my name in a way that made my stomach sour, and my jaw locked at the flash of color I saw on her forearm as she backed away, then retreated to the loving arms of her father.
“Did you fucking see that?” Ransom’s gaze slowly turned toward me.
“Bring our meal to the chamber,” Lachlan ordered one of the talem, who carried a tray of bacon and other meats.
Just because I’d fed tonight didn’t mean I’d eaten.
“Yes, sir.”
I strode from the hall, pushing open the French doors leading to the wide courtyard that separated the Domum—the formal, official rooms of the estate—from the residence, where I lived and trained with my warriors.
“Tell me that wasn’t what I think it was,” Benedict said once the doors were firmly shut behind us. He inched his way forward to walk in front, his eyes scanning the courtyard for any possible enemy.
“The lass inked herself with your seal, Alek.” Lachlan’s stride matched my own, just as it always did when we were anywhere outdoors. “At least, I’m assuming she did the inking herself.” His eyebrows rose in question.
“If I’d mated, you’d know,” I growled. The whole fucking immortal world would know if I’d found the one female fated for me. After over four hundred years of wondering if she’d show up, I’d made my peace with the possibility that she never would. Fate was an unforgiving bitch when it came to the losses our species had suffered during my reign.
Not that I’d condemn any female to the torture of living at my side.
“She’s getting bolder,” Ransom noted with a whistle as we approached the steel door to the residence. The Domum may be every inch a palace, but the residence was a fortress by my father’s design. I’d simply kept the security updated with modern technology.
“She’s a pain in my ass,” I snapped as the door opened before us.
“My king, Hawthorne awaits you in the chamber, as well as your meal,” Serge announced with a bow of his head.
“Weren’t you just in the foyer?” Ransom asked as we swept by.
“I was told you were headed this way,” he answered with a slight curve to his lips.
“Fast fucker,” Ransom muttered.
Speed was the only gift given to the talem, and Serge had mastered it.
We passed through the entry, and my senses told me there was no one upstairs. Good. Only invited guests and the four warriors in the Order were allowed unescorted entrance here.
“Do we really have to put up with all the nobles until equinox?” Lachlan asked as we made our way to the back of the house, passing my office, the dining room, the sitting room, a commercial-sized kitchen, and the den, which Hawke had outfitted with an eighty-five-inch television and surround sound. He claimed it was for watching football.
Personally, I thought he liked to hear the bones break.
“It’s tradition,” Benedict said over his shoulder as he descended the stone staircase first, his hand on his hip holster. I didn’t bother telling him that Hawke was the only other male in this house—it was good for him to be alert.
Complacency was our number one enemy.
Complacency had killed my parents.
“Don’t tell me you aren’t enjoying having those sweet, doe-eyed females warm your bed,” Ransom shot from behind us.
“I have no problem taking a lass to her bed. I’ll be damned if one sets a toe in mine. You let a woman sleep in your bed, and you may as well unpack her suitcase into your closet,” Lachlan said as we reached the riveted steel door at the bottom of the staircase.
My senses stretched along the tunnels that ran in both directions and found them empty. Given the party, our soldiers weren’t training in the compound as usual, giving us a moment of relative quiet.
Benedict placed his palm on the biometric scanner, and a dozen steel bolts unlocked before the heavy door opened.
“It’s about fucking time,” Hawke snarled.
“There’s a party going on, if you hadn’t noticed,” Benedict countered as we entered the chamber.
The space was cavernous, large enough to fit at least fifty warriors, but tailored only to the five of us. A black, onyx table rested in the center space, accompanied by five heavy chairs. A wall of monitors consumed the right-hand wall, with a few other notable computer stations spaced out along the back. To the left was a well-equipped kitchen, stocked with enough food and blood to last the five of us an unpleasant year in case of emergencies. A bathroom lay beyond that, and