Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2)(75)

Gag.

He kissed her until a stream of red was roused into her aura, and I had to look away. I wasn’t sure what kind of game he was playing with her, but it made me uneasy.

I followed Blake to his house; he drove a shiny new truck with the dirt bike strapped in the back. Being at the Duke’s house again made me nervous, even though I knew he was in Vegas. The summit could drag on throughout the day, but my paranoid instincts had me worrying it would end soon.

Blake was quick about showering and getting ready, coming out in dark jeans and a backward baseball cap.

“So, what’s up?” he asked.

I exhaled, so glad not to be alone. “If you don’t have plans, I could use your company. My dad sent Kai on a mission with Kope.”

“For real?” His eyebrows shot upward and he half grinned. “Awwwkward.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Can you come to L.A. with me? Just until they get back? I can tell you everything while we drive.”

“Yup,” he said. “On one condition.”

“Uh-oh.” I eyed him as he twisted the barbell in his brow, looking devilish.

“I get to distract you any way I want. And you gotta be a good sport about it.”

That was a frightening condition. Knowing Blake, he’d have me parachuting from a plane. But I agreed, thankful for his company. He ran back in the house to pack some things before we set off in Kaidan’s SUV.

I told him everything about the mission, careful to keep my eye off the speedometer. He was an even scarier driver than Kaidan. But at least he couldn’t pop a wheelie.

“They’ll be fine, Anna,” he assured me. “Seems like a cut-and-dried scenario to me. I know you’re scared, but I’m gonna try to keep your mind off it, okay?”

I chewed the inside of my lip. Nothing was cut-and-dried about this situation, but I appreciated his efforts to ease my worry. Talking helped.

“What’s a changing of the guard?” I asked. “My dad said that’s what they’re doing this summit.”

“Ah. Yep, that makes sense. It’s where the Dukes change positions, move to other parts of the world, get new bodies.”

Ick.

“All of them get new bodies?”

“Nah, just the ones whose bodies are getting old. Like my pops. He mentioned he’s due for a change. That’s gonna be weird. Pretty soon me and my father could be the same age. He could be even hotter than me.”

He laughed. I wondered if my dad would have to change, too.

“Will you have to move?” I asked.

“Probably not. Some Dukes make their offspring follow them wherever they go, but my father usually doesn’t. He let my brother stay in Panama—”

My head whipped toward him. “Your brother?”

“Yeah.” He looked surprised by my shock.

“I never knew you had a brother.”

“He’s, like, forty. I have a sister in Belgium, too. She’s real old.”

I stared at him. How could I not have known this? “Do you think they would be willing to ally with us?”

He scoffed and shook his head. “No way. My sister is ninety and my brother hates humans. He came around during my training to work with me, and I couldn’t stand the dude.”

“He helped train you?”

“It’s usually the older siblings who do the training if they’re around. If it’s an older sister, she’s the one to raise the younger Neph. Kope and his brothers were raised by a sister. She’s gotta be pretty old, too, by now.”

“Who else has siblings?”

“Not Kai. His last sister was killed when he was real young. She was in her thirties, and some stalker dude she was dating murdered her. I’m not sure, but I think Pharzuph’s kid before her was a sister, too, and she got pregnant.”

I didn’t need to ask what happened to her or the baby. It put my stomach in knots to think of the cruelty of the Dukes.

I didn’t ask any more about siblings. In my mind family should share a certain bond, but we clearly weren’t dealing with the same dynamics as human brothers and sisters, with the exception of Marna and Ginger.

“So . . .” I cleared my throat. “You have a girlfriend, huh?”

He sniffed and switched hands on the steering wheel.

“Yeah. Kai’s always busting my balls.” He tried to keep his voice light, but I sensed the slight falter in his words. “It’s something to do, you know?”

Something to do. Right.

“You love her?”

“Nah. I mean, she’s cool. She’s got issues, but she can be sweet. We have fun.”

“But . . . why not just date? What made you decide to be with one girl all this time?”

He took off his hat and rumpled his shiny black hair, driving right-handed.

“It’s the only thing my pop’s ever demanded.” He sighed, a sad and defeated sound. “He says I need a trophy wife, and it has to look perfect to the outside world. I’ve been dragging my feet about it, but I can’t put it off much longer. After ten years or so, he’ll want me to trade her in for a younger model. My brother’s on his fourth wife now.”

I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

“Don’t say anything to Ginger,” he said quietly. “I want to hold off as long as possible.”