Page 38 of Dark Rebel's Fortune

Jade looked at her with approval. "You have a warrior's heart. That's nothing to feel bad about."

Perhaps out of everyone in the room, Jade was the one who could understand best what Kyra was feeling. Then again, who knew what these aliens felt?

They weren't very expressive.

But Jade was the leader of her people, and she must have encountered similar situations. Perhaps not with family members, but she sure had to deal with her community members going through hard times.

"How do you deal with grief?" Kyra blurted before she could think better of it. "I mean, not your own, but when you have to comfort others."

Something passed through Jade's enormous black eyes. "Grief and I are well acquainted, and I know that no words have the power to diminish the pain. For me, time took the edge off, and dreams of revenge kept me going. For others, my advice was not to give up on life because if you do, evil wins."

"Thank you." Kyra dipped her head toward the female. "Your pep talk resonates perfectly with me, but I doubt it would do any good to the woman upstairs who has just lost a husband she loved."

Jade shrugged. "She might surprise you. Yasmin gave birth to five children and raised them. That takes resilience. She can also draw strength from her children, you, and her other sisters."

18

MAX

When Max returned to the living room, Kyra looked a little less frazzled, and it seemed to be because of something Jade had said to her. He'd only heard the last bit of it, something about drawing strength from the children, but more must have been said before his arrival.

"Ready?" he asked.

Kyra nodded with a smile. "You clean up nicely." She lifted a hand to his wet hair. "I didn't like the dark color. I like you blond."

"Thanks." He wanted to say that he liked her dark beauty, but it wasn't something he was comfortable saying in front of an audience. Perhaps later, when they were alone in their room…

Yeah. Don't think about it now. The last thing Yasmin needed was to see a guy with an erection drooling after her sister or niece, depending on how Kyra was going to introduce herself.

"Let's go," she said, walking toward the front door of the apartment.

They took the stairs up to the third floor, and Kyra knocked on the door. "Can we come in?" She asked loudly enough for Yasmin to hear her.

The eldest son opened the door and dipped his head, motioning for them to come in.

Max activated the teardrop in case he needed to say something, even though he wasn't planning on doing much talking. This was Kyra's stage, and he was there for emotional support.

Yasmin sat on the couch with the little girl asleep next to her and another child, a little boy, on her other side.

In the kitchen, Nadim's cousin was busy preparing a meal, but snacks had already been served on the coffee table, along with tea and juice for the kids.

Except, it looked like nothing had been touched.

"Is it true?" Yasmin asked in a near whisper. "About my husband?"

Kyra knelt beside her but kept a respectful distance. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "There was nothing we could do. He fought bravely, but he was outnumbered and overpowered."

Yasmin closed her eyes, pain washing over her features, though it was clear she had already suspected the truth.

"Why?" she asked. "Why is it happening to ourfamily? First, they take Soraya and Rana's girls, and then they come for us. Why?"

It was the question they'd been expecting, but one they weren't prepared to answer fully—not yet, not until all the sisters were safe and the truth about their nature could be revealed in a controlled environment.

"You have something they want. A rare genetic trait you and your sisters inherited from your mother and passed on to your children."

Yasmin narrowed her eyes at Kyra. "Who are you really? The Kurdish resistance can't do what you did." Her gaze flickered to Max, standing silently in the doorway. "These people are not Kurds. Especially not the two with the Russian names that don't look Russian. They didn't speak Farsi or Kurdish either."

"Dima and Anton are not from here, and they also have a rare genetic trait."

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