Chapter Forty-Five

Three months later, June.

Beth stepped into her kitchen,a book clutched to her breasts, and stopped short.

Arc was perched on a high stool at the kitchen island, the heel of one boot hooked on a rung, the other foot planted on the floor. He was wearing her favorite jeans, Levi's 501 button flies, and a tight blue T-shirt that set off the color of his eyes to perfection, as well as the sleek bulk of his muscles. Reading the sports page with an open Coke bottle at his elbow, he was the absolute picture of sexy masculinity.

She ran her tongue across her lips. God, why were her horny monkey hormones still raging so intensely into her fifth month of pregnancy? Honest to Pete, couldn't she just be like other pregnant women and get nauseous and exhausted?

"Hi, baby," Arc glanced up at her. "What's up?"

"Um, I brought home your suit for the cocktail party. It's in the living room." Shock of shockers and miracle of miracles, eight new Dragon women were being brought into the community next week—Toni had dangled some big money carrot in front of them, or something—and upon arrival, they would be introduced to some of the town mucky-mucks at a shindig in the mansion's Garden Parlor. What a gas. Beth just loved parties, especially the dressing-up part. "You're going to look great in it."

He chuckled. "Well, yeah, my wife's the best fashion designer ever."

She stepped up to the island, letting her eyes drift to the curved muscle in his thigh. Heat shimmied in her belly. "Try not to look too good."

He gave her a smile of overblown arrogance. "Not possible, babe." He noticed the book she was holding. "What's that?"

"Oh, I went to the library and picked out an idea for our classic."

"Hey, cool." Arc set aside the sports page. "Let's see it."

The warmth in her belly turned into something tender. Arc was trying really hard to have a deeper relationship with her. In the last few months they'd talked about all kinds of different topics, and recently he'd even agreed to read a classic novel with her and then discuss it. It was so touching. Probably wasn't fair what she was about to do, but …. Straight-faced, she laid out her choice on the kitchen island in front of him: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

Arc's brows shot up. "Jesus God, Beth." He reached out and flipped to the last page. "This is 1296 pages!"

"And," she stipulated, holding up a finger, "we can't have sex until we've read it all and discussed it."

"You've got to be shitting me."

She crossed her arms. "You won't read it without proper motivation, Arc. I know you."

"I so totally will."

"Ha! Maybe over the course of two years."

"C'mon, Beth, be reasonable." He rubbed a hand along his jaw. "All right, how about this: we can have sex after we've read and discussed each chapter?"

"That would be every night."

"Ah." His eyes glinted.

"Arc!"

"Okay, okay, here's another idea." He opened a drawer in the kitchen island and pulled out two paperbacks, setting them next to hers: Animal Farm by George Orwell and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The first was about a hundred pages, the second barely over two hundred. A couple of tug boats compared to her Titanic. "We could read one of these."

She planted her hands on her hips. "You're such a stinker! What did you do, go to the library and ask Hannah for the shortest classics she could find?"

"They're supposed to be good books, and one's a Russian author, same as yours." He smiled at her, obviously proud of himself.

She latched her eyes onto his smile, his mouth. "Well …." Shut up, horny monkey! She reached out absently for one of his books, her eyes remaining pinned on his white teeth, his alluring canines. "I always have wanted to read Animal Farm. But, um, no sex till we're done reading it."

He sighed. "Yeah, all right."

"Okay, then." She edged around the kitchen island. "So …." She bit her bottom lip as she maneuvered in front of his stool, positioning herself between his thighs. "That means we should probably have sex now, you know …." She slid her hands slowly over the hard contours of his shoulder muscles. "Just to tide us over."

He was on his feet so fast the stool clunked over behind him. Grabbing her by the waist, he whipped her around and set her on the island, his hands warm and eager as he shoved up her skirt.

She spread her legs, arched her head back, and moaned. "God, I'm such a pushover."

"No, babe," he bent his lips to the curve of her throat. "I am."

* * *

Kimberly threw open the doorto her house and barreled into the living room. "Sedge!" she called out. "Oh, hey –!" She skidded to a stop. "What the hell's this!?"

