He relaxed. “That’s it, then. And, speaking of Roland, would you like me to go ahead and give him a call?”

“Yes, please.” She crossed to him and leaned into his side. “I still wish it could be you.”

He kissed her tempting lips. “Me, too.”

His call went straight to voice mail. “Roland, it’s Etienne. Give me a call when you receive this.” He started to put his phone away, then paused. “Let me try Sarah. Those two are rarely apart. Maybe Roland is just being his usual antisocial self and not answering because he doesn’t want to talk to anyone.” He dialed Sarah’s number.

“Hello?”

“Sarah?”

“Yes?”

“Hi. It’s Etienne.”

“Hi,” she said, with what sounded like false enthusiasm. “How’s it going?”

“Good. I’m trying to reach Roland. Is he there?”

“Um . . . no. He’s . . .” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “He’s avoiding you.”

“I can hear you,” Roland said in the background.

“Damn it!”

Etienne frowned. “Why is he avoiding me?”

“He’s thinks you’re going to ask him to transform Krysta.”

“I am going to ask him to transform Krysta.”

Roland’s voice came over the phone. “Not going to happen.”

The line went dead.

Swearing, Etienne dialed her number again.

“Hello?” Sarah answered innocently, as though she didn’t know who was calling.

“Put him on,” Etienne said.

Roland let loose a stream of epithets in the background.

“I’m . . . not going to repeat that,” Sarah said.

“You don’t have to,” Etienne told her. “Look, I know he’s antisocial, but—”

“It isn’t just that,” she said, lowering her voice.

“Then what?”

“He found out that . . .”

“What?” he prodded.

She sighed. “The guys on theimmortalguardians.com website are calling him The Transformer. Like the robots.”

More foul epithets from Roland. “I will not be disrespected!”

“I’m sure they don’t mean it as an insult,” Etienne lied. Roland wasn’t a favorite amongst immortals because of his . . . personality and his tendency to terrorize any Seconds sent to serve him, so any gossip that concerned him on the website tended to be unflattering.

“Yes, they do,” she said. “I’m as furious as he is. Roland should be applauded for helping those he transformed, myself included, and the guys on the net are all being dicks about it.”

Etienne’s eyebrows flew up as Roland burst into laughter in the background.

“What?” Sarah demanded. “I can’t curse? It pisses me off.”

“I understand,” Etienne said, wondering how he could spin this and change Roland’s mind. “But I don’t think Krysta should have to—”

“I’m not doing it,” Roland insisted. “Three is my limit.”

“But—”

Rustling sounded.

“Roland,” Sarah warned, her voice fading, “don’t you dare smash my—”

The line went dead.

Etienne tucked his phone away. “Roland isn’t terribly enthusiastic about the idea.”

Stepping back, Krysta smiled and shrugged. “Then it’ll be you after all. Good.”

“Give me one more chance to win him over. Everyone has been sticking pretty close to David’s when they aren’t hunting. We can go by there later and see if I can’t change his mind.”

“Okay, but I don’t think you’re going to have any luck. Everyone I talk to says Roland is as stubborn as a mule.”

“And they’re right. But Seth and David will be there and might urge him along.”

“If you say so.”

“Maybe I’ll buy Sarah a new phone as a peace offering,” he mused.

“What happened to her old one?”

“I’m pretty sure Roland just destroyed it.”

“Yeah. Good luck changing his mind.”

“Come on, Roland,” Etienne urged. “Do it for me.”

Leaning against the bar that separated David’s dining room and kitchen, Roland crossed his arms over his chest. “And I owe you what?”

Richart, Jenna, Lisette, Tracy, Sheldon, and Cam formed a horseshoe around them. Ethan, Edward, Yuri, Stanislov, and their four Seconds stood just behind them and watched over their shoulders.

Etienne swore silently. “Then do it for Krysta.”

“And I owe her what?”

Patience fraying, Etienne gestured to Jenna and Richart. “You turned Jenna for Richart.”

“I turned Jenna because she’s my descendant.”

