The Stranger (10 page)

I was stunned. Was there really such a creature as a dream chaser?

“What do you know about dream chasers?” Seth said.

“The Athabaskans talk about them in their stories,” Anya said. “Dream chasers, walking barefoot in the snow without feeling cold or pain. In the winter, they’d freeze sometimes. In the summer, the tribes would follow them to the herds or to the best fishing spots. They’ve got remarkable instincts when they walk. They have to chase. It’s a blessing and a curse.”

“Chase after what?” Seth said.

“A dream, of course, but only they know which one. The dream is deep inside of them, which is why they can only chase while they sleep. What?” Anya said. “The elders in your family never explained it to you?”

“My mother died when I was young,” I said. “The doctors said...”

“Don’t get me started on doctors.” Anya waved a dirty hand in the air. “Those quacks don’t know squat about the human spirit. The Athabaskans, they knew. Just as they understood that the wind must blow and the fire must burn and the earth must quake and the water must flow, they knew that the chasers must chase.”

Dream chaser
. The name sounded intriguing, a lot more palatable than sleepwalker, somnambulist or parasomniac, and better than any of the dread-inducing sleep disorder labels that implied I was inadequate, nuts, or irreparably sick and headed to an early grave. Did I have a dream I chased?

“Hey.” Seth squeezed my hand. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.” I fought an urge to cling to his hand. “I’ve never heard it explained like that, that’s all.”

“Ah, see, my sharp tongue struck bull’s-eye.” Anya set her knife down, wiped her hands on her apron, and untied it from behind her neck. “After raising my boys, I forget what it’s like to talk to girls. You’ve got to strike hard and fast to get through a male’s thick skull. Not so with girls. She might be stubborn, Seth, but she listens. Listening is a sign of intelligence. Come on, girl, you need a drink.”

“Oh, no, thank you, I don’t drink.”

“Rubbish.” Anya started toward the house. “We all drink. I’ll make you some hot chocolate if you’d like. Nothing pickled, I promise.”

* * *

I sat on Anya’s ancient checkered couch sipping my hot chocolate, absorbing the heat from the fireplace. The thermometer on Anya’s deck indicated that it was forty degrees outside. Anya praised the sunny day and Seth seemed to think it was warm outside. Poor people. They didn’t know any better. Warm was eighty degrees and up.

Anya set a steaming mug in front of Seth. “I heard something about Alex, that he was going for it again.”

“He’s welcome to try.” Seth pursed his lips and blew on his mug. “Hell, some days I think he deserves the whole damn mess.”

“You don’t mean that foolishness,” Anya said.

She took a seat next to Seth and sipped from a fine English teacup as if she’d suddenly transformed into a Russian czarina. There was more to her than meets the eye. I felt a bit like an interloper, but I listened to Anya and Seth’s conversation anyway.

I didn’t really know what they were talking about, but I did recognize the name Alex. Seth had mentioned it the first time we’d met on that desolate Alaskan road. He had thought this Alex person had hired me to trick him. Seriously, what kind of messed-up family were the Ericksons?

“Alex’s got the boys at the mill riled up,” Anya was saying. “He’s promised them all sorts of goodies if they stick with him.”

“It’s Alex we’re talking about.” Seth sipped on his drink. “If the boys at the mill believe him, then they’re idiots.”

“The thing is,” Anya said, “you’ve promised them nothing.”

“I’ve promised them the jobs they’ve got,” Seth said testily. “And I’m trying to live by that promise, despite Alex’s best effort to break up the company.”

“Word is he’s gotten friendly with some high-up people. Talks an awful lot about Washington and them on the outside. He did a lot of politicking when you were gone, and after, when you were down.”

When he was down
. I glanced at Seth. He’d been very sick and for a long while. But these days, his body gave no sick vibes at all. He looked quite healthy to me, which might explain why every time his eyes settled on me, my nipples stiffened and my rebellious pussy clenched. My body’s messages were clearly intended for his, although I did my best to suppress all the chatter by sinking into my chair and slumping.

Seth’s attention shifted back to Anya. “How is it you know all this when you hardly ever step out of the homestead?”

“I watch out for my boys.” Anya patted Seth on the cheek. “Be careful. Will you?”

“Always am.” Seth squeezed her hand.

