A grin spread across Stefan’s face. “You’re in love, my old friend, and that is the downfall of all good men.”
“Even Gregori, the dark one, allowed his lifemate her freedom because of her fear of him. How does one strike a balance between keeping a woman happy and protecting her?” Aidan mused aloud.
Stefan shrugged. “You’re in the modern world now, Aidan. Women rule their own lives. They make their own decisions and generally drive us all crazy. Welcome to the twenty-first century.”
Aidan shook his head. “She thinks she is going to work with that madman, Thomas Ivan. Yet I know what he wants to do with her.”
“If she wants to work, Aidan, have you any choice but to allow it?”
The golden eyes flashed. “I have a choice, Stefan. Still, perhaps the line of least resistance is to have a little mind-to-mind chat with Mr. Ivan. I am certain I can make him see things my way.”
Stefan laughed. “I wish I had that particular talent, Aidan. It would come in handy with some of my business dealings.”
“Do not allow Joshua to go to his school this day. The vampire will, in all likelihood, try to strike at us through him.”
“I agree,” Stefan said. “The boy is the most vulnerable.”
“Use Vinnie and Rusty again. Keep them around for the next few days,” Aidan advised. He glanced up at the sky through his dark glasses. “The trouble will come today.”
Stefan nodded in agreement. “I will keep a close watch. There will be no fire this time to destroy all we have built.” He looked down at the ground, still ashamed of a past catastrophe even though it was not his fault.
Aidan clapped him on the shoulder. “Without you, Stefan, no one would have survived that day, perhaps not even me.” He had been safely buried beneath the soil, but the loss of his “family” would have been devastating. Because of that time, so many years earlier, when a vampire had used a human to try to trap them in an inferno, and he had lain helpless beneath the soil, he had redoubled his studies and his safeguards, strengthening his power and abilities. Never again would he be caught unable to aid those he cared about.
Joshua’s laughter reached him, and the soft, carefree sound did something to his heart. The child touched him in ways no other had. He was so like Alexandria, so filled with the joy of living, and he had the same beautiful blue eyes.
“No one will harm the boy, not if I live,” Stefan said firmly.
Aidan turned away. He did not want Stefan, who knew him so well, to realize how those words filled him with dread. For all his powers, Aidan was vulnerable in the sunlight, and a vampire could use human puppets, minions, to capitalize on the weakness the day brought. Even with his ability to project during the daylight hours, a feat few of his kind had accomplished, Aidan would still be leaving Stefan without his physical aid, and Stefan was no longer a young man. Aidan did not want to lose his friend any more than he wanted to lose Joshua.
Joshua burst from the kitchen laughing, his blond curls bouncing. “Help me, Aidan, she’s after me!” he hollered as he charged toward them.
Stefan stepped squarely in front of his prize tulips, while Aidan glided in to wall off the roses. He caught Joshua’s flying figure with one hand and swept him up to his shoulders. “Who is after you, young Joshua?” he asked, pretending not to know.
“Don’t you protect that little scalawag!” Alexandria came running after her brother, her hair bouncing in a pony tail, her sapphire eyes dancing with mischief. “You won’t believe what the little monster has been hiding under his bed!”
Joshua ducked behind Aidan’s neck. “Run, Aidan! She’s gonna tickle-torture me, I just know it.” Aidan obliged, trotting the boy into the shelter of the garage, knowing Alexandria would follow.
“Ha!” Alexandria said, unaware that she had placed herself in danger from the early morning sun. “You wish I’d tickle-torture you. I’m going to do a lot worse than that,” she threatened. “Put him down, Aidan, and let me box his ears.”