Sedge was standing by the coffee table with a huge smile on his face, several candles lit and a bottle of champagne chilling in a silver bucket. "Whoa, now, Mrs. St?nescu. You need to watch your language now that you're a junior associate with Bitterman, Zanhunch, and Pickett."

"Toni told you already? That blabbermouth." Kimberly laughed as she said it, not at all upset, of course. If it wasn't for Toni Parthen insisting that a lawyer was needed to see to the community's ever-growing investments and financial interests topside, Kimberly might still be unhappily writing unpublished papers or contemplating rock gardens. She glanced down at her watch. "I was offered the job all of an hour ago."

"Well, yeah," Sedge said, "but I needed to get another matter cleared with Toni related to topside, so I pressed her for the info." He picked up a fluted glass of champagne and held it up to her in toast. "Congratulations, Berly. You did it."

"Yeah, I did. Boo-yah!" She pumped her briefcase up-and-down over her head. "I actually wasn't sure I could pull off a power interview anymore, but I guess I impressed them." Bringing a high-dollar client to the table in the form of the, ahem, "Research Institute" hadn't hurt her chances. Crossing to Sedge, she set down her briefcase and accepted the champagne. They clinked glasses and she took a sip. "So what's the other topside matter?"

"Oh, no …. We don't need to talk about it now. Let's celebrate."

She set her flute down. "C'mon, spill."

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, okay. Um … now that you're going to be spending so much time topside, I've been looking into the possibility for you to, uh …."

When nothing else came out of her husband's mouth, Kimberly arched a brow. "What's with all the weird, Sedge?"

He exhaled a whooshing breath. "Here's the thing. Roth has a sister-in-law named Karrell who lives and works topside, and I think she's someone who –"

"A Varcolac?"

"Yes. Roth keeps it quiet because he doesn't want anyone else thinking it's okay to live outside of the community."

"Perish the thought," Kimberly drawled.

"Kimberly –"

"No, really. I can't friggin' believe this, Sedge. For three years I've been trying to get Roth to let me live topside, and all this time –"

"Karrell doesn't come and go – just like you're not going to – so it's not a security issue."

Yeah, Kimberly was being required to live up top Monday through Thursday for work, spending nights in a small apartment, and the rest of the time, she'd be with Sedge in ??ran?. Not optimal, but that was the only way Toni could get prickly Roth to agree.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She didn't want to waste her energy on Roth. He wasn't ultimate emperor around here anymore, and she supposed baby steps were better than no steps; Rome wasn't built in a day, after all. "So what's the deal with this Karrell?"

"Karrell's a … a therapist."

"A – huh?"

"Yeah, I … I was hoping, you know, I was thinking it'd be a good idea for you to talk to her." Sedge lowered his voice to the tone of a cowboy trying to calm a twitchy horse. "You could tell her about what your ex-boyfriend did to you, Kimberly. And Karrell's Varcolac, right, so you wouldn't have to censor yourself. You could also talk about me, if you needed to, about what a pain in the ass I can be sometimes."

"You're never a pain in the ass." No, he was the sweetest man on earth, still trying to help her with the Tim thing.

"You're not crazy, okay." He made an adamant downward gesture with his hands. "I don't want you to think I'm saying that. And I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, either. It's just that what your asshole ex did to you was really rough, Berly, and I think that maybe you need some help getting over it." He picked up his champagne glass, but then set it right back down. "So, what do you think?"

"I think…" she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Sedge's neck, "that you're the best husband a girl could ever ask for."

His hands came to rest on her hips. "You're not mad?"

"No."

His eyes turned all puppy doggish. "And you'll go?"

Truth was, she hadn't been doing the best job getting over it by herself. "Yes." She eased back and kissed his cheek. "I'll go."

He smiled at her. "Good."

