Eternal Seduction by Jennifer Turner Page A

defend himself, she raised a hand. “If anything I just said wasn’t true, you wouldn’t have called Alfred and I wouldn’t have been tapped as a steak and vodka courier.”
    She had him there, but only because the sun was still burning in the sky, and it wasn’t as though he could walk down to the butcher. “Thank you, once again, for bringing them. But the reason I don’t eat human food is because I don’t particularly relish having to regurgitate it. I find the whole process rather disgusting.”
    “It tastes the same coming up as it does going down. Well, unless you forget for a week or two. That’s not pleasant, let me tell you.” She pinned him with one of those feminine looks that said she was onto him. “But back to the subject you’re trying to avoid, I think spending a little more time with Odin would do you some good. He adores you, K. I’ve never seen him protect anyone the way he does you.”
    Kerestyan drew in a deep breath. While he appreciated his brother’s protective instinct, he also wished he’d realize it wasn’t necessary anymore. “Is he awake yet?”
    “Oh, he’s awake and armed again.” She snickered. “But he isn’t a happy camper, that’s for sure. I don’t know why he keeps harassing Vouclade. You’d think he’d get tired of losing body parts.”
    Kerestyan often wondered the same thing. He’d heard a short summation of the days’ events when he’d requested the steaks from Alfred, but his version of brief was simply that Odin had attacked Vouclade. No more, no less.
    “Do you know what happened today?”
    She grinned. “Between Vouclade and Odin?”
    “Yes. Alfred didn’t elaborate.”
    She flipped the steak once more and set the tongs down. “I guess after Vouclade popped in here and saw your, shall we say ‘compromising position’, he stormed back into Dad’s chambers in a huff. He was yelling about a breach of Nelek decorum and, well, you know how he gets. But Odin heard him, and to make a long and bloody story short, it ended up in yet another Odin versus Vouclade rumble.”
    He cupped a hand over his eyes. “Please tell me they weren’t in Father’s chamber when they started fighting.”
    She let out a purely wicked laugh. “Of course they were. V ripped off Odin’s arms. Odin kicked V across the room. Then Dad played referee and sent the bad children to their rooms. V stalked off to his lab under his own power, but Odin wasn’t quite as lucky. He wasn’t down long though, if it makes you feel any better.”
    Kerestyan lowered his hand and pushed the salt shaker across the counter, listening to the dull scratching sound. “It would make me feel better if he’d realize I don’t need him to be my first line of defense anymore.”
    “Old habits die hard, K.” He glanced up to see her studying him, but then she turned and pulled a plate down from the cabinet. “I know I’ve said it a hundred times before, but you two really are night and day. Were you like this when you were kids?”
    He nodded. “I’ve always been the more serious one.”
    “Isn’t that the truth?”
    Kerestyan swiveled as Logan’s quiet voice touched his ears. Standing at the edge of the hallway, eyes slightly swollen, she’d dressed in the jeans and long sleeved, navy blue t-shirt Odin had made for her, both of which fit perfectly.
    She tipped her head back and sniffed the air. “Please tell me there’s another one of those for me. I could smell it from my room and I think I left a trail of drool down the hallway.”
    Kerestyan pushed out the stool next to him as Trinity set the plate on the counter. Hopefully Logan would accept his peace offering and the silent apology it was meant to be. “It’s all yours.”
    Delight filled her eyes. “Really?”
    He nodded. “And there’s more if you can talk Trinity into cooking them.”
    Trinity set a knife and fork on a napkin then slid it next the plate. She smiled at Logan, her eyes slowly tracing her long, lean frame.