Page 1 of Dark Rover’s Luck (The Children Of The Gods #95)

1

FENELLA

L ife in the immortals' village was good, Fenella decided as she stirred a packet of sugar into her cappuccino cup. Spending a Sunday afternoon in the outdoor café with her new best friends and exchanging flirtatious smiles with hunky immortal males was a very pleasant way to pass the time.

After spending the last fifty years believing that she was some kind of anomaly and roving from place to place to avoid discovery, Fenella was now surrounded by other immortals like her, and it was all thanks to the two women sharing her table in this lovely café.

She owed everything to this mother-daughter duo.

If Jasmine hadn't arrived with an immortal and Kra-ell cavalry to free Kyra, Fenella would still be a prisoner in the hands of that monster who'd called himself a doctor.

As a shiver ran through her, she imagined pushing the horrific memories to a dark corner of her mind, closing the door on them, and throwing away the key.

There was no point in dwelling on the past. She should enjoy the present instead.

The lunch crowd was thinning out, the residents moving on to whatever activities immortals indulged in when they weren't plotting world-saving missions or running from evil Doomers and other boogeymen.

God knew there were many of those, and the monster doctor was just one example in an ocean of them.

That was why Fenella doubted that this place was as idyllic as it looked. Every inch of the village was meticulously maintained, and everyone was too bloody good-looking and cheerful. Frankly, she preferred the Kra-ell with their somber faces and pent-up violent energy. They looked dangerous, deadly even, and they didn't bother with trying to look civilized and harmless like the immortals.

"Earth to Fenella." Jasmine waved her hand in front of her face. "You've gone from looking content like a happy kitten to frowning like the sky is about to fall."

Fenella winced. "Not a good analogy given that Din is in the air right now."

The guy had had a crush on her fifty years ago, and despite every possible obstacle fate had thrown in his way, he was still adamant about reuniting with her. It was flattering, but it was also worrisome. Fenella had learned to listen when fate joined hands with intuition to warn her against this or that.

Not that it always worked. Failing to realize that the charming, good-looking guy who'd called himself a doctor was the devil incarnate hadn't been the first mistake she'd ever made. It hadn't been the second either.

There had been quite a few of them.

"Are you worried?" Kyra asked.

"I am, but that's not why I was frowning. I was just thinking how bloody nice everyone and everything here is, and that it can't be real. The funny thing is that the aliens are the ones who look normal. They are not as sickeningly saccharine as the immortals."

"You mean the Kra-ell?" Jasmine asked. "Because, for your information, we are all aliens here. Well, part aliens is a more accurate description. We are mostly human with a little godly mixed in."

Fenella waved a hand. "Of course, I mean the Kra-ell. They are the ones who look alien."

"I think you are just stressed because of Din." Kyra took a sip of her coffee. "And I don't blame you for being anxious. I don't know much about international travel, but I've never heard of anyone encountering so much trouble to get from one place to another, and I've spent the last twenty-three years in the Kurdish resistance, so that's saying something."

Kyra was right, and Fenella knew that her irritation stemmed more from concern about Din's travel troubles than from the village being too perfect. It had been one thing after another, but the stubborn guy insisted that the universe was not trying to tell him to stay home. In his view, the universe was piling up difficulties to make him work harder to reach her, so he could prove to her that he was serious this time.

As if he hadn't been serious before and hadn't shunned his best friend for fifty years because that friend had supposedly stolen her.

It was sweet, and she wanted to believe that Din was right about the universe just testing his resolve, but that nagging churning in her stomach said otherwise. Something bad was going to happen, and her gut knew it.

"Was this the third or fourth delay?" Jasmine asked.

"It's the third." Fenella leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "First, it was the accident on the way to the airport, then the next flight was canceled because of some mechanical problems, and then a storm hit, and all outgoing flights from Edinburgh were canceled." She shook her head. "Though I don't understand why I'm worrying so much about someone I can barely remember." She waved a hand. "Look at all these guys. I can have my pick. Why am I waiting for a man who already has a bad track record with me?"

"You're curious." Kyra cast her a knowing look. "You need to see the guy who's spent five decades obsessing over you."

"Yeah," Fenella admitted. "I guess that's as good of an explanation as any. But enough about my non-existent love life." She gave Kyra a knowing smile. "Tell us how the meeting with your ex-husband went."

Kyra lifted her coffee cup and took a sip. "It went well. Eva's disguise worked flawlessly, making me look the age he expected me to be, and he didn't suspect anything. Poor Boris has been blaming himself for my disappearance throughout all these years, thinking that I was dead, so he was very happy to see that I was alive and well. I think I gave him closure and got some for myself." She smiled. "I felt like I couldn't really start my new life with Max before tying up that loose end. I also did it for Jasmine. She deserves to have both parents for a change, and I told Boris that I intend for us to visit him from time to time. It made him happy."

Jasmine nodded. "We all need healing. I would love to improve my relationship with my father. We were practically estranged."

"I'm happy for you both." Fenella tore off a piece of the most delicious chocolate croissant she'd ever tasted and put it in her mouth. Groaning with pleasure, she turned to Kyra. "So, you came back to the village and celebrated by shagging Max all night long."

Kyra snorted. "You are terrible, Fenella. My daughter is sitting right here with us."

"It's okay, Mom." Jasmine put her hand on Kyra's arm. "Don't feel shy. There is nothing you can say that will shock me, trust me. Think of me as your best friend rather than your daughter."

"I'd like to think of you as both."

"Oh, that's so sweet." Fenella took another piece of the chocolatey goodness and ate it greedily.

