to plan my brother’s birthday.”

  He turned around with a big grin on his face. “We could cater it. How many people are you inviting?”

  “That’s what we are about to figure out.”

  “Let me know when you have a number, and we can go over menu options.”

  “I will do that.”

  After he took their order and headed back down, Syssi leaned and whispered, “We can’t have Gino cater the birthday.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because after the party is over, we would have to thrall all the waiters.”

  Amanda shrugged. “I don’t think it will be necessary. They won’t notice anything. It’s not like our guys are going to get aggressive or horny and start flashing fangs. They will get drunk and sing in Gaelic but that’s fine. Just a bunch of guys having fun.”

  Syssi nodded. “I hope you are right.”

  “The question is where to do it and who to invite. I vote for the banquet hall in the keep. If we invite the Scottish arm of the clan and they all come, bringing them to the village would be a hassle, and housing them would be a problem as well. Also, the increased traffic to the village might get noticed. The keep, on the other hand, is close to several high-end hotels, and it’s in the middle of downtown.”

  Amanda’s mention of hotels lit up a bulb in Syssi’s head.

  Leaning back, she crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. “I have a better idea. Let’s do it in the clan’s hotel in Hawaii.”

  Amanda’s eyes brightened. “You are a genius. Why didn’t I think of that? It’s perfect. Everyone loves Hawaii, and that way we won’t risk exposing the village or the keep.”

  “That’s just one of the benefits. Think about the weather and the beaches. It’s going to be so much more fun than hanging around Los Angeles in the winter.” Syssi looked out the window. “It’s drizzling again.”

  Tapping her finger over her lower lip, Amanda squinted. “What about a cruise ship? We could rent one exclusively for the clan.”

  Syssi sighed. “The problem with that is the same as with my idea. Someone would have to stay behind and guard the village here and the castle over in Scotland, which means that not everyone will take part in the celebration, and that sucks. I want everyone to be there.”

  “Not everyone came to your wedding, or to Nathalie and Andrew’s. That’s just how it is.”

  “Maybe we could have two parties instead of one? That way everyone can participate.”

  “True, but then it’s not going to be a clan-wide celebration.”

  “Right. There must be a solution; we are just not thinking creatively enough.”

  Amanda chuckled. “If the Perfect Match studios had enough devices, we could hook up everyone and have a virtual party.”

  “Maybe by Kian’s third millennial party there will be one in every home.”

  Amanda laughed. “No one would ever leave. People would spend their lives inside virtual realities.”

  It was a scary thought, but Syssi doubted it would ever happen. “Real life brings endless scenarios and possibilities. The virtual world is limited by the designers’ imaginations. Eventually, people would get bored.”

  “You think?” Amanda arched her brows. “For most people, real life is boredom and tedium. They get up in the morning, go to work, come back home, eat dinner with the family, watch some television, and go to sleep. Rinse and repeat. It’s the same for us. It’s not like every day brings new and exciting things, and when it does, they are rarely good.”

  Syssi nodded. “Kian would agree with you a hundred percent. There is always something going on, and it’s usually trouble.”

  When the sound of footsteps announced their waiter’s arrival, they paused the conversation and waited until the guy left.

  “We’ve gotten sidetracked,” Amanda said. “Back to Kian’s birthday. Are we holding it in Hawaii, or are we renting a cruise ship?”

  “I prefer Hawaii. Having most of the clan on one boat is dangerous. If word somehow got out, it would be very easy for our enemies to get rid of us with one freaking missile.”

  “Or a torpedo. And it’s not like we can hire an escort of battleships to protect us.” Amanda tapped her palm on the table. “So, it’s decided. We are having the party in Hawaii.”

  “Yes.”

  “Now to the next item on the agenda. Do we tell Kian? Or are we going to surprise him?”

  “Let me think about it. If we coordinate it well and get everyone to cooperate, we might be able to surprise Kian. I can tell him that I want to celebrate his birthday by going on a vacation to Hawaii. We will go first, and then everyone else will follow. I’m pretty sure Onegus can take care of the village’s security. Except, Kian doesn’t like surprises. I think he would enjoy the event more if he knew about it ahead of time.”

  9

  Kian

  “Good afternoon.” Kian got up and pulled out a chair for Vivian.

  When Magnus had walked into the office with his wife, Kian hadn’t been surprised even though he hadn’t invited her. Vivian had been an integral part of the operation in the Bay Area, providing cover for her husband. Her idea to walk up to the gate and ask to see the grounds hadn’t been sanctioned, but it seemed as if no harm had been done. The tail that had followed them around for a couple of days had eventually given up.

  “Thank you.” She sat down. “I hope you don’t mind me joining the meeting.”

  “Not at all. You were an unofficial team member, and your contribution was appreciated.”

