Jalen didn’t know what would happen the next time they had sex. According to Gannon, the pulling on Neve’s life energy would become stronger the more often they were together, to the point she would notice. He’d have to find a way to keep her busy and keep both their minds off finding the nearest bed and making love until neither one of them had the will to move.
Hearing the sound of the shower turning on, Jalen sat up and ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it. He then got out of bed and searched the floor for his clothes. He picked them up one by one and pulled them on. His shirt was more than a little wrinkled but it was wearable.
Jalen tucked the ends of his button-down into his jeans before he zipped them up. He would have liked to manifest his wings and give them a good stretch as well, since it was something he did every morning. While alone in his house, he didn’t hide who he was. His wings were such a part of him he felt more comfortable with them out in the open and tucked against his back. Only out among humans did he keep them hidden for long periods of time. During Soar’s last tour, it had been hard to always pretend to be one of them. He and his band mates had had almost a year of sneaking around to take to the air without being caught. An Alte needed to fly, to feel the wind along their outstretched wings. To be grounded, to never soar high in the sky, was almost torture.
With nothing to do but wait for Neve, Jalen sat on the mattress. He took a better look at the room. Besides the bed, there was a single dresser and bedside table with an alarm clock and a cordless phone sitting on it. Both pieces of furniture were done in a light colored wood. The room was a bit on the small side. It was even smaller than any of the four guest bedrooms in his house. But since it was Neve’s, the size didn’t bother him. He would have been quite content to be in a closet-sized one so long as it was hers and she was with him.
Last night, while he and Neve had talked, he’d learned she only had enough money saved to pay for a couple more months of rent. He’d also heard how reluctant she was to take the job at the restaurant when she’d told him once again there could be an opening there for her. It had been on the tip of his tongue to tell Neve she didn’t need that job, or any other one, for that matter. Considering what she was to him, he’d be taking care of her financially from here on out. She wouldn’t have to work another day in her life.
The bedroom door opened and Neve stepped inside, closing it behind her. She had a towel twisted around her head with her bathrobe on. She peeled off the towel first and walked over to her dresser and picked up a comb. He watched her run it through her damp hair.
“So what would you like to have for breakfast?” Neve asked as she met his gaze in the mirror attached to the dresser.
“I guess it really depends on what you’re having.”
Finished with her hair, Neve turned to face him. “I know we have eggs and bread. How about I make us fried eggs and toast?”
“That sounds good.”
“And it shouldn’t take too long to make or eat,” she added.
Neve reached for the belt on her bathrobe and tugged it open. She then pushed the garment down her arms and off. Jalen’s gaze roamed over her nude body, taking in her more than a handful breasts, curved-in waist and long, toned legs. His cock twitched with interest, but he ignored it. Now was not the time to get all worked up again.
He lifted his gaze to find Neve watching him before she returned her bathrobe to the closet and then took out some clothes from her dresser. She dressed in a light pink t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Once she finished putting on the last article of clothing, Jalen stood and followed her out of the room.
Downstairs, he and Neve had the kitchen to themselves, since Kara was still upstairs in her room. Neve set to work cooking them breakfast as he helped himself to some of the coffee sitting on the counter after she gave him a mug from one of the cupboards. He then took a seat at the table to stay out of her way.
Watching Neve work, Jalen felt a sense of hominess. The last woman he had cared about who had cooked for him had been his mother. All the other human women he’d been with over the years, he’d kept the encounters as impersonal as he could. They had been based solely on mutual pleasure and that was about it. But with Neve, he wanted so much more. He wanted what Gannon had with Arwen. He wanted to have someone he could share his life with, a woman he’d never have to worry about losing.
He followed the line of Neve’s back while she stood at the stove. He did care about her—a lot. It also felt good to have another to look after, to protect. Up until now, at times his days could bleed one into the other and had been that way for a very, very long time. He had a feeling it came hand in hand with immortality. It was hard to find interest in things after a while. But now that he’d found Neve, that kind of disinterest had evaporated like a puddle in the hot sun.
