Good Will Ghost Hunting: Demon Seed [Good Will Ghost Hunting 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)
Page 28
She started sending Kal e-mails with links to crochet patterns for baby clothes, asking if she liked them.
No, her mother wasn’t very good at subtle hints. Kal didn’t have the heart to tell her it was too hot in Florida for a majority of the outfits her mother wanted to make her future grandchild that hadn’t even been considered, much less conceived yet.
Despite the quieting on the Ohio front, Kal felt more at home in Tampa with Will, Aidan, and the rest of the gang than she ever had in her parents’ home. With all secrets out in the open, the men now included Kal in most things. She worried about the other men when they were sent on assignments for The Firm, even though they mostly consisted of routine diplomatic excursions with negligible risk. Ryan hadn’t contacted her to send Will out yet, a fact she felt immensely grateful for.
They kept Jeff in the dark for now. Aidan hinted to Kal that he might have serious feelings for her former romantic nemesis. Kal didn’t pry, sensing Aidan and Jeff hadn’t become intimate yet. From the look in Jeff’s eyes when Aidan walked into a room, Kal knew it was simply a matter of time before the men took things further.
Editing the show wasn’t one of her favorite jobs, but it had to be done and she had a talented eye for it. When not on shoots she worked in the edit room combing through footage, either alone or with Aidan.
Tonight, she worked alone. Kal closed her eyes for a moment. The only one in the office, she still had three hours of footage to go through and not nearly enough sleep to do it on. When Kal felt the air shift, she waited for a moment before speaking to the person she knew stood in the doorway behind her.
“Hello, Ryan.”
His soft chuckle stirred something unfamiliar and not entirely unpleasant within her. “Hello, Kal. How’ve you been, love?”
Although they had talked on the phone many times, she hadn’t seen Ryan since that night at the Ohio location shoot when he took care of her father a few weeks earlier. She’d been to Ohio a few times, but Will or Aidan had taken her.
Even Will’s attitude toward Ryan had changed, softened a little. While she easily called him friend, something deep inside niggled at her, an almost uncomfortable familiar feeling she didn’t want to contemplate. He was a handsome man. While he’d never been inappropriate with her, she sensed something from him that resonated deep in her soul.
Something she knew she should never explore, and never would.
Kal opened her eyes and swiveled her chair to look at Ryan. He stood in the edit room doorway, lounging against the frame, his arms casually crossed.
“You don’t seem surprised I knew it was you,” she said.
He finally broke his pose. He took the other chair and kept a reasonable, yet familiar distance. “Should I be surprised? Someone of your strength should easily detect me, of all people. Congratulations, by the way.”
Ryan looked like an ordinary man. At ease in a chambray shirt and khaki slacks, he could be a young software programmer or a lawyer on casual Friday, not the son of Hades and head executive of the Underworld.
“Thank you. I’ve meant to ask you how you just happened to show up at the Ohio shoot when my dad arrived.”
He shrugged. “I promised Will I’d keep an eye on you. Your stress levels shot through the roof. I don’t spy on you, if that’s your concern. I just tend to keep an ear to the ground, as it were. If something doesn’t feel right to me, I check it out.”
“I appreciate that.” And she truly did. It comforted her to know he looked out for her. “I have a favor to ask.” She managed to shock him with her request, but he nodded.
“I’d be honored. Has Will agreed to this?”
“Yep.”
Ryan leaned back in his chair and smiled. “The Baptist preacher’s daughter married by the Devil to an archdemon in a church. I have to admit, it’s got flair.”
She grinned. “I thought you’d appreciate that.” Her curiosity got the better of her. “Why Atlanta?”
“Why do you think they call it Hotlanta? Oh, and I’ve got a matter to discuss with you.” He outlined his plan for her to regularly “commute” between Columbus and Tampa, both for work and to allow her more time with her parents so she could plan the wedding.
Despite her conflicted feelings for Ryan, Kal wanted to sit there and talk with him for hours. Then she remembered the whiff of a thought she’d picked up from Will. “Tell me why you and Will and Aidan aren’t friends anymore.”
If she’d startled Ryan before, then this took him by total surprise, something she didn’t think possible. He tried to hide it, but the slight catch in his breath betrayed him despite his playful, distracting smile.
“Long-dead history, love.” He met her eyes. “Best left to the ages, isn’t it? I think it should be enough we’re back on speaking terms, right?”
“But you and Abby used to talk all the time.”
His sad look stirred something deep inside her. The son of a gun had a heart. Too bad she was the only one who got to see it.