  “That’s so kind of you to say, but in retrospect, I regret going up to the gate and pressing that button. I thought that we could learn something by courting a tail, but you didn’t want me to engage the guy following us. Then to keep our cover, we had to pretend to show interest in nearby properties. I enjoyed the house walkthroughs, but Magnus not so much.”

  Kian stifled a chuckle. That had been an accusation cloaked in an apology.

  “We’ve found what we were after anyway, and you two got to see some nice houses for sale.”

  She smiled at her husband. “Magnus was bored out of his mind.”

  “I wasn’t.” The Guardian took her hand. “I just couldn’t stand the realtor’s endless prattle. Besides, it wasn’t a total waste of time. One of the houses we saw has potential.”

  Kian frowned. Surely, Magnus wasn’t thinking about buying it for his family or even as an investment. Unless he’d meant it had potential for the clan.

  “How so? I typically invest only in hotels and office buildings, not in private houses.”

  “I meant as a stakeout house,” Magnus clarified. “It’s located at the end of the street Kalugal’s mansion is on, but because it’s a corner house, its front and it
s driveway face the other street.”

  Kian’s curiosity was piqued. “Go on.”

  “The good part is that Kalugal’s gate is visible from the home’s second floor balcony. The bad part is that the property costs a fortune to lease. The quoted price was twenty-seven grand a month, and the minimum lease term was one year.”

  “We can thrall the owner to agree to a month-to-month.”

  “That occurred to me. But the owner lives abroad. Regrettably, we can’t thrall humans over the phone.”

  Kian leaned back and smiled. “You are right about that. But Lokan can compel him. He proved that he could do it when he compelled his island manservant to send him Navuh’s portrait even though it was not allowed.”

  Vivian shook her head. “Still, twenty-seven grand a month is a lot of money.”

  “It is. But that would be the best cover possible for our operation. Especially if you two moved in. Since Kalugal’s men have already checked your story and found no holes in it, they won’t find it suspicious that you rented or bought a property nearby.”

  Magnus didn’t look convinced. “They might go for a more thorough investigation if we become their neighbors. Besides. We’ve been away from home for too long already. We can’t leave Parker alone again.”

  “Can you take him with you?”

  Vivian and Magnus exchanged glances, and then Vivian shook her head. “I don’t want to expose Parker to even a whiff of danger. But if you think this will be helpful for the mission, I’m willing to accompany Magnus again. Ella is back, so she can take care of Parker in our absence.” Vivian chuckled. “Not that he is thrilled about living with his sister. Parker prefers spending time with Merlin. If the doctor ever wants an apprentice, our son would jump on that.”

  Magnus grimaced. “Merlin fills Parker’s mind with useless information instead of teaching him actual biology and physiology, things the kid could actually use in school.”

  “It’s not useless.” Vivian smiled shyly. “Merlin’s potion is helping us to conceive.”

  Magnus’s eyes softened. “I like the guy, and I want to believe that his potions actually work, but Syssi and Kian’s success might have been coincidental. None of the other couples who have started the treatments have been successful yet.”

  “Give it time, love. It will happen.”

  “Fates willing.”

  Kian waited impatiently for the discussion between the mates to be done. It wasn’t that he lacked sympathy for their cause, but it was irrelevant to what the meeting was about.

  “Give me the house’s details, and I’ll arrange the lease. Get ready to go back on Thursday.”

  Vivian’s eyes widened. “So soon? You can’t close the deal so quickly.”

  “With Lokan’s help, I can. Kri and Michael are going to join you there, and once Jin is ready, she and Arwel will stay with you as well. I haven’t decided how many additional Guardians I’m going to send with her, but they are also going to stay at that house, provided that it’s big enough.”

  Magnus nodded. “Six bedrooms and eight bathrooms. I think that should do it.”

  “Indeed. Given the cost of hotel rooms in the Bay Area and how many I would have had to rent for the mission, the house is probably a better deal.”

  10

  Jin

  “How did you enjoy the lesson with Dalhu?” Arwel looked at Jin’s sketchbook expectantly.

  She put it on the coffee table. “It was fun. You should have stayed.”

  Showing up mid-morning with a bunch of artists’ sketchbooks and charcoals, Dalhu had surprised everyone, including Arwel. He’d murmured something about doing it because Amanda had demanded it of him and apologized for not calling ahead of time.

  Arwel had arranged for them to use one of the classrooms, stayed for a little while to watch, and then left ten minutes into the lesson.

  “I draw like a six-year-old.” He glanced at her closed sketchbook again. “Can I see what you have in there?”

  Jin shook her head. “I’m not much better than you. Mey is the talented one.” She pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and joined Arwel on the couch. “Richard can’t even draw a stick figure, and yet he stayed. Dalhu was very patient with him.”

