Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,14

stop would offend her. Jacki did it because she cared, not because she was a busybody.

“As I said, she’s fighting the connection, but her reasons are the same as Phinas’s. She holds an important position in the clan, and she doesn’t want to leave. I hope to make some headway with her during the upcoming weekend.”

“Good luck.” Jacki patted his arm. “The only advice I can give you is to be flexible. It’s a difficult situation, and unless both of you are willing to compromise in some way, it’s not going to work.”

Glancing at Kalugal, Rufsur waited for him to say something against his efforts to win Edna over, but his boss’s expression remained impassive.

He either didn’t object, which Rufsur found surprising, or he was just waiting to see if his intervention was at all needed.

If Edna refused to take it any further, she would spare Kalugal the need to be the bad guy.

Except, Rufsur needed to know what his boss’s stand on the issue was. He could ask him directly, but then Kalugal might give him an evasive answer.

Perhaps he could test the waters in another way. “We should take two men with us this time. Since I’ll be busy courting my lady judge, you and Jacki will need one more guard. Besides, it’s a good opportunity to introduce more of our men to the clan, so Kian should be all for it.”

“The house we stay in has only two bedrooms,” Jacki pointed out.

“If my efforts are successful, I won’t need a bed. And if they fail, I can sleep on the couch.”

Kalugal nodded. “I like your idea of introducing more men to the clan. Who do you suggest we take?”

Apparently, his boss was playing it cool all the way through. Or maybe he had no problem with Rufsur mating Edna?

That wasn’t likely.

By now, Kalugal was well aware of how powerful the mated bond was, and he knew that it would overpower Rufsur’s other loyalties. Kalugal probably believed that Rufsur was wasting his time with Edna, and that nothing would come of it.

If Rufsur had any brains, he would have arrived at the same conclusion. But the problem was that his gut refused to accept defeat.

He sighed. “Atzil comes to mind. But if you leave the others without a cook, it might cause a revolt.”

“We can order meals in,” Phinas suggested. “If anyone deserves a break, it’s Atzil. I don’t think he’s taken a day off in years, and he’s kept up his training, so his fighting skills are as good as those of the others.”

Kalugal rubbed his chin. “You are right. I don’t remember him ever taking an entire day off, and since I don’t expect to encounter trouble in the village other than maybe a few nasty looks, I don’t really need to take top fighters with us. Who else?”

“Ruvon,” Phinas said.

Kalugal arched a brow. “Why him?”

Rufsur wondered about the choice as well. Ruvon wasn’t a ladies’ man. He wasn’t particularly good-looking, and he was more interested in technology than in females.

“Perhaps he could pick the clan’s tech guy’s brains.” Phinas shrugged. “But it was just a thought. You can choose whoever you want.”

9

Edna

As Edna parked her car in the underground garage, a large truck full of building materials drove by, heading into the cargo area of the structure.

Curious, she got out of the car and walked over to see what was going on.

The piles upon piles of materials couldn’t all be for the double fence that Kian was putting back up between phase one and phase two of the village.

Was he planning to build more houses?

What for?

Most of those in phase two stood empty, and as far as she knew, Sari and her portion of the clan had no intention of leaving Scotland and moving into the village. Perhaps she’d changed her mind?

“Hi, Edna.” Syssi waved at her. “Checking out the delivery?” She and Amanda walked over. “Robert must have found building materials at a bargain price to fill up the space like that.”

It took Edna a moment to recall that Kian had put Robert in charge of the procurement of building materials for the village. But that wasn’t what bothered her.

“What is Kian planning to build? I thought that we were putting the fence back up, not adding more buildings.”

Smiling, Syssi threaded her arm through Edna’s. “I’ll tell you all about it over coffee. Amanda and I finished earlier than usual at the lab, so I figure we have time to chill in the café.”

Amanda