"Who's that?" she asked curiously.
"My brother, Lucian," Basil said quietly.
"Oh," Sherry murmured, understanding Stephanie's reaction to seeing the man. She'd said Lucian would rake her over the coals once Drina and Katricia got done giving her hell, and she supposed this meant Lucian's raking her over the coals would come first. But it made her wonder what his relationship was to Stephanie. Victor was her adopted father, but she hadn't stated who Lucian was.
Sherry was still trying to work out the relationship when Justin drew to a halt and they all unbuckled to get out. Stephanie dragged her feet somewhat, obviously not eager to face the man. Sherry was following Basil out of the back before the girl even managed to open her door. The same protective instinct that had claimed her back at her store made Sherry move up beside the teenager now as she got out, offering her silent support.
Stephanie gave her a weak smile of gratitude and then faced Lucian and blurted, "I know. I messed up. But I just nipped out to the car to grab my phone while Drina and Katricia were in the changing room. And I had no idea Leo was in town. I thought he was down south and it would be okay. If I'd known, I never would have left the shop, even for a minute. I swear. I don't want to land in Leo's clutches again. Ever."
Sherry bit her lip and peered from Stephanie's anxious face to the man named Lucian as silence dropped around them. Her gaze then slid to Justin and Basil. Both men stood silent and still, watching Lucian. In fact, no one was moving, herself included. It was as if the man had pinned them all to the spot with some secret super power. Certainly, she didn't have any desire to move and draw his attention. So they waited what seemed an interminable amount of time and then the front door opened and a petite brunette stepped out of the house and slid her hand through one of Lucian's crossed arms.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to Basil's life mate?" the newcomer asked, and it was the most amazing thing . . . Lucian relaxed so abruptly it was like a marionette's strings being snipped. His shoulders dropped, his arms uncrossed so that he could slip one around the woman, and he turned his head and bent to press a kiss to her forehead. He seemed almost like a different man when he turned back to the four waiting people.
"Inside," he said quietly to Stephanie.
The girl nodded, relief oozing off of her in waves as she leapt past the couple with a grateful glance at the brunette and hurried inside.
Sherry watched her go, feeling abandoned . . . and how pathetic was that? Stephanie was a teenager. She was the adult. Sherry had been very conscious of that on first meeting the kid, and had to wonder how the tables had turned and she'd begun to depend on the girl. Well, that would end now. She was a grown-up successful businesswoman. There was nothing she couldn't handle, she told herself, and then jumped when Lucian barked her name.
"Sherrilyn Harlow Carne?"
Turning sharply to the couple on the steps, Sherry met his gaze as he announced, "This is my wife, Leigh Argeneau."
She offered her hand to the other woman. "Call me Sherry. I've only ever been called Sherrilyn Harlow Carne by my mother and that was when I was in trouble."
Leigh chuckled and took her hand in a warm grasp. "Sherry it is."
"Yes. You aren't the one in trouble," Lucian announced dryly as the two women shook.
Leigh rolled her eyes at the words and smiled wryly. "Ignore him. We're new parents, so we aren't getting a lot of sleep at the moment. It makes him cranky."
"Yeah, that's what it is. Lack of sleep due to the babies," Justin said with a snort as he moved past them. " 'Cause Lucian was just a big huggie bear before that."
When Sherry glanced curiously to the man disappearing into the house, Basil said helpfully, "Lucian is always cranky."
Much to her surprise, when Sherry then glanced worriedly to Lucian to see how he was taking the announcement, he was nodding with agreement and apparent satisfaction. She gathered he was proud of his crankiness.
"Don't mind Lucian," Leigh said lightly. "He just acts all growly and mean around the boys to keep them in line. He's really a marshmallow."
Now it was Basil who snorted.
Leigh wrinkled her nose at the man, and then took Sherry's arm to urge her into the house, saying, "Come, I'll make some tea and we'll get to know each other. We're going to be sisters-in-law."
