Night Unbound (43 page)

Lisette's stomach plummeted. “You're saying the baby would be infected.”

“Most likely, yes.”

Fear struck. “Zach, we haven't been using condoms. What if I'm already pregnant?”

“You aren't. I can tell when you're ovulating and”—he glanced at Seth—“pursue other, ah, forms of pleasure—”

Seth grimaced and waved a hand. “She gets it. Spare me the details.”

Lisette flushed.

The men laughed.

It was good to see Seth behaving a little more like himself again.

“Étienne is going to be a pain in the ass,” Seth foretold.

“When is he not?” she quipped, earning another smile.

“He hates it when you keep secrets from him and will peek into your thoughts every chance he can get.”

“Actually,” Lisette said, “I think I've found a way around that. Marcus gave me the idea when he mentioned your poking around in his head a lot when he and Ami first got together.”

“Don't tell me,” Seth said, lips twitching.

“Any time I feel Étienne trying to nose around in my mind, I picture Zach naked.”

Both men burst into laughter.

“He hasn't intruded in weeks,” she crowed.

Their smiles lingering, they tucked into their meal once more.

“You know,” Zach mentioned, “I remembered something the night we confronted the Others that I had forgotten for a time.”

“What's that?” Seth asked.

“That we used to be friends.”

Seth grunted. “
I
didn't forget. That's why I was more pissed than I normally would've been when I thought you had unburied Donald's and Nelson's memories and betrayed us.” He chewed another forkful of turkey. “And it's why I'm here now.” He winked at Lisette. “Aside from the beautiful woman at my side. I could never resist her company.”

She blew him a kiss.

Skillet's “Monster” cut off whatever Zach intended to retort.

Reaching into a back pocket, Seth drew out his cell phone and checked the caller.

Zach smiled. “You changed your ringtone.”

Offering him an insouciant salute, Seth took the call.
“Sì? . . . Dove? . . . Quanti sono? . . . Sono sui mio modo.”
He pocketed the phone.

“Everything okay?” Lisette asked.

Nodding, Seth rose and drew on his shirt as his wings vanished. “It's a bullshit call.”

“What do you mean?”

“I've been getting a lot of emergency calls that aren't emergencies lately from immortals who want to see if I'm okay.”

She watched him retrieve his coat and tug it on. “
Are
you okay, Seth?” she asked softly.

“No,” he replied, surprising her with his candor. “But I will be.” “Monster” rocked the kitchen once more. Sighing, he took the call, then pocketed the phone. “This may take a while.” He vanished.

Zach twined his fingers through hers.

“Will he be okay?” she asked him, worried for her stalwart leader.

“Eventually.” Pushing his bench back from the table, Zach gave her hand a little tug. “Come here, love.”

Lisette abandoned her chair and let him draw her onto his lap. “Were you and Seth really friends once?”

“A long time ago.”

“Do you think you can be friends again?”

“I think we're already on the path to it.”

“No grudges?”

“No grudges. I'd rather spend that energy on more positive things.” He pressed a tender kiss to her lips. “For instance, have I told you lately that I love you?”

“Yes.” Kissing him back, she looped her arms around his neck. “But you're welcome to tell me again.”

He kissed her longer, slower. “I love you, Lisette.”

“I love you, Zach.” Her pulse picked up as he slipped his tongue past her lips to dance with hers. She tightened her hold, her fingers encountering the silky soft feathers of his wings. Drawing back, she met his smoldering golden gaze. “You aren't infected with the virus. You're immortal. And you have wings,” she murmured, stroking one with light fingers. “You know what I want to ask you.”

He nodded. “But you can't. Not until you've strengthened your mental barriers.”

Seth had said it could take years. Lisette supposed years didn't seem so long when an eternity together stretched before them.

She rubbed noses with him. “I can wait.”

“Until then,” he said, urging her closer, “are there any other . . . curiosities . . . I can satisfy?”

She smiled. “Oh, I'm sure I can think of a few.”

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Copyright © 2014 by Dianne Duvall

 

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ISBN: 978-1-4201-2980-9

First Electronic Edition: September 2014
eISBN-13: 978-1-4201-2981-6
eISBN-10: 1-4201-2981-3