Chapter 5

Kasta stared at the three men gathered before her in the small room. Two of them looked exactly the same. The only difference between them was their left eyes. The other man had a double dose of coloring in his hair.

She watched as Jess sighed and sat down heavily in the chair at the head of the table. He didn't bother answering the statement, which intrigued her. He looked over his shoulder at her. She understood immediately that he wanted her to sit down. So she did; she sat by the man with mismatched eyes.

Without a word the four men reached into their shirts and pulled a necklace. They pulled the chains over their heads and set on the table. As Kasta looked, she noticed the pendants were all silver crescent moons. The jewels in the center of the moons were different colors though. These pendants showed their loyalty in a physical aspect.

"What's your plan, Jess?" the twin across from Kasta asked.

"We're going to find the ass," Jess replied.

"How are you going to do that when we know absolutely nothing about him or her?" the dark haired man questioned.

The other twin sighed. "Guys, we've been rude. This young lady doesn't even know our names."

His brother snorted. "She's sixty-five times our age. She's not young."

"That's still no reason to be rude." They stared at each other, a silent argument going between them. Finally the one across the table shrugged and sank back in his chair. The other looked at her. "I'm Keldin. The one I was arguing with is my brother Austin. The other guy is Tyler."

She looked to Jess. "You trust these men?"

Jess nodded. "They've been with my sister since she was eight. I trust them inexplicably."

"Let's get down to business," Austin groused. Then he followed it up with, "to defeat... the Huns."

Tyler shook his head at the Disney reference his friend was always fluent in and turned to look at his computer. "I'm amping up the barriers."

Jess's attention turned to him. "You've talked to Alex?"

He nodded. "Just recently. He's sent me a list and Wyatt's gone to get DNA samples so I can upload them. They'll be here in a couple of hours."

Austin shifted again. "That's when they'll strike." They all looked at him. "Think about it. We'll be bringing in new people. There will be some sort of chaos. During the chaos, they will go after Aiden."

"We'll put security around her," Jess said. He looked at Keldin when he shook his head. "Care to explain?"

"Putting a detail on her will just piss her off, especially if it's people she doesn't know," the younger twin replied.

They stopped and thought about it. Kasta could full a pulsation as if they were conversing without her. They were because they could and the tell tale sign of that were their eyes. If they wanted her help, they had to include her or she was gone.

"Don't move," Jess ordered when she went to stand. She looked at him defiantly. "We're making plans to keep my sister safe. You will be instrumental. We can't let you leave yet."

Kasta sat down slowly, noting how none of the men moved. They were united in this and they wouldn't budge. She watched the younger twin as he began to write down numbers.

"What's your plan?" Austin finally asked as he rubbed his eyes.

Jess shifted in his seat and began tapping his fingers on the table. "Alex will be Aiden's personal guard. He's rock solid and won't take any of her shit."

"Make sure Abrey is with him. Aiden respects the woman and Abrey won't let her act stupid," Tyler said.

"Abrey won't work. She's eight months pregnant. Alex will kill us if something harms his wife," Keldin stated. He was right. Abrey and Alex were expecting their second child. Alex loved his cousin but no one messed with his wife. Abrey was out of the question.

Tyler nodded. "Who's his new partner for now?"

"Terren Mark." Keldin threw his pen at his brother when electricity crackled through the room. "Careful, brother."

"I don't like that bastard," Austin muttered, crossing his sculpted arms across his chest.

"We know. The two of you didn't get along in high school. He's part of your brother's Sector so get over it," Jess ordered. Technically he didn't have any control over them because they were Court instead of Council but they listened anyway.

Tyler leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin. "Seven others are coming with Alex, Tanner included." He stared at the screen. "If Tanner doesn't curb his smart mouth, Clint will curb it for him."

Kasta looked at him. "I thought his Majesty was a laidback man."

"He is but he doesn't tolerate when people smart off to others. He's a teacher. He can't help himself," Austin replied. He leaned back, playing with a current of electricity. "Can I shock his ass?"

Laughter ensued. Kasta looked between them all. Even with the threat of their Queen's death, they could still laugh. Her family would be quiet for days until the threat was over. This extended family took it seriously but could still laugh over the simplest things.

