There was no mistaking the grief in her father’s voice. The same pain pulsed in her own heart. It was never easy to put down a rogue Kalith, but it was far worse when it involved family. Even though she and Tiel had grown up in different worlds, they had been close as children. She hated that her memories of him were now tainted by the crazed killer who’d pinned her down in the mud on that mountainside with such violent lust in his gaze.
She knew the light disease was destroying the man she’d known; that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. The fact that her mother had died from the same illness only exacerbated her grief.
Her father knew the same pain firsthand. How many friends and family members had he lost over the years? Too many to count.
He followed the same path her thoughts had traveled. “I know it’s hard, honey. For now, let’s get you home so you can rest that ankle. If you call in an order to the diner, we’ll pick it up on the way to your place so you don’t have to cook.”
Her sense of duty reared its head. “But I’m supposed to be out on patrol today. If I stay home, you’ll be shorthanded.”
“I can cover your shift. It will do me good to get out from behind my desk for a few hours.”
There was one more problem that needed to be dealt with and soon. “My ATV is still up on the mountain. I left my work phone and wallet in it.”
“Your ankle should be better in the morning, so we can head up there to pick it up before work. It should be fine for that long, especially when no one knows it’s there.”
She grimaced. “Eli does.”
Her dad shrugged. “Nothing we can do about that. Besides, he can’t learn much from them even if he does go exploring.”
True enough. She kept very few numbers on that phone, all related to her job. Any personal calls came in on her other phone, which she hadn’t taken up on the mountain with her. “What do you think we should do about Tiel?”
“While I’m up there, I’ll do a little scouting around to see if there’s any sign of him. If he is the one who killed Martin, he’s probably got a bolt-hole someplace close to the cave up there. As far as I know, he can’t manipulate the barrier himself, but it does go up and down on its own once in a while. He’d sense that and likely cross back into Kalithia.”
“Let’s hope he stays there. Maybe the Sworn Guardians will have better luck in catching him.”
That wouldn’t change Tiel’s fate, but neither she nor her father would be the ones who had to execute him. Maybe that was cowardly on her part, but she’d save her father that pain if she could.
It was time to get moving. “Give me a minute to call in our order, and then I’ll be ready to go.”
“I’ll let dispatch know I’ll be out on patrol, and then I’ll bring my car around to the door so you don’t have to walk so far.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“That’s what fathers are for.” Then he grinned at her. “That and to warn you to stay away from men like Eli Jervain, at least until your old man has a chance to check him out.”
She laughed as he patted her on the shoulder and headed for the door that led to the city hall half of the building. In the meantime, she phoned in their order to the diner. Then she rolled her chair over by the door to cut down on the distance she had to walk. Although she didn’t have the same recuperative ability as some of her people, she still recovered from minor injuries faster than the purely human. If she babied her ankle for the rest of the day, it should be pretty much back to normal by morning.
Meanwhile, she pondered her father’s warning to stay away from Eli. Most of the time he treated her like the adult she was and stayed out of her personal life. As a result, she usually took any advice her father felt motivated to offer her pretty seriously. She pictured Eli’s quiet strength and gruff manner, remembered the way it had felt to be held in those strong arms, as well as his fierce determination to protect her—a total stranger—from a crazy man swinging a sword. The bottom line was that she owed him both her life and the benefit of the doubt. The fact that he was drop-dead gorgeous was beside the point.
She glanced at her father’s empty office. “Sorry, Dad, but one way or another, I’m going to see Eli Jervain again, and sooner rather than later.”
The sound of a car horn startled her out of her reverie. She pushed herself up to her feet and gingerly made her way outside, pausing just long enough to lock the door behind her. For now, she’d let her dad fuss over her a little and spend the afternoon catching up on her reading.
Tomorrow would be soon enough to get back to work and start solving the mystery of Eli Jervain.
“SIT DOWN, MAJOR,while I get us a couple of beers. Are you hungry? I’ve got sandwich makings.”
“A sandwich sounds good about now. And, by the way, can the formality. I’m here as your friend, not your commanding officer.” Mike sank down on the sofa with a sigh. “Damn, this feels good. I took a red-eye from D.C. and got in at oh dark thirty this morning. Before that, I was in Europe for a week. I drove straight here as soon as I landed, and I’m feeling every mile I traveled.”
Eli set the beer within easy reach of his friend. “After we eat, you can catch some shut-eye. We’ll talk later when you’ve had a chance to unscramble your brain from all the time zone changes. In fact, think about spending the night. I can thaw steaks for dinner.”
His friend didn’t hesitate. “I might take you up on that. The powers that be know I planned to take a couple of days of personal time, so they won’t be looking for me to report yet. Maybe I’ll crash here for the night and head back down to Seattle tomorrow.”
Eli threw together a quick lunch for the two of them and grabbed another pair of beers. By the time he carried everything over to the coffee table, Mike had already dozed off. Grabbing a few minutes of sleep at the drop of a hat was a talent most soldiers developed. It was tempting to let the man sleep if for no other reason than to give himself time to collect his thoughts. Too late. Mike’s eyes popped open as soon as Eli set the plates down.
He shifted to sit up straighter. “Sorry, didn’t mean to drift off like that.”
Eli sat down in Martin’s old recliner and got comfortable. “No problem.”
