Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,90

over the years. He didn’t try to stop any of them, and they left with his blessing.”

“But they were not privy to his secrets as you are.”

“True, but they could have betrayed him to Navuh. There was a risk involved in letting them go, and yet he didn’t stop them.”

“Did he compel their loyalty?”

Rufsur nodded. “But compulsion requires periodic reinforcement, and he doesn’t keep in touch with them.”

“Do you? He might have killed them without you or the others knowing.”

“He didn’t. I keep in touch with some, Phinas keeps in touch with a few of the others, and so on. Except for one who disappeared without a trace, we can probably find all of them.” Rufsur tapped his temple. “Which gives me a great idea. Once they learn that there is a village full of single immortal ladies they could mate, I bet many would return. That’s another selling point in favor of a federation.”

She chuckled. “Depends for whom. I don’t know if Kian will see that as an advantage. More of Kalugal’s men means more danger.”

“It all depends on the packaging. We need to come up with a compelling offer. Would having more warriors to fight the traffickers appeal to him?”

“Probably.”

“Then it would be part of the package. What else would be tempting to him?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe more contributions? It has been difficult for the clan to carry most of the financial burden of the rescue missions.”

“Then I need to convince Kalugal to help out financially. Anything else?”

“More female Dormants? But how can Kalugal help with that?”

“Give up any of the Dormant females found through Roberts.”

“He and Kian agreed to split them.”

“I’ll convince him to give up our share until the numbers are even.”

Edna let out a breath. “Your optimism is contagious. The question is if it’s healthy.”

“Of course, it is. Now tell me that you love me.”

He was impossible to resist.

“I love you.” She cupped his cheek. “I think that I fell for you the moment I saw you smiling at me with those adorable dimples of yours. You were like a ray of sunshine, illuminating my gloomy existence and warming me from the inside. But you were too bright, and I tried to shield my eyes from you. Except, you were also so damn persistent, and you didn’t let me hide.” Leaning, she kissed his lips. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

“Never.”

66

Eleanor

“Thank you.” Eleanor handed the old guy $4,200 in cash. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

“Same here. It’s a good car.” He tapped the hood fondly. “You can’t go wrong with a Suburban, even one that is ten years old and has over a hundred thousand miles on it. You can still drive it problem-free for many years to come.”

“I know. That’s why I got it. But I don’t expect to drive it much. It’s a five-minute drive from my apartment to the hospital, and I’ll probably take the bus to save on parking fees. But having a big car like that will make transporting furniture easy. I won’t have to rent a truck.”

He nodded. “Good luck with your new job.”

“Thanks.”

Perhaps making up an entire story about moving to the area for a nursing job was overkill, but Eleanor liked to cover her bases. She had a lot of experience pretending to be someone other than herself, but not spying.

As a recruiter for the paranormal program, she’d had the government’s backup, and before that, when she’d been a pharmaceutical sales rep, she had the company’s resources at her disposal. Now she was on her own, paying her own expenses, snooping around dangerous people, and risking her life.

Spying was scary and exciting at the same time, but mostly it involved hard work and a lot of running around. With her innate paranoia, she was probably overthinking every move and doing too much, but she couldn’t help the way her brain worked.

At every step, Eleanor was acutely aware of the potential pitfalls and took precautions to mitigate them. She also trusted no one and was a loner who had no need for companionship. So other than her low tolerance for risk-taking, she was perfectly suited for the job of solo spying.

It was exhausting, though.

Despite how tired she’d been the day before, after making the rounds next to the mansion, she’d driven back to the airport while constantly checking her rearview mirror for a possible tail, returned the rental, and then had taken an Uber to her Airbnb rented house. Since the locking mechanism