They finally got down to business. Austin and Jess controlled the flow of the conversation. Kasta noticed they were the strongest of the four assembled. Their attitudes showed they were the best for this job.

Somewhere in the middle of the flowing conversation, Kasta noticed Tyler glanced at her multiple times. She wasn't a telepath so she didn't understand what his little smile meant. Keldin shook his head a couple of times but didn't say anything.

Jess saw everything going on at the other end of the table. He tried his best to get everything hammered out so he could get the Elf away from his brothers. He could see the glow coming off her skin: silver with a mix of light blue because of his power over air. The others could see it and that made him uncomfortable.

'You know you can't fight it,' Austin said in his mind.

If anyone knew anything about the silvery glow that accompanied finding a bondmate or mate for short, it was Austin. It had only been three months since Austin met his mate/fiancé. Bryony was Austin's missing rib as she called it. She eased his electrical power and made him whole. He hadn't been whole in a long time. Seeing him smile was enough for his family.

Jess sighed mentally. 'I know but I don't understand why it is so. Why is it that a glow appears when it hasn't any other time?'

Austin shrugged physically, a clear indication they were talking silently. 'We don't know. Wyatt suspects it's because we don't wait for love anymore. We go out in search for it. In our grandparents and great-grandparents time, they waited for love, sometimes never finding it until almost death.'

He waited for a moment for a reply. When none came, he settled back. 'Don't push it away. You'll feel lost and irritable. We don't need you pissed off.'

Listening to his friend, Jess ended the meeting. He stood and watched the others leave the room. Kasta remained seated, staring at the table. He tried his hardest not to read her mind but it was damned near impossible. They were all over the place and some not even making a lick of sense.

"What were you discussing?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" He answered a question with a question.

She looked at him, her eyes knowing. "I'm not a telepath but I pay attention. When you talk telepathically, your eyes glow. Yours and Austin's eyes were silver when everyone else was silent." He didn't say anything as he sank back into his chair. "What were you discussing?"

Jess sighed and leaned his cheek in his palm. "What do you want to know?"

"What's going on? Why does everyone stare at me? It can't be because I'm an Elf."

"You're glowing."

Kasta stopped and looked herself over, confusion on her perfect Elven face. She looked up at him. "I don't see anything."

"You won't, at least not on yourself. Look closely at me."

He let the guard down. She looked at him and gasped. He knew she saw the tiny silver aura that surrounded him. Infused in his personal aura was his power over air, making the color sky blue. Red, white, and orange pulsed throughout it. He knew this because though he couldn't see it, Aiden could. She had broken down everyone when she realized that a side affect of being a Spirit Wielder was seeing them in bright color. The more laid back the person, the closer their signature stayed to the body.

Jess was happy he couldn't see signatures or auras or whatever anyone called them. It would totally mess with his mind. He watched Kasta as she walked towards him. He tried not to laugh when she swiped her hand above his head in an attempt to feel his colors.

"You can't see the full effect because you don't have the eyes for it. Only Aiden can do that," he said.

She sat on the edge of table and looked at him. "What does it mean?"

"In my culture, we have what is called a bondmate. Over the years we have simplified to mate. But it means the person has the ability to calm a power storm. When we find that person, we bond them to us using a bite. It sounds something like a vampire will do but we don't ingest blood. We allow our power to flow through our teeth into the flesh. A tattoo pops up in the symbol of our source of power. In my case it's air."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Before we bond our mates to us, their skin starts to glow silver. It's slight and only can be seen by us. It's kind of crazy but it happens. We don't know why. Our scientists only know that it has never happened in the past."

He knew she was arranging this all in her head. He waited until everything hit her all at once. Her mouth dropped in shock. He figured nothing surprised her anymore and this had.

Her mind had pieced together everything he had said, and it was starting to race with so many thoughts. Her face never changed even though her mind was at war.

He felt some compassion for her. They never told their perspective mates anything until it was severely pertinent or it was time to bond. Kasta had asked out of intrigue, and he was honor bound to tell her the truth. It didn't mean he was going to act even though all of his instincts raged at him to do so.

"Don't worry," he said as he stood. "I won't bond you to me without your consent or your father's permission. I'm old fashioned. I don't believe in taking what I want. That's Austin. It will be your choice." He didn't give her a chance to reply to him as he walked out the door.