Immortal Bloodlines (2 page)

“You really know how to get him going,” a woman with a rich, melodious voice spoke behind her.

Storm turned and sighed when she spotted the third triplet—Killian’s other sister, Kaitya. Like her siblings, Kaitya had amber eyes, similar features and reddish hair. Kaitya, however, differed with her personality. She was laid-back and nothing ever seemed to bother her. It was one of the reasons Storm liked her. Kaitya was one of the few agents who were part of more than one unit in the agency. She was both an assassination and a tracker agent.

“How do I actually get him to go, as in let me escape?” Storm headed to her office.

Kaitya walked with her. “Now you wouldn’t want him to let you escape. You want to do it on your own merits. Although, you don’t have a bet to win anymore.”

“I wouldn’t want him to just let me escape. The bet is beside the point.” As they passed, Storm noted that Harmony was in Lennox’s office and they seemed to be in a heated discussion. She made a mental note to find out what it was about later. Although her nieces were grown and each had mates, Storm still felt protective toward them.

“There is no point. You’re just being stubborn.” Kaitya chuckled. “Killian is the same way. The two of you are perfect partners.”

“Humph, why did I think you were my friend?”

“Because I’m one of the few people who give you back as good as you dish out.” Kaitya patted her on the shoulder then continued on and out of the secondary exit from the unit going to her office that was between the two divisions.

Storm entered her office and went over to the window. She had work to do, but she couldn’t focus on the tedious paperwork on her desk. Using her power to increase her eyesight and see through the structures blocking the view, she was able to view the Statue of Liberty. The elegant lady who watched over New York was one of her favorite places to go to think. Storm decided she would go there later. Killian’s words had her off kilter and she didn’t like the feeling at all.

* * * *

Killian held back a smile until he was in his office in the tracker unit, behind closed doors. As he walked to his desk, he was surprised he wasn’t as irritated as he usually was after dealing with Storm. The damn woman was stubborn and a pain in the butt, and he was saddled with her as a partner. Killian could laugh at the irony of the situation. He was used to organization and now more than ever he craved it. He sat at his desk and leaned back in his chair, sliding his fingers together then placing his hands under his chin.

He stared off into space, not even glancing at the work he’d left on his desk when he’d felt Storm leave the building. Since he’d won the bet a while ago, he’d been letting her get farther outside before going to retrieve her. Killian would only admit to himself that he enjoyed the thrill he felt at the disgruntled look on her face and in her hazel-green gaze. Storm’s face was exquisite and very expressive—he usually had no trouble reading what she was thinking. He particularly liked the look she gave him when she was resisting the urge to hit him. Storm had never come out and said it directly, but he’d read her body language in her clenched fist, the flare of her nostrils, and tic in the side of her jaw when she bit the inside of her cheek. She pushed her kinky curls that always wildly framed her face back over her ear before she gave in. It was her tell that she was controlling the need to deck him.

Storm was chaos that he didn’t need at the moment. With all that had happened recently, Killian wondered when his life would stop feeling so out of place.

“Uh-oh… There is that broody pose again.” Kaitya strode out of the wall and into his office.

“I don’t brood.”

Kaitya snorted as she flopped into the chair facing his desk. She placed a leg over one arm of the chair, hanging it there as she rocked it back and forth. Killian couldn’t help but smile when he spotted the colorful knee socks she wore—these were emerald green with lime green roses— as she was prone to do instead of shoes. Many people saw her laid-back attitude and underestimated her but very few knew that although it was her way to not be bothered by things she saw as inconsequential, Kaitya was actually a master strategist who was always thinking and many steps ahead of everyone else.

“You brood all right. Spectacularly, too.” Kaitya studied him. He struggled not to squirm at the intensity of her scrutiny.

“Stop that.”

“Little brother, I have no idea what you mean.” Kaitya used her wide-eyed, innocent look.

“By one minute you’re the oldest. You only use that when you’re about to impart older sibling wisdom that either I’ll want to accept or throttle you for giving.” Killian shook his head. “Humph, that expression doesn’t fool me.”

