Read Quit for Free Online

have, but you are not getting in here. Better-looking women have already tried.”
    She twitched her lips and spoke to Yikm. “So, where do you think we should go? I think I saw a Starbucks around the corner.”
    “Starbucks?”
    “Caf. Plain or with sweeteners and creams. Fun stuff.”
    Lio grinned and raised his com to his lips, announcing their arrival to the other guards upstairs.
    A strange surge of power sounded behind her. She heard gasps and shouts. She smiled. Imbolt had taken a shortcut.
    In English, she turned to the guard. “Allow me to fully introduce myself. I am Minerva Twill Kei Zanicon Mak Imbolt. Ex-Recruiter of Terra and wife of the Emissary.”
    Imbolt came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his mouth to her neck in a weirdly formal greeting. He lifted his head and looked at the guard. “I see you have met my wife. Pardon my rudeness, but I am eager to spend time with her.”
    His grip tightened, and he flew casually into the sky.
    She held her breath and looked up to the open window panel on the penthouse floor. He stepped into the living room, and the glass reformed behind him.
    She smacked his arm. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
    “The window? Just a little matter manipulation.”
    “No. Fly.”
    “I am the Avatar of a black hole. Gravity is at my disposal.”
    He released her, and she turned to him, pulling his head down to hers for a kiss.
    A sweetly familiar voice said behind them, “You know, out of all the times I imagined seeing you, I never managed this image in my head.”
    She paused with her lips an inch from Imbolt’s. “Are they really here?”
    “Ten feet behind you to the right.” He was smiling.
    She whirled and squealed, running for her siblings. Makeup or not, there was no doubting that they were all part of the same family. The sound they made took on a weird, vibrating pitch that made the glasses hum.
    The Twills were together after ten years. Everything was going to be all right.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Imbolt sat at the desk in the corner and pored over maps while Minny sat in the living areas with her sisters.
    They pelted her with questions about space travel and aliens and how much fun did she have.
    “Well, Selene, if you want to talk about aliens, there is one in the corner of the room scowling at a map, or four in the other room watching for crazy humans trying to come in here and molest the ambassador.”
    Iris giggled and glanced at Imbolt. “That is really your husband?”
    Minny remembered the tangle of limbs that had formalized their contract. “Oh, yeah.”
    Imbolt looked up, and the smile he gave her was definitely spurred by the same memories.
    Athena blinked and blushed. “If Andre looked at me like that, I wouldn’t leave home.”
    Minny’s two older sisters were married, and Selene had a soft smile that said her husband looked at her like that frequently. Iris was looking at Imbolt as if he was magnetic.
    Iris had always been able to see beneath the skin, but she had been too young for the project a decade ago, and she hadn’t wanted to deprive her family of another sister. So, she had stayed and become a vet.
    Selene was a councillor, and Athena had taken on banking. Each of them had dropped their lives to rush to this hotel the moment that Imbolt had invited them.
    Iris blinked and tore her gaze from Imbolt. “Minny, did you know that he is made of stars?”
    Minerva smiled. “I did. Thank you, Iris.”
    The other two looked at Minny for explanation.
    Minerva grinned and explained what an Avatar was and that there actually were worlds that had minds and had chosen someone to speak for them or that they could speak through.
    Athena stared and laughed lightly. “You are joking.”
    Minny shook her head. “I am not. I met several of them when I was working for the Citadel. Imbolt has another mind in his body, but his star doesn’t require his physical presence. It is a long-distance thing.”
    The ladies