After several minutes of being mesmerized by the movement of the ocean flowing in and out and getting lost in the magic of the place, Cael rubbed his hand over the hood of his sweatshirt on the back of his neck. This was not helping take his mind off his feeling of loneliness or his father’s sudden “I need to talk to you” lousy timing. A midnight jog alongside the water was what he needed.
Instead of teleporting down to the beach, he decided to take his time and walk down the steep gradient, a ridiculously stupid undertaking in the dark, but he figured the distraction of calculating exactly the safest place to step might help his mood. Halfway down his foot caught on a twig and he went flying head first. Being able to dematerialize in midair came in handy he thought as his molecules reformed down at the bottom of the hill. Good thing it was dark and nobody was around to see that. As he walked down closer to the water, after stopping halfway and wondering where the water was, he saw something that looked like a body. He’d have to figure out where the water was another time, he decided as he ran to the body. Bending down to check on the person, he recognized the woman immediately.
“Addison?” When she didn’t respond, he touched his finger to the side of her neck for a pulse. She was alive, thank God. What had happened to her? She was out cold. He looked around but didn’t see anyone who might have hurt her. Did she trip on something? He didn’t see any rocks around that she could have stumbled over. “Addison,” he said again, cradling her head in his hand so that her face was out of the sand and stroking his hand over her forehead, brushing some of the gritty grains away. “Addison, can you hear me?”
“Uh—” She slowly opened her eyes and blinked “Uh …” Her lips moved but nothing more came from them and she stirred under his grip, squeezing her eyes tight before opening them again.
“Be still. Are you hurt anywhere?” When she didn’t answer, he asked again. “Addison, are you hurt?”
“My head. I … I don’t know what happened. I think someone or something hit me on the back of my head.” He gently rubbed his fingers over her skull. “Ouch.”
“Sorry. There’s quite a lump back there. I don’t feel any blood but I should get you to the hospital. You might have a concussion.”
“No, I’ll be okay. Just help me sit up, okay?”
“Sure. I still think you should get checked out.” As he helped her to a sitting position, he scanned the empty beach again then looked up the gradient toward the sky as the clouds moved east of the moon. The moonlight, casting shadows from the trees growing out from the cliff side, made him wonder if anybody was still around, watching. He didn’t sense anyone, which was good. Good for them; if he’d seen or caught the fuckwad who had done this, he’d beat the holy crap out of him and ask questions later. “What were you doing down here at night and all alone?” The question came out as though he was reprimanding her for skipping out on a curfew or something.
“I couldn’t sleep, too much going through my mind.” She reached behind her head and touched the lump. “Oooh, boy. That is going to hurt for a couple of days, I think.”
“Do you live around here?”
“Yeah. We … I live just up that hill.”
Cael glanced back up at the beautiful house he’d been admiring. It was her house? Well, didn’t that beat all odds? She probably lived there with Aiden who was no doubt still performing with the band at the bar and grill.
“Do you think you could walk me home?”
“Sure. You shouldn’t be out here by yourself, you know.”
“Yeah. I got that.”
“Christ, sorry, I didn’t mean to talk to you like you’re a little kid. It’s just seeing you sprawled out like that and the lump on your head made my parental instincts surface.” Or whatever kind of instincts they were. He wasn’t entirely sure, certain they weren’t entirely parental, but for lack of a better word to describe them....
“Parental?”
“Well, not that I have any. Kids, that is. I just sort of went into some kind of protection mode. I didn’t know what else to call it, I guess.”
She smiled. A beautiful smile too.
“My cop background coming out, maybe.”
“You’re a cop?”
“No. Not anymore, but up until a few days ago, I thought I still was.” He frowned thinking about the major problem that kept resurfacing every time he spoke to her or anyone else around here.
“Right. I’m sorry.”
“Well, it’s not your fault.”
“Hmmm … listen.” She stopped at the bottom of the hill. “I don’t think I can walk up the steep slope. Do you think maybe you could …”
“Carry you?” he interrupted, picking her up and cradling her in his arms. She felt good, like she belonged there. But that was a silly notion, since she belonged to someone else.
“Uh … not exactly what I had in mind.”
“No? What did you have in mind?”
“I … uh … thought … never mind. If you think you can carry me up the hill then that would be fine.”
***
So, Cael didn’t trust her enough to use his abilities around her. No shock there, but it hurt. She’d hoped Bart would have mentioned something about who her father had been. Just maybe he’d shared some small detail about her abilities, affording Cael the comfort of using his own to teleport them back to the beach house quickly. Then again, carrying her worked too. Even better, Addie thought, as she lay tucked into Cael’s strong arms, hugging hers around his neck. Being so close against his chest, she inhaled his fresh wonderful scent, a musky, saltwater aroma, as if he just stepped out of the sea, even when he wasn’t on the beach. No matter what, he still smelled the same, a natural smell that she’d know anywhere, unmatched by any store-bought cologne. A smell she had only been able to dream about for the past month.