“I’ve got something for you.” Anya padded over to a drawer and pulled out a small package, which she unwrapped for Seth. “I got you what you wanted.”

Seth stole a look. I couldn’t see what was in the package, but his eyes lit up. He flashed Anya a smile capable of smelting bone and steel. “How did you manage?”

“I went to see the old man a few weeks back,” Anya said. “He was kind to us. I think she’ll like it very much.”

“Hell, yeah,” Seth said. “She’s going to love it. Will you be there?”

Anya scoffed. “You know how I feel about brownnosing brownnosers.”

“I feel the same way,” Seth said, “but I bet she’d be thrilled if you came.”

She?
I wondered who they were talking about. Maybe Seth had a girlfriend. Maybe he was playing with me after all. Whoever she was, I found myself resenting her on the spot. I didn’t want to stick around to hear about this mystery woman. Besides, I couldn’t ignore nature’s call anymore.

“Excuse me?” I said. “May I use your restroom?”

“Out the door to the left,” Anya said. “Follow the red rope.”

“The red rope?”

“So no one loses their way at night,” she explained. “So you can find the outhouse in the winter among the snow drifts.”

An outhouse. Of course. A hole in the ground.

I followed the red rope to the outhouse. It was a good ways from the house. The thought of trudging through the snow in the dark gave me the shivers, but at least it was daylight now. Once I got there, it was nicer than I expected. It even had a Styrofoam seat to pamper the backside and a generous supply of toilet paper.

With my business done, I stepped out of the outhouse and headed for the cabin. My boot splashed in a recent puddle on the trail. A sharp odor tainted the air. Three steps later, I heard a strange sound, a gruff
huff
coming from the bushes along the path. I slowed down, peered into the bushes and saw...

A bear.

My stomach dropped to my feet. My brain cut out. For a moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Oh, no. It couldn’t be. A bear couldn’t happen to me. Then the bear puffed and charged out of the bushes. I turned around and, screeching like a freaked out banshee, ran for the cabin.

My bloodcurdling shrieks echoed through the forest and beyond the lake. People in Miami could hear me screaming. Branches crashed behind me, but I didn’t look back. My legs pumped on automatic. My heart battered my chest from the inside out. Ahead of me, the cabin’s back door opened and Seth stepped onto the deck.

“Don’t run!” he shouted as he grabbed Anya’s rifle, vaulted over the railing and advanced toward me. “Stop, Summer. Stop running!”

My legs kept going even after he caught me by the waist and dropped me behind him. Was he insane? I didn’t want to die. The bear was right on my tail!

“Keep still.” He planted his feet apart, cocked the rifle and aimed it at the bear.

The beast halted at the edge of the yard. It was dark and enormous to my eyes. It huffed and puffed, making this odd sound, popping its teeth.

“No, bear, no,” Seth yelled, as if he faced a dog and not a seven hundred-pound behemoth. “Fuck off bear, get the hell out here. Go away you fucking dumbass!”

I stared from the bear to the man. The bear was hard enough to process and terrifying in its own right. But Seth’s actions were even harder to accept, because this stranger—this person who wasn’t part of my family and who had no reason whatsoever to give a hoot about me—stood between me and a freaking grizzly as if he cared, as if I was worth the risk of a mauling and he had a stake in my future.

Seth shot a bullet into the ground. The bear startled and took off. I watched in awe as the powerful creature galloped into the woods like a hulking Clydesdale.

Seth stalked to the edge of the clearing, peered into the forest and made sure that the bear was gone for good, before he came back and peeled me off the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” I said, pretending I was cool as ice, even though my legs wobbled dangerously beneath me. Crap, I could barely stand. This place brought out the idiot in me. I pushed Seth away, took a step and faltered. I ended up on the cold Alaskan ground again, where I seemed to belong lately.

Seth sighed and hooked the rifle over his shoulder. “Come on.” He pulled me up and, bracing me with his arm around my waist, cradled me against his chest, lending me the strength to stand. “Lock them knees. Yep, that’s good. Anya has to be feeding them again. It’s the only reason why that old bear was hanging around here.”

“Feeding bears?” I clung to him as if he was the pillar of my world. “Isn’t that illegal?”

“Sure it is,” Seth said. “Try telling Anya that. She’s a scientist by training and a shaman by vocation who thinks the bears are her friends. And no one has the right to tell her how to treat her friends.”

