Soul of the Sea

by Jasmine Denton

  “Hey.” She softly trailed her fingertips up the nape of his neck. The touch left him shivering, made his instincts beg him to act on his feelings. “What’s wrong?”

  He gnashed his teeth down harder to control his trembling lips, desperate to tell her the truth. “I wish I were somebody else.” His voice was husky and strained. “Somebody who could be with you.”

  ***

  Her heart fluttered, then leapt with joy. He wanted to be with her? She wasn’t hallucinating again? “Why can’t you?”

  “There are people who don’t like me,” he said. “They would hurt you.”

  She combed her fingers through his hair. “You mean your family?”

  He nodded.

  She felt sorry for him, to fear his own family that way. It must be horrible, and she wanted to hold him, to take away the pain they caused. “Jared’s a cop...or deputy or whatever they call it. He could help you, if you asked him.”

  He laughed softly, breaking eye contact as his fingers spread across the small of her back. “It’s not that simple.”

  “Why not?”

  “They’re not easily stopped, Mykaela.”

  “You’re afraid of them?”

  “I am.”

  She smiled as she wound her arms around him. “You have to face your fears sometime.”

  Taking her own advice, she pressed her lips against his.

  He let out a soft sound, a whimper. Tightening his arms around her, he kissed her back, protecting her and claiming her at the same time. She tasted salt on his cool lips, and her breathing quickened when she felt his biceps constrict beneath her hands. A zap of electricity passed between them and bit her on the lips. When Mykaela opened her eyes, a soft glow, pale blue in color, hovered between their joined mouths. The orb of light grew brighter and brighter, the slow spinning swirls radiated between them as their lips remained locked. In the back of her mind, she knew she should be afraid—strange lights don’t normally appear when people kiss—but she wasn’t. Instead, she let the calmness of it wash over her, leaving her with a feeling so serene, so beautiful. For the first time in her life, she felt complete. She could have kissed him forever.

  She forced herself to pull away. Her heart pounded so hard, she thought it might explode unless she ended the kiss. She didn’t bother to ask Dylan if he’d seen the orb, the iridescent whirls. He’d only deny it, and she knew better. He’d seen what she did—at least, he’d felt it. There was no reason to make him lie to her.

  His lips tried to follow her, but he stopped, and slowly opened his eyes to look at her. He ran his tongue across his lips, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “Why couldn’t I have met you sooner?”

  “Fate’s twisted like that.”

  He chuckled, his gaze traveling somewhere far away, beyond her and this moment they’d shared. “You have no idea.”

  “Tell me,” she said. “Please?”

  “I can’t.” He stroked her hair. “It would bring you no comfort to know.”

  She wouldn’t beg him, even though she was dying to know what he was running from. Clearing her throat, she put some distance between them, but kept her hands on his shoulders to remain afloat. “We should probably get back, huh?”

  “Yeah.” He swam them to the ledge and lifted her onto it, and they left their kiss behind.

  ***

  Jared rubbed his stiff neck as he walked from the police station to his car. A long day of immersing himself in records and coroner’s reports did nothing for the case except make him grumpy and tired.

  Some days, he thought they’d never win, never stop the supernatural predator that was killing girls. They’d never protect the town.

  Once inside his car, he rested his head against the steering wheel and heaved a heavy-hearted sigh.

  His heart took a running leap into his throat when his cell phone rang. Fumbling to pull it from the holder on his waist, he checked the caller ID. Sure enough, Morrigan’s hotel number scrolled across the tiny, blue-lit screen.

  He collapsed against the back of his seat, and laughed in relief, the way he sometimes did after a scary part of a movie passed. It was torture, but he forced himself to wait until the third ring to answer.

  He flipped open the phone, hoping he sounded distracted as he said, “Officer Whindom.”

  “I love it when you throw your badge around,” the silky-smooth voice rolled through his speaker and sent a flood of warmth through his body.

  “Morrigan. Finally decided to grace me with your presence?”

  “Why don’t you come over and find out?”

  He chuckled at the temptation, as his mind planned what he would do if he were to see her right now. “I really can’t. I’ve got to be up early for work.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said, and he could practically hear her grin. “I’ll be done with you by then.”

  “I bet you will.”

  She was quiet for so long, he was sure she’d hung up. When she spoke, she sounded offended, and maybe a little hurt. “Well, if you’re not interested…”

  “I’ll be there.” He closed his phone at the risk of sounding too needy.

  Revving his engine to a start, he mumbled to himself, “Way to make her beg. Really spectacular job.”

  Jared knew he should drive home, stand Morrigan up to punish her for ignoring him. If only he could bring himself to do it. Already, just seconds after hanging up the phone, the urge to see her was burning through him.

  He pulled into the hotel parking lot thirty minutes later, after a spur of the moment decision to pick up some beer. His eyes immediately searched the front of the hotel and the rows of doors, before finally landing on her window. The light glowed from behind the curtain, and a silhouetted figure moved across it–the slim curves could be nobody else.