"Oh, that's not--I mean, I--We--" Sherry stammered helplessly as Leigh led her inside. She fell silent when Leigh patted her hand sympathetically.
"It's a lot to take in, I know. But it's best not to fight it. The nanos are never wrong."
Sherry had no idea what she was talking about when she said nanos, but merely released a sound that was embarrassingly reminiscent of a whimper and fell silent.
"Well?"
Basil tore his eyes from Sherry's disappearing derriere to glance at his brother and raised an eyebrow in question. "Well what?"
"Is she or is she not your life mate?" Lucian asked at once.
Basileios grimaced. "How the hell should I know? I just met the woman."
Lucian scowled. "Did you try to read her?"
"Of course," he said irritably, moving forward to enter the house.
"And?" Lucian asked, following and pulling the door closed.
"I cannot read her," Basil admitted, but added quickly, "Neither could Stephanie, though, so that might not mean anything." He paused in the entry and turned back to Lucian. "Could you read her?"
"Of course," the man said, as if that should be expected. "She takes some effort, though. I suspect she's been around an immortal for long periods of time in her past and gained some natural skills at blocking our thoughts.
Basil nodded. That happened to mortals who spent a lot of time around immortals, even if they didn't know about immortals and that they were in their presence. Their minds unconsciously sensed the probing, and they eventually, instinctively, learned to build up mental walls to block the intrusion. It made him curious, though, as to who the immortal was that Sherry might have been around.
"Try to read her again," Lucian said, distracting him from the question. The words weren't a suggestion. Neither were the orders that followed when he said, "And test the other symptoms too; food and so on. I need to know if she is or is not your life mate before I decide what to do about her."
Basil merely nodded.
"What?" Lucian asked with amusement. "No arguing or telling me to stop bossing you around?"
Basil smiled faintly. He usually did rebel when Lucian tried to boss him around. It was why he was a member of the North American council. People trusted he wouldn't just bow to his brother's bullying. It was also why he lived in New York. He was far enough away not to have to deal with his brother's bossiness too often, but close enough to see the family on special occasions and to fly in for emergency council meetings between the regular council meetings.
"Why bother arguing with you when it is exactly what I want to do anyway?" Basil responded. He then turned to head for the kitchens, eager to see Sherry again.
"This is Sam. She's Mortimer's life mate and a lawyer like Basil," Leigh announced, urging Sherry to one of the stools around the island in the large, bright white kitchen.
"Hi," Sherry said with a smile as the slender redhead at the stove set the lid back on a simmering pot and turned to greet them.
"Hi back," Sam said, wiping her hands on a dish towel before offering it with a warm smile of her own. As they shook hands, she said, "I hear you've had a bit of an ordeal. I'm sorry about that. Leonius has been a problem for a while now. Hopefully the boys will corner and catch him this time."
A snort from the end of the room drew Sherry's attention to the fact that Justin Bricker had his head in the refrigerator as he rummaged around for something.
"Not bloody likely," the man announced as he straightened with a bag of blood in hand. "Leo's a slippery bastard. He pops up in one place just long enough to get everyone rushing there, then disappears and pops up somewhere hundreds of miles away. Hell, the day before y
esterday he was supposedly spotted in Florida. Today he's here. Tomorrow he'll be in Mexico."
"Is that true?" Sherry asked with a frown, watching Justin wave the bag of blood around as he spoke.
"I'm afraid so," Leigh admitted quietly.
"Yeah." Sam sighed. "Leo's crazy but smart. He never stays anywhere long. Sometimes he isn't even spotted, just his handiwork tells us he's been somewhere."
"If it's his handiwork," Justin said heavily. "He has a lot of sons, remember. And they aren't always with him. I'm guessing they cause some grief on their own and add to the myth that is Leonius Livius."
"Yeah," Sam said again, then shook her head and turned to hang the dish towel over the stove handle, saying, "But enough of this depressing talk. Sherry doesn't need to hear it. Her day has been rough enough. It's change-of-topic time." Turning back, she asked brightly, "So you're Basil's life mate?"
