33. Brandon

33

brANDON

B randon listened to the conversation around the table, but he was only paying superficial attention to it. His mind kept circling back to Morelle's declaration from the previous night about returning the pleasure he'd given her.

The determination in her eyes had been both arousing and terrifying, and he didn't have the option of escaping to his house because she now demanded that he share her bed.

He'd packed an overnight bag, including silk pajamas he'd never worn because he preferred sleeping in the nude. The thought of wearing them tonight made him feel ridiculous, but he was going to, nonetheless.

Maybe he could pretend to fall asleep early?

The thought was so absurd that he stifled the urge to snort. The immortal legendary Hollywood producer who'd had countless lovers was acting like a damn virgin.

If Morelle wanted to explore, he should just let her.

She was a grown woman, perfectly capable of making her own decisions. But she was also completely inexperienced. Would she even know what to do?

His princess didn't even have the benefit of watching movies or reading books that would have given her an idea of how to go about pleasuring a male, and as he thought about teaching her, he got hard. Worse, everyone around the table could probably smell his arousal.

"Brandon?" Morelle turned to him with a frown. "Is something wrong?"

Crap. Well, he hadn't spent years writing scripts and hanging around actors for nothing. He could put on a good act.

Smiling confidently, he wrapped his arm over the back of her chair. "Just thinking about the humans who are on their way to Tibet to search for the missing pods. What if they actually find one?"

Across the table, Aru set down his wine glass. "That's very unlikely. My teammates and I followed every rumor of anything suspicious in the area, and we found nothing."

"Where could the pods be?" Morelle asked. "We were told that they are indestructible, so they must be somewhere."

Kian leaned forward. "We've theorized about this extensively. Some must have ended up in the Arctic Ocean, and the currents there could have carried them deep under the ice. Others might have created impact craters that have since been covered by vegetation, although given that they landed not so long ago, not enough time has passed to allow for complete coverage."

"Earth is mostly water," Dagor said. "The odds of pods landing in the ocean are much higher than them landing on land."

Syssi chuckled. "Or maybe they've already been found and are hidden away in some government facility like Area 51."

"Area 51?" Morelle turned to Brandon. "What is that?"

Brandon welcomed the distraction of explaining, even as part of his mind remained acutely aware of her thigh pressing against his under the table. "It's a highly classified military installation in Nevada. There are all sorts of conspiracy theories about it housing alien technology, and even about experiments being conducted on extraterrestrial life forms."

"Which isn't entirely implausible," Syssi pointed out. "Most humans might think that's a conspiracy theory, but we know better." She turned to Kian. "Did the clan ever investigate the place?"

"We didn't have a reason to." Kian put his wine glass down. "Our ancestors were in Sumer, not America, and the Kra-ell settler ship exploded over Russia. I don't expect the US government to have anything overly interesting in there. They are probably working on experimental technology that is unrelated to aliens."

Brandon had seen several scripts for movies about Area 51, and he'd even considered one of them for production, but the head of the studio had decided against it, and Brandon hadn't put up too much of a fight to make it happen. The script had been a fun idea, and the movie would have probably made good money, but it hadn't promoted any of the ideals the clan was interested in.

He was about to share this with the others when Morelle's hand casually rested on his knee and robbed him of his thinking faculties.

"I think you should investigate it." Morelle's fingers traced patterns on his thigh.

"I suppose it might be worth looking into eventually," Kian said. "Roni could probably hack their systems without too much trouble, and perhaps Andrew can find out a thing or two about the place."

Syssi shook her head. "I asked him. He doesn't have access to that kind of information. It's all compartmentalized."

As the conversation drifted to what the government might be hiding and where, and circled back to the missing pods, Brandon was completely distracted by Morelle's casual touches. She seemed unaware of the effect she was having on him, continuing to participate in the discussion while her fingers drew circles of fire on his thigh.

"The Himalayas are still a good place to look for the pods," Negal was saying. "That's where we found yours, so it makes sense that there might be more buried out there. That's why we sent the humans to Tibet."

"The Himalayas surprised me," Margo said. "I actually had a good time out there, but that's probably because I didn't have to hike the terrain. Jasmine and the guys did all the hard work."

"I would have enjoyed it much more if I hadn't twisted my ankle." Jasmine smiled at Negal. "I owe you several dinners for carrying me on your back. I can't wait for Ell-rom and me to have our own house so I can cook and invite you all."

Annani sighed. "I hope that you will stay here for a little longer. I am enjoying having my sister and brother and their mates living with me."

Brandon swallowed.

Was he Morelle's official mate?

Glancing her way, he was afraid to see her shaking her head, but she was smiling at Annani.

"We can come every day. If it is possible, though, I would love to have a house of my own. I've never even had a room to myself before this one." Morelle waved her other hand in the direction of the hallway.

"Would my house do?" Brandon asked. "Or do you want an entire place to yourself?"

Her hand had stilled on his thigh. "I guess we can move into your place."

"Nonsense," Annani protested. "You are still recuperating, and here you have the Odus to prepare and serve you meals. Who is going to cook for you at Brandon's?" The Clan Mother leveled her gaze at him. "Can you cook, or are you planning to feed my sister sandwiches from the café?"

"I can make eggs and toast, but that's the extent of my culinary expertise. I can learn, though."

The conversation turned to food delivery options, and as the Odus served dessert, Brandon remained hyper-aware of Morelle beside him. Every movement, every casual touch sent sparks through his body, and he was both dreading and anticipating their return to her room later.

He needed to stop overthinking everything and just let whatever happened happen. He should trust Morelle to know her own desires and himself to be what she needed.

"Brandon?" Morelle's voice drew him back to the present. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, sweetheart." He lifted her hand to his lips and brushed them over her knuckles. "I'm just thinking about how grateful I am to the Fates for bringing you into my life. I also wish that I could have been there in the Himalayan mountains, searching for you."

Jasmine snorted. "Count yourself lucky that you weren't. These two looked like skeletons. It wasn't a pretty picture."

Ell-rom leaned to plant a kiss on Jasmine's cheek. "And yet you stayed by my side."

"Of course. I knew you were fated to me, my prince."