“And I’m two minutes older than Kalina and you’re one minute older than her. So if it’ll make you feel better, you can go act older sibling on her. I missed that when we were dead. I’m sure she missed it too.” Kaitya’s smile was fleeting and sad.

Killian’s heart clenched and he swallowed back the pain. They had died centuries earlier and Kalina had been all alone while he and Kaitya had been together in the Amazonian Warrior heaven. From the discussions he and Kaitya had shared since being brought back, they had both retained memories of that time. Watching Kalina suffer alone had been hard, but they hadn’t been able to let her fully go and were there to live it with her even if she didn’t know they were. They’d also kept an eye on their mother who had also been suffering their loss. At the time, he and Kaitya had ached for their loved ones, powerless to bring them together to realize they needed each other.

“She did. Although she’ll gripe about it. We’ll go see her in a moment. After you get off your chest what you came to say.”

“Maybe I didn’t come to say anything. Just a friendly visit to my little brother.” Kaitya grinned.

“Again with the older sibling thing. So yeah, you have something to say.” Killian lowered his hands and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his desk.

Kaitya rose and came around the desk then he turned the chair. She sat on the arm of the chair and leaned against him.

“I’ve sensed that you are feeling out of sorts.” Kaitya blew out a breath. “Not just about Storm, although if you stop fighting so hard you’d figure out why she makes you so on edge.”

“That woman doesn’t make me on edge.” Killian slid his hand around her, hugging her close.

“Keep telling yourself that.” Kaitya touched his cheek. “You can’t put her in a category and that disturbs you. I like her and what she does to you. Since we’ve been raised from the dead, you’ve gotten more…”

He waited for her to finish, but when she didn’t, he added, “Anal. Tightly wound, straight-laced or, as Storm likes to say, having a stick up my ass.”

“All of those.” Kaitya laughed then sobered. “We’ve not talked about it, but being brought back and having firebird added to us is a bit much.”

Killian looked at her sharply and saw the slight strain on her face. He silently cursed himself for not noticing before.

“You’ve felt it too.”

“Yes. Like there are two parts inside of me battling for dominance. The Amazonian Warrior that I was born as doesn’t want to cede control to the new part of me that is firebird.” Kaitya rubbed her thumb and index finger along the bridge of her nose. “It’s difficult keeping both from ripping each other apart, and me in the process.”

Killian knew she meant it literally. He was feeling the same since he had been brought back. Uneasy in his own skin that used to fit him so well.

“Kaitya, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she countered.

“I—”

“Like to protect those you love from things you think will make them worry or hurt them.” Kaitya patted his cheek. “Even if they can help you.”

Killian didn’t like seeing the pain in her eyes she’d been hiding.

“What is your plan?” He knew her well enough to know she had one.

“We need to talk to hybrids born of different types of parents and see how they feel. If they have experienced the same thing we have.”

“I’ve already done that. Many said when they were young they had to adapt to the parts of themselves. But none were so at odds with the parts of themselves that one wanted to dominate the other, or eradicate it.” Killian frowned. “It seems us being brought back by Eve and made with her power to be also a firebird is an anomaly. It is a rare thing. I haven’t been able to track down someone who was made and not born as a hybrid.”

“You’ve been looking into it?”

“Yes, older sis of mine.” Killian smiled. “I thought of it before you.”

“That smirk is so wrong.” Kaitya chuckled then said, “I’ll see if I can find a hybrid who was created and not born.”

“I’ll keep looking too.” Killian kissed the top of her head. “We’ll figure this out.”

“We will.” Kaitya sighed. “We need to tell Kalina and Mom we were with them all these years. At least in a ghostly way.”

“We’ve discussed this. What good will it do for them to know?” Killian asked as he had all the other times she’d brought it up.

“Maybe nothing. She and Mom are rebuilding their relationship. All of us are learning how to be a family again. I don’t like keeping this from them.”

