Seth nodded. “I’ll be sure to talk to Aidan before then.”
David locked his hands behind his back as the sky began to brighten with approaching dawn. “The day was a long one. The night, too.”
Seth sent him a wry smile, at last meeting his gaze. “Yes, it was.”
“According to Darnell, the internet is all abuzz.”
Seth sighed. “Full of exclamations of dismay upon discovering that Gershom may be as powerful as I am? Whispered fears that he may triumph?”
David waved a hand in dismissal. “No. They’re all confident you will defeat him.”
Seth’s face lit with surprise. “Really?”
“Of course.”
“Then what’s all the chatter about?”
Amusement stole away some of David’s concern. “Every Immortal Guardian on the planet is sharing the jaw-dropping news that Aidan’s woman kissed their illustrious leader.”
His friend’s face acquired a comical, pained look. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Even the men?”
“Even the men.”
Seth shook his head. “With everything that’s happened in the past few days, you’d think that wouldn’t have even made the headlines.”
David laughed. “Of course it made the headlines. You’re not just their leader, their commanding officer. You’re a father figure to them. And they just found out that their daddy kissed a woman.”
Seth groaned. “No wonder my phone has gone silent. I thought they were all just dismayed over my having failed to capture Gershom again.”
David grinned. “Your phone hasn’t gone silent. I asked Chris to divert your calls to Zach after he returned. If anyone can quash their curiosity and get them to leave you alone, he can. Particularly since he’s cranky over Gershom slipping away.”
Seth’s lips curled up in a wry smile. “I’m sure he can.”
“And will enjoy doing so far too much,” David guessed. “But at least it will give you some quiet time.”
“Thank you.”
“Dana may not fare so well though,” David said. “I’m sure the female immortals and Seconds will pepper her with questions at the earliest opportunity.”
Again Seth groaned. “Poor woman. You see now why I don’t date.”
David knew well why Seth didn’t date. And it had nothing to do with Immortal Guardian family gossip.
The owl David had heard earlier abruptly dove down and plucked a field mouse from the weeds near the abandoned airplane hangar.
David cast Seth a sidelong glance. “So?”
He didn’t have to say more for Seth to know what he wondered.
Seth looked up at the sky. “Thousands of years, and I still can’t kiss another woman without feeling as though I’m betraying her.”
That came as no surprise. David knew Seth still mourned the death of his wife and the deaths of their children.
“You know she wouldn’t have wanted this,” he said gently.
That sparked another wry smile. “I’m not so sure. She was a jealous woman.”
David chuckled. “And you weren’t a jealous husband?”
Seth’s smile widened.
David shook his head. “She loved you, Seth. She wouldn’t have wanted you to be alone all this time.”
Seth shrugged. “I’m not alone.”
David opted to let that pass, recognizing it as the evasion it was. In the thousands of years since his wife had been slain, Seth had taken no wives, had no girlfriends, no one-night stands, no intimacy of any kind with a woman.
Having experienced such a loss himself, David couldn’t really blame him.
“So you felt nothing then,” he asked Seth curiously, “when Dana kissed you?”
Seth snorted. “I felt guilty as hell for kissing Aidan’s woman right in front of him, I can tell you that.”
David laughed. “After what she did to Jared, I think you’d best mind your manners around her in the future.”
Seth laughed. “She’s a fighter. Zach is still chuckling over that.”
“I’m sure he is.”
A breeze set the weeds and grasses around them into motion. The trees beyond the perimeter fence swayed, their leaves brushing together and creating soothing swishing sounds.
“When will it be time to move on, Seth?”
Seth returned his stare to the blackened asphalt beneath his boots.
“How many more years of mourning will be enough?” And how long would the thought of being with another woman fill the Immortal Guardians’ leader with guilt?
Seth responded with a slow shake of his head. “I don’t know.”
It was the same answer he always gave when David broached the subject.
“You were wed once, too,” Seth murmured. “How long did it take you to get past losing your wife?”
Pain pierced David. “I’ll let you know when that day comes.” As in so many ways, he and Seth were the same in this. “I still think of her every day.”
“As do I.”
David tucked his hands in his pockets and sighed. “Well, I guess for a while longer then we shall remain what Chris has deemed us.”
Seth’s face lightened with a smile. “A couple of old farts who would rather read a good book than learn how to troll the internet for women?”
David laughed. “Just so.”
Skillet’s “Monster” blared from Seth’s pocket.
David felt a stab of concern as he watched him retrieve his phone. The only calls that should be coming through now were those that could not be ignored and couldn’t be handled by Zach.
“Yes?” Seth answered.
“Seth, it’s Alena Moreno.” Head of the West Coast division of the network. “I need to see you again. I have some new information, and it’s disturbing.”
Seth met David’s gaze. “I shall be there shortly.”
He ended the call and returned his phone to his pocket. “Monster” again disturbed the quiet.
His brow furrowing, Seth answered the call. “Yes?”
“Seth. Scott Henderson.” Head of the Midwest division of the network. “I need to see you. The sooner the better.”
This couldn’t be good.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Seth told him and slid his phone back into his pocket. “Good thing you called a meeting.”
David nodded. “Looks like we’ll have more to discuss than I’d thought.”
Chapter Eighteen
Aidan.
Aidan’s eyes flew open.
Dana slept peacefully, curled up against his side with her head resting on his shoulder. She had slung one arm across his chest and draped a knee across his groin, effectively locking him in place.
A very happy place.
He loved having Dana’s small, warm body snuggled up to him. It made him never want to get out of bed.
But something had awoken him.
He examined the dim bedroom. He had turned the light on in the bathroom prior to retiring and had left the door cracked so Dana would be able to find her way around if she awoke before him. Even had he not, his eyes would’ve had no difficulty piercing the darkness.
The bedroom was empty save for themselves. His and Dana’s clothes still decorated the floor where they had dropped them wearily on their way to the shower.
Aidan.
His gaze slid to the bedroom door.
Careful not to wake her, he slowly eased out from beneath Dana and slipped from the bed.