Neve brought two plates to the table and placed one in front of him. She took the chair next to his. “I put butter on your toast, but if you want jam I think we have some in the fridge.”
“No, that’s fine. I like to dip it in the yolk, anyway.”
She smiled. “So do I.”
They ate in companionable silence. It didn’t bother Jalen and it didn’t seem to bug Neve, either. Once they finished eating, he helped her clean up by putting their dishes in the dishwasher, then drying the frying pan she’d washed. Just another homey scene.
After that, Neve went back upstairs to get her purse. Once she returned, he ushered her out the front door. A minute later, they were on the road to San Bernardino.
Neve alternated between looking out the windshield and the passenger window. She’d taken a trip to San Bernardino before, but it had been some years since her last visit. She’d been twenty and shopping for a bridesmaid dress with her older sister, Alice, who’d been the bride. Alice was seven years older than Neve. Her parents had thought they couldn’t have any more children after her older sister until her mother had gotten pregnant with Neve.
“You’re quiet over there,” Jalen said.
“I’m just enjoying the drive. I was just thinking I haven’t been to San Bernardino in a long time.”
“I’m sure it hasn’t changed much since the last time you were there.”
“Probably not, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t go to the section of the city where you live.”
“And just what are you referring to?” he asked with a chuckle.
“You know, where all the huge mansions are. You can’t tell me you don’t live in one.”
“You got me there. And the others have homes on the same street.”
She turned to look at Jalen. “You mean the rest of the band lives that close to you?”
“Yeah.” He shot her a quick glance before he focused back on the road. “We’re all neighbors, either living beside each other or a couple of houses down.”
“You guys must still be really close. I remember reading you all grew up together as friends.”
Jalen nodded. “We did. We could be little shit disturbers at times. Our mothers used to get together and commiserate with each other.”
Neve laughed. “And let me guess, you were the worst of the bunch.”
“How did you know?” Jalen laughed with her.
“A lucky guess?”
“Then it was a good one.”
“So which is it for you?” she asked. “Do you have one of the guys living right next door, or a couple of houses down?”
“Actually, Gannon is my next door neighbor. Not that our homes are that close together. Each one has a fair amount of land.”
“Now that you’ve mentioned Gannon, I’ve been meaning to ask, is it true he has a girlfriend now?”
Jalen grinned. “It’s true. Actually, Arwen and he are engaged. She moved in with him.”
“Wow that was quick. It wasn’t all that long ago I read about him singing to her on stage at your last tour date, basically telling everyone what she meant to him.”
“I guess when you know, you know. They’re happy and love each other. It took a bit of work to get Arwen to move from Kalamazoo to San Bernardino, though.”
“Really? I would have thought Arwen would have jumped at the chance.”
“Oh that wasn’t the problem. It was what she had to give up in Kalamazoo that was a bit of work. Arwen was an individual figure skating coach. She’s also a figure skater herself. She loves the sport and hated the thought of having to give up coaching, but considering who Gannon is, it wouldn’t have worked out. So she ended up passing on her skaters to another coach. To make up for all she gave up, Gannon had an indoor ice rink built at the back of his house. Arwen skates there every day.”
“I bet Arwen was thrilled Gannon did that for her.”
“She was. She has also tried to convince all of us to skate with her, but none of us know how, nor do we want to learn.”
“Why not?” Neve asked. “I’ve been skating more than a few times. It’s fun.”
“You might find it fun, but the idea of falling on my ass doesn’t appeal to me,” Jalen said with a laugh.
“You’d only fall because you don’t know how. Once you learn that won’t happen very much.”
“I’ll leave the ice skating to you and Arwen. When she finds out you know how, don’t be surprised if she asks you out to her rink.”
“Only one problem with that,” Neve said. “I don’t exactly have any ice skates with me.”
“If you really want to, I’ll take you to a sporting goods store and buy you some. Problem solved.”
