1. Jasmine

1

JASMINE

T he morning sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, bathing the dining room in a golden light and warming the side of Jasmine's face.

"It's a little stifling in here." Margo waved her hand in front of her face. "Are those windows tinted?"

Gabi turned to look at the glass. "I'm sure they are. It would be hotter in here if they weren't. You can turn the AC on."

Margo huffed. "Who turned it off?"

"I did," Frankie admitted. "It was blasting cold air this morning. I was freezing."

As the conversation around the table turned to the fascinating subject of immortals' supposed imperviousness to temperature swings and then shifted to a discussion about the importance of having a great view versus energy conservation, Jasmine sipped on her coffee while observing Ell-rom's interaction with her friends. Not that he was saying much.

He seemed distant this morning, contemplative, and he was avoiding her eyes. He also hadn't reached for her hand under the table like he usually did.

Had she overwhelmed him last night?

Had it been too much too soon for him?

Ell-rom had appeared to enjoy what they had been doing, and things had seemed to go well, but then Jasmine had freaked out, probably for no good reason, and had ruined what had been a wonderful experience that could have turned into a cherished memory.

It had been Ell-rom's first time, and Jasmine wanted him to remember it fondly, to have a positive memory that he could smile about centuries from now. She didn't want him to wince whenever he thought about it, the way she did every time she thought about her own first experience.

Instead, she had made him feel like his bite wasn't welcome, or worse, that she hadn't enjoyed what they had been doing.

Neither could be further from the truth.

Being his first had been exciting, even moving, and she considered introducing him to carnal pleasures a privilege. As for the venom bite, Jasmine knew what to expect and was looking forward to experiencing it with Ell-rom.

Just imagining it sent a tingle to her lady parts.

When he cast her a perplexed glance, she realized that he must have smelled her arousal.

Jasmine didn't mind him knowing what she was thinking, but she didn't want the other males in the room to know.

That keen sense of smell was the one thing she did not like about gods and immortals. Other than that, they were awesome.

Well, at least the ones she'd met so far.

Not all immortals were good people who strived to make life better for everyone on Earth. There was another faction of immortals whose goals were in direct opposition to the clan's.

She didn't know much about the conflict or who those other immortals were, only that the clan had enemies, one of the reasons the clan had to live in hiding.

Well, that and humans, of course.

After Jasmine smiled and shook her head at Ell-rom, he turned back to Aru, who was telling him about the wonders of the underground cities of Anumati.

The gods' planet was a fascinating subject, but Jasmine only listened to Aru with half an ear while replaying last night in her head.

Had her response been warranted?

Blacking out after a bite was a given, and it was dangerous when it happened inside a bathtub or a pool. Ell-rom was still weak, and once the lust haze had receded, there was a chance that he would have fainted. He would have survived a bath drowning because he was immortal and would enter stasis, but she wouldn't.

The fear of drowning had been overpowering, but now that she thought of it in the light of day, did it still make sense for her to freak out like that?

Was it even a valid concern?

Yeah, it was.

Her sense of self-preservation had kicked in, and after what had happened with Alberto, Jasmine had vowed never to ignore or belittle what that sense was telling her.

She could still fix things with Ell-rom, but if she were dead, there would be no fixing that.

Across the table, Margo pouted. "It's a shame that I will never get to see Anumati. It sounds wondrous."

Aru smiled. "Never say never. You are immortal now, and the future has not been written yet."

Margo let out a breath. "Tell me about it. When I was a girl, I thought everything would get better, and that progress, prosperity, and respect for human rights would continue spreading to every part of the globe, eradicating barbarism and savagery forever. Instead, we are seeing the opposite happening. I'm not as hopeful as I was in my youth, and I'm praying to the universe to deliver a miracle."

Frankie snorted. "With what we know about the ruler of the known universe, you probably shouldn't pray for that. The Eternal King is not our savior."

Next to Jasmine, Ell-rom tensed. "Is there something bad happening on Earth that I should be aware of?"

It was curious that he was more worried about what humans were doing to each other than about the threat of the Eternal King. The truth was that Jasmine felt the same, but that was because one threat was imminent while the other was far into the future, and she was still human, thinking in human terms.

Ell-rom was immortal, though, and his perspective on time should have differed greatly from hers.

Gabi waved a dismissive hand. "Let's talk about more pleasant subjects."

Ell-rom shook his head. "If we are in danger, I need to know."

Gabi cast him a reassuring smile. "You don't need to worry about what humans are doing to each other. As an immortal living in the immortals' village, you will be well protected against the barbarians and savages of this world. If you can access your paranormal talents, you can protect yourself against them when you venture outside the village as well."

"I wish all of us could move in there." Margo sighed. "The more I watch the news, the more I want to retreat from this world."

Frankie grimaced. "If we are ever permitted to live in the village, I will have to convince Kian to let my large family move in with us. I can't leave them behind."

Dagor's expression soured. "I wish that, too, but you know why that's not possible. We must continue pretending that we are doing our job on Earth so no one will be sent to replace us. To keep making out like we are searching for the missing pods, we need the trackers to keep broadcasting our location."

Jasmine had heard part of that argument before, and it had struck her as a challenge but not as an unsolvable problem. "Can't you put those trackers inside someone else? For the right amount of money, you will find no shortage of volunteers who will not ask too many questions."

Aru regarded her with a sad smile. "Regrettably, human volunteers wouldn't last long enough."

"Then you will have to move the trackers every so often." The wheels in Jasmine's mind kept spinning. "You could hire three guysand pay them to go to the destinations you are supposed to investigate and report to you. Just hire healthy, young people and move the trackers to a new trio every few years."