Leigh rolled her eyes at the words and smiled wryly. “Ignore him. We’re new parents, so we aren’t getting a lot of sleep at the moment. It makes him cranky.”
“Yeah, that’s what it is. Lack of sleep due to the babies,” Justin said with a snort as he moved past them. “ ’Cause Lucian was just a big huggie bear before that.”
When Sherry glanced curiously to the man disappearing into the house, Basil said helpfully, “Lucian is always cranky.”
Much to her surprise, when Sherry then glanced worriedly to Lucian to see how he was taking the announcement, he was nodding with agreement and apparent satisfaction. She gathered he was proud of his crankiness.
“Don’t mind Lucian,” Leigh said lightly. “He just acts all growly and mean around the boys to keep them in line. He’s really a marshmallow.”
Now it was Basil who snorted.
Leigh wrinkled her nose at the man, and then took Sherry’s arm to urge her into the house, saying, “Come, I’ll make some tea and we’ll get to know each other. We’re going to be sisters-in-law.”
“Oh, that’s not—I mean, I—We—” Sherry stammered helplessly as Leigh led her inside. She fell silent when Leigh patted her hand sympathetically.
“It’s a lot to take in, I know. But it’s best not to fight it. The nanos are never wrong.”
Sherry had no idea what she was talking about when she said nanos, but merely released a sound that was embarrassingly reminiscent of a whimper and fell silent.
“Well?”
Basil tore his eyes from Sherry’s disappearing derriere to glance at his brother and raised an eyebrow in question. “Well what?”
“Is she or is she not your life mate?” Lucian asked at once.
Basileios grimaced. “How the hell should I know? I just met the woman.”
Lucian scowled. “Did you try to read her?”
“Of course,” he said irritably, moving forward to enter the house.
“And?” Lucian asked, following and pulling the door closed.
“I cannot read her,” Basil admitted, but added quickly, “Neither could Stephanie, though, so that might not mean anything.” He paused in the entry and turned back to Lucian. “Could you read her?”
“Of course,” the man said, as if that should be expected. “She takes some effort, though. I suspect she’s been around an immortal for long periods of time in her past and gained some natural skills at blocking our thoughts.
Basil nodded. That happened to mortals who spent a lot of time around immortals, even if they didn’t know about immortals and that they were in their presence. Their minds unconsciously sensed the probing, and they eventually, instinctively, learned to build up mental walls to block the intrusion. It made him curious, though, as to who the immortal was that Sherry might have been around.
“Try to read her again,” Lucian said, distracting him from the question. The words weren’t a suggestion. Neither were the orders that followed when he said, “And test the other symptoms too; food and so on. I need to know if she is or is not your life mate before I decide what to do about her.”
Basil merely nodded.
“What?” Lucian asked with amusement. “No arguing or telling me to stop bossing you around?”
Basil smiled faintly. He usually did rebel when Lucian tried to boss him around. It was why he was a member of the North American council. People trusted he wouldn’t just bow to his brother’s bullying. It was also why he lived in New York. He was far enough away not to have to deal with his brother’s bossiness too often, but close enough to see the family on special occasions and to fly in for emergency council meetings between the regular council meetings.
“Why bother arguing with you when it is exactly what I want to do anyway?” Basil responded. He then turned to head for the kitchens, eager to see Sherry again.
“This is Sam. She’s Mortimer’s life mate and a lawyer like Basil,” Leigh announced, urging Sherry to one of the stools around the island in the large, bright white kitchen.
“Hi,” Sherry said with a smile as the slender redhead at the stove set the lid back on a simmering pot and turned to greet them.
“Hi back,” Sam said, wiping her hands on a dish towel before offering it with a warm smile of her own. As they shook hands, she said, “I hear you’ve had a bit of an ordeal. I’m sorry about that. Leonius has been a problem for a while now. Hopefully the boys will corner and catch him this time.”
A snort from the end of the room drew Sherry’s attention to the fact that Justin Bricker had his head in the refrigerator as he rummaged around for something.
“Not bloody likely,” the man announced as he straightened with a bag of blood in hand. “Leo’s a slippery bastard. He pops up in one place just long enough to get everyone rushing there, then disappears and pops up somewhere hundreds of miles away. Hell, the day before yesterday he was supposedly spotted in Florida. Today he’s here. Tomorrow he’ll be in Mexico.”