“Quite frequently. She acted as our liaison. She was an exceptional woman, a perfect complement for Will. Any man would be lucky to have someone such as her for their soul mate.” He studied the carpet pattern.
“Why the cologne?”
He wistfully smiled. “She gave it to me the Christmas before she died. She liked it. So did I.”
“How long have you been bringing flowers to her grave?” Kal whispered. “And why?”
She realized she had caught Ryan in a truly vulnerable place. She leaned over and grabbed his arm before he could think about disappearing. “Tell me—the truth.”
He wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Again, some things are best left lost to time.” His voice sounded strained.
A horrifying question she didn’t really want answered escaped her lips. “Were you sleeping with her?”
His eyes snapped to hers. His tone hardened. “For one, Abby was completely and utterly devoted to Will. They had a pure bond, unbroken and untainted until her death. She died for him, protected him, refused to divulge where he was and wouldn’t call him to her because she rightfully feared for him. He doesn’t know that, by the way, and he shouldn’t. For another, I would never, regardless of what you or anyone else may think of me, ever do something like that. I have loved and lost and choose to keep that part of my soul private from others. It is one of the few things I can truly call mine in this existence.”
He twisted his arm free from her grasp but didn’t disappear. She realized when he rubbed his wrist how hard she’d gripped him. “I will give you a lot of latitude in this organization because of who you are and who you are bonded to,” he said. “I am very fond of you, but don’t you ever dare disparage her memory again by suggesting she was anything other than a wonderful woman.”
From the way his eyes burned she knew she’d hit a nerve. For the first time, she feared Ryan, saw a glimpse of what he was capable of.
Worse, she’d hurt his feelings. That made her feel like crap. “I’m sorry. I needed to ask. I needed to know.”
He nodded. His expression and voice softened. “That’s a rather sensitive subject for me, love. One I’d appreciate not revisiting.”
“Wait.” Kal studied him as another thought slammed home. “How do you know Abby didn’t call Will to her before she died? Will never told me that.”
“You don’t need to—”
Kal’s horrified whisper thundered in her ears, or maybe that was her heart galloping with the truth of the sudden revelation. “Abby called you to help her. That’s what you meant when you said that you failed to protect her. That you didn’t get to her in time. She called you that day because she was afraid Will would be killed and she thought you could help her.”
She saw the thought before Ryan could clamp down on it. Her breath caught in her throat. “They killed her when you appeared instead of Will. You couldn’t save her because she wasn’t your soul mate.”
“Not in that life.” He squeezed his eyes shut as if wishing he
could recall the words to his lips.
“You loved her.” Kal traded on her status and prayed she was right, and that Ryan just wanted to protect his private pain. She hated to pry, but she had to know, had to have answers to her questions once and for all. “Abby was Will’s soul mate. How could you fall in love with her?”
He took a deep, shuddering breath, as if to regain control. “Your parents’ views are but a fraction of reality, as you are learning. We live one existence through many lives. Some of us live long lives, some of us live many short ones. All of us, not just archdemons. There is no Heaven, no Hell, as you know it. There is energy and life and death and renewal. Quantum physics, laws of thermodynamics. Conservation of energy, you cannot create or destroy it—”
“It only changes forms,” she finished.
He nodded.
Kal tried to impart meaning to his words. Ryan would never come out and say it.
She gasped as the puzzle pieces snapped into place. “In her former life, Abby was…” Kal found she couldn’t say it. It explained so much, including why Ryan distanced himself from Will and Aidan so long ago. Stunned, she whispered, “That’s why you could never take another soul mate…all these years?”
Ryan met her gaze. Kal knew she didn’t imagine the tears in his eyes, the ancient pain etched on his face.
His voice sounded choked when he finally spoke. “Again, this is one of the things that should remain lost to time. It is my private pain. I do not wish to share it. You can—and should—keep your suppositions to yourself, love.” He disappeared. Kal made no attempt to summon him back to her.
He imparted her with two brief snippets of silent knowledge as he left. One, Abby never knew, never suspected who she’d been in her previous life. Neither did Will or Aidan.
And two, for reasons he didn’t specify, Ryan wanted it kept that way.
Kal closed her eyes and cried.
THE END
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Tymber Dalton lives in southwest Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”), son, and too many pets. She loves to hear from readers. Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for her newsletter to keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and releases. (Don’t forget to look up her writing alter egos Lesli Richardson, Tessa Monroe, and Macy Largo!)
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