“What things? I’ve never experienced the venom’s effects. I’m curious.”
As Sari’s imagination supplied the information she was missing, arousal coursed through her and her traitorous nipples puckered under her silk robe, giving her away.
David’s eyes hooded with desire. “I can’t wait to give you everything that you crave.”
Sari put her mug on the nightstand and crossed her arms over her chest. “Both of us will have to be patient. First, you need to transition. Then, you need to grow fangs and venom glands, which is no fun and takes up to six months. Only when your fangs and glands are fully functional, will you be able to give me the coveted venom bite. Provided that you transition in the first place that is.”
“It will happen.” He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Assume the win, true?”
“Correct.” Sari turned to pick her mug up and hide the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. “So, what did you see when you were floating on a cloud of euphoria?”
David rubbed a hand over his clean-shaven chin. “It was similar to what I experienced on Ayahuasca, just better and without the nasty physical side effects. I didn’t have a care in the world. I was floating over beautiful landscapes and alien cities, and everyone I encountered there was friendly.” He smiled at her sheepishly. “I don’t know if Ayahuasca works on immortals, but if it does, you could give it a try to get an idea of what the venom bite is like.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never tried hallucinogens, but I was told that their effect is very short-lived on immortals. Our bodies metabolize them too quickly. How come you did that, though? Isn’t it illegal?”
“It was part of my PTSD research. Until recently, Ayahuasca wasn’t legal in the US, so I had to travel to South America. I talked with researchers there and looked into their data on the drug’s effectiveness in curing or diminishing the severity of PTSD symptoms. Naturally, I got curious and decided to try it myself.”
“And?”
“It was a fascinating experience, but not one that I would want to repeat.” He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “It’s a shame that female immortals don’t have fangs. I wouldn’t have minded many more venom trips if they came from your bite. But even though the bite was necessary to induce my transition and the trip was extraordinary, I don’t want Kalugal’s fangs anywhere near me ever again.”
2
Kian
“Your phone is vibrating.” Syssi yawned. “Who can be sending you a text message this early?” Then her eyes widened. “Maybe it’s about David? Can he be transitioning already?”
Doubtful. Kian could recall only one instance when his own bite had sent a male Dormant directly into transition without even waking from the venom induction. Usually it took a couple of days, and sometimes even longer.
“It could also be from home.” He reached for the device and read the message. “It’s from Alena. My mother is inviting us for breakfast in her suite.”
“When?”
“In half an hour.”
Syssi groaned. “This early? What time is it?”
“Six-thirty Highlands time. Ten-thirty at night back home.”
“I’m on vacation.” She stretched her arms over her head. “I don’t want to get up yet. And if I do, it’s to make love to my husband.” Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his middle and pulled him on top of her.
“Half an hour is plenty of time.” Bracing on his forearms to keep his weight off her pregnant belly, he kissed her softly and then nibbled on her lower lip. “So damn tasty.”
“It tickles.” Syssi pulled a ventriloquist act and giggled with her mouth tightly closed.
“Oh, yeah?” He flicked his tongue over the seam. “Open up for me.”
She shook her head. “Morning breath.”
Kian was about to tickle her sides until she had no choice and opened her mouth, but his damn phone started vibrating again.
He groaned. “What is it now?”
“Check it. It might be about David this time.”
If it wasn’t, he would be majorly pissed. Nothing short of an invasion justified interrupting his morning fun with his wife.
Rolling off to the side, Kian reached for his phone and read the message. “It’s Turner. He’s asking if I can call him.” He put the phone back. “Turner can wait.” He wrapped his arm around Syssi and pulled her on top of him. “Where were we?”
She shook her head. “Call him. Turner wouldn’t be bothering you this early in the morning if it wasn’t important.”
“First of all, this isn’t early. Back home, I’m usually in the office by six. Besides, if something happened, Onegus would have called me.”
“Nevertheless, call Turner. He always accepts your calls or calls you right back.” Syssi rolled off him, sat up, and crossed her arms over her chest, which meant that she wouldn’t relent until he did as she asked.
Whoever thought that he was the boss in their relationship didn’t know Syssi well enough. When something was important to her, she didn’t budge until she got what she wanted. Not that Kian had a problem with that. On the contrary. Syssi’s advice was always spot on.
“You are right. I owe the guy more than I can ever repay him.”
Letting out a breath, Syssi dropped her arms and lay down next to him. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you. You are the voice of reason that I often lack.” Kian pushed up on the pillows, placed the call, and activated the speaker. “What’s up, Turner?”
“I’m sorry to bother you and Syssi on your vacation, but I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything that you need and I can provide is yours.”
“I need to borrow a couple of Guardians for one of my private operations.”
That was an odd request. Turner had plenty of ex-special ops crews that he used for his hostage retrieval business, and he’d never needed clan resources for that. The opposite was true, with the clan using Turner’s people on more than one occasion.
Still, even though Kian owed the guy big time, he wasn’t about to lend him his men without finding out first what was expected of them.
“What do you need them to do?”
“It’s not a complicated job, but it requires thralling, and regrettably, I haven’t mastered it yet. The young lady I was hired to retrieve was not kidnapped, and she is not a hostage. She joined what her father believes is a cult, and she won’t leave voluntarily. I did some investigating into the man she’s hooked up with, and her father might be right. She’s an adult, so there is no legal way to get her out, and I’m not about to kidnap a woman on American soil. But if she can be thralled to leave, her father can get her into rehab to undo the brainwashing.”
“What if she’s not brainwashed? She might have joined out of her own free will, and her father just doesn’t like what she’s doing. As an adult, it’s her choice to do whatever she wants with her life, including throwing it away.”
“In principle, I agree. But we both know how effective brainwashing can be, and how insidious are the methods used to attract and trap followers. She was a law student with only one year left to complete her degree. Then one day, she just disappeared without letting anyone know where she was going. Her father hired a private detective, who found out that she was donating her generous living allowance to an organization with a questionable reputation.”