She nodded, disconsolate. “He said I quiet the voices,” she murmured again.
Aidan nodded. “You do. But the voices are getting louder. And soon you will only dampen them a little.” Returning his chair to the corner, he headed for the front door. As he reached for the doorknob, she spoke.
“Aidan?”
He turned.
She closed the distance between them. Rising onto her toes, she kissed his cheek, then hugged him hard. “Thank you for giving Cliff the sun again.”
Aidan hugged her back. “Thank you for loving him and bringing him happiness.”
She moved away.
“Are you going to see him tonight?” he asked.
“Yes. He’s supposed to come over after he and Bastien finish hunting.”
Aidan smiled. “Then you should shower and wash my scent off you. We don’t want to tempt fate.”
She laughed. “I’ll go do it now.”
Stepping outside, Aidan closed the door and waited for Emma to lock it. Seconds later, he heard a faucet squeak and water spray tiles as she turned on the shower.
As he strode down the front walk, a figure stepped from the shadows. Aidan halted as Bastien joined him.
“Thank you,” the British immortal said. “Both for what you did yesterday and for this.” He looked toward the house.
Aidan nodded. “Cliff is my friend. If all Melanie and the others need to save his sanity and his life is more time to understand the virus, I want to give them all we can.”
Sighing wearily, Bastien rubbed his eyes. “I know I should’ve told Cliff not to see her, but…”
“She makes him happy.”
Bastien nodded. “I love him like a brother. I can’t take that away from him.”
“You don’t need to.” He titled his head toward the house. “She’s strong. A fighter. She knows what’s coming and understands how rough things will get. But she loves Cliff and wants to have every moment—good or bad—that she can with him.”
Bastien’s Adam’s apple rose and fell.
“Does Seth know?” Aidan asked curiously.
Bastien snorted and rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he does. That bastard knows everything.”
Aidan laughed. Then an unsettling thought intruded.
In her vision, Dana had seen Seth and Aidan engaged in furious battle. It wouldn’t be because of Cliff, would it?
Maybe Seth didn’t know.
The Immortal Guardians’ leader had a hell of a lot on his plate right now, trying to hunt down and destroy Gershom before he could trigger fucking Armageddon. Aidan would think it quite plausible that something like Cliff taking a lover could escape Seth’s notice.
“What?” Bastien asked.
Aidan shook his head. If he told Bastien about Dana’s vision, Seth might see it in Bastien’s thoughts. “You should probably remove the weapons from Cliff’s apartment.”
The younger immortal stilled. “What weapons?”
Aidan arched a brow. “The large cache of hunting weapons you purchased for him and let him keep there.”
He grimaced. “You know about that?”
“Of course I do. I know you gave them to him as a gift, but removing them will give the voices in his head less to blather on about. You’d be doing Cliff a favor. Just tell him Reordon found out and insisted they be removed. If he were well, Cliff would understand and forgive you the lie.”
Bastien nodded.
Aidan tucked his hand in his pocket and drew out a pocket watch. “I have to go.” Tucking the watch away, he smiled. “I have a date.” And was damned eager for it to start.
Bastien’s eyebrows flew up. “You do?”
“Yes. With a very lovely psychic. Any advice you’d care to offer?”
“Hell no. The closest thing to a date Melanie and I ever had was her going vampire hunting with me. And that nearly got her killed. I still don’t know why she loves me.”
Laughing, Aidan clapped him on the back. “The important thing is—she does.”
He grinned. “I know. I’m a lucky bastard.”
“That you are.”
“You should ask Richart about dating. Judging by the nauseatingly sweet phone calls I overheard while we hunted together, he courted Jenna for quite some time before vampires outed him.”
Unfortunately, Aidan didn’t know the French immortal as well as he did Bastien. “I’ll consider it. Good hunting tonight.”
Bastien saluted him. “Enjoy your date.”
Chapter Five
Aidan jerked awake when his phone rang. Glancing at the clock, he groaned.
He had been seeing Dana for two weeks. And after yet another fantastic date, he had hunted until dawn, then stumbled back to his apartment at network headquarters just as the sun peeked over the horizon. Cliff had been wandering the halls, unable to sleep, so Aidan had teleported him to Auckland, New Zealand, and taken him hunting. When hours of that hadn’t helped, he’d taken Cliff into the sun again, then returned to the network and finally gone to bed. Two hours ago.
He fumbled for the phone. “Yes?” he answered, his voice gravelly from sleep.
“It’s Seth. I’m in Chris’s office and need to speak with you.”
“Okay. Do you want me to come now?”
“Yes.” The voice of the Immortal Guardians’ leader lent Aidan no clue to his mood.
“All right. I’m on my way.”
Aidan took a minute to shower and dress, then pocketed his phone and headed upstairs.
Kate, Chris Reordon’s assistant, looked up when he entered the reception room outside his office. She nodded to the door. “They’re waiting for you.”
“Thank you.”
Inside, Chris leaned back against his desk, arms crossed.
Seth stood patiently beside him, his expression telling Aidan no more than his voice had.
“What’s up?” Aidan asked.
Seth motioned to a door. “Let’s speak in there, shall we?”
“Okay.” Aidan strode through the door and found himself in what appeared to be a large boardroom. A long wooden table, its surface as shiny as glass, dominated the room. At least thirty elegant black chairs on wheels surrounded it.
Seth entered, Chris on his heels.
“Have a seat, Aidan,” Seth said.
While Chris closed the door, Aidan drew out a chair and sat down.
Seth took the chair across from him.
Chris sat at the head of the table.
Aidan had noticed over the years that—though Seth was always the most powerful man in the room—he never usurped another’s place in that person’s home or place of business. At David’s home, Seth always reserved the seat at the head of the table for David. And here Seth left the seat at the head of the table for Chris. Aidan had always liked that about him. The best leaders were always those who didn’t feel the need to flaunt their power.
Wondering what this was all about, Aidan studied the boardroom. Very posh. Very elegant. “Very nice,” he commented.
Chris said nothing.
“Any particular reason we’re talking in here instead of your office?” Aidan asked.
Seth answered. “This room is soundproof.”
Aidan frowned. “It can’t be. I can hear what’s happening in the rest of the building.”