She stepped out of his hold. "Speaking of my ex." She crossed her arms firmly beneath her breasts. "When I was topside, I saw a news report about him. Apparently both of his knees have been damaged beyond repair. They're not saying how, but the scuttlebutt is that his career in football is officially over." She narrowed her eyes on her husband. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Sedge met her gaze with saucer-eyed innocence. "How could I? You never told me his name, remember?" He picked up his bubbly. "He's a football player, is he?"

She snorted. "Nice maneuvering, slick."

"I really don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm sure not."

"Shall we get back to celebrating?" He downed his champagne. "You want to go out to dinner?"

"Actually …." She flipped her eyes meaningfully toward upstairs. "I was thinking more like a game of hide the salami."

He barked out a laugh.

"What, have I already worn you out?" It was amazing what happiness could do for a woman's sex drive. As soon as Toni had told Kimberly that the community needed a lawyer, pretty much right after Toni had taken over, Kimberly had been making up big time for the long dry spell she'd put her husband through.

"Hardly," Sedge drawled.

Yeah, great thing about a Varcolac male, one whiff of a mate's blood and he was raring to go. Waggling her eyebrows like a villainous lech, she took her husband by the hand and led him up the stairs.

* * *

One week later.

"I really don't see whythis mission is necessary."

Alex rubbed a hand over his mouth and nodded, trying to look like he was giving Roth's comment serious weight rather than the you've got to be kidding he was actually thinking. He glanced around the U-shaped table at the other Council members – a Council being just one of the many great changes his sister had made since taking the co-helm of ??ran? – checking for reactions. Only the primary four had been gathered, Jacken, Toni, Roth, and Alex himself, due to the urgency of the matter that needed deciding.

Dev Nichita was also here, waiting for the Council to give him the nod for this mission. Or not. He was standing at the open end of the U, his hands locked at the small of his back and his legs planted wide. From the steely cut of his bearded jaw, it was clear what Dev's thoughts were: something along the lines of quit being a pussy, Roth, and let me do my job. Jacken had recently created a Special Ops Topside Team to deal with problems with the community's new Om R?u enemies, and Dev was the man he'd put in charge of it.

Alex shifted his gaze over to Jacken, but his brother-in-law's thoughts were more difficult to divine. Jacken was busy eyeballing Toni's throat, the long stretch of her skin exposed by her up-style hairdo.

Gimme a break.Alex almost rolled his eyes. When wasn't Jacken eyeballing Toni with a mind on grody stuff? Huh, yeah, Alex had learned the hard way never to go over to the Brun household without calling first. Bleech … although, okay, Alex was admittedly really glad that whatever had made Toni bolt her marriage three months ago – something she'd never discussed with him, surprisingly enough – had clearly been ironed out. He'd never seen his little sister happier.

Alex glanced down at the table, envy over the intimacy Toni and Jacken shared stabbing through him. He'd kind of … well, hell, he'd really figured he'd be linked up with someone himself by now. Guess it'd been a mistake to assume his royal-ness would attract a swarm of female candidates for the future Mrs. Parthen. Turned out the exact opposite was true. The Varcolac women were so star-struck by his status they barely even talked to him.

He'd lived through one month of this ridiculous dating drought, and then Roth had finally grown as fed up as Alex with the situation and butted in to arrange a blind date. Not surprisingly, Roth's mate-of-choice for Alex had been a royal Fey Varcolac by the name of Jennilith.

The blind date had gone pretty well, and now the two of them were seeing each other regularly, but … you know, Alex was still waiting for the wow factor to go off in his heart. He wasn't sure why it hadn't yet.

"What's your reticence, Roth?" Toni asked, bringing Alex back to the present.

His sister was seated next to him along one arm of the U, her head bowed as she re-read the email Alex had hacked out of the airwaves. It was a message from their bigger and better enemy, the Topside Om R?u, to their good ol' everyday enemy, the Underground Om R?u. According to the message, the Topside Om R?u were handing over four Dragon women to the Underground Om R?u at a warehouse in a few short hours. Why any Om R?u would give up one precious Dragon, much less four, was a mystery, but one that didn't require solving for them to act. At least not to Alex's way of thinking.

Not so Roth.

