Dark Stranger Immortal (The Children of the Gods #3)(3)

“What do you mean? What could be worse?”

Seriously? Did Kian have no imagination at all?

“What could be worse? Think of it this way; she turns immortal, but wants nothing to do with you, chooses another male… one you cannot kill because they are all your nephews.”

“You’re right. That is worse…” His eyes flashed dangerously as what she had said sunk in. Agitated, he pushed out of his chair and began pacing the length of his office.

“Take a risk, Kian. I have a really good feeling about Syssi, Michael too.”

Amanda’s eyes followed Kian as he paced back and forth.

“You’ve had good feelings before and see how well those turned out,” he said sarcastically, stopping to glare down at her.

“This time it’s different. You didn’t react like that to the others, as a matter of fact, with anyone… And besides, I was just reminded of a talk I had with Mother a couple of months back. She said something I didn’t pay attention to at the time, but I think you’ll find it intriguing. You know how she sometimes makes those cryptic remarks that do not make any sense at the time, but then are crystal clear in hindsight?”

“What did she say?”

“She called me. We talked about my research, and she said, ‘Finally you found what the soul eternally craves.’ I thought she just misused the language —you know, the way she sometimes translates from her native tongue and it comes out weird. I thought what she meant was that I’d found my heart’s desire—something I like to do. But thinking back, she didn’t say your soul, she said the soul, meaning that I’d found something not for me personally but in general. What do all of our souls eternally crave, Kian?” Amanda looked into her brother’s eyes.

“A mate—an immortal, truelove mate,” Kian said quietly.

“Bingo!”





1

K I A N

T he silence that followed was interrupted by Okidu’s light knock on the door. “Master, Dr. Bridget is here to see you.”

Tearing his gaze away from his sister’s hopeful face, Kian frowned. Amanda was so excited, her deep blue eyes were glowing.

Unfortunately, she was reading too much into their mother’s words, grasping for meaning where there was none.

In his opinion, false hope was more dangerous than the baser emotions people scorned. A cruel and powerful mistress, hope obscured common sense and made random occurrences appear as meaningful signs, prompting those who followed its misleading trail to take questionable actions. Mindlessly disregarding the well-being of others and their own sense of self-preservation for hope’s illusive promise, more often than not, they were rewarded by nothing but chaos and pain.

“Show her in,” he told Okidu. “On second thought, never mind. I’ll go to her.”

In the living room, Bridget was pacing the small distance between the front door and the edge of the rug, looking agitated.

Great. His lips pulled into a tight line. Another female ready to tear into him over something he had supposedly done wrong.

Take a number and stand in line.

“Good afternoon, Bridget, what a nice surprise.” Kian wondered if she heard the thinly veiled sarcasm in his tone.

The doctor wrung her hands nervously. “Good afternoon, Kian, sorry to come up here without calling ahead, but this is urgent.”

“Think nothing of it. No one else does.” He placed his hand on her shoulder, conveying the reassurance his tone didn’t. “What can I do for you, Bridget?”

“I’ve just learned that you have two potential Dormants here, and frankly, I was appalled I had to hear it from William. How come you didn’t check with me before initiating the process? I need blood samples before and after each venom injection. This is the first time I’ve had adult Dormants who I could test as we are attempting to activate them, and there might be a chance that their blood will provide the clues I need. You know how important this is.” By the time she finished her rant, her temper had painted her cheeks red to match the color of her hair.

“You’re right. With everything that was going on, it didn’t even cross my mind. But my oversight aside, I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I don’t believe they are really what we are looking for, but just in case…”

“Yeah, just in case… Hi, Bridget.” Amanda gave the petite woman a hug. “Don’t listen to him, he of little faith. They. Are. It,” she whispered in the doctor’s ear, making sure it was loud enough for Kian to hear.

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll make sure they’ll be at your lab shortly.”

“Thank you.” Bridget smiled a tight, nervous smile and hurried out.

Closing the door behind her, Kian turned to Amanda. “I assume Syssi is at your place?”

“She is in my office. I’ve had her sit down to do some work.”

“Good, I’ll get her. Call for someone to escort Michael to the lab, unless you want to do it yourself?”

They walked out together.

“Remember! Be nice… Woo her!” Amanda slapped his back before punching the button for the elevator.

Woo her, right.

What the hell did it mean? Kian wracked his brain trying to come up with something that would qualify as wooing. Should he quote poetry? He chuckled. He didn’t know any. Didn’t like it, and in his opinion, it was a lot of pretentious crap. If one wanted to convey an idea, one ought to do it in a way that would be clearly understood and not mask it in vague wording.