  Snaking an arm under her, Arwel lifted her onto his lap. “Good for him. But I don’t have the patience for it. My next chosen career is not going to be anything artsy.”

  He kissed her softly, his arms skimming over her sides and brushing lightly against her breasts.

  It didn’t take much for Jin to get excited. Turning in Arwel’s arms, she straddled him. “Did you get condoms?”

  It was a mood killer to talk about rubber, but she had to ask. For some reason, they had to use condoms until she tethered Kalugal. Arwel hadn’t explained why, just saying that it was necessary.

  Was Kian afraid she’d get pregnant and that it would interfere with her ability to tether people? Or maybe it was about the immortals’ superior sense of smell. If they didn’t use protection, could Kalugal smell Arwel on her?

  Talk about gross.

  Arwel smirked. “I did. There is an entire commercial-sized box of them in the clinic. Someone was very thoughtful.”

  The thought of having sex with a barrier between them was far from exciting, and using up an entire box before they could stop was depressing.

  “Yeah, remind me to thank whoever left it there for us later.” She looked down to hide the involuntary grimace.

  Arwel hooked a finger under her chin. “You look upset.”

  “I don’t want to make love to you with those things on. They take away from the pleasure. Besides, I don’t understand how they will prevent me from entering transition. I was tested when I entered the program, and I’m clean, my birth control shot is good for another month, and after that Bridget can give me another one.”

  “It’s not about preventing pregnancy or catching diseases. Immortals don’t get infected, and we don’t transmit either. Our bodies eliminate viruses and bacteria. But in order for you to transition, I need to bite you and to come inside you at the same time. It has nothing to do with getting you pregnant. It would be a miracle if I did.”

  Maybe for him, but not for her. Jin wasn’t ready to start a family.

  “I don’t get it. You said that for guys to transition it’s enough for them to get bitten during a fight. How come females need semen in addition to the venom?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not a doctor, but I suspect that the venom’s different composition has something to do with it. Maybe it’s not as concentrated when used during sex, and to transition the extra chemical boost from semen is needed. Bottom line, experience has taught us that this is how it works, and as long as condoms are used, transition doesn’t happen. And since it is important that you approach Kalugal as a human, you can’t transition until you tether him.”

  “Then I don’t want to wait. I want to do it as soon as possible and be done with it. I want us to make love with nothing to diminish the experience, and I want to transition.”

  He nodded. “I want that too, but I don’t want to rush things. Kalugal is a dangerous man, and we should plan the operation carefully. I don’t know whether Kian and Turner have finalized the details yet.”

  “What’s to finalize? Their part is to locate him in a place where I will have access to him. Once I’m there, it can be all done in five minutes. Bada bing bada boom.”

  Arwel laughed. “Suddenly, you are enthusiastic about going out on a spying mission?”

  She undulated, rubbing her center over his erection. “I have strong motivation. I want that bad boy in me without a raincoat. Call Kian and tell him that I’m ready to go.”

  Arwel arched a brow. “Now?”

  “Yes. If he knows that I’m ready, he will finalize those details you are so concerned with.”

  Arwel frowned. “You are taking this way too lightly. So many things can go wrong. We need to use every precaution possible to ensure your safety. If anything happens
to you…” He trailed off.

  Jin cupped his cheeks. “I’m not stupid. I’m not going to rush into it or go in without backup. But this is not some dangerous mission that involves walking into the lion’s den or crossing enemy lines. What’s the worst that could happen? Kalugal walks away without me having a chance to tether him? Then we will do it again.”

  “What if he grabs you and runs? No one will be able to stop him because he can compel other immortals, and he can certainly compel you to go with him without a struggle.”

  “Why would he do that, though? Has he kidnapped random girls from clubs before?”

  “Not that we know of.”

  “So he is not going to start with me.” She reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Call Kian. The sooner you do that, the sooner we can make love.”

  He chuckled. “Is that supposed to motivate me to make the call?”

  “You betcha.”

  11

  Arwel

  Arwel dropped the phone on the couch beside him and put his hands on Jin’s waist.

  “What are you doing?” She batted them away.

  “You told me to call Kian, and I can’t do that with you sitting on me.” He gripped her waist again and started to lift her.

  She put her hands on his forearms to stop him. “Why not?”

  “Because I can’t concentrate when you are rubbing all over me.”

  Smiling evilly, Jin leaned to the side and picked up the phone. “Call.” She handed it to him. “Let’s test your self-control.” She emphasized by twisting her hips and grinding against the club pushing on his zipper.

  “You are evil.”

  “I’m a challenge.”

  That she was, and Arwel loved every moment of it. She was like no other female he had ever been with, and that was saying something when coming from an immortal who’d been sexually active for more than three centuries.

  With an exaggerated groan, Arwel chose Kian’s contact and then waited for the line to connect.