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“You two are going to have to get along someday,” Gideon said. “Your incessant bickering is going to drive me up a wall.”
“Or perhaps into the earth,” Jeremiah suggested.
“You’re the one who invited them to stay in Paracel, Gideon,” Rukia shrugged innocently while she took a swig of Jeremiah’s beer. “Can’t complain if your strays come with fleas.”
Gideon’s eyes rolled before a smile split his lips. “I think Aidan and Lucy make quite a fine addition, Rukia. Besides, we wouldn’t want Lucy off wandering the world, unknowingly leaving earthquakes and landslides in her wake.”
“I heard that,” Lucy chuckled. “But I will admit, I’ve got a much better grasp of control now that we’ve been here for a while.”
“That’s the point, love.”
Aidan’s expression toward his mate was a tender thing, his gaze so full of adoration that was breathtaking in its beauty.
The pair had mated last October in a whirlwind courtship and settled here in Paracel directly after. Lucy, a newly minted earth Elemental, was startingly strong for such a young age, and Gideon had taken her under his wing as a mentee.
For Gideon, offering her support and guidance as she grew into her abilities was second nature. A magnanimous and natural leader, he was undoubtedly the most powerful earth Elemental that walked the face of the earth—perhaps even the most powerful of their immortal species.
He was their leader not because of his inherent strength, but because he cared for his people with a blind devotion and benevolence that eclipsed all else.
Rukia had joined the rag-tag team of Elementals around three hundred years ago. Already together, Jeremiah, Gideon, and Tyee had primarily been nomads, but they’d eagerly accepted her into the fold. When they created Paracel, Tyee had continued his nomadic ways, but he always returned to them.
Today, he was in the wilds of Alaska.
“Will Tyee be back in time for the Gala?” Rukia questioned while Aidan jumped up to assist Rona and Lucy with taking the steaming food to the dining room.
“Yeah, he didn’t want to miss it.” Gideon rose from his stool beside her and grabbed his drink as they all headed into the dining room. “He should be back tomorrow morning to help get things sorted. We have a couple of days, anyway.”
Lucy perked as the three of them entered, Jeremiah trailing behind at a leisurely pace. “When will all of the other dignitaries arrive?”
“Everyone should be arriving in the next few days,” Gideon replied.
As Rona came close, his hands captured her waist in open possessiveness. A satisfied smirk laced his lips before he whispered something in her ear that left her beaming.
Rukia watched the interaction but said nothing.
Within the past year, Gideon had effectively opened their borders by signing the Peace Accords of the immortal world. Elementals had always been secretive in their relations with the other supernaturals that walked the earth—and with good reason. Now, Gideon had taken a vampire for his bride and Paracel permanently hosted a werewolf alpha.
By all accounts, integrating their new residents had turned them into a center for peace. Not long after, they’d played host to a summit of immortals, all four supernatural species coming together under one roof to solidify their partnership.
The upcoming Gala would function as a black-tie event, an evening of schmoozing and networking between the newly aligned nations. Aidan, the original werewolf, had asked all five of his North American alphas to be present, along with their most senior betas.
What was arguably more impressive was that the entirety of the vampire council would be in attendance. They were the ruling party of the vampire nation, functioning as both judge and jury, and supported by the de facto figurehead of their society, Drake Castellanos.
It’d been nearly two years ago that Drake had met and married Toni, a fire Elemental, and the Immortal Peace Accords had been set in motion.
Raeths, by far the most secretive of the immortal breeds, had signed the Accords, but remained set apart. Spread throughout the world, each clan was independently ruled by a single sovereign with no overarching leadership that spanned the entire breed. While many sovereigns across the world had signed the accords, not all had.
Rukia shuddered involuntarily as she thought of the sovereign who’d become a perpetual thorn in her side. Isaiah, as arrogant and irritating as they came, made it his entire mission in life to deploy sarcasm. Unfortunately, he had literally swept her off her feet the last time they’d met at a mating party.
When she’d eagerly called him a derogatory reference for a backside to his face, he’d taken the insult as an invitation to swing her out onto the dance floor. And when she’d found herself in his arms only seconds later, nothing had ever felt so right.
The warmth of his hand at her back, the masculine panes of his chest against hers, the way his deep brown eyes glinted like midnight waters when he gazed down at her. Every second she had spent in the protective circle of his embrace had been a slice of heaven.
When she’d finally broken herself free from his thrall at the end of the song, she stormed off without so much as a backward glance, nails biting into her palms. She’d felt the weight of his gaze as she’d stalked away, and for a moment, she believed he might have felt something, too.
She discovered him with his arms around someone else less than five minutes later, Rukia had caught his eyes and flipped him the finger.
He’d smirked. The insensitive schmuck.
