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“Sure, ya think my fussing is funny now but wait until the kitten goes through its changes. I’ll be the one laughing then. The two of ya will be the ones with scratches to show for yer soft hearts.”

I stomped down the hall with Conn and Mulan’s laughter still ringing in my ears. If Rasmus disappeared on me tomorrow morning, I was going to show him what a scorned woman could do. Dealing with this shit alone would drive me insane.

When I opened the garage door, a nearly naked Rasmus greeted me by dropping his pants on the floor. It was a definite mood changer. He smiled at my stare and stepped out of the rest of his clothes as I watched. My face heated as I looked my fill. “Do ya think I’m being a harpy about the kitten?”

Still smiling, Rasmus shook his head. “No, I think you’re being a concerned friend.”

I squinted at him. “Do ya really think that? Or are ya simply trying to make sure I don’t go spend the night on the couch?”

“Even as a human, I can strive for simultaneous goals. I’ve got about seven in mind at the moment. All of them involve you wearing no clothes. Can I help you undress?”

When I didn’t answer, he took my silence for agreement. I chuckled as his eager hands pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it on top of his pants. Rasmus was not a tidy person and I couldn’t have cared less. My lack of caring grew as his mouth dipped down to tease mine twice while he helped me shed the rest.

The massive difference in our heights made kissing a challenge when we were standing up. Once the rest of my clothes were finally gone, Rasmus dragged me to the bed where the difference in our heights mattered far less.

Nothing much mattered at all, though, when I was in his arms.

I fell to the pillows with him, happy and grateful to be sharing myself. Even a six-hundred-year-old fairy couldn’t compete with a guardian who’d been around for several millennia. Rasmus didn’t look like an older man, but his bedroom talents far surpassed those of a man his body’s age. I had an enviable situation, and trust me, I did not take it for granted.

Later, when I was falling asleep, I remembered I still hadn’t gotten around to asking why Orlin had come for him. I hoped I remembered in the morning before we got too busy with the trolls.

Chapter Seven

“It wasn’t about Zara. Her human brain is undergoing memory adjustment.”

I fought hard not to show how appalled I was hearing Rasmus talk so casually about altering any human’s brain, even one with another species using it. By now, though, I knew that ranting two sentences in would shut down his willingness to tell me anything. I’d finally figured that much out about talking to them.

“Orlin collected me because genetic manipulation is one of my specialties. They needed to consult with me about growing new human bodies for the female guardians you insisted we resurrect. There were complications because of the sheer number required. I appreciate they were trying to be fair in doing them all at once, but it was far too ambitious. We settled on slowing down some of them while others were left on their current schedules.”

I blinked as I tried to take in what Rasmus was saying. My ears heard “blah, blah, blah too many new human bodies” and that was where my calm thinking halted and my panicked thinking began. Was he talking about growing clones? Or did they create new people from scratch? It would have boggled anyone’s mind.

I drank more coffee hoping it would help me understand him—or at least to not freak out during the discussion. Thankfully, we had the kitchen to ourselves, so there were no distractions or others to worry about. Conn and Mulan had slept in this morning—or maybe they just hadn’t gotten out of bed yet. Whatever the case I wasn’t about to disturb them.

“So ya’re a genetics expert then. Are ya a doctor?”

Rasmus smiled and held out a hand. I set down my coffee cup and put my hand in his.

“Before I became a guardian, I was an ascended being of light. Before I ascended, I was what your kind would call a scientist.”

Trying not to be obvious, I gently slipped my hand from his because touching him made me think of last night and what those hands could do to me. I couldn’t be thinking of that kind of human activity while we were talking about things that defied human capabilities.

“I guess that explains why ya felt like ya did about the military scientists. Ya warned me I couldn’t stop them from doing it again. Ya said I could only get in their way for a short while.”

His nod was brief. “Knowledge serves no one if it’s not used. Genetic understanding is a marker of advanced societal growth. Every species eventually learns it.”

Because my “blah, blah, blah,” reaction started up in my brain again when he talked about humans as a species, I blinked rapidly and picked up my coffee to hold it. It was going to take an entire pot to deal with what was going on inside my head.

“We humans must seem like small children to all of ya.”

Rasmus shook his head. “No. You seem exactly like we were half a million of your years ago.”

“That’s even more pathetic, Rasmus. We’re a story ya’ve read and ya already know how it ends.”

Rasmus sighed loud enough for me to hear him doing it. Was he impatient with my lesser thinking? That wouldn’t surprise me.

“Life never ends, Aran. Form after form, life goes on evolving. We were so sure of that fact that it startled my people to discover the life cycle broke after we ascended. Light beings exit the organic cycle of reincarnating, but they can return to it whenever they choose. Some of my kind decided that controlling the cycle was the highest form of living. That was why I became a guardian. I wanted to experience what it was like to control my physicality.”

Goddess bless, I’d fallen in love with a freaking alien scientist. There just wasn’t enough coffee in the world for me to take that in and stay sane. Was I having sex with a ball of light that trapped itself inside a human male body on purpose?