Addie clung to him as he trekked up the side of the hill. It had to be difficult, even for him, but he wasn’t even breathing heavy. She held on, wanting to squeeze her arms even tighter and never let go, but that wouldn’t work. He’d have no clue why she would be clutching so firmly. God, she wished she could tell him everything.
After entering the house, Cael looked around at all the furniture and decorations they had chosen together after he had asked her to marry him. Hoping for some sign of recognition she knew wouldn’t come, she realized she’d been holding her breath and sighed heavily.
“Nice house.”
“Thanks.” It’s yours, her mind screamed, wishing he could read her thoughts again.
“I was admiring it earlier as I walked, or, uh … trespassed through to the archway. That really is something. I’m sure you’ve noticed the figure in the rocks.”
Trespassed? God, this was awful. Now he’s apologizing for trespassing on his own property. “Yeah. I’ve noticed it.”
“It’s almost as if it might actually come alive sometimes.”
“You have no idea,” she said softy, closing her eyes as she leaned back on the sofa, cringing at the pain stabbing the back of her head.
“You need ice.” Her eyes popped open at his words. “Mind if I go get some?” he said, pointing toward the kitchen.
“Of course not. Please … um … make yourself at home.” Maybe something in that kitchen would trigger his memory. He did love to cook. While he searched through the freezer, she squeezed her eyes tight and begged softly. Please make this your home again, please see something here that will remind you of us.
“Don’t you have any peas?” His muffled question came from the kitchen and Addie figured he was digging around in the freezer.
“Peas? Why?”
She began to get alarmed when she heard banging from the kitchen and she thought her head would explode, but exhaled a sigh of relief when he came walking out, holding a bag of crushed ice. “Come on. A frozen bag of peas works great as an ice pack. Everybody knows that. Here, this should work,” he said, handing her a baggie packed full of tiny ice chips.
She took it and stuck
it on the lump at the back of her head. “Ouch.”
“Ease it on. Here, give it to me.” He sat on the edge of the sofa and leaned over her, holding the bag in his hand. “The trick is to put it on slowly and gently at first, especially with ice cubes. They’re not very injury friendly, but you didn’t have much in there. In fact, you didn’t seem to have much of anything in the way of food in there. You must eat out a lot.”
“No. I just haven’t been doing much cooking lately.” She supposed that if Aiden hadn’t brought dinner almost every night over the past week, she probably would have gone to the store. But she still didn’t have much of an appetite and going to the store to buy things that would most likely go bad and get thrown out seemed like a waste.
***
Cael gently palmed the nape of Addison’s neck with one hand and placed the bag of ice against the back of her head with the other. He closed his eyes as he inhaled her sweet aroma. She smelled so good. “There, how’s that?” She leaned back against the ice as he sat up straight and gave her a smile, hoping he’d been able to make her more comfortable.
“It’s good, thanks.”
He stayed on the sofa close to her, staring down at her beautiful eyes. Man, they were magnetically mesmerizing; rich, deep brown with specks of gold and full of so much agony. The lump on the back of her head must be very painful.
“Do you always go walking down on the beach at night by yourself?” For some reason he didn’t like the idea of her being so vulnerable, though why should he care so much about this woman he hardly knew? A woman who belonged to another man. God, he wanted to kiss her, kiss that painful look in her eyes away. He’d liked to take those soft full lips with his, certain they tasted as good as they looked. What was it about her that made him want to throw out all his scruples and pursue another man’s woman? That was definitely not like him. “Who would have done this to you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did they take anything from you? Were you carrying a purse, anything of value?”
“No, I …” She splayed her fingers across her chest and gasped. “Oh no!” She sat up, the bag of ice chips falling behind her back. “My necklace. The crystal! It’s gone!”
“Crystal?”
She stared at him as he tried to get some sense of what she was about and then her mind closed off to him, almost as if on purpose. “It’s a … a necklace my father gave me. It’s extremely valuable to me.”
“I see.”
She was on her feet now. “No … you don’t. Oh, God. I’m dizzy.” He grabbed onto her as she began to sway and helped her back down to the sofa.
“You’d better stay down for a while. Are you sure you were wearing the necklace? Maybe it’s upstairs. What does it look like? I could go up and check for you.”
“No!” she practically shouted. Then added in a softer tone, “You can’t go upstairs.”
“Okay. I didn’t mean to intrude upon your privacy.” Wow. What the hell was upstairs that she didn’t want him to see?
“I’m sorry. It’s just a mess up there. I had trouble deciding what to wear tonight and everything is all over the bed. I’d hate to have you see all my … personal things lying around. I’m positive it’s not up there anyway. The crystal … I mean the necklace, I never take it off.”
“This necklace, what does it look like?” he asked again since she didn’t answer him the first time. “Maybe it’s down on the sand. I could go back down and check, which reminds me, what’s up with the water or should I say the lack of it?”
“The water?”
“Yeah, the ocean. You always have low tides that extreme?”
