Sarah cuddled her even closer. “You are way too young for a boyfriend, girlie. Pax can be your friend, but he’s too old for you, anyway.”
Rose settled into her mother’s arms. “Paxton is pretty.”
Hope snorted. “Don’t tell him that. He thinks he’s all tough these days.”
“Who is Paxton?” Karma asked, remembering the implant in her ear too late.
“He’s a demon-vampire hybrid,” Hope said, shifting on the sofa. “He’s our friend, and for some reason, Rose thinks he’s the greatest thing on two feet. If you ask me, he’s gotten a little, well, male this year.” She rolled her eyes much better than the little girl had. “Boys are a pain, right?”
“Right,” Karma agreed, thinking about Benjamin. He’d been treating her like glass while obviously trying to build her confidence at the same time. If he told her one more time that she was strong and capable, she might just smack him and prove it. If he thought she was that wonderful, he wouldn’t be trying to make her independent before he left her somewhere with a pile of money.
Sarah leaned forward. “Karma? You just seriously went somewhere in your head. You okay?”
Karma sighed. “I was thinking about males being males. They’re too much.”
Sarah smiled. “I think they only get worse with age. It’s too bad you’re not staying another night. We have a girls’ poker game tonight, and we often spend a little time complaining about our mates. Emma is on a tear these days because she’s close to another medical breakthrough, which makes her obsessed, and she forgets to eat or sleep. Then the king gets all bossy, and I swear, his solution is to toss her in the pool.”
Hope shrugged. “It works for them. Plus, Em likes to swim.”
Karma enjoyed listening to these tales. She’d had no idea life could be unrestricted and free. “I like that you can voice your opinions with your mates.”
Hope’s eyebrows lifted. “Why wouldn’t we be able to?”
The fact that she could even ask the question gave Karma hope. Real hope. Perhaps the world could change for everybody—even the Kurjans.
Chapter Eleven
Benny set the helicopter down right outside Seven territory while watching the silent woman in the passenger seat. They’d stayed at Realm Headquarters until he thought Karma was well enough to travel. Then he couldn’t wait to get the heck out of there. Dage didn’t like having the Seven in his territory, and that was fine with Benny.
Right now, Garrett snored in the backseat after being up all night partying. The family had been pissed at his departure, but he hadn’t given them a choice. Something really was going on with the youngest Kayrs, but Benny hadn’t figured out what yet. Right now, Karma came first.
He let the engines on the bird die down. Almost immediately, a cover emerged from the mountainous rock to enclose them, safely hiding the helicopter from the sky.
She watched the other side fasten to the ground. “That’s incredible.” Even her voice showed awe.
He grinned. “Yeah. We’ve been here for a few years, so we’ve been able to build what we wanted. For a while, our headquarters kept getting blown up. So far, we’ve been lucky here.”
She looked down at her clasped hands.
He reached over and placed his fingers over hers, trying to give comfort. “You’re safe here, sweetheart. There’s no need to worry about the Kurjans or the Cysts or the virus any longer.” He squeezed and then released her. “If you don’t want to stay here, I’ll take you somewhere else. Once I’m sure you’re good on your own, I’ll let you be.” There was no question the woman wanted her freedom. He didn’t blame her, although the more he was around her, the more he wanted to stick with her.
But she deserved more than a life saddled with someone like him. Now he just had to convince her of that fact. “I thought it was really impressive how you fought off the virus and then let it take care of the bonds. You have a lot more strength than you know.”
The look she gave him was both adorable and disbelieving. “Right. I almost died.”
“You did not.” He rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you think you’re strong?” Part of his plan was getting her to see her own power.
She wrung her hands together.
“Is it possible you don’t see the real you because you’ve been living with assholes the last two centuries?” He asked the question as gently as he could.
“Anything is possible, Benjamin,” she said quietly, sounding as if she might be starting to believe it. “Although I can’t even dress like a modern woman without feeling uncomfortable. It’s not as if I can fight in a long skirt, you know?”
Garrett jumped out of the back of the craft. “I’m going to run to my cabin. You two have a nice day.” He easily strode through the open archway and disappeared into the trees.
Benny stared at the trees for a minute. He needed to get Garrett alone to see what had crawled up his ass—and soon. For now, Benny opened his door and circled the craft to open hers, lifting her down with his hands on her waist. Instant desire slammed through him, heating his body as if he’d jumped into a hot spring. “This way.” He released her and opened the door to the outside, where a golf cart was hidden beneath the boughs of a pine tree.
She followed and sat gracefully in the passenger side. “This is your headquarters?” For some reason, she now sounded hesitant, as if she didn’t want to be there.
“Yes.” He sat and turned the key before pressing on the gas pedal. “We took our cue from the Realm, years ago, and built a nice little subdivision here in the Utah mountains for the Seven. We have a central lodge and our own homes, which has been nice since a few of us have gotten mates. Which we were not supposed to do.”
She looked toward him, steadying herself with a hand on the metal dash. “You weren’t supposed to mate?”
“No.” He’d given her as much time as he could before starting to question her about the Kurjans and the Cysts, and he hated for this time to end. “The final ritual will kill many of us. So taking a mate doesn’t make sense.” That fact hadn’t stopped several of his brethren from taking the plunge, anyway. “Ronan, Quade, Ivar, Adare, and Logan have all mated.” At this time, he was in the minority. “Only Garrett and I haven’t mated, and Garrett seems to have another destiny in store for him. So the sacrifice comes down to me.”
“Sacrifice?” she whispered.
It was only fair to give her the full truth. “Yeah. I’m the only unmated one who can give up his life without regret. I’m telling you this because of the mating mark, just in case you had expectations. I’d be honored if you did, but I don’t have much of a future ahead of me.”