The Immortal Hunter(60)

Dani just shrugged. She was the oldest child in her family, more than fifteen years older than Stephanie, who was the youngest, but they were close. She had been her main babysitter when Stephanie was a child, and now that she was older, often had her over for sleepovers, or took her shopping. Knowing her thoughts were sliding perilously close to the worry and fear she felt for her sister, and that a mall food court was no place to let them loose, she pushed those thoughts aside and glanced to Sam. "Decker said you are mortal?"

"Yes. I'm not ready to turn," she admitted quietly. "I suppose I'll have to someday, but for now I'm happy to straddle both worlds."

Dani raised her eyebrows. "We can be turned? You mean into an immortal?"

"Sure. I gather it's just a transference of their nano-carrying blood to an individual." Sam frowned. "Didn't Decker tell you that?"

"No," she said, and Sam patted her arm.

"He will," she said with certainty. "He's probably trying not to overwhelm you with too much information at once."

Dani nodded, but thought it was possible he just hadn't thought of it yet. The explanations had come in fragmented bits since they'd met; a little here, a little there. He might not even be aware of what he'd left out. It didn't matter though. She wasn't really keen on the idea of being turned herself. In theory it sounded all right. Who wouldn't want to be young and healthy for... well... possibly forever? It sounded good until you factored in giving up everyone else you loved, plus the career you put your heart and soul into in ten years. No, she wasn't keen on turning, Dani thought. But perhaps she too could straddle the line between both worlds and hold off on the change like Sam was. The possibility made her glance to Sam and ask, "Is it hard?"

"What?"

"Being a mortal with an immortal mate," she explained.

"Not so far," Sam said wryly, and then pointed out, "But we haven't been together long."

Before Dani could ask how long, Decker arrived at the table.

"Here we are," he said, sliding into the seat next to her and setting a tray piled high with food on the table.

"This is for you." He set the coffee she'd requested on the table before Dani. "And this... and this... and this... and..."

"Good Lord, Decker, I can't eat all that," Dani said with dismay as she stared at the cheeseburger, fries, and donut he'd already set before her and then glanced to the chocolate sundae he was adding to the growing mound. There was another of each still on the tray for him, plus two pitas, two slices of pizza, and two plates with chicken on them. It looked like the man had hit nearly every restaurant in the joint.

"I wasn't sure what was good so I got a selection. Just eat what you want," he said easily, picking up a slice of pizza and biting into it. Concentration on his face, Decker chewed the bite of food and then nodded as he swallowed. "This is good, much better than those burger things. You should try this."

Pushing her cheeseburger aside to make room, he set the other plate holding a slice of pizza before her, then picked it up and held it before her mouth, urging, "Try it."

"I-" Dani had been about to say she knew what pizza tasted like, but found her mouth full of the tip of it as Decker apparently set himself the task of feeding her.

"Bite," he ordered.

Dani rolled her eyes and bit as Sam burst out laughing. Seeing the ridiculousness of the situation, she let a small smile curve her own lips as she chewed the food.

"See, I told you you'd like it," Decker said, noting her smile. He set the pizza on her plate for her to continue feeding herself and turned his attention to his own food.

Swallowing the bite in her mouth, Dani noticed Sam glancing at her food and said, "Be my guest. I can't eat all this."

Decker nodded. "Go ahead, Sam, I got plenty enough for everyone."

The woman took one of the plates of chicken, saying, "I shouldn't be hungry. I ate dinner at my desk while going over affidavits for my boss, but I have been using up a lot of energy lately."

Dani smiled faintly at her chagrined tone, suspecting she knew exactly how she'd been using up that energy, and then asked curiously, "You work at a law firm here in Toronto?"

"Yes. Though not for much longer. I've served my notice. Two weeks and I'm free," she said, smiling, and then added. "Actually two weeks less a day now."

Dani grinned at her pleased smile. "Decker told me you'll be running the enforcer house with Mortimer. How long have you two been together?"

"We met a little more than two weeks ago," Sam admitted, and then sighed and added, "I was hoping he'd come with us tonight, but he has so much to do to get things organized at the house, he couldn't."

Dani nodded sympathetically, but her mind was on the fact that Sam didn't really have much more experience of this life mate business than she did. She found that a bit disappointing. She'd hoped Sam could tell her how long she could expect this driving need for Decker to last. Surely they couldn't maintain this level of hunger for each other forever? Passion was nice, but this all-consuming need that drove everything out of her head was somewhat overwhelming. It was also hampering her thinking processes, pushing worry for her sister out of her head, and that just left her feeling guilty afterward. Surely it had to calm down at some point soon, didn't it? Dani didn't know, and doubted Sam could answer the question either. She supposed she'd have to ask Decker when they got back to the house.