Free Fated by Rebecca Zanetti

child. Her blue eyes gazed with adoration as she showed him the drawing she carried. “I made a monkey.”
    Well, maybe. Or a dog with long arms. “It’s perfect.”
    She grinned, giving a happy squirm. “Whatcha doin’?” Her world had apparently righted itself last night when he’d informed her that Talen and Cara were safe.
    “Working.” He glanced around the rock wall surrounding the quiet cavern—only Chalton worked busily on his computer, his blond hair tied at the nape and out of the way.
    “This is almost an empty room,” Janie said, grinning at Chalton. She gave him a tiny finger wave that pretty much ensured an excellent Christmas present from the computer expert. He gave her a half smile and mock salute before turning back to the console. Did Chalton just smile? Dage hadn’t known the guy had teeth.
    Dage tweaked Janie’s pert nose. “Yeah. We just use this room for teleconferences.” Maybe the chamber was too stark for a little girl. He didn’t want anything to scare her. Ever.
    “What’s a telie, a teliconf …” She pursed her tiny mouth in question.
    He grinned. “It’s like a telephone but with a screen.”
    “Like TV?”
    “Yeah.” Except the monsters on television weren’t real.He fought the frown that wanted loose. Janie needed to believe in the security and safety of her world.
    “Are you worried about the war?” she asked, her small hands clasping together.
    The frown won. “The war? It’s over, sweetheart.”
    “No.” She shook her head, patting her prized picture. “Not that one. The one that’s coming.”
    Awareness and something close to dread slid through his body. His muscles tensed. “You know about that one?”
    “Yeah.” She frowned, her pretty blue eyes darkening as she met his gaze.
    Regret filled him now. “I’m trying to keep it from happening.”
    A wise smile much too old for her young face slid across it. “I know. But, it’s gonna happen and we need to fight.”
    He shook his head. “I’ll fight, sweetheart. You won’t need to.”
    She put both of her warm hands against his face, effectively immobilizing the ruler of the most powerful beings in existence. “I will need to. You know that, Uncle Dage. You do.”
    God. Not while he drew breath. Fate was in for a beat-down in this case, and he needed to get back to work. Punching a code on his earpiece, he waited. “Jase? Meet me in the rec room, we need to plan.” Who would’ve thought his youngest, wildest brother would become the most dependable—at the moment at least. What the hell was his world coming to?
    Several states away, Lorcan nodded to a subordinate to flip off the screen. Long nails clicked against the keyboard until only overhead fluorescents lit the underground control room. A black screen covered the rock on one entire wall with two consoles on either side—sterile and giving no clue as to his whereabouts. The thick Minnesota mountains provided safety from interlopers, enemies, and the sun.
    He turned toward the door and swept into a long hallway furnished with priceless Picassos the world didn’t know about. Fucking Kayrs. The bastard was only fifty years older than Lorcan’s three hundred, yet an ancient wisdom rested in the king of the Realm. Bastard.
    The plush white carpet muffled Lorcan’s heavy footsteps, and he inhaled the pure lilac scent he had infused into the air each morning. Almost as good as being aboveground or even outside. Almost.
    Kayrs had no right for such superiority—most of the nonhuman creatures alive today were about the same age. Their ancestors had procreated quickly during the war, knowing that death was likely and a possible treaty prohibiting contact with humans on the horizon. Prohibiting contact with potential mates. Human ones, anyway.
    Lorcan grinned as he opened the door to his private office. Not that he’d adhered to the treaty. Proof of his defiance lounged in a thick leather chair watching an ultimate fighting championship.
    His son