Page 83 of Dark Voyage Matters of the Soul

The ship was not full to capacity, so the remaining lifeboats would suffice for all the passengers if the unthinkable happened and the Doomers managed to sink the ship or a catastrophic storm appeared out of nowhere.

Kalugal very much doubted that was a possibility, but it was always better to err on the side of caution.

It had been a long time since he'd gone on a mission. The altercation with the cartel thugs hadn't been planned, but it hadfelt damn good to deliver justice and save the women, and it had given him a taste for more.

He'd been a businessman for so long that he had forgotten what it was like to be a warrior, and he had never been a warrior for justice before. The thrill of the fight had been dormant in him, overshadowed by financial strategies and corporate negotiations.

Kalugal had no illusions about being a savior, and he was well aware that one small operation like the one they had stumbled upon would not cure the world of its evils. He'd thought that InstaTock was a better way to influence minds and encourage them to think critically by providing pertinent information, but that had been naïve as well. People rarely bothered to dig deeper beyond the slogans fed to them by various instigators, and the more negative and harmful the slogan, the more viral it became. For those who wished to destroy humankind and Western civilization in particular, social media was the perfect breeding ground for malignant ideologies.

The spoiled brats who had never known any real hardship couldn't recognize evil even when it was staring them in the face with a loaded gun pointed at their foreheads. They parroted the malignancies they were fed, thinking that they were righteous when they were the absolute opposite of that.

Positive messages were ignored, trivialized, or twisted to mean the opposite of what was conveyed.

Kalugal let out a sigh. Perhaps nothing ever really changed because humans were so short-lived and had such short memories. Lessons of the past were forgotten, and the same mistakes were repeated time and again, bringing misery, death, and destruction.

Rinse and repeat.

"Hello, cousin." Kian walked over with Dalhu, with the brothers trailing a few feet behind them.

Dalhu was armed to the teeth and looking formidable.

"I've never fought by your side before," Dalhu said. "I'm eager for the opportunity."

"Don't get too excited. After I freeze them all, there won't be any fighting to do, but be ready to have lots of blood on your hands." Kalugal grimaced. "Tearing out hearts is messy."

Anandur chuckled, and Brundar arched one blond brow.

Dalhu grinned. "I'm a painter. Mess doesn't bother me."

The banter stopped when Bhathian arrived with Max and a contingent of Guardians.

They were all heavily armed, except for Kian who was staying behind, and Anandur and Brundar, who weren't joining the mission because they had to guard him.

Kalugal knew that Kian would have gladly allowed them to join the party, but his esteemed aunt insisted that her son always have two bodyguards by his side whenever he was away from the protective walls of the village.

"I wish I could join in." Anandur glanced longingly at the group of armed Guardians. "Wonder said that she was okay with me going on the mission."

"That's very considerate of her, but your brother is getting married tonight." Kian put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "And his bride won't be happy if you come to the wedding withblood and gore stuck under your fingernails that no amount of scrubbing can clean."

"Callie won't mind," Brundar said.

Anandur cast a questioning look at Kian, but his boss didn't seem in the mood to relent. "It's a shame that Brundar is not getting a bachelor party. I had so many fun ideas."

Brundar shook his head. "I don't want a bachelor party. I've said it at least twenty times."

"You can still have one," Kalugal said. "Your brother and your boss are staying on board, and I'm sure you have many friends among the Guardians who are staying to protect the ship and can celebrate with you while being vigilant about safeguarding it."

Kalugal wasn't sure that Brundar had any friends, but pretending to think that he did was the polite thing to do.

"I don't want a bachelor party, period." Brundar cast him a glare that would have scared a lesser male.

Anandur sighed. "My brother has trouble enjoying anything other than being with his mate and killing bad guys. If you want to make him happy, take him with you."

Kalugal could have sworn that Brundar's lips curved in a shadow of a smile as he turned to Kian. "For once, Anandur is right. Can you assign someone else to your security detail?"

Kian hesitated for a split second before nodding. "It's your wedding tonight. Are you sure that Callie will be okay with that?"

That earned Kian an even deadlier glare than the one Kalugal had been treated to. "My mate knows who she's bonded to. As long as I show up to the ceremony, she'll be fine."