“Latethe following day,” Kenji said.
Qylar waggled his eyebrows. “Are we sleeping in after a night of wild sex?”
“Nowildsex. We already crossed the line and you made me yell louder than I’d intended. There’s a family out there, you know. I don’t want to scar the little ones.”
Qylar sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”
“We’ll just have to work extra hard to have quiet sex.”
Qylar laughed.
“Also—I keep hearing about these pristine waters on Nefyria, yet no one has offered me a chance to experience them for myself.”
Qylar gasped. “I can’t believe I suggested leaving without you going for a swim first. What was I thinking?”
Kenji grinned. “Can we go for a nice long swim before we go, just you and me?”
“Of course. The water’s one of the only good things about this planet. I can’t let you leave without experiencing a clean ocean.”
After landing the ship in a small clearing of trees not far outside Aspen, Qylar backed his loaded truck out of the cargo bay. Once they’d made it out, he used the small remote he had to close up the back end and lock down the craft. Another press of a button and the ship’s outer hull mirrored to reflect the surrounding trees.
“It’s safe to just leave it out here in the woods?” Kenji asked.
“Cryss bought this parcel as a landing pad right after he bought the house. We’ve equipped it with plenty of security and stealth tech. A plane flying right overhead would see nothing. No one’s getting past the outer gates, either. If they managed to—which they wouldn’t—I’d know instantly. I could remote start the ship to take it out of Earth airspace before they reached it. They’d find nothing.”
“Ah,”Kenji said, shaking his head.
“Do you not appreciate my preparation, mate? It protects us, you know.”
“It’s just so much you have to do to hide here.”
“Once we have the tech in place, it’s not really that hard,” Qylar said, pulling onto the paved road they’d had placed before erecting the sonic fences and gate.
They only had a twenty-minute drive before they finally pulled in front of the Aspen house. He smiled when he heard Kenji’s gasp. The place was huge andwayover the top, especially for a home that was typically only used three or four months out of the year, but it’s where Alex and Cryss had fallen in love. That first trip, Cryss had borrowed it from his cousin, Queen Qalani, who’d built it for her family, but after their magical holiday spent there, Cryss had wasted no time convincing her to sell. Since, it had become a family tradition to spend the holiday season there, year after year.
It’s also where both ZaadiandAeloran had been conceived. Qylar wasn’t sure about their new child, but they had stayed past Valentine’s their last trip, so it was possible.
“You said it was a vacation house. This is a vacationmansion,”Kenji said, an accusing tone to his voice.
Qylar shrugged.“Sorry?”
Kenji shook his head. “I guess I need to start getting used to being rich-adjacent. Considering I’ve spent most of my life barely-making-it-adjacent, that’s a big swing to make.”
“Well, if anyone deserves to live a lifestyle of the rich-adjacent, it’s you.” Qylar smiled. “Before we unpack the truck, wanna take a tour?”
“Hell yes,” Kenji said, reaching for the handle.
They climbed out. Qylar stretched his arms and legs after their long drive and then headed for the door, searching his ring for the key. Kenji was nearly bouncing with excitement when he approached and unlocked the door.
The front door was a massive fifteen-footer that swung from a central post. As soon as Kenji had enough room to squeeze through, he was gone, racing ahead of Qylar.
“Wait up,” Qylar called.
The house had been locked up and secured before they’d returned to San Francisco—and there was an agency that walked the property monthly, to ensure damage that didn’t register with the security system’s monitoring capabilities hadn’t occurred. That didn’t mean it wasn’t impossible for someone to have bypassed the system and gotten inside, either.
No human, of course, but someone from Nefyria might be able to, if they wanted to badly enough.
As he slid out of his jacket, Qylar scanned the massive entry, open to the lodge-sized living room and dining room with its table for twenty. Besides the winter coat he’d borrowed from Alex flung over the back of one part of the sectional, Kenji was nowhere to be seen. Qylar growled to himself before listening for movement to determine which way to go.
