“I meant you,” she countered.
The woman was worried about him finding love? Just when he thought he had pinned her down, she knocked him out of his head with her kindness. The female didn’t know a thing about being coy or creating falsehoods. She’d probably pass out if she ever told a lie. He shook his head. “Grace, Jacki made the right choice back then. As a member of the Seven, my path was always destruction and death. My fate has made me who I am. There’s no love in me. Anywhere.” Although he’d never understood why Jacki had chosen Basel Ladoni out of all her suitors. The guy had a weak jaw, albeit a massive fortune.
Grace’s shoulders straightened. “You and Jacqueline make a good match. You even fought well together.”
“You fought like a champion—all heart,” he said, his voice softening. “When that Kurjan lifted you off the ground, you thought very quickly and shot him right in the groin. That was brilliant.” It was difficult to yell at a person while also trying to reassure and compliment her, damn it.
She blushed. “Let’s not forget we were all there, in danger, because of me.”
He straightened. “Excellent segue for our next discussion.”
She sighed. “Wonderful. How about I just do it?” She cleared her throat and lowered her soft voice as much as possible to a growl. “Grace? You’re still mainly human, and when there’s a fight with immortal soldiers who’ve trained for centuries, and I tell you to get your ass on my ex-girlfriend’s back and climb a mountain, you do it, damn it.” Then she fluttered her eyes. “But Adare—” her voice rose to a falsetto, “I can take care of myself and don’t need you telling me what to do. Butthead.” Then she growled like an animal and pawed the bedspread. “Woman, obey,” she snapped, her voice still a terrible imitation of his. “No,” she said in her own voice. “In fact, bite me.”
Amusement poked through his irritation like light through blind slats. “You really don’t understand the freedom I’ve allowed you, do you?”
Her sigh was exaggerated. “Let’s make a deal. You never use the words ‘allow’ or ‘obey’ again, and I’ll do my best to stay out of immortal battles to the death?”
“No deal,” he said. How, after all this time, did she not fear him at least a little?
She sighed. “Figured.” Then she looked around, her gaze landing on her photograph of the deer. “How about this? Since you won’t discuss your feelings about my taking the virus, or your feelings about your ex-girlfriend, the flirty cougar, how about you tell me what your plan is for this big attack?” She swung her gaze to him. “As your mate, don’t I have a right to know?”
Well, she did have a point. He held out a hand and accepted her olive branch, not wanting to fight during this last time together. Her quickness and bravery in fighting earlier had pushed him off balance, and he wasn’t sure what to do with that. For now, they could just get along. “I guess you do. Maybe it’s time you saw why Benny calls this place the lair.”
* * * *
Grace enjoyed the feeling of her hand in Adare’s way too much. His easy grip was warm, firm, and protective. She’d hidden a lot about her health from him the last couple of years, but since he wasn’t really involved in her life, she shouldn’t feel guilty.
He led her to the side of the stone fireplace, reached up to the top, and inserted his finger in a crack. A section of the rock slid open to reveal a keypad.
“No way,” Grace breathed, wishing she’d grabbed her camera.
“Yes. The door locks from either side with a keypad, and the code is 002241. Memorize it.” He punched in the code, and the entire rock wall swung open like an ordinary door.
Adare flipped a switch, and lights ignited on the stone block walls, illuminating the stairs that curved down toward more darkness.
“This is so cool,” she whispered, following him down the rough stone steps. “When did you build this place?”
“Two years ago,” Adare said, reaching the bottom level and engaging the last switch.
Grace faltered, her head swiveling to take it all in. The room was massive, built of stone and concrete, extending far beyond the structure of the cabin above. One entire wall held different screens. Only one was lit up, showing an aerial view of a compound with heat signatures.
Adare caught her eye. “It’s a Kurjan holding that hopefully houses some Cyst soldiers in northern Arizona.”
“Satellite?” she murmured. The compound looked massive and well-guarded. Even from far above, the shapes of the guns were big enough to make out.
He nodded. “Three years ago, the Seven purchased a discarded satellite from the Chinese and then had the Realm experts update it. We try to keep it focused on this one place, for now.”
She looked at the multiple computer consoles on wide tables down the middle of the room, and then to the opposing wall, where old-fashioned maps had been taped with different pins stuck in them. “Known Kurjans?”
“Known Cysts,” he said, releasing her hand. “Our mission is to take out as many Cyst as possible, after extracting whatever information we can get from them. Ronan and Ivar are working on locating all Kurjans, while Logan and Quade are in charge of finding as many enhanced human females as we can before the Kurjans locate and kidnap them. The good news is that enhanced females are hard to find, as most don’t know they’re any different from other humans.”
She studied the map of the world, noting that most locations of enhanced females were areas with high sun exposure. That made sense. “What about Garrett?” He was the only member of the elite Seven that Adare hadn’t mentioned.
Adare didn’t turn from watching the satellite feed. “Garrett’s searching for the last Key. We have you and Mercy; now we have to find one more.”
Mercy was a Fae mated to Logan, and no doubt she was helping with the search.
The room was chilly, and Grace rubbed her arms to keep warm. She felt a little silly in Adare’s shirt and socks, but she was well covered. “Have you ever wondered if I’m really a Key?” Mercy was a powerful Fae, and it made sense she was one of the chosen. “I mean, what if my birthmark is just that? Just a mark? I’m not enhanced in any way.” Enhanced humans, ones who could mate with immortals, had special abilities and were usually empathic, clairvoyant, or psychic.
