“Best plan I’ve heard all night.” Jace bent down and patted Liam on the back in commiseration. “Don’t try to understand this one, buddy. Believe me, it’s a bitch.”
Chapter Eleven
Dani sat by the pool, her feet in the water as she watched the sunrise. Jace, Bailey and Kaya were all passed out somewhere inside the house, waiting for Liam to make breakfast.
They’d talked all night long about what they’d seen. Kaya told them what she knew from her grandfather’s stories. Bailey shared her theories pertaining to hallucinogens in the water. And they’d all wondered why they’d stood there, rooted to the spot, as Stax and the wolf that had joined him carried “Sal the shitbag murderer” away.
Stax wasn’t a magician or a hypnotist, he was a legend that shouldn’t exist. One that she’d shared a night of passion with. And because of their connection, he’d taken Sal somewhere he could never reach her again.
She still wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She believed in justice, not vengeance. She was a healer who protected the living. But Will had told her the coyote spirit would protect her, and it had. It had done what judges and lawyers and all the sealed records in the world couldn’t manage after three years. It had saved her life.
Her heart was another matter.
She and Liam had been avoiding eye contact all night, agreeing that, for the moment, the supernatural took precedence. But she couldn’t forget that he’d lied to her.
Even about the house. It didn’t belong to a friend. It was his. It had always been his.
She tried to see it from his perspective. When she’d first met him, he’d been different, more guarded. But as soon as he introduced himself, she’d known she could trust him. They’d talked for hours about favorite movies and foods, nothing too deep. Noisy parties and crowded cafes weren’t the best place to bare your soul, and that was where they’d spent the first half of their relationship.
If he’d told her then, she would have been intimidated, she knew that. Dani had struggled with money her whole life. She’d been bussed around from one poor, friend-of-a-cousin’s relative to another; working to pay her own way by the time she was fourteen. She would have assumed they had nothing in common.
She would have been wrong.
Sal, on the other hand, had looked so good on paper. Online he’d been her perfect match. He’d told her he had a master’s degree, a job as an engineer, a loving family that couldn’t wait to meet her. He’d told her he loved her and wanted to treat her like a queen. But he’d lied about everything, and those lies had almost destroyed her.
“Lion tamer?”
She blinked over at the gate. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised to see Will at her house after the night she’d had. But she was.
“Did you walk here?”
He shushed her and gestured her over, speaking in low tones when she finally stood beside him. “I finished your present and you needed it. Have you been crying?”
Her hand came up to touch her damp cheek. “A little. But I’m okay.”
Will sighed. “I know it must have been hard for you, living most of your life surrounded by two-hearts. But you’ve done well.”
“Two-hearts?”
“People who think with their head instead of their heart. They analyze and plan and live life for themselves. Never doing for others without expectation, never giving up comfort to give it to another. They never hear the coyote’s howl and recognize its song.”
Dani peered at him suspiciously. “Have you ever met a guy named Stax, Will?”
He smiled, his eyes disappearing again. “I’m an old man. I know many things, but I don’t get out much. Besides, I’ve been too busy finishing your tihu to meet new people.” He reached into his pouch and pulled out the wooden figurine she had watched him create.
“It’s beautiful.” She’d seen so many of these in the shops around town, but the fact that it had been created for her made it special. “Which kachina is this?”
“The White Bear. A powerful warrior who gives us strength, but he’s a healer too, drawn to other healers, like you.”
Dani bit her lip, suddenly feeling like she might cry again. “Thank you. I still don’t think I’m that much of a warrior.”
He made a noise of impatience. “There you go, thinking with your head instead of your heart again. You can feel what’s true now, can’t you? You know what matters.”
Will turned as if to walk away, but hesitated, sending Dani a hopeful look over his shoulder. “You, uh, won’t tell Kaya I walked here, will you? I have a friend a few houses down. We’ll visit and she’ll drive me back before anyone knows I’m gone.”
Dani held her kachina close to her chest and nodded. “I won’t say a word as long as you get off your feet soon and drink some water.”