"Let's just say that a lot of pent-up energy was released." Kyra sighed. "I'm still rediscovering it all. Max was my first consensual sexual experience in nearly two and a half decades."

The momentary darkness in Kyra's expression was an unwelcome reminder of what they'd all been through. For all the lightness of their afternoon coffee date, they'd each survived horrors that would haunt them for a long time.

Maybe even forever.

"I'm so glad I don't remember most of it," Kyra said. "I wish my sister Yasmin could be made to forget so she could be spared the grief of losing her husband. I don't know how to help her."

Jasmine nodded. "She and the children didn't even have the closure of a burial ceremony. It must be so hard for them."

"How are the children of your other sisters doing?" Fenella asked.

"All of them have been traumatized to some extent," Kyra said. "Being taken from the life they knew, however imperfect it was, and thrust into this completely foreign environment can't be easy for any of them." She shook her head. "I need to talk to my sisters about seeing the clan psychologist."

"You need to see Vanessa as well, Mom," Jasmine said.

"I know." Kyra leaned back in her chair. "If the Clan Mother can't help me with the retrieval of my memories, I might contact Vanessa. I heard that she's very busy, though, and Yasmin needs her much more than I do."

"When are you going to see the Clan Mother?" Jasmine asked.

"When I am summoned. I know she wants me to help her find her beloved, so I expect it to be soon." Kyra put her hand over the pendant she always wore. "Although I really don't know how I will be able to help her. Finding missing people has never been one of my gifts."

"I'll help you," Jasmine said. "I wasn't able to do it on my own, but I have a feeling that together, we will be stronger than the sum of our parts."

Fenella lifted her hand. "Hey, maybe I can help too. After all, we seem strangely connected somehow. I think the Fates Max keeps talking about are trying to tell us something. Right?"

Mother and daughter regarded her with curious expressions.

"You might be onto something," Jasmine said. "Do you know that Amanda, Kian's sister, tried to get Max interested in me? He took one look at me and disliked me instantly because I reminded him of you."

Fenella waved a dismissive hand. "I heard that story, and I think it's absurd. We look nothing alike."

Jasmine was tall and curvy. She wasn't carrying extra weight or anything, but she was a big woman who occupied a lot of space. Compared to her, Fenella felt almost petite.

"We have similar coloring and the cleft in our chins." Jasmine pointed at Fenella's, which was much less pronounced than hers. "Anyway, he was mad at you for coming between him and Din."

"Men are so bloody ridiculous," Fenella muttered. "And they blame everything on women. I didn't even know Din had feelings for me, but Max did, or should have known if he considered Din his best friend. It's his fault, not mine."

"He knows that now," Kyra said, "Max has matured a lot since then."

"Yeah, he has." Fenella remembered their talk on the way back from Iran. "Max and I have sorted it out. But I still don't get why you reminded him of me. You're tall and sexy, and I'm not."

"You are beautiful," Jasmine said. "I never liked my height or the size of my hips. I would have loved to look as delicate as you."

"Delicate?" Fenella barked out a laugh. "No one who knows me would call me delicate, love. I've always compensated with my big mouth and even bigger attitude."

Smiling, Kyra nodded. "I'm starting to realize that about you. I bet that's what Din fell in love with."

"He doesn't know me, let alone love me." Fenella turned to Jasmine. "Speaking of my supposed future with him, though, you promised me a tarot reading. Now that your mum's back with the cards, I could really use your mystical guidance."

Jasmine nodded. "I don't have them with me, but we can go to my house and do it there."

"Brilliant. I hope you have decent alcohol and mixers. I can make drinks you've never even heard of."

Jasmine's eyes widened. "I forgot that you were a bartender. You should talk with Ingrid. Her partner runs the Hobbit Bar, and it's open only on weekends because he doesn't have help. You could work for him."

Fenella had worked as a barmaid during her travels, but she hadn't bartended since she'd left Scotland half a century before. Nevertheless, she still remembered many of the drinks she'd prepared back then. Besides, learning new ones was easy now that everything was accessible on the internet.

Most importantly, though, having a job meant earning money, and she could use some for when she decided to leave this place.

"I'll happily talk to the guy. What's his name?"

"Atzil," Jasmine said. "During the week, he works for Kalugal as his main chef. He cooks for all the men—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's why he can't open the bar midweek."

Fenella grimaced. "So, he's one of those former Doomers?"

Jasmine nodded.

"I don't know if I could work for one of them," Fenella admitted. "After what his fellow so-called Brother did to me…" She shivered.

"Atzil is the nicest guy." Jasmine leaned over and put her hand on Fenella's arm. "Don't hold his past against him. We've all done things we are not proud of, and in his case, he was born into that crap. It took tremendous will and good character to break free from the brainwashing and realize that he was working for evil incarnate."

"I guess." Fenella put what was left of the croissant in her mouth and concentrated on the sweetness to chase away the bad memories.

"So, what's going on with Din?" Kyra asked. "When is he supposed to get here?"

"This evening, but after all the delays, I have a feeling he's not going to make it today either." Fenella sighed. "I actually feel a bit less concerned than I did after the first two delays. Misfortune always comes in threes, so now that the third happened, that should be it."

She didn't really believe that, but saying it made her feel a little less anxious.

Kyra laughed, shaking her head. "You're that superstitious?"

"Says the woman who makes life-or-death decisions based on a magical pendant," Fenella shot back.

"Touché," Kyra acknowledged. "But the pendant actually works."

"So do my gut feelings," Fenella countered. "They've kept me alive this long."