  Unbuttoning his uniform shirt, his fingers grazed across the seashell necklace, his urge for her growing more impatient. He slipped out of the shirt, leaving only his white wife beater. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the beer and pushed the car door open, then anxiously walked across the parking lot to her door.

  She answered before he knocked, though he hadn’t seen her peek out the window, and his eyes never left it.

  She wore a slinky, black slip that magnified the beauty of her dark hair, of her pale-green eyes. Those legs…

  Seeing his face, her lips twisted in a slow grin. She curled her fingers around his wrist and pulled him inside. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, a giggle in her voice. “I missed you.”

  “You did?”

  “Of course I did.” She pushed him into a chair. Plucking the six-pack from his hand, she offered him a bottle. “What do you take me for?”

  “I don’t know what to make of you,” he said, gulping a swig of beer. “You’re a very confusing girl.”

  Giggling, she rested her hands on his shoulders and worked at the muscles. “How was work? You look exhausted.” The movements sent waves of pleasure to his brain and made it difficult to speak.

  “Same as it has been,” he said, remembering she’d asked him a question. “No progress on the case. Just more confusion.”

  “You’ll crack it soon enough.” She pressed her lips against his ear and trailed a fingernail up his neck. Her breath tickled him as she whispered, “If anyone can do it, you can.”

  He’d promised himself that they wouldn’t fool around tonight. Just talk, get to know each other. As the tip of her tongue flicked his earlobe and her nails scratched across his skin, he forgot everything but the tingle her fingers left in their wake.

  He stood from the chair and spun around, gripping her tight in his arms. He crushed his lips against hers, using his kiss to tell her how torn he was. How disjointed, wound up and helpless he felt.

  Like every other night, as they rolled around the bed in a wild frenzy, she helped him forget the worries that plagued him.

  Like every other time, when he woke the next morning, she was gone.

  His cell phone
was ringing, loud, persistent and annoying. All he wanted to do was slip back into a deep, peaceful sleep, but he flipped open the phone and managed a groggy, “Yeah?”

  “Where the hell are you?” Brad’s harsh voice assaulted his ears. “It’s one o’clock.”

  “What?” He bolted to a sitting position and glanced at the clock, praying it was a joke. It wasn’t. “I overslept—“

  “Ya think?”

  He rolled his eyes and grabbed his clothes from the floor. “I’ll be there soon.”

  “I’m not at the station, I’m at the Diner.”

  “All right.” He hung up his phone and scrambled to get dressed. Once inside his car, he rolled both windows down to keep him from falling back to sleep. He wished, not for the first time, that Morrigan took him up on his offer to stay at the Inn, and not that rundown motel twenty miles outside of town.

  When he reached the Diner, he found Brad in a booth. He looked pissed.

  Brad shot him with a cold gaze over the rim of his glass of Pepsi. “You’re late.”

  “For what?” he asked, straightening his shoulders. “Lunch?”

  “In case you’ve forgotten, people are dying around here.”

  “You’d never let me forget.” He glanced up at Gabby as she bounced up to the table with a notepad. “I’ll just take a cup of coffee.”

  “I bet,” she said. “You look exhausted—you feeling okay, sugar?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “You sure you don’t want anything else? Barb made your favorite—"

  “Just a coffee,” he snapped. He bit his lip, regretting the outburst. “Please.”

  She gave him a small smile. “Sure thing.”

  As she walked away, Jared rubbed a hand across his face.

  “She was just being nice, you know,” Brad said. “You look like hell. A disgrace to that rumpled uniform of yours.”

  “Thanks for that, really. Now, did you wake me up to bitch about how I look, or are we going to work on the case?”

  Brad raised an eyebrow and slid the folder across the table. “I did some research on dolphins and symbolism,” he said. “The dolphin is an ocean-dwelling mammal. It can breathe air, but spends much time underwater, too. In other words…” He stopped as Gabby brought Jared his cup of coffee.

  “Thanks,” Jared mumbled, barely glancing up from the folder.

  “In symbolism, it represents being in two worlds at once,” Brad finished. “Interestingly enough, pirates believed that the spirit of a mermaid lived in the heart of a dolphin. Some even thought dolphins could transform into beautiful maidens.”

  “But we know that’s bull—so what does this have to do with anything?”

  “The symbolism goes on and on. And get this—the ancient Greeks thought dolphins carried souls to the afterlife.”

  “Fascinating, but we’re not up against a dolphin.” He shoved the manila folder across the table and into Brad’s lap.

  “It’s the symbol that was carved in to every victim’s wrist. Now we know what it means—”

  “Yeah, that whatever is killing those girls has a sick sense of humor.”

  “Well, it’s something, isn’t it?”

  “No, not really.” He guzzled his coffee, hoping that would give him some energy.

  “Dude, what’s wrong with you?” Brad leaned his elbows on the table and eyed him up and down.

  “I’m just so tired all the time.”