“She’s crazy,” I said. “That bear was going to eat me whole.”

“That bear was probably as surprised to see you as you were to see him,” Seth said. “It knows Anya’s scent, but it doesn’t know yours. Never run from a bear. Food runs.”

“Oh, my God.” My voice quavered. “A bear. A bear!” For pity’s sake, in what bizarre alternative universe would I find myself fleeing from a freaking bear?

I crumpled in Seth’s arms, closed my eyes and tucked my head beneath his neck, inhaling his soothing scent—baked bread and steaming oatmeal. The fear receded to the back of my mind. My body warmed to his touch. My pussy squeezed at the feel of his strong muscles flexing under my palms. For an amazing, indulgent moment, every cell in my body vibrated with desire and I wished I never had to leave his arms’ refuge. Had he been willing to take a shredding of fangs and claws for my sake?

I mumbled, “You stood between me and the bear.”

“No big deal,” he said, pretty much holding me up.

“No big deal?”

He didn’t know what I knew about the nature of the human species, males in particular. He didn’t know about the predators out there. He didn’t know that strong, competent, independent women like me took care of other people, not the other way around. Strong and competent I might be, but I hadn’t felt safe since my sense of self-worth had been gutted like one of Anya’s fish during my terrible marriage. Until today, when Seth had stood between me and the bear, and right now, as he sheltered me in his arms.

Oh my God. Was it really me making these strange connections? I’d sworn off trust altogether. I didn’t trust people, never believed what they said. But Seth? He spoke loads with his actions and part of me believed everything he said.

I kept going back to the part about the bear. A bear. An incongruous sound bubbled at the back my throat and I couldn’t stop it.

“I need to get out of here.” I giggled like a madwoman. “There are no bears in Miami. I need to go home.”

“You’re okay.” He hugged me against his chest, stroking my hair, tilting up my chin until my eyes met his. “Listen to me. The bear’s gone. You are all right.”

“This place?” I said with tears in my eyes. “It’s going to kill me.”

“No way.” His lips came down on mine and brushed ever so softly against my mouth, leaving me wondering if I’d imagined the extraordinary heat that singed the breath out of my lungs and melted my leg bones. Whoa. I wanted more of that.

“Summer Silva,” he murmured, his thumb idling over the corner of my mouth. “I’ve got your back. Nothing bad will happen to you under my watch. And always remember: you’re way too stubborn to let Alaska kill you.”

Chapter Seven

The ride home was a lot quieter than I liked. Summer stared out the window and I was worried about some of the things I’d learned at Anya’s. I was running late for my meetings and the weather had changed again. Leaden clouds spat sleet at the windshield.

Alaska wasn’t helping out much with my objectives. The woman attracted trouble, no doubt about it. Since her arrival, Summer had experienced a wreck, a superstorm, an assassination attempt, and a sleepwalking episode that she deeply regretted. Just today, she’d been shot at, sickened by fish guts, and charged by a bear. And then I’d succumbed to the temptation and kissed her. Okay, barely kissed her, but without her permission.

No wonder she hated Alaska.

Her cell rang as soon as we got back on the highway. She looked at it but didn’t answer.

I guessed. “Tammy’s mother?”

“The one and only.” She sighed. “What am I going to tell her?”

“That, unlike you, her daughter’s having a grand old time in Alaska?”

“We don’t know that.”

“But we suspect it,” I said. “Otherwise, she would’ve been back home by now, don’t you think?”

Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know what to think.”

Her phone rang again.

“Crap.” She let out a little groan. “It’s Hector Carrera, my boss. He’s probably going to ream my ass.”

She accepted the call and put the cell to her ear. I could hear the man yelling at her even though the phone wasn’t on speaker. The son of a bitch didn’t hold back.

“Hector, I swear,” Summer was saying. “You’ll have it by tonight. Yes, I’ll be back as soon as I find Tammy.” She paused and listened. “Yes, yes, I’ll get on a plane as soon as I can. No, I don’t know when yet. Look, I’ll work all night if necessary and I’ll get those changes to you stat.”

She looked miserable when she hung up.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “If I stay too long, Hector is going to fire me and I won’t be able to help Louise and Tammy with their bills. But if I leave without my sister, Louise is going to have a meltdown and God knows what will become of Tammy.”

“You can work remote,” I said.