“Yeah, we do.” She chuckled, as though there was some private joke he wasn’t privy to, but then she quickly added, “It has something to do with the drop-off being so far out. The shallow water makes the tide go out further.
“But the crystal won’t be there. It’s not something that would ever come off unless someone cut the chain. It didn’t have a clasp.”
Something clicked in his brain, the way she referred to the necklace as the crystal. The crystal. Remembering his safe back at the Sectory, the book had been there, but not the crystal. He’d just thought that Ristéard still had the crystal but had instructed Cael to put the book in the safe. That seemed logical at the time, but that was before Cael learned about Ristéard’s death. This is absurd. Why would this girl have the crystal? Whatever the reason, she didn’t seem like sharing and on the slim chance that she wasn’t talking about the crystal, he didn’t want to expose his kind by asking about it.
“Cael.” She uttered his name softly, precisely and with serious intent, capturing his eyes with hers. “There’s something you need to know.” She swallowed and he watched the muscles in her neck contract. “Please sit.” She patted the sofa next to her where he’d been sitting before.
***
In spite of it all—the missing crystal, the pain in the back of her head matching the ache in her heart—she smiled. The explanation about the tide was something he had explained to her while they vacationed in Bora Bora. Comparing the two beaches, the conversation somehow turned to the tides and how he never realized how far out Oregon’s water retreated until he’d bought the beach house. She wanted to reach out and run her finger over his lips as the flashback of their softness on hers seeped into her mind. She wanted so much to taste them again. Shaking off the wonderful memory, Addie studied Cael’s face. She had something important to tell him and needed to focus back on the present, not the past. The anticipation in his eyes at what she had to say suggested he knew it was something significant.
“The crystal belonged to my father. It was a gift from him. I’ve worn it ever since he gave it to me and have never taken it off.” She waited for that to sink in to see if he’d realize who her father could have been. When he said nothing, she continued. “Ristéard was my father and the guardian of the crystal. The crystal that someone stole tonight.”
He still only stared at her. God, this was so weird. A backward replay. The complete opposite of how it went before, their roles now reversed. Instead of him explaining everything to her, she was now explaining things to him. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
He got up, moved to sit in one of the chairs opposite the sofa and placed his elbow on his knee. Leaning his chin on his hand, his fingers partly covering his mouth, he stared at her.
“Cael?” She sat up now. He remained silent. Didn’t he believe her? That thought never occurred to her. What if she told him everything right now, would he reject her? That was a possibility. Oh God. She didn’t think she could endure that. Considering his reaction to what she’d just told him, she guessed everyone was right about not telling him about their relationship.
He blinked and stood, paced to the doorway of the kitchen and returned. Sitting down on the same chair, he resumed his position and again stared at her. “Sorry. So, you are Ristéard’s daughter.”
“Yes. My father kept my existence a secret from the Sectorium.”
“I see.”
“Do you? Oh God, I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me.”
“No. I was just being polite. Actually, I’m having a little difficulty with this. Why would Ristéard, a man, by the way, who taught me everything I know about fighting, honesty, and trust, a man I loved and thought of as my own father, hide you away from me?”
“Because he was afraid if anyone knew of my existence their life would be at risk as well as mine. He didn’t want you subjected to danger anymore than he wanted me to be.”
“Danger? From what? Or whom?” He laughed a little bit and asked, “And is MacKenna your last name or did you change it to protect your identity? Because I seriously doubt if Ristéard had a daughter hidden away somewhere he would let her use his last name. How stupid do you think I am?”
“Yes, that is my name!” she shouted. “And no, I don’t think you’re stupid at all. Look. You can check with your mother. She knows about this. She’d kn
own all along and she was the one … this is too much. I can’t go into all this detail right now. I am Ristéard’s daughter and because of that, believe it or not, there will undoubtedly always be people out there who would love to see me dead. That could easily be arranged if someone has the crystal. We need to find it.”
“Okay, okay. If what you are telling me is true …”
“It is!”
“Okay. If what you are telling me is true,” he repeated, “and I guess there’s really no reason why you would be lying … then let me ask you something.”
“Anything.” She sank back against the sofa and sighed, relief settling into her bones.
“Do we know each other?”
Her eyes shot up to his but she didn’t know what to say. God, she wished she could just tell him everything, wished she had the power to completely restore his memory. “Damn it, Gerry.”
“Excuse me?”
“Gerry, my aunt’s husband. You know, the guy who accidentally took away your memory.”
“Oh, that guy. I guess this is all making more sense now, you being related to the guy who stole my memory and all.”
“It was an accident.”
“So you said. Now, tell me, Addison MacKenna, do we,” he moved his finger from her to himself several times, “you and I, know each other?”
Chapter 11
Wind sliced through the air, sending tree branches slamming against the window, scratching and clawing as if they wanted to come in the dark room of the two-story motel. The soft glow from the muted television providing the only light gave him a little comfort along with his tumbler of scotch. What a fucking mess.
A Secret Fate Page 11