He chuckled and gestured at the greenery outside. "This place has a jungle but no wildlife to speak of. What are you going to do for food?"
"Raise cattle?"
"And you think your people would be happy with that?"
She scrunched her small, upturned nose. "You are right. They won't be. I need to research what kind of animals can be brought here. Better yet, I'll call the scholarly geeks in the village and ask them to research this for me."
"What scholarly geeks?"
She waved a hand in dismissal. "You don't know them. Parker, Lisa, and Cheryl. Parker has already turned immortal, but Lisaand Cheryl are waiting to be old enough to have sex, so an immortal can induce them. Lisa will choose Parker even though he's younger than her, but I wonder who Cheryl will pick to do the honors." She gave him one of those suggestive smiles that made her look like a tigress ready to pounce.
Esag lifted his hands in the air. "Don't look at me, Drova. I'm the definition of too old."
"Relax." She laughed. "I was just teasing."
24
AREANA
Areana stood aboard the plane and watched as Julian and the nurse from Safe Harbor's medical center secured Navuh's gurney in the reconfigured rear section of the cabin. New monitoring equipment had arrived with the plane, and she wasn't sure if she should be glad that Navuh was getting better monitors or worried that he needed them.
She wanted to trust that Julian was going to keep her mate alive, but sometimes even the best efforts failed to keep a body working and the soul tethered to it.
Sometimes the soul was just too tired of this world and wanted to cross over to where there was no strife, no hate, only peace and love.
Navuh would hate that with a passion.
Her mate thrived on the dark side of things, and he would fight for every breath to stay in this world and keep spreading his darkness until it consumed everything.
But even if that was no longer possible because the clan had gotten him, he would fight to stay with her. She doubted hebelieved that she would follow him no matter where he went, even if it was beyond the veil.
Navuh looked so still, so pale, his powerful frame diminished by injury and the tubes and wires connecting him to machines that breathed for him, that kept his heart beating, that tracked every fragile sign of life.
Stabilized, Julian had said, as if that word could encompass the reality of her mate hovering between life and death.
The nurse left, closing and securing the door. The plane's engines changed pitch, preparing for takeoff. Anandur instructed Areana to take her seat in the main cabin and showed her how to strap in.
The aircraft featured cream leather seats, polished wood accents, and compact tables that folded out from the side walls, reflecting a level of luxury typically reserved for business executives rather than covert military missions.
The sixteen Guardians who made up the rescue team sat in the remaining seats throughout the cabin, with Anandur, the acting commander, taking the seat directly across the aisle from her.
Yamanu was on the other plane with the ladies, Tony and Elias.
She preferred it that way. The ladies would have wanted to offer her comfort, and she would have been forced to respond with small smiles and acknowledgments, which would have further drained the little strength she'd managed to retain.
The other plane had taken off about twenty minutes ago, while Julian, the nurse, and several Guardians were maneuvering the gurney into the cabin. It hadn't been easy. The plane wasn't a medical transport.
She was told that it was Kalugal's private jet.
Her son was wealthy, she had known that from talking to Annani and to Kalugal himself, but this luxurious craft really drove it home for her.
Areana's heart swelled with pride.
It wasn't that she valued wealth above all else, but it was the physical manifestation of success, and success was the manifestation of exceptional ability combined with exemplary work ethics.
Her son had both.
She couldn't wait to see him, Jacki, and their little son Darius. She'd cried rivers when she'd seen them on the small screen of Anandur's phone, and then more tears had come when Lokan and Carol appeared on the small screen, looking happy and in love.
