“True.”
Quiet descended.
When it lingered, Nicole felt awkward for the first time since she’d moved in. Now that the adrenaline rush had receded and they’d dealt with the night’s events, her thoughts returned to the goodnight kiss she and Sean had shared outside the dorm.
The kiss they shouldn’t have shared.
The one that had made her body burn.
Sean cleared his throat. “I’d better go wash this crap out of my hair. Sheldon swore it wasn’t permanent, but I’d rather not leave it on too long, just in case.”
“Or,” she suggested with false cheer, “you can leave it in, and I can start calling you Sunshine.”
Laughing, he turned and strode up the hallway. “I’ll be in the shower.”
Gloriously naked, a thought that brought butterflies back to her belly.
Shaking her head at herself, Nicole headed for the armory and put her weapons away. Why, oh why couldn’t Sean be more like Nick? Or rather, why couldn’t her reaction to Sean be more like her reaction to Nick? Seeing Nick naked earlier had done absolutely nothing beyond catching her off guard.
But just imagining Sean naked steered her mind in directions it really shouldn’t go.
And that kiss…
The way his body had crowded hers as his tongue stroked and teased and tantalized…
“I think I’ll have a shower, too,” Nicole muttered.
A very cold one.
Nicole had been around immortals long enough to know that living forever had its drawbacks, the greatest of which was watching the mortals you cared about grow old and die generation after generation.
Being denied the opportunity to fall in love, marry, and have children was another.
Immortals rarely pursued relationships with mortals because those never ended well. Often, the human would grow bitter when she aged and the immortal didn’t, sometimes accusing the immortal of keeping a younger woman on the side. Then anger and resentment would sour the relationship.
Other times, the two never stopped loving each other, as was the case with Tomasso and Cassandra. Those two had been together for one hundred thirty-five years, thanks to Seth’s ability to heal Cassandra and extend her life. But even Seth—with all of his immense power—couldn’t stave off death forever, so Tomasso would lose his human wife to old age in another two or three decades.
Until recently, no gifted ones had been willing to transform and spend the rest of eternity with their immortals because they hadn’t understood the difference between immortals and vampires and feared their condition resulted from a curse or the like that would damn them for eternity. Sarah Bingham had been the first gifted one in history to ask to be transformed.
Consequently, loneliness was pervasive among Immortal Guardians.
Almost as old as Seth, David had lived since biblical times and had been Seth’s second in command for nearly as long. His home here in North Carolina was the hub of the Immortal Guardians world on the East Coast, a favorite gathering place of those who hunted in the area.
Seth and David maintained such homes all over the world and always opened their doors to Immortal Guardians and their Seconds. It was their way of easing the loneliness that could grip the mighty warriors.
It was also a way to help them feel more normal. Most of humanity had worked during the day and slept at night for millennia before electricity and all-night superstores appeared on the scene. So having a place where they could gather and socialize after a long night of vampire hunting made a difference and gave them all a family to spend time with since they had long since lost their own.
During her stint as a network special ops soldier, Nicole had heard rumors that Immortal Guardians were like one big, closely knit family. But she hadn’t realized how accurate that description was until she became a Second and joined it.
Immortals treated Seconds like family, too, which meant the world to her. She’d had no siblings growing up. And her parents had sucked. Instead of greeting her with smiles or affectionate hugs when she came home from school and asking how her day had been, they had immediately demanded a description of the topics her teachers had covered before giving her a strict study schedule for the rest of the afternoon and night that allotted her twenty minutes to eat dinner, ten minutes to shower, and permitted no other breaks.
The only time she could remember looking forward to going home was when bullies had given her grief for being smart enough to skip several grade levels.
But as she and Sean strode up the walk to David’s sprawling one-story home, Nicole found her spirits lightening as they often did. This place felt as much like home to her as Sean’s house. Located in the country, it sat in the center of enough acres to ensure that the nearest neighbor lived miles away.
The grass in front was neatly mown. Tall evergreen trees formed a colosseum of sorts around the house and its lawns. Multiple cars lined the curved drive in front of it. Others occupied the large barn in the back, which served as a parking garage for those who stayed the night.
And more had been staying the night in recent years, wanting to provide additional protection to Ami—Seth’s adopted daughter—and her baby, Adira, the first child ever fathered by an Immortal Guardian.
Though they’d eliminated the threat to Ami and Adira, many immortals still sought their beds here. Out of habit, perhaps. Or maybe they just enjoyed the family atmosphere as much as Nicole did.
A cacophony of voices met her ears when Sean opened the front door. Light and laughter spilled out to embrace them.
Nicole smiled as she stepped inside.
Sean followed and closed the door behind them.
Two or three dozen people—all clad in black—filled the large living room. Some occupied the many sofas, love seats, and wingback chairs. Others loitered in groups. Most called a greeting.
After giving them all a cheery wave, she slipped behind Sean and helped him shrug out of his coat. The wall just inside the door bore multiple wooden pegs, most of which already supported long black coats. Nicole added Sean’s—heavy from the weaponry within it—and committed the alphabet letter and number above it to memory so she’d know which one was his later.
“Nicole!”
Glancing around, she looked for whoever had called her name.
On the opposite side of the room, a hand waved. Then Becca’s face appeared as she jumped up and down a couple times to see over the shoulders of the tall males that surrounded her.
Nicole laughed. Every immortal male present was at least six feet tall. Most of the male Seconds were, too. The women, however, ranged in height from five feet to Nicole and Becca’s heights of five feet six.
Becca made her way through the throng. “Hey. I heard what happened last night.” Upon reaching her side, she drew Nicole into a tight hug. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I didn’t get so much as a scratch.” Backing away, she squinted her eyes at her friend. “You are Becca, right?”
She grimaced. “Yes. I can’t believe Nick did that.”
“You didn’t know?”
“Not until Seth popped in with Nick all bloody and naked, a sight I definitely could’ve done without now that he’s my stepdad.” Wrinkling her nose, she frowned. “If I’d known, I would’ve insisted on doing it myself.”
Sean nudged Nicole with his elbow. “I told you she was as hardheaded as you.”