“Yeah, thank God for small favors.” She sighed. “As long as I have Wi-Fi capable of dealing with large files, I should be able to keep up. Can you drop me off at a hotel on the way? Any hotel with Wi-Fi should do.”

No way was I going to let her stay alone at a hotel. Not when her safety was compromised and the son of a bitch who’d tampered with her brakes was out there, uncaught and perhaps even planning to hurt her again. The mere thought of it raised my hackles. And what would happen if she got out of her room while sleepwalking? Nope, it wasn’t happening. There was only one place where Summer Silva would be safe in Alaska and it was with me.

“Wi-Fi is a relative term around these parts,” I said. “Your average hotel doesn’t have the kind of connection you need. You’ll be old before your files go through. You can stay with me.”

“Oh, no,” she said, face flustered, head shaking with alarm. “I mean, um, thanks for the offer and everything, but I couldn’t impose like that.”

“It’d be no trouble,” I said. “My house is possibly the only place around here that has the communication capabilities you need.”

“The
only
place?” She seemed to consider the idea. “You’re not expecting me to...um...you know...”

“No.” Unless she absolutely wanted to, in which case, I’d be willing to be flexible. “Are you worried about another sleepwalking episode?”

“Maybe,” she said and then softly, “yes.”

Her fear tore into my guts.

“Look at it this way,” I said. “I’m now officially educated on the subject of sleepwalking. I won’t allow what happened last night to happen again.”

She gave me an appraising look. “Do you really mean that?”

“I might be blunt, but I never say things I don’t mean,” I said. “Besides, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion you don’t travel very often because you worry about sleeping in strange places.”

“You’re right about that one,” she said. “Pretty pathetic, eh?”

“You’re not pathetic,” I said. “You’re careful, that’s all. Honestly? I don’t blame you. A hotel isn’t the safest place for you right now. What would happen if you managed to unlatch the door while sleepwalking?”

She gulped so loudly that I actually heard it. I felt like a goddamn terrorist, but I was on a mission. “Stay at the house.”

“I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

“You wouldn’t be.”

“Maybe—if I decided to stay with you—could I pay for my stay?”

She was as proud and stubborn as they came. So was I.

“That’s a negative,” I said, “as in absolutely not necessary.”

“I’m no freeloader,” she said. “Maybe I can pay you some other way?”

She wouldn’t appreciate the only kind of currency I craved.

“How about if I take over food duty while I’m here?” she said. “That refrigerator of yours is pretty sad. I could liven it up. My treat?”

“That might work.” She wouldn’t agree otherwise and she was correct, my refrigerator was a wasteland. “I’m all for food.”

“We’ll need to stop by the store.”

“Here.” I opened a text message and handed my cell over. “Type what you need and it’ll be there when we get back.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’ve got minions, I get it. It’s impressive, but it defeats the purpose if you’re paying for the groceries.”

“Just type the damn list,” I said. “Labor is the most expensive part of production and if it’s that important to you, we’ll figure it out later.”

She hesitated, still wary. “Are you sure?”

“A hundred percent sure.”

She took a deep breath, typed the list with nimble fingers then returned the cell to me. “There.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding. Persuasion was the better course of action and even though my plan was also self-serving, this was the only way I could think to keep Summer safe in Alaska. But it wasn’t easy. If I really wanted her trust, I was going to have to try harder. I ignored the warnings about texting and driving and, thumbing the screen, added another item to the list before I pressed the send button and put the cell away.

“I have some ideas on how to look for Tammy,” Summer said. “I compiled a list of hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and campgrounds in Alaska. I can start with Katmai and Kenai. Maybe someone, somewhere has seen Tammy and Nikolai.”

Time-consuming. I liked it. “It’s not a bad idea.”

“It’s better than sitting on my bum waiting for them to turn up.”

“I might be able to help,” I said. “We’re well connected. I’ll put out some feelers. Staying at the house, you’ll be in place for a quick intercept.”

“Thanks.” She smiled. “You’re turning out to be a real godsend.”

Even though it was a little crooked, with a smile like that, she might as well have given me the Nobel Peace Prize. The thrill of seeing that smile superseded my guilty conscience. What the fuck. Being a godsend to anyone felt good enough. Being a godsend to her? Spectacular.

I smiled and headed home. Best I’d felt in years.