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KYRA

A s Max took Kyra's hand, leading her toward the galley, she could feel her sisters' eyes on them and imagined the smirks on their faces.

Once they were alone, Max shook his head. "The last thing I expected was for your sisters to be a bunch of perverted ladies looking for cheap thrills."

Kyra giggled. "I know, right? Who would have thought." She stepped closer to him, looping her arms around his neck. "Maybe they were always like that, which makes me regret losing my memories of them even more."

"No wonder you turned out to be a rebel. They're a far cry from the meek, obedient, and submissive women I imagined them to be."

"The resistance is full of women like them. Women who have to pretend to be less than they are. But let's not talk about that now." She smiled. "I don't mind giving them what they want this once."

"Oh really?" His eyes darkened. "And what do you want, Kyra?"

Her heart raced, the pendant warming against her skin—not in warning but in harmony with her rising body temperature. "Less talk and more kissing, big guy. Make it good for me."

"So bossy," he murmured, scooping her into his arms with effortless strength and lifting her until her feet no longer touched the floor. His lips landed on hers in a searing kiss that was hungry, demanding, possessive, almost desperate.

Kyra responded with equal fervor, decades of suppressed desire bubbling to the surface. She lifted her leg, wrapping it around his torso to pull him closer and rub her softening core against his hardness, her fingers threading through his hair. She felt something change—his teeth grazing her lower lip, longer, sharper.

It excited her.

Max groaned, or rather growled, a sound that was barely human, sending a shiver of anticipation down her spine.

She didn't remember being human and experiencing pleasure as one, but she was sure it wasn't as intense as the passion she was feeling now. Her immortal body magnified every sensation beyond what her human body could have ever been capable of .

She wanted to tear Max's clothes off his body, to have him do the same to her and take her right there on the floor or against the airplane door.

When a distant chorus of giggles penetrated their bubble of lust, Kyra pulled back, her breathing ragged.

"We must have been louder than we realized," she whispered.

Max's eyes were glowing with inner light, and his fangs were extended, sharp, and gleaming in the cabin's soft lighting. For a moment, Kyra forgot all about her sisters and was about to resume what they had interrupted, but Max broke the spell by chuckling. "At least I've got the proof they want." He glanced down at the very distinct outline in his pants. "But they are going to get more than they bargained for."

"They deserve it." Kyra couldn't take her eyes off him. He was magnificent in this state—dangerous and beautiful and all hers.

The thought sent another wave of heat through her body.

She suddenly felt shameless. Why should she be embarrassed about anything when her harpy sisters cornered her like that?

"And what do you deserve, Kyra?" Max asked.

"All of this." She smoothed her hands over his chest, going all the way down to where his erection was straining under his pants and giving it a light squeeze .

"Kyra," he groaned, gripping her wrists with his hands. "As much as I want to take you right here and now, we have to wait until we have actual privacy." He released her wrists.

"I know." She lifted her hands to his face and caressed the soft stubble. "I'm getting impatient."

He snorted. "Want to talk about it?" He took her hand. "I promise that it will be worth the wait. Now, let's show your sisters my fangs."

When they returned to where her sisters were waiting, Max bared his fangs with a wide grin. "Satisfied?" he asked, his glowing eyes and extended fangs on full display.

Yasmin gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. Rana leaned forward, her eyes wide with fascination, while Parisa simply stared, speechless for once.

"That's... that's not a trick," Soraya said, her voice faint. "You really are not human."

"Not entirely, no," Max agreed. "Neither is Kyra, nor are you, nor your daughters or your sons."

"So, we are in danger because of this potential?" Yasmin asked. "But why? Do those evil immortals want to kill others that are not part of their organization? Why do they seek us?"

Kyra turned to Max. "Do you want to answer that? You are better qualified than I am in Doomer matters."

Max's fangs had receded already, but his eyes were still slightly glowing, making him look otherworldly and even more beautiful than usual .

"There are two groups of immortals," Max said. "But we are all descendants of the mythical gods. I could say that they were just powerful aliens, exiles from another planet, but that wouldn't be the entire story because the gods really created humans. They combined their genetic material with that of primitive humanoid creatures and jumpstarted the modern, intelligent human. If not for them, it would have taken millions of years for evolution to do this."

Kyra listened to Max's story, fascinated by all the additional details she was learning, but eventually fatigue overtook her, and she dozed off. She awoke to hear him talking about the Brotherhood's breeding program.

"They want your sons to turn them into immortal warriors for their army and your daughters to remain in their dormant state and fortify their breeding program so they will give birth to as many children as possible, producing more warriors for the army and more breeders for the harem. When females turn immortal, their fertility rate drops significantly. That's why they don't let the girls transition."

"That's horrible," Soraya said. "Pure evil."

A collective shudder passed through her sisters as they processed the implications.

"That's why we had to get all of you out," Max added. "In the village, you'll be protected. They can't reach you there."

"What about Jade?" Yasmin said. "She looks different, and the other two female warriors that watched us look really alien. They were wearing dark sunglasses to hide their alien eyes, but Asuka forgot to put them on after she showered."

"They are fully alien," Kyra said. "The Kra-ell are a species from the same planet as the gods."

Rana gave a hysterical little laugh. "Aliens. Of course. Why not? We've already accepted vampires and immortality. Why not throw aliens into the mix?"

"I'm having a hard time believing it all," Parisa said. "But I'm trying. I just need time to internalize all of this."

"If what you say about the evil Brotherhood is true, we all need protection," Yasmin said.

"It's true," Kyra assured them. "Everything we've told you is the truth. I wish it weren't, but it is."

"So, what happens now?" Rana asked. "We go to this village, and then what? Do we become like you? Do our children?"

"Whether or not you do will be your choice," Max said. "And you don't need to make it right away. Regrettably, you can't take too long, though. The older you get, the more difficult the transition. It's not an easy process. As for the children, the boys can transition as soon as they are thirteen, but the girls need to wait until they are adults for obvious reasons."

Parisa chuckled. "I was seventeen when our father married me off. Your idea of maturity is different than ours. "

Kyra gaped at her sister. "You're not suggesting the girls should attempt to transition at seventeen."

Parisa shrugged. "If they find a nice immortal boy they want to marry, then why not?"

Max shook his head. "The clan considers seventeen as the age of consent, but in America, it's eighteen, and I suggest that you stick to that."

Parisa regarded him with an amused expression on her face. "Let's leave it up to the girls. If they want to do this sooner, would you stop them?"

He swallowed. "No adult male member of the clan would ever seduce a young girl like that. If she chooses to have sex with someone her age or close to it, it's her decision, but our unattached male immortals are either too young or too old. We have several young Kra-ell, purebloods and hybrids, but they can’t induce transition. Only immortals can do that.”

Parisa frowned. "Why is that?"

"The Kra-ell venom is less potent, and as for the dearth of eligible immortals, the culprit is our low fertility rates. Children are rare."

The cabin fell silent as her sisters absorbed everything they'd been told.

"I have more questions," Parisa said. "Many more. But for now, I think we've all learned more than we can process, so let's keep the rest of our questions for later."