Krysta actually found herself envying the woman.
Very unsettling.
Richart and Étienne suddenly appeared a few feet away.
Heart slamming against her ribs—and not just because it startled her—Krysta leapt to her feet.
Jenna did, too. Hurrying over to her husband, she hugged him hard despite the blood that stained him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, sweetheart. I just need some blood.”
Krysta had the odd impulse to do the same to Étienne, to run to him and hug him tight and tell him how glad she was to see he was okay. Or mostly okay. She couldn’t tell if any of the blood staining his weird suit was his.
She settled for crossing to stand in front of him. “Are you okay?”
He nodded.
Two more men suddenly materialized before the brothers. Krysta noticed absently that Sheldon looked as though he had been wallowing in mud. The other man . . .
She gawked. Damn. He was hot. As hot as Étienne and Richart, but several inches taller with wavy, black hair that fell past his waist. He positively oozed power. And his aura . . .
She had never seen anything like it. It was an almost blindingly bright white with none of the swirling purple that flowed through Étienne, Richart, and Jenna’s auras.
“Thanks,” Sheldon said.
The man nodded and disappeared.
Krysta returned her gaze to Étienne, whose face had darkened with a scowl. “Who was that?”
“Seth, the leader of the Immortal Guardians. The eldest and most powerful among us.”
“What is he?”
“As I said, he’s our leader.”
“No, I mean, he isn’t a vampire or an immortal. So what is he?”
“He’s an immortal.”
Krysta eyed Étienne’s aura. “He is?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand any of this.”
“I know. I’ll explain everything when we get home.”
“My home?”
“Nnnnnno. Your home is . . .”
“Shot to shit,” Sheldon supplied for him.
Richart popped the young man on the back of the head.
“Dude, I’m wearing a helmet. I didn’t even—”
Richart popped him on the head again with enough force to send him stumbling several steps away.
“Okay. That I felt.”
Étienne consulted his brother. “Can you take us both at once?”
“Let me get some blood first.”
Richart headed into the kitchen, Jenna at his side, clinging to his hand and leaning into him.
Sheldon gave Krysta a sheepish look. “Sorry about your house.”
She nodded, not knowing what else to do.
Sheldon unfastened the chin strap of his helmet and tugged it off. “See you guys at the meeting tonight. I’m gonna go take a shower.” Spinning on his heels, he trudged down the hallway and out of sight.
“What meeting?” Krysta asked.
“Seth has called a meeting to discuss what has happened and how to identify and deal with the new threat.”
“I can’t go home, can I?”
“No.”
“Great. I guess I could stay in a hotel.” It would have to be the cheapest one she could find.
“You can stay with me,” Étienne suggested. “You’ll be accompanying me to the meeting tonight anyway.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I will?”
He grimaced. “I’m afraid so. Seth has asked that you be there. And no one gainsays Seth.”
“Is he that much more powerful than the rest of you?”
“Absolutely. I’m a babe compared to him.”
Yes, he was a babe. A total babe. But not the way he meant it.
He grinned.
Krysta frowned. “Damn it! Stop reading my thoughts!”
Étienne shrugged. “I was just peeking to see how you were taking all of this.”
“Not well,” she admitted.
“Would you take it better if I told you I think you’re a total babe, too?”
“A little bit.”
He laughed and, wrapping an arm around her, drew her close for a hug.
Krysta looped her arms around his waist, surprised by how natural it felt despite the rubber suit.
“Every day you amaze me more,” he murmured. And she could have sworn he brushed a kiss across the top of her head.
“Every day you confuse me more,” she countered.
“It will all become clear soon.”
His earlier words squeezed past the confusion and concern for her brother, as well as the worry over where the hell they were going to live and how they would pay for everything. “Wait. Who is going to be at this meeting?”
“Most likely all of the Immortal Guardians in the area, as well as their Seconds.”
“What’s a Second again?”
“The human guard or assistant of an immortal. We all have one.”
“Like a Renfield?”