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“I’ll just be chaperoning…”

Kahn reached around her to slam the door shut, before Randa finished talking. She made an aggravated sound and glared up at him, again. “Would it kill you to be pleasant?”

“No, but it might kill you. Don’t take the chain off when you open the door. In fact, don’t open the door, at all. It’s not safe.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m not going to leave people standing on my porch…”

“If it has to be answered, one of us will get it.” He interrupted, gesturing towards the other men. “You have us here to be your bodyguards, right?”

“No, that’s not right. I don’t need bodyguards. I can protect myself. I simply hired you to kill Saxon.”

Kahn ignored that indisputable fact. “Just let me see the damn flowers.” He grabbed the crystal vase away from her and Randa was grateful to let it go. The bouquet made her feel dirty. Kahn carried the elaborate arrangement over to the counter and set it there for all the Light Phases to see.

Five black gazes scowled at the white lilies.

Kahn ripped the enclosed message free of its plastic stand and shredded the little envelope to get at the card inside. “‘I can’t take my eyes off of you, my flower.’” He read in a furious voice. “Fuck.”

Rye glanced over at Julius. “The woman’s right. This is a threat.”

Julius nodded grimly.

Mannus and Daven grunted, in apparent agreement for once.

Kahn crumpled the note up in his hand and turned back to Randa. His expression was hard and ice cold. “We’ll kill him for you.”

Chapter Four

No small portion of the elements of national character can be, and are, formed in the kitchen.

James Fenimore Cooper

The Light Phases were now her houseguests.

Randa wasn’t even sure how it happened.

They’d just refused to leave her tiny bungalow after the flowers arrived. They’d slept in her living room and spare bedroom, muttering to each other in their guttural language. No doubt they’d been complaining about her, since she’d declined to go hide in the Light Kingdom like they wanted her to. Repeatedly.

Two of them had stayed awake all night, in shifts, watching out for the others and ensuring that their “exposed sleeping positions” weren’t attacked by Randa. They hadn’t said that reasoning out loud, but she understood it. Maybe their uncomfortable accommodations would inspire them to work faster.

Randa was mentally creating an optimal schedule of events that got all five of them out of her life in a matter of days.

This morning, Daven and Mannus were off looking for Saxon. Rye was investigating the flowers. Julius was in the Elemental realm, doing something or other. Randa would take them all shopping for some acceptable clothes that afternoon. They’d need to clean up their appearances to attract respectable women. And it wouldn’t kill any of them to get a haircut.

Tomorrow, she would parade them in front of eager humans at the singles mixer. Hopefully, they would all find a willing Match and that would get them off her sofa and floors. If they were as good at hunting as they claimed, they’d resolve the stalker mess by early next week. Then it would all be over. Randa would never have to see any of them again. The timeline was straightforward and doable.

In the meantime, she would endure.

Which was easier said than done, considering Kahn was sticking close to her. Randa wasn’t sure why. She’d told him she could take care of herself. As usual, he’d ignored her and done what he’d wanted, though. She would have been more comfortable with any of the other men trailing her, but no one had given her an option. Kahn said he was staying with her and all the others nodded, like that was a foregone conclusion.

But, Randa could endure that, too. When you were indestructible, you could endure anything. Soon Kahn would be gone and Randa could vanish into the vast human world, without anyone noticing she’d even left.

Berlin, Germany.

Seoul, South Korea.

Kahn pulled a box of cereal off the shelf, knocking three other boxes to the floor in the process. Every human in the grocery store aisle was staring at him. Kahn didn’t seem to care. He ripped open the front of the box, obliterating the happy cartoon leprechaun, and frowned in confusion at the waxy bag he encountered inside.

“How the hell am I supposed to eat this? It’s sealed in plastic.”