"This mission is too risky for the indefinite benefits it would bring us," Roth argued. "We've brought eight women into the community just yesterday, whereas the four we discuss now are a complete unknown. We don't know if they fit the other required parameters, or if they're even remotely interested in joining us. I say our resources are overburdened enough already."

Alex cleared his throat to call attention to himself. "Thing is, Roth, those eight were the only women off an original list of fifty who accepted our offer." And didn't the town shit a collective gold brick when Alex had unearthed that many Dragons in California. Yet, finding Dragons had been a whole different deal than convincing them to spend a year in an underground cave away from their families. "Do we really have the luxury of ignoring any we can lay our hands on? They're the key to the salvation of your race." Yeah, kind of something he hadn't thought he'd have to remind Roth about.

Roth frowned. "Many of those fifty have expressed an interest in joining us at a later date, when the timing in their lives is better." Roth snapped his chair straight. "I assure all of you, I don't underestimate the value of these women. How many years have I lived with the threat of extinction of my own race? But, need I remind you that on this mission our warriors would be facing down members of both the Underground and the Topside Om R?u. We have no idea how many men that could be, although I think it's fair to assume that their numbers would grossly exceed ours. We can only spare the barest number of warriors for Mr. Nichita's team. The safety of our current eight is our first obligation."

Alex sighed under his breath. The man did have a valid argument. ??ran?'s Om R?u neighbors posed a constant threat.

Toni leaned back in her chair, the look in her eyes that stubborn glint which always popped an uh, oh, into Alex's mind. Probably Jacken's, too, if the man had learned anything in nearly four months of marriage. "You bring up all good points, Roth, but here's the thing that's itching at my conscience. Four women are about to be handed over to some extremely unsavory men and we're privileged to know that. Do you really feel comfortable just sitting back and doing nothing to save these poor women, regardless of whether or not they bring us a direct benefit? Because I'm not sure I do, not after my own experiences with these Topside Om R?u."

Oh, boy. Cranky face Roth.

Dev, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to zip over and kiss Toni.

Toni glanced across the U-shaped table toward her husband. "Can you give us a risk assessment, Jacken?"

"What do you want me to tell you?" Jacken snapped. "The pucker factor on this mission's going to be damned high, but as you just said, does it really fucking matter?"

Toni lowered her lashes and flicked her husband a look.

Yeah, that hadn't been so helpful.

Jacken laid an arm on the conference table. "This mission is do-able," he continued in the kind of hard tone that suggested impatience on a level with Dev's. "I wouldn't have put Nichita in charge of it if I wasn't sure he could handle it."

Alex glanced over at Dev, the large Varcolac's black fatigues barely containing all of the huge, bulging muscles of his body. Alex made a face. Man, he really needed to get into the gym more often.

"And who will Mr. Nichita be leading?" Roth asked curtly.

Dev answered that. "Costache, Pavenic, and St?nescu."

"Only four men total?" Roth turned back toward Toni to give her an astounded look. "You're really supporting this?"

"It's what the warriors train for, Roth," she said softly. "I trust in their abilities." She looked at her husband again. "This is ultimately a decision for the Head of Security, though. It's your men who'll be put in danger, Jacken."

Jacken shoved to a standing position almost before the words had stopped coming out of Toni's mouth. "Put your team in the field," he ordered Dev.

"Yes, sir." Dev swiveled an about-face, long strides taking him from the conference room.

The rest of them scraped to their feet.

"You'll excuse me," Roth said stiffly. "Other matters need my attention."

Alex jammed his hands into his pockets as the rear door closed behind Roth. "He's not going to be the life of the party for a while."

"The hell with him." Jacken's jaw somehow managed the feat of growing even harder. "I hate it when he gets like that."

"I know," Toni said gently. "I'm sorry, honey." She set a hand on her husband's forearm. "I'm working on him."

Jacken checked his watch. "Shit," he growled.

Toni's brow furrowed. "Will Dev's team make it in time to save those women?"

Jacken met his wife's gaze, the line of his mouth grim. "It's going to be tight."

* * *