“Most spirit walkers require a partner to hold their hand in the spirit world. There’s danger of not returning. I’ll guard your mind, Evie. I’ll make sure you always find a way back.”
“There have been times I didn’t want to find my way back.” When I wanted to join my A’s and Joel.
“It can be a trap in the mind.” His fingertips brushed my brow. “Trust me with yours?”
Trust mind, body and soul. Your guardians.
“Oh my God. You’re the guardians.” I relied on Michio to care for my physical health and Yang. “Of course, a doctor guards my body.”
Annie called Roark my heart fixer. He was my believer, my sense of direction and… “The guardian of my soul.”
“The priest,” Jesse said.
I met his eyes. Jesse saw my ghosts which meant I wasn’t crazy. He would protect me from madness. “A Lakota guards my mind.”
“Yes.”
“You knew this. What else are you not telling me?”
He stood and tugged me up by my arm. “We should go. I guarantee your body and soul are hunting my head as we speak.”
“What are you hiding?”
He righted my bike and seated me on it. His fingers slipped over the turquoise rock between my breasts. “Not even a close comparison to the stunning complexity of your eyes, but you give it depth. I knew you would.”
The stone dropped on my sternum. He straddled his bike, his lips in a pale line. When our enduros coughed to life, his shot forward and blazed a trail through the meadow. I snapped my molars together and sped to catch up.
A shadow blotched the trail and swept over us. The dark shape stretched and rippled. I whipped my head skyward. The sun blinded me and the enduro wobbled. I slowed and regained my balance.
Jesse swung his bike around. “A plane? We’re not far from the airport.”
Golden ribbons streaked the sky. “Maybe.”
“Let’s pick up our pace.”
We hit the high plateau and Jesse crawled to a stop. Michio stepped onto the path before us, knuckles jutting around his cane.
“Put your shinobi-zue away, Doc. We made a stop. She’s fine.”
Michio never took his eyes off me. “Evie?”
“I’m fine.” I scooted back and patted the seat.
He slipped the cane in a loop on his belt and cradled my face in his palms. “I’ll let you tell that to your priest. He’s scouring the mountain, convinced that you’ve hurled yourself into battle again.”
I touched my lips to the hard-edges of his mouth. The tension there said Roark had convinced him as well. He clutched my thigh and saddled in front of me. I slid my hands over his chiseled abs and buried my face in sandalwood. “What did Jesse call your stick? A shinobi what?”
A quiet chuckle danced over his shoulder and the bike plunged down the hill. Jesse didn’t follow.
“Evie?” A groggy shake. “Evie, wake up.”
I snapped to my feet, dagger out.
Roark fell back with a gasp in the dark. “Jaysus, love. One of these nights, you’re gonna flay me nose.”
I sheathed the knife and rubbed my eyes. “Shit, sorry. My turn, huh?” We’d agreed to split the night watch in pairs. Jesse and Roark. Tallis and me. Cliff and Michio.
“If you’re not up for it,” Michio said from the bed we shared, “I’ll take yours.”
“I’m good. Sorry I woke you.”
Roark handed me the carbine and thigh holster. His lips moved against my forehead. “Den’ forget to—”
“I know. Watch the sky.”
I stepped over Cliff’s blanket-wrapped body and trudged to the door. On the porch, I was greeted with a swipe of drool between my fingers.
“Hi boy.”
Darwin’s tail whipped back and forth, dragging his rear with it. Tallis leaned against the far-side of the house. When he saw me, he jogged over.
“Hey.” He puffed on a hand-rolled cigarette and held it out to me.
I inhaled, let it soak in my lungs, and handed it back.
“Keep it.” He lit another.
I finished the final drag. “Where’s Jesse?”
“Tree line. Twenty yards in. Two o’clock.”
The mountains shadowed the evergreens and reduced them to a prickly smudge against the gray sky. “I take it he’s not going to share the bed with Roark and Michio.”
Tallis dropped his head back, expelling smoke and laughter into the night sky.
“Shh.” I started toward the trees. “I’ll be right back.”
He grabbed my wrist. “You can’t.”
“I can.” I twisted my arm free.
“He’s the master at evading detection.”
“Well, shit. Bastard’s evaded me all night.”
“For what it’s worth, I think he’s trying.”
“Trying is a great way to describe him.”
He bowled another laugh, stopping abruptly when he caught my glare. “All right.” He flicked his squashed cig. “You want his attention, tell me to kiss you.”
“What?”
He cocked a lopsided grin. “You have to lure the beast out of hiding before you can tame him. Tell me to kiss you.”
“I’m sure you have balls, but I don’t want to see the evidence hanging in the Humvee.”