"Oh, I don't--" Sherry began weakly, relieved when Leigh patted her arm reassuringly and spoke up.
"She hasn't quite accepted that yet, Sam. You recall how hard it is at the start."
"Oh yeah," Sam said wryly and shook her head as she admitted, "I resisted like crazy, made Mortimer's life a living hell without intending to. Made my own life hell too, actually. It only got better when I gave in and went with it, but it took a bit to get me to that point."
"You were more than worth the wait."
Sherry blinked and glanced to the man who had entered the kitchen. Tall, with blond hair that had dark tips suggesting it had once been dyed brown, the man walked to Sam and slid his arms around her, and then pressed a kiss to her lips. Sherry supposed he must be Mortimer.
Straightening, Mortimer then glanced to Justin to say, "The dogs need to be fed before they're let out. Can you see to that for me?"
When the other man nodded and left the room, Mortimer glanced back to Sam and said, "Something smells good."
"I found a recipe online for that cheese and beer soup you liked so much when we went out to dinner last week. I'm making up a batch," Sam said with a grin.
"Really?" Mortimer asked with pleasant surprise.
"Yeah," Sam grinned.
"God I love you," he breathed and kissed her again, this time with enough passion that Sherry would have looked away if she'd been able. But her eyes seemed locked on the couple. At least they were until the sound of footsteps drew her attention to the door as Basil led Lucian into the room.
"You're with Basil," Lucian announced, spearing Sherry with his eyes. "The two of you have issues to sort, and the rest of us have some business to discuss, so go."
The man was definitely lacking in the communication department, Sherry decided, but then Basil held out his hand, and she forgot all about his brother as she moved to him like a moth drawn to flame.
Seriously, all he had to do was hold out his hand and she went like a whipped dog? Sherry would have been annoyed with herself except that Basil's warm clasp distracted her.
"Would you like to go to the living room and talk? Or shall we walk around outside?" Basil asked as he led her from the kitchen.
"Outside," Sherry decided, not sure what he wanted to talk about, but suspecting it was this life mate business. If so, she really didn't want this discussion to take place where someone could overhear.
Basileios nodded and led her along the hall to a back door and then ushered her outside.
Sherry glanced around curiously as he pulled the door closed behind them. The long driveway had told her it was a large property, but she was still surprised to see that it appeared to extend behind the house for quite a distance. The backyard was large and well treed. It was bordered on one side by woods and on the other by the driveway, and then she saw more yard followed by more woods.
Sherry eyed the driveway curiously, following it to a large outbuilding a good distance behind the house. The building appeared only to be one floor, but it was wider than the house itself, with several garage doors taking up more than half of it.
Basileios took her arm and urged her in the direction of the outbuilding.
Sherry, sure he'd brought her out here to discuss this life mate nonsense, waited patiently for him to begin. Unfortunately, he didn't appear eager to touch on the subject, or any subject for that matter. He didn't say anything at all as they walked, and before she could dredge up the courage to say something herself, they'd reached the outbuilding.
"I thought it might be best to introduce you to the dogs," Basileios explained, opening the door for her. "That way they will recognize you as a welcome guest when they are patrolling the yard."
Sherry's eyes widened at the suggestion, thinking it a good one. The last thing she wanted was a bunch of guard dogs to think she was an interloper and attack her.
He led her past an empty office, and then urged her down a hallway to the left. They passed through another door into a hall with what appeared to be jail cells running up either side.
"Rogues are held here until they are judged by the council," Basileios explained quietly as they passed the cells.
Sherry nodded, but wondered what council he was talking about. She didn't ask, however. Her curiosity had been caught by the murmur of a male voice from up ahead. It was accompanied by a sound she didn't recognize until Basileios commented, "It must be feeding time."
She realized then that it was the sound of dry dog food being poured into metal dishes and smiled faintly. "Yes. Mortimer sent Justin out to feed the dogs just before you and Lucian came into the kitchen."