Cam looked at Jenna and Richart. “Is that why Richart keeps calling you Gramps?”

Roland glared daggers at Richart.

“How do you know Krysta isn’t your descendant?” Etienne asked. It was a stretch, but . . .

“Because I keep track of them,” Roland responded.

Sarah stood sentinel beside her husband and frowned at their audience. “You see? I told you he has a big heart. He’s been watching over them all this time.”

“Keeping track isn’t the same as watching over them,” Roland murmured.

Sarah elbowed him. “Give me my moment, honey. I’m defending you.”

He smiled.

“Roland,” Etienne said, “you must understand my position. I want Krysta to be as strong as possible so she’ll be as safe as possible.”

“I’m an Immortal Guardian,” Roland said, unmoved. “I hunt and destroy vampires. I am not a transformer.”

A few snickers sounded.

Etienne growled in frustration and dragged his hands through his hair.

Marcus smiled and shook his head as he looked at the immortals around him. “I told you not to fuck with him. What if you’re the next one who falls in love with a gifted one? Wouldn’t you want him to transform her, as Etienne does, so she would be stronger and safer? You all just screwed yourselves for a laugh.”

That sobered them up. As many immortals as there had been falling in love lately, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

“I’ll do it,” Sarah said.

Roland’s head snapped around. “What?”

She shrugged. “I’ll do it. I’m as strong and as fast as you are.”

“Awesome!” Sheldon exclaimed, drawing everyone’s gaze. “Chick-on-chick action!”

Cam popped him on the back of the head.

Etienne rolled his eyes and returned his attention to Sarah. “I appreciate the offer, but you aren’t a healer.”

“Oh. Right. I was thinking of the strength part and forgot it might be because he’s a powerful healer.”

Seth and David entered from the kitchen, carrying huge platters of baked cornish hens and filling the room with a mouthwateringly delicious aroma.

Etienne abandoned trying to convince Roland and turned to Seth. “Couldn’t you transform her, Seth?”

“No.” He placed the platter on the ever-growing dining table and turned to face them. “Nor can David.”

David nodded as he did the same.

“Why?”

“We’re older and more powerful than all of you,” Seth reminded him. “We don’t know which of those factors—age or being a powerful healer—causes immortals turned by Roland to be stronger than expected. However, since David and I possess both, chances are excellent that Krysta would be as strong and as powerful as we are if one of us transformed her.”

Sarah arched an eyebrow. “So? What’s wrong with that?”

Jenna crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, chin rising.

“Don’t even go there,” Seth said. “It isn’t a misogynistic thing. I don’t know a single immortal male who isn’t drawn to strong women.”

“Yourself included?” Sarah asked.

“Of course.”

“You hear that, ladies?” she said, a speculative gleam entering her eyes. “We need to find Seth a good, strong woman.”

The women responded with amusing enthusiasm.

“Do you like your women tall or short?”

“Slender or full-figured?”

“She’ll have to be a gifted one, so she can be transformed.”

“Or an immortal. There are other female immortals, aren’t there?”

“I’m sure there are.”

“Hey, I bet we could get Chris to give us a list of them.”

“Or maybe we could ask around on the website. Is there a Personals section on the website? We could post a single and looking for ad for him.”

Seth turned a little green and looked to their husbands. “Um . . . a little help?”

The men raised their hands in a What can we do? It’s out of our hands gesture.

“Anyway,” Seth hurried to interrupt them. “We can’t have a youngster running around with the power we wield. I know we make it look easy, but David and I have had thousands of years to accustom ourselves to it and learn control.”

Etienne sighed. So much for Krysta being as strong as possible. He met her gaze and found excitement rather than disappointment there.

“Looks like it’s going to be you,” she said with a grin, adding several tiny hand claps. “Yay!”

He laughed and shook his head. “I’ll let you choose the time and place.”

“Actually,” David spoke up, “you should do it here, where I can be available to assist you.”

Sarah nodded. “He helped me when I transformed. I don’t remember much about it beyond being submerged in a bathtub full of ice and water with Roland and seeing David leaning over me, but I know he helped me.”