  Brad laughed, shaking his head. “Well, maybe if you got more sleep and less ass—“

  Jared gave Brad’s leg a swift kick under the table. “It’s got nothing to do with her,” he said. “I’m just coming down with the flu or something.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Brad brought his glass to his lips. “Where is our little mystery woman , anyway?”

  Jared scowled at him, partly because Brad’s comment was rude, mostly because he didn’t want to answer.

  “Oooh,” Brad said, in a smooth, all-knowing tone. “Let me guess—she left you alone again, right?”

  “Brad,” he warned. He really wasn’t in the mood to rehash this subject.

  “You need to cut the girl loose, Jared. It’s that simple.”

  Jared stared at him in disbelief and tapped the table with his fingertips. Shaking his head, he stood from the table. “You know what?” He pulled a five-dollar bill from his wallet and left it on the table for Gabby. “Call me when you have some real news. I’m going to bed.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Drained

  Mykaela went about her chores at the Inn. She exchangedthe wrinkled sheets for clean ones, replaced the soaps and shampoos in the bathroomsand folded towels. She hummed while she worked, unable to get Dylan and their kiss off her mind.

  He’d kissed her! She still couldn’t believe someone like Dylan—gorgeous, poetic, thoughtful—could be interested in someone as meager as she. Yet, he’d pulled her close, pressed his lips against hers and murmured how much he wanted to be with her. Okay, so maybe she’d done the kissing, but he’d definitely been into it.

  She felt her cheeks flush when she remembered how good she felt wrapped in his arms.

  She told herself to stop obsessing over Dylan. She needed to, or come off totally pathetic and needy. It was bad enough that he’d barely looked at her since it happened. She refused to acknowledge that. Instead, she clung to their first kiss and hoped it wouldn’t be the last.

  She jogged downstairs for lunch and landed in the kitchen at the same time Jared came in the side door.

  His uniform was a mess, all wrinkled and rumpled. His skin was pale, and dark circles beneath his brown eyes made them look sunken.

  She didn’t say anything about it, though, figuring it would only make him feel worse. Instead, she bounced over to the counter. “I was going to make a sandwich,” she said. “Do you want one?”

  “No thanks.” He squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Do we have any coffee?”

  “In the middle of the afternoon?” she said, surprised. He was usually so alert, without the need for caffeine.

  He glared at her as he dropped his hand to his side. “Is it strictly a morning drink?”

  The meanness in the scowl shook her more than she’d expected. She swallowed, turning to the coffee pot. “I’ll make you some, just chill, okay?”

  “Sorry, I just…”

  She turned to him just in time to see the color drain from face, making it as white as the sheets she’d just folded. He took a step forward, then swayed as his knees buckled. He went down and landed on the floor with a resonating thump.

  “Jared?” She darted to him, but he already sitting up, waving her away.

  “I’m fine, I’m fine.” He struggled to stand up, grabbing on to the counter and using that as leverage. By the time he got on his feet, a line of sweat gathered around his forehead.

  “You don’t look fine,” she said slowly. “You look sick.”

  “I think I’ve got a bug or something,” he said, heaving for a breath while he leaned against the wall. He glanced up and offered her a half-smile. “I’ll be okay in a few days.”

  She watched as he caught his breath and the color returned to his cheeks. “The last thing you need is coffee. You should get some sleep.”

  “I think you’re right,” he said. Clutching the counter for balance, he headed for the steps. When the counter ended, he held onto the wall, and then the stair rail. Each step on the stairs sounded heavy and forced.

  Then a loud, thump, bam, thump sounded, and Jared landed in a heap at the bottom of the steps.

  “Oh, my God!” She ran to his side, relieved to find him conscious. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, just pissed off.” He sounded like it, too, and she stifled a laugh. How often did she get to see her strong, older brother helpless—or at least clumsy?

  “Let me help you,” she said, sliding her arm underneath his.

  He yanked away from her. “I don’t need help.”

>   “Will you stop being so sexist? You just fell down the stairs.”

  With a sigh, he let her help him to his feet. He leaned most of his weight on the rail, but held onto her for support as she guided him up the steps.

  When they made it to his room, he collapsed onto the bed and buried his face in his pillow. He was already snoring by the time she closed the door.

  ***

  Mykaela stopped by her bedroom and found her kitten, who she’d named Pearl, sleeping at the foot of the bed.

  Mykaela picked up the white kitten, cradling it in her arms. Pearl yawned, her pink tongue stretching out and then curling back inside her mouth. Mykaela giggled as the kitten squinted up at her, looking grumpy from being awakened from her nap.

  “Sorry,” Mykaela said, rubbing the cat between its ears. “But you have to get some fresh air. All you do is stay in here all day. It’s just not healthy.”

  Pearl squeaked a merrr-ow as Mykaela carried her down the steps and out the kitchen door. She ran straight into Dylan, almost dropping Pearl.

  The little cat jumped from her arms and stretched out on the porch. Mykaela glanced up at Dylan, her stomach twisting with anticipation.