Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,76

it up for me.”

Kalugal frowned. Was Rufsur preparing the ground for announcing that he was leaving? After all they’d been through together? They were supposed to be best friends, and to watch each other’s backs for all time. Was Rufsur willing to throw all of that away for a woman he’d known only a few days?

“Don’t tell me that you are asking my permission to join the clan. I won’t try to stop you, but I won’t give you my blessing either. I need you by my side. And that’s not even the major issue. If you join the clan, the other men will feel free to do so as well. I will be left with no one.”

“I won’t leave you. When we escaped the Brotherhood, I bound my life to yours. That’s never going to change.”

Kalugal let out a relieved breath. “For a moment there, you had me worried.”

“I don’t want to leave. What I want is for you to use that formidable brain of yours and think of another solution to my problem.”

Kalugal shrugged. “Easy. Choose a different female, one who will have no problem leaving the clan to be with you, which is probably true for all the clan’s single ladies except for Edna.”

54

Rufsur

Rufsur felt the blood boiling in his veins, and it took all his willpower to refrain from swinging his fist at Kalugal’s face.

How could he be so callous? So clueless?

On the way to the house, Rufsur had come up with the idea of leading his boss to the same conclusion that he and Edna had reached instead of just presenting it. He’d found that tactic to be more effective in changing people’s views. It made them more receptive to new ideas than trying to spoon-feed them something that they didn’t find palatable.

Except, for it to work, Kalugal needed to have at least some basic emotional intelligence, or a smidgen of empathy, but evidently he had none. How could he have suggested that Rufsur choose another female? Had he even heard what had come out of his damn mouth?

“Listen to yourself, Kalugal. Would you have discarded Jacki and chosen a different woman just because of some difficulties along the way? Or would you have moved mountains to be with her no matter what?”

“Is that how strongly you feel about Edna?”

Rufsur threw his hands in the air. “Would I be here, talking to you because of a problem I’m having with a random hookup?”

Kalugal shrugged. “You did in the past. Remember that one girl who was obsessed with you? She looked for you in all the clubs in the area, and you asked me to help you get rid of her.”

“That was different. Somehow, she was resistant to thralling, or had very vivid dreams, and she remembered me no matter what I did. She obviously had a mental problem, and I was afraid she'd do some crazy shit like killing herself. I needed you to compel her to forget about me.”

“What about the girl that you thought you were in love with and wanted to marry?”

Rufsur waved a hand in dismissal. “That was a very long time ago, and I was young and stupid.” He smiled. “She was so beautiful and sweet, but I wasn’t really in love. I just thought that I was.”

“And she was also a manipulative bitch who wanted to marry a guy with money. What makes you think that Edna is the one? Maybe she’s just another infatuation? Face it, Rufsur, you are a smart guy until it comes to women. The so-called weaker sex is your Achilles heel.”

“This time it’s the real thing.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“How did you know that Jacki was the one?”

“I didn’t. Not right away. It took me a while to realize that.”

Rufsur chuckled. “Who are you trying to fool? Yourself? Because you are sure as hell not fooling me. You knew from the first moment you laid eyes on her that you wanted to keep her. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have offered Kian twenty-five thousand for every day that she stayed with you.”

“I knew that Jacki was a Dormant. At the time, that fact alone was enough to make her very desirable to me. I wasn’t in love with her.”

“Damn, you are a cold fish.” Rufsur rubbed his hand over his jaw. “You’re a cerebral guy, which means that you listen to your brain and not your heart. That’s the only reason you couldn’t admit that she was the one and needed to prove it