"Oh dear lord, I am so sorry. I most certainly did not mean to disturb either one of you. As you were. This can definitely wait for later. Y'all take your time. Whatever you need. We'll ... uh ... hold down the fort. And I am so out of the hallway."
Ren felt terrible as he heard Sundown's footsteps retreating. "I'm sorry, Kateri. I didn't mean to embarrass you."
She arched a brow at his statement as she sank her hand down to cup him. "You didn't embarrass me, sweetie. I don't care if he knows. We can shout it from the rooftop if you want."
That was something he'd never get used to.
She took her time bathing him and was very thorough as she did so. By the time they were finished, there was no hot water left and it was pitch dark outside. He hated to get dressed and leave her, but the end of the world respected no one.
Toweling his hair dry, he went into the living room to find that Urian, Sundown, and Cabeza had been joined by Acheron. But it took him a second to recognize their fearless leader with his short hair.
Now there was something terrifying. "What happened to you? You get into a losing argument with a pair of scissors?"
Acheron rolled his eyes. "Damn, all of you are going to make this hard on me until it grows back. I swear. What's more important? Armageddon or my haircut?"
* * *
Kateri paused in the hallway as she heard that deep, rumbling voice that spoke in an accent the likes of which she'd never heard before. So this was the mysterious Acheron who led the Dark-Hunters.
The son of a goddess who'd almost ended the world over what had been done to him.
Curious, she stepped into the living room and froze. She wasn't sure what she'd expected to find, but it certainly wasn't ... this.
Yeah, okay, Lord King Badass had just entered the building. Her jaw went slack as she skimmed the ridiculous height of the latest man to join their party. Just shy of seven feet, he had short black hair framing a face that appeared to have been flawlessly chiseled from granite. He held an aura so dark and powerful that it made the hair on the back of her neck and arms rise.
Out of all the scary things in the room, he definitely put the others to shame, and that was not an easy thing to do.
Pinning her with a gaze that left her completely immobile, Acheron strode forward with the most predacious walk she'd ever seen. Something not easy to carry off when you considered the fact that he was physically very pretty and surprisingly young.
Probably no more than twenty or twenty-one, he was absolutely beautiful ... almost angelic. Except for that aura of lethal authority that bled out of every molecule he possessed. Yeah, this was a man used to riding herd and having to cow warriors like Cabeza, Sundown, and Ren.
And she couldn't take her gaze away from his spooky eyes. They literally swirled with a hazy silver color ... and they were filled with the promise of death.
Swathed completely in black, he had his hands tucked into the pockets of a long leather coat. He pulled one hand out and reached for her.
She instinctively took a step back.
Luckily, he had a sense of humor about that. "I'm not going to hurt you, Dr. Avani. I promise. I only bite when given an invitation to do so."
And he had manners too....
Freaky.
He opened his huge hand to show her her grandmother's necklace.
Stunned, she gaped at him.... Granted, she had to crane her neck to do so. "How did you know where to find it?"
"I have my evil ways."
Yeah, I bet you do. She took it out of his hand and for the first time really saw it for what it was. The thick gold chain was forged in such a way that it was much lighter than it appeared. But it was the fire inside the stone that was truly exceptional. As a kid, she'd had no idea whatsoever how rare a stone this was.
As a geologist she knew there were probably only a handful of stones ever created that came close to this perfection. Most fire opals were opaque like a regular gemstone. In spite of the name they bore because of their typical orange or red color, fire opals seldom showed the play of color other opals were known for. And in all her studies, she'd never seen one with the color play this one had. It really did look like it was a piece of the sun.
"Thank you," she breathed.
He inclined his head to her. "By the way, my wife had no idea what the writing on the seal was, she-"
"Your wife?" Kateri hated interrupting him, but he didn't look old enough ...