Neve shook her head. She’d have to get used to the fact Jalen had a lot more money than she did. Obviously, going out and buying a pair of figure skates—as in this instance—was no biggie for him. Being unemployed and living on a strict budget, she wouldn’t have been able to afford them.
“We’ll see,” she said. “Right now I’m more than happy just to stay with you.”
Jalen put his hand on her knee and squeezed. “I’m not going to complain about that.”
As he put his hand back on the steering wheel, Neve stared at Jalen’s profile. Before yesterday, she’d never have thought she had a chance of meeting someone like him, much less have a shot of having him as her boyfriend. Did she think that was where things were going with her and Jalen? She liked to hope so. Taking her to his house had to mean something. And he had to want more than a one-night stand if he were still with her.
Neve turned her head to look out the passenger window. She’d take it as it came. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to hang onto Jalen for as long as she could.
* * *
High above the ground, Vance flew. Below him was the Interstate. He kept his gaze on one car in particular—a black Infiniti. He knew Jalen was inside it and with a human woman. He flapped his powerful wings, easily keeping pace.
Jalen didn’t know it, but Vance had followed him since the day before. After his past encounters with those who were the last of their kind, he’d perfected a spell, using his black magic to keep his presence hidden from them. Little did they know he’d watched them for a few months now.
It had been pure chance Vance had decided to follow Jalen the day before when he’d taken flight. Keeping at a discreet distance, he’d trailed the other Alte to the Mojave Desert. It figured Jalen would return to the place where their people had lived. Jalen and the rest of his friends were too sappy for Vance’s liking. Where they lived now was so much better than eking out an existence in the unforgiving desert. Even though it hadn’t been his intention, he’d given the others a gift. Because of him, they now lived in a time where life was easier. And they were immortal.
Not that Vance intended to let any of them use that immortality for much longer. In the end, Gannon, Jalen, Keiran, Malik and Trae were mistakes. They shouldn’t have survived the illness he’d created to wipe out their people. The whole purpose of it had been to leave him as the one and only Alte. Having been worshipped as a god by a group of humans, Vance hadn’t wanted any of his kind to usurp his place. He hadn’t gone to the trouble of embracing black magic to give himself more god-like qualities for another Alte to appear on the scene and have his dumb followers turning to another as their savior. That had only been reserved for him.
Vance looked down at the Infiniti again. The direction Jalen went, it wasn’t too hard to guess he planned to take the human to his home in San Bernardino. Could she possibly be Jalen’s “mate?” Just as Gannon had found his? Vance didn’t have any other term to describe what Gannon’s woman was to him. And she was another one of his mistakes he’d have to rectify at some point.
He’d been so sure she wouldn’t survive when he’d brushed her skin with the powder on his wings—the same kind that had started the illness and overtaken all the Alte. For some reason, Gannon’s mate had lived. And she too had come to be changed by it. Vance had been more than shocked when he’d spotted her alone with Gannon and saw her eyes were as silver as his.
Now it looked as if Jalen had found a woman of his own. From watching all the members of Soar these last months, Vance had learned so much without them being the wiser. If Jalen indeed took this human to his home, she had to mean something to him. Vance had only seen the other Alte show a remote interest in one other and that was only for one reason—sex. And once he’d gotten what he’d wanted, Jalen hadn’t seen her again.
This one was definitely different, since Jalen had stayed the entire night at her place. Well, if that were the case, Vance wasn’t going to let this opportunity go. So far the woman had gone through no changes and he wanted to keep it that way. As he’d tried before by using Gannon’s mate against him, he’d try to weaken Jalen through his, if that was what she was to him. But he’d have to do something different than trying to kill her through the illness that had taken out his people.
Flapping his wings harder, Vance flew a little higher. For now, he’d watch and learn, then decide the best way to strike and when.
* * *
Jalen pulled into his long drive and waited for the garage door to open before he drove his Infiniti inside. After he shut off the engine and got out, he walked to the back of the car where Neve stood waiting. He took her hand and guided her over to the door that connected the house to the garage. He unlocked it and stepped inside first so he could shut off the alarm system. Neve followed behind him.