Basileios nodded, and a moment later they reached the door of a small room where a man had lined up four metal dog dishes on a counter and was just finishing filling the last one. It wasn't Justin, however, Sherry saw with surprise as the dark-haired man glanced their way and offered a smile of greeting and a friendly "Hi."
"Hello Francis," Basileios responded. "Where is Justin? We expected to find him here."
The man shrugged. "I don't know. He left after passing on Mortimer's order for me to feed the dogs. I thought he went back to the house, but maybe he went to check on Russell at the gate."
Basileios nodded slowly, a small frown tugging at his lips, and then stepped forward to take two of the bowls the man had just filled. "You go ahead and get back to the gate. I shall take these in to the dogs. I wanted to introduce Sherry to them anyway."
Francis hesitated, but when Sherry picked up the other two bowls, he nodded and headed for the door. "Thanks. If they aren't done eating when you're ready to leave, just give me a buzz at the gate and I'll come back and let them out."
"We will let them out," Basileios assured him as he led Sherry to a door at the side of the room. "These fellows do not take long to eat, as I recall. They will gobble this up in no time."
"Yeah, they will," Francis agreed on a chuckle, and slipped from the room.
"These are trained animals," Basileios warned Sherry, pausing at the door to turn back to her. "Do not try to pet them or--"
"No touch, no talk, no eye contact," Sherry interrupted with amusement, and informed him, "I'm a big fan of Dog Whisperer."
Basileios smiled faintly. "Well, I do not have a clue who that is, but he knows his business if those are his instructions."
"Oh, yeah, the guy's a genius with dogs," Sherry assured him.
"Hmm." Basileios turned back to the door and shifted one bowl on top of the other to free up a hand to work the doorknob. He then pushed the door open and led her into a large room with four kennels along the end, each with its own doggy door to the outside. "Just set the bowls in front of the doors. I shall open them after we have set them all down."
Sherry did as instructed, positioning herself close to but sideways to each door as she set down the food so that each animal could smell her. While she didn't look directly at either of the dogs, she did take quick surreptitious glances to see what they were. She wasn't terribly surprised to find that they were German shepherds.
Having set down both bowls, Sherry moved to stand beside B
asileios, who had finished setting down his own bowls ahead of her. She then watched him push a button beside the light switch. All four doors on the kennels immediately rose as one, loosing the dogs. Sherry half expected them to charge out and rush around her, sniffing like mad at this new human in their midst, but the dogs were definitely well trained. Each animal stepped forward and then sat down in front of their dish before turning to peer at Basileios for permission.
"Go ahead," he said, and only then did they start to eat.
"Do they stay in here all day?" Sherry asked with a frown as she watched them eat. They were so well behaved it was almost scary. They were like furry soldiers under the watchful eye of their sergeant.
"No. I gather they spend the day in the house or out in the yard with Sam. That, or they follow Mortimer around, but he puts them in here for half an hour before dinnertime. Then they are fed and sent out to patrol the yard. Mortimer claims that the half hour in here beforehand helps them adjust from being spoiled house dogs to knowing it's time to work."
"Spoiled house dogs, huh?" Sherry asked with amusement, watching the dogs in question. They didn't seem spoiled at all.
"Oh yes, Mortimer says Sam is ruining them," Basileios said with a grin. "Apparently, they listen to her over him now, which annoys him no end."
Sherry chuckled and continued to watch the dogs eat, but her mind turned to the issue of this life mate business . . . as well as the fact that Basileios hadn't brought it up yet. It was the big pink elephant in the room and it was beginning to drive her a little crazy. So much so that after several moments had passed, she glanced to Basileios and blurted, "So, are we life mates or what?"
Basileios looked briefly startled and then smiled wryly. "You like the subtle approach, I see."
"Yeah." Sherry grimaced. "And here you probably thought I was the type to stomp about a subject like a bull in a china shop."
"Never," he assured her with a grin.
"Hmmm." She peered at him silently, and then raised her eyebrows. "So?"
"So," Basil murmured, his eyes skating over her before his lips twisted and he admitted, "I do not know."