Roland released a mirthless chuckle. “Yes, he did, the bastard. I believe I had one afternoon with her before he and his vampire army attacked.”
Aidan sighed and sheathed the weapons he only then realized he still held. “Maybe that’s the way it always is for us. No slow and easy breaking of the truth. No long courtship and slow getting to know one another. Look what happened with Richart.”
Roland nodded. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve wronged you.” He glanced over at Dana, who stood beside Ed, arms crossed, eyes squinted as she scowled at them through the darkness. “Dana is here with you now. Does that mean she hasn’t turned away from you?”
“She’s here because Seth mandated it. Had he not and did a threat not remain that compels me to watch over her…” Aidan shook his head. “I don’t know what she would’ve done.” She might have instead sent him on his way, gone to bed alone and—having missed out on the hours they had just spent making love—opted to not see him again.
“She looks pissed.”
Aidan smiled. “Actually, that’s all for you. She’s angry about your trying to kill me and fears you may attempt to do so again.”
Roland regarded him with something akin to hope. “Well, that’s a good sign, isn’t it? If she wanted nothing more to do with you, she wouldn’t care if I killed you.”
Aidan nodded. “She seems to be accepting it all. Accepting me. I just don’t know if she’s willing to…”
“Accept it all—and you—on a permanent basis?” Roland finished for him.
“Aye.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No, but I thank you for offering.”
“It’s because I’m antisocial, isn’t it? You think I’ll make things worse.”
“No, I don’t think things can get much worse than they are now. At this point, I just have to wait and see and hope that it won’t all prove to be too much for her.”
“Then at least let Sarah and me remain here and help guard her,” Roland insisted.
He really did seem to want to make amends. The other immortals would be shocked.
“As you will,” Aidan agreed.
Roland thrust a hand toward Aidan.
Before Aidan could shake it, a dart struck Roland in the chest.
Roland frowned down at it. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, his knees buckled, and he sank to the ground.
Aidan turned to the small group watching them.
Ethan, Heather, Brodie, and Ed all gaped at Dana, who aimed a tranquilizer gun in Aidan and Roland’s direction.
“Roland!” Sarah cried and started forward.
Dana fired the tranq gun again.
Sarah stumbled to a halt, then sank to the ground, unconscious.
Aidan stared. “What the hell are you doing, woman?” he called loud enough for Dana to hear him. “Why did you tranq Roland?”
“It looked like he was going to stab you!” she called back.
Since she didn’t have the preternaturally sharp vision of Ethan, Sarah, and Heather, he supposed it could have.
“He was apologizing,” he called with exasperation, “and wanted to shake my hand!”
“Oh!” she yelled. “My bad!”
Her companions burst into laughter.
Shaking his head in amusement, Aidan tossed Roland over one shoulder and rejoined the others. “Why did you tranq Sarah?”
Dana shrugged. “I thought she was going to rush over there and try to finish what Roland had started.”
Ethan knelt beside Sarah and gently lifted her into his arms. “Ed, do we have any of the antidote on hand?”
“Yeah.” Ed headed inside. “I’ll get it.”
Aidan nodded toward the open front door. “Let’s go.”
Dana chewed her lower lip as Ethan carried Sarah inside. The unconscious immortal’s long brown hair flowed over his biceps, dancing with every movement.
Aidan followed with Roland draped over one shoulder, the surly immortal’s arms dangling down his back and swaying back and forth.
“Will they be okay?” she asked anxiously. She really had thought Roland was going to hurt Aidan. Sarah, too. It had just been so dark. Unable to see them clearly, she had caught the quick movement and figured better safe than sorry.
“They’ll be fine,” Aidan assured her.
“Fine, but pissed,” Heather corrected with a wry smile as she followed them inside and closed the door.
Ethan lowered Sarah to the sofa.
Aidan seated Roland beside her and stepped back.
The couple looked as though they had fallen asleep while watching television, shoulders brushing, heads lolling back against the cushions.
Dana, Aidan, Ethan, and Heather stood in a semicircle, staring down at them as they waited for Ed and Brodie to reappear.
“I can’t believe he said that,” Heather whispered, her eyes on Roland.
“Which part?” her husband asked.
“All of it.”
Dana looked at Heather and the others. “What did he say?” They seemed stunned, as if whatever Roland had told Aidan had made them completely rethink everything they knew about him.
“I feel sort of bad now,” Heather admitted in lieu of answering. “I really did think of him as being kind of…”
“Cold and heartless?” her husband offered.
“Well, not heartless,” she qualified. “No one who has seen how he is with Sarah and Adira can call him heartless.”
Aidan and Ethan nodded their agreement.
“But cold?” Heather went on. “Yeah. I mean, he’s always so—I don’t know—unapproachable. So closed off to the rest of us. But now? After this? After what he said to Aidan? And the emotion I heard in his voice?” She shook her head. “I gotta admit, I teared up a little.”
Dana looked up at Aidan. “What did he say?”
Aidan shifted his weight from one foot to the other, unease creeping into his handsome features. “He apologized.”
Dana waited for him to say more, but he opted not to elaborate.
Heather frowned up at him. “There was a little more to it than that, Aidan. You should tell her. Or, better yet, show her. All of it. You can do that, right?”
Dana looked to Aidan. Show her? How?
“Yes,” he admitted with obvious reluctance.
“Then you should,” Heather urged him. “Let her see it all. Because it sounds like Roland intends to stick around. And the last thing Dana needs on top of everything else is to worry about him attacking you again or not being fully on your side.”
Dana turned a doubtful gaze on Roland.
“See?” Heather pointed to her. “She doesn’t believe he can be trusted.”
All eyes turned to Dana.
She shrugged. “Of course I don’t. He tried to kill Aidan.”
And still Aidan looked reluctant to comply. But he did, nevertheless.
Turning toward her, he touched the tip of one finger to her temple.
The living room around her vanished, replaced by Ethan and Heather’s front yard. Aidan’s stroll with Roland and the words they spoke played out before her as clearly as a movie on a big-screen, hi-def television. Except Dana was in the movie, seeing everything from Aidan’s point of view.
Soooo cool.
And she didn’t just hear the words and see the images. She felt what Aidan had felt, because all of that was part of the memory he retained.
Her breath caught.
Aidan withdrew his touch.
The memory dissolved.
Ed and Brodie entered the living room.