Killian opened himself to actually consider what she was saying. The pain Kalina and his mother had suffered at their loss for so many years still ate at him. He’d been powerless to help them and that hurt him so much. When his dad had died, he’d made a silent vow to keep his family safe. He’d failed. Trusting his aunt, someone so close to their family, had been a mistake. His aunt’s duplicity—first killing their dad, which they hadn’t known about at the time, then later him and Kaitya. Killian wished he could confront her face to face, but his mother had decreed her punishment. He blew out a breath then inclined his head.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Kaitya said.

“What’s the right thing?” The air wavered as Kalina shimmered into view.

Kaitya glanced at him and shook her head. He took that as they would tell her at another time.

“Nothing,” Kaitya replied.

Kalina put her hands on her waist and scowled. “I felt your pain.” She was staring at Killian then looked at Kaitya. “Both of you. As well as your sorrow.” She closed her eyes. “It hit me hard but I reveled in it. I won’t take that connection between us for granted again.”

With a thought, Killian brought her to them and set her on the other side of his lap. Kalina curled against his side and reached out to touch Kaitya. They gripped hands. Contentment at being with his siblings filled Killian. Someone touched his shoulder and Killian didn’t even need to look to know who it was.

“My children.” Niya—Mother Earth and, more importantly, their mom—enfolded them in her arms.

Killian drew her in front of them and they all embraced. He closed his eyes and inhaled the familiar scents of earth, wind, air and the world from his mother. His sisters’ scents mixed with hers and Killian felt something inside him ease.

I will do anything to protect all of you. Nothing will harm you again as long as I have breath in my body.
Killian held them tighter.

Storm, with her usual disgruntled look, flashed in his thoughts. He didn’t know why, but he included her in his vow. Killian used his energy and moved them all to the couch. They curled around each other and talked quietly.

“We’ve been putting off dinner with each other with everything that’s been going on. No more. We will have that dinner. This will be the restart of our monthly dinner we used to have.” Niya glanced at each of them, using that firm ‘mother’ tone that brooked no argument.

“You mean a mad man trying to bring back the end of the world.” Kaitya pursed her lips. “Yeah, that would put a crimp in planning.”

“Only if we let it.” Niya waved an elegant hand adorned with a ring with words in the Amazonian language. “I bet Blagden is living his life even if he is bat shit crazy and plotting the end of the world.”

Blagden, the previous Shadow King, was on the hunt for his love and didn’t care that she would bring about the end of the world. He was determined to find her, no matter the death toll it would take to accomplish it.

“Oh God, Mom, you have such a way with words.” Kalina chuckled.

“And I’m right.” Niya shrugged. “So, dinner next week. Bring your mate with you, Kalina. It’s about time I got to know him better.” Niya smiled at Kaitya and Killian. “And you two feel free to bring someone you care about for me to meet.”

“Uh-oh. She has that look in her eye,” Kaitya whispered to Killian.

“I see it. She’s thinking of getting us matched up and settled,” Killian said in a low tone. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a way to throw her off.”

“You do know I can hear you.” Niya scowled. “I’m sitting right here.”

“So, Mom, who are you bringing to dinner?” Killian glanced at his siblings and saw them smirk. He winked before focusing on their mother. “Perhaps Christos?”

Their mother stiffened and glared. “He’s your best friend. You can bring him if you want.” She faded from view.

Killian chuckled and said to Kalina and Kaitya, “A sure-fire way to get her to leave. Bring up Christos and she is
poof
, gone.”

“Those two are stubborn.” Kalina shook her head.

“I think that since Dad died, Mom is afraid to let anyone close again.” Kaitya stretched. “We’ll just have to help them get over their stubbornness.”

“Yes.” He and Kalina agreed.

Kaitya met Kalina’s gaze then jerked her head toward Killian. “Like someone else who is in this room.”

They both stared at him. Killian narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“Nothing,” they said in unison.

The women rose and strolled away.

He heard Kalina say, “It’s going to take a brick to the head to wake him up to what is going on.”

“Uh huh, I bet it’ll take a Storm.” Kaitya laughed.

Kalina joined her and they walked out of the room through the wall.

“Using a door is a good thing,” Killian called.

They stuck their heads back through the wall. “But the wall is so much more fun,” they said together then laughed again.

“Unlike some people, I have work to do.” Killian rose and returned to his desk.