“Nice to meet you,” I replied, letting a genuine smile cross my lips. “I’m Callie, from almost-died-so-now-I-have-to-stay-close-to-Daniel.” I paused. “And Earth.”
Chase looked momentarily disconcerted, his gaze lifting to his friend. Daniel started to fill him in on all the events from the past few days, and while they talked, I ran everything I knew over in my head. Daniel had now mentioned three best friends, all of them overlords. Lexen, Xander, and now we had Chase.
My impression had always been that their houses didn’t get along with each other, the mention of war between the houses had happened more than once, but this group of guys was proving that wrong.
“I had no choice, she was going to die,” Daniel finished. “Laous…” He growled, angry and low. “We need to figure out where he is going to hit next. We need to stop him before he makes it to the next secret keeper.”
Chase just nodded, and this time as our eyes met, his were softer. “I’m very sorry for what you’ve been through, but there’s no better Daelighter for you to be bonded with. Daniel will keep you safe.”
I snorted, startling them both. “I don’t rely on men to keep me safe. I keep myself safe. I’ll also look after Daniel when the time comes.”
I felt their amusement, but both of them managed to refrain from laughing. Arrogant aliens. There was a shift in the light ball then and we turned to stare. Chase took a step away from us, heading back toward the area of this world that was filled with trees. That was a section I hadn’t had a chance to observe yet, but it looked as if it was just one huge forest.
“The four houses have been at war for centuries. This is the first time of peace,” Daniel explained to me, confirming my previous feelings. “For some reason, despite the tensions between our families, Xander, Lexen, Chase, and I have always been best friends. Brothers. As the overlord minors, we were often thrown together during meetings and such, and we bonded. Years ago, we decided to hide the true nature of our bond. We were afraid our parents would disapprove and keep us apart.” He shrugged. “I don’t know why we do it anymore. No one could control us now.”
“Old habits, I’m sure,” I said, and he nodded. “Are you going to try for total peace when you’re all overlords?” I asked, taking a step closer to his side.
He tilted his head in my direction. “Yes, that’s exactly what we hope for in the future.”
Before we could speak more on it, the ball of light sparked and another group of Daelighters appeared. They dispersed quickly, moving toward those already waiting.
Before we could move closer to the council, though, we were ambushed by another overlord, and a chick who didn’t have the same look as most of the Daelighters I’d seen. In fact, I was pretty sure she was … human. Blinking a few times, I suddenly knew who I was about to meet.
Secret Keeper number one. Emma.
6
Emma Walters stared at me. I stared back. Both of us taking a moment to assess the other. I felt a spark of something between us, same as I had with Daniel, but different. Like camaraderie, a sense of kinship because of who we were and the things we had gone through. Plus, she was wearing Converse shoes, which in my books was a very good start to any friendship. We matched. That was a thing, right?
I could be way off base, though; it was hard for me to understand friendship. If I ever did get friendly with anyone, it was usually a guy at the local gym where I trained. I’d never told my mom, of course, but I’d been sexually active since I was fifteen. Not a part of my past I was particularly proud of, but there was a time that I tried to assuage my loneliness through sex. I’d stopped that just before my seventeenth birthday, vowing the next time I shared my body would be because I wanted to share my heart as well. Blame that on my obsession with romantic comedies; those movies were always my go-to when I was feeling down. If the Hallmark Channel had a group for addicts, I’d be a member.
“I’m so happy to finally meet you.” She startled me by speaking out loud. Before this our conversation had been mostly body language and eye contact.
She kept her voice low – the meeting had started, but so far the council was just going over old news, so we had a few moments to chat.
“Happy to meet you, too,” I said, and I really meant it.
I felt eyes on me, and I knew they were going to be cinnamon and gold. Somehow I always knew when Daniel was looking in my direction. This time, though, he wasn’t the only one. I met the gaze of the huge male standing behind Emma. Lexen Darken, the overlord minor of House of Darken.
Dragon lord apparently.
Just like Daniel, this guy gave off scary, badass vibes. Unlike Daniel, I did not feel comfortable with him. Hewasgorgeous on a scale that should be illegal – I was starting to see a pattern with these aliens – but he was also dark and brooding, with eyes so black they were almost reflective. The way he moved was otherworldly. Like an animal, assessing me and all my weaknesses. Teaming that with the fact that I already knew he had a dragon friend meant Lexen was going right into the box where I kept things that frightened and fascinated me.
Emma cleared her throat and I managed to turn away from her scary boyfriend. One might think that an Earthling and Daelighter together would be an odd couple, but they made it work. It didn’t hurt that Emma was adorably pretty, with long auburn curls and stunning blue eyes. I could see why the Darken overlord had fallen for her.
She lowered her gaze, brow pinching. “You’re covered in blood. What happened?”
Oh, right.That little thing. I gave my clothes a rueful glance. “I kind of … died today. Apparently having your throat slit is messy.”
Emma gasped, her head flinging up as she glared at Daniel. “You were supposed to get to her before Laous.”
Lexen placed a hand on Emma’s back, and it was hard to tell from my angle, but it almost looked like he was stroking her spine. As she tilted her head to smile at him, his irises flashed with what appeared to be a white light, just for a moment, then it was gone, so fast I wondered if I imagined it.
“Laous used the stone in your necklace to temporarily disconnect Daniel from the network,” Lexen explained to her. “We didn’t know it could do that, so Dan was not prepared.” He paused, as if choosing his next words carefully. “If we are disconnected from the network, our powers…”
“Reboot,” I supplied, excited to know something for once.
Emma didn’t gasp this time, she growled. Fire leapt in her features, lighting up her eyes and skin. She had a temper to match the red in her hair, I could see that now. It made me like her even more. Perfect people were not something I dealt well with, mostly because I was always a mess.
