Page 53 of Kiss Across the Universe
“None of Nyara’s people would do what he did to Alannah.”
“None of them have need to,” Jesse said, her contralto sending a warm finger along Aran’s spine. He loved the sound of her voice. He’d noticed it first among her many charms. “They all know how to jump themselves,” Jesse added. “This guy is a maverick.”
“A pirate,” Alexander said. “Looking for plunder here in the dark ages.”
“Which means you guys need to stay away,” Aran repeated. “Sydney and London can’t come anywhere near here.”
“Butwecould be there,” Remi said. “We are useless to Iron Grey.”
“Yes, but how do you plan to get here, if Sydney and London can’t risk coming here?” Jesse asked sweetly.
No one spoke.
My wife just made five vampires with thousands of years of experience between them speechless.Aran didn’t bother hiding his smile. “She has you there.”
Alexander shook his head. “No. We arenotleaving you there alone. I agree that you should stay there to coordinate with Kit, when the two of them pop up again, but that doesn’t mean we sit on our rears and leave you hanging out there like a sacrificial goat. Neven, one of you—I don’t care which, but I think it should be Remi—one of you goes to Canmore. London jumps them there, thenimmediatelyjumps back home, where the other of you watches over her like a hawk. Sydney, you jump Rafe to Canmore the same way. In and out, don’t even pause to take a breath.”
Sydney considered the plan, then nodded regally. The queen had given her assent.
“Why Remi?” Neven asked, his tone merely curious.
“He’s a fighter and can fight dirty, but you’re too principled,” Alexander replied. “At least until London is threatened. Then, I have no doubt you’ll do whatever it takes to protect her.”
Neven nodded. So did Remi.
So did Rafe, and Aran realized that Alex had tapped Rafe to come here for the same reason. Alex knew himself well enough to know he would pull his punches…unless Sydney was threatened. Rafe, though, had learned ruthless infighting from Veris and wouldn’t hesitate.
Aran let the relief he was feeling show freely. “Thanks, Alexander. It will help having a couple more warm bodies to hand.”
“Luke warm, more like,” Rafe said. He was grinning, as if he was looking forward to an adventure. “Dig out Veris’ weapons store, Jesse. I’ll be there in a moment or two.”
“Me, too,” Remi said stoutly. “But I have no need for weapons.”
“Show off,” Rafe muttered.
Sydney’s screen had already shut down.
Aran lifted his hand in farewell. “I’ll leave you to talk. I gotta go.”
“Take care, Aran,” Alexander said. “This vampire is not a jumper, but if heisfrom the future, he may have brought tools and resources with him that give him an edge.”
“If he’s not a jumper, he’ll make the same mistakes Veris always slaps us around for,” London said. “Underestimating people from the past.”
That was an interesting thought. Aran nodded and exited the chat room, then shut down Alannah’s laptop. He had things to do.
One of triplets began to wail, upstairs.
And a round of diaper changes was first on the list.
It took Alannah more thanan hour to fall asleep, even though she pretended she was. Kit could hear her breathing under the crackle of the flames. When it dropped down to the slow, deep breaths of true sleep, he moved around the campfire to the shelter side and sat between the shelter and the flames.
He felt easier when he was there, but hadn’t moved until she was properly asleep because Alannah would have been embarrassed to know he was actively guarding her. His position between her and the fire meant someone would have to come at her from either flank. Only, the trunk of the tree was in the way of a direct attack from the left, which left only the right side for him to guard, even though he monitored all directions.
There was a possibility of someone comingoverthe shelter and attacking his back, and if real vampires lived up to their fictional abilities, Kit wouldn’t put it past Iron Grey to try a leap over the shelter. But Kit had made the shelter with that chance in mind. The branches he’d tied to the back side of the main branch were longer than usual, with their main stems thrusting up like the spikes of a palisade. And the vampire would have to leap across more than ten lateral feet while also lifting himself more than six feet in the air to clear the spikes.
Yeah, Iron Grey would have to be pretty damn good to make that leap.
But still, the possibility kept Kit awake and alert. He would have to ask Alannah in the morning about the true abilities of vampires. In particular, this ability of theirs to track by pheromones. From how far away from the hunted could they track?
