The Dead Heat of Summer: A Krewe of Hunters Novella by Heather Graham

Author:Heather Graham [Graham, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Krewe of Hunters, 1001 Dark Nights, Heather Graham, paranormal, romance
Publisher: 1001 Dark Nights Press
Published: 2020-09-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Ryder felt a wave of emotion rush through him. He’d wanted to see Lena, even in death—her spirit rather than the angelic and still form of her body. He initially hadn’t thought her spirit had remained.

And mature adult or not, he’d not been able to fight the feeling of hurt and anger that had swept through him when he realized that her spirit had remained, but she’d chosen to go to someone else.

She had known he saw the dead. She’d been the one to help him not feel crazy when they were kids. She hadn’t seen what he had, but she’d sensed things. And she had believed in him.

Now, she looked at him across the table.

“First, Casey, thank you,” Lena said. “Ryder, I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Ryder whispered. “I was there in the house...right after. I was at the autopsy. The funeral. I stayed...”

“Ryder, I’m sorry,” Lena said again. “But...well, frankly, it’s not easy becoming a ghost. Maybe we don’t want to accept it. Perhaps we just don’t want to believe we’re dead. Or maybe it’s like a new birth, and we need to figure out how to exist in the world. It took me a while to...to understand that I could move and try to speak with people. At first...it was like sleep—a deep, deep sleep. Then I was in the cemetery and so afraid and alone...and, well, I finally made a few friends. Um, dead ones. And they helped me. By then...you were gone. And then I saw Casey. I’d met her at her store, and I knew she was kind and honest and...I’m afraid I sent her to the hospital from fright. But then I tried again, and I heard you were back, Ryder.”

“I’m here, and we’re working hard on this,” Ryder assured her. “Casey has filled me in. Lena, I won’t let it go. I will not let anything happen to Stephanie or Annette, I promise. But can you tell me anything about your attacker at all? Casey said you’re sure it was a man. Do you know how he got in?”

“I have no idea. I keep the door locked. Gail keeps the door locked. Ryder, I was so scared, but not for myself. If anything had happened to Annette...”

As she broke off, he noted Casey was furtively looking around, possibly wondering how Ryder was conversing so easily without worrying about looking at Lena.

Experience. He toyed with his food and glanced her way now and then.

He knew she likely realized it looked as if he were just talking to Casey.

“I will not let anything happen to Annette,” Ryder said firmly. “I swear it—on my life.”

Lena smiled at him. “I believe you. You’re my Superman, cousin. ‘Truth, justice, and the American way,’” she quoted. “And I know you, Ryder. You’d be in this if it had been me or someone else—it’s what you do. And I’m grateful for you.”

“Well, let’s see where we get,” he said. “I need help from you. I need to find whoever did this to you.

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