Page 16 of Dead Girl Running

Kellen followed Xander, eased herself onto his massage chair and put her face into the cradle. “I’ve got fifteen minutes. No more.”

“Time has no meaning in the boundless eternity of the universe.”

By which she guessed he meant she should set an alarm. So she did.

He applied a heating wrapping on her neck and worked his fingers into the rigid muscles of her shoulder. In that calm, soothing tone, he said, “Dismiss those thoughts that disturb you, and breathe with me.”

Thoughts that disturbed her…All of us out here are running away from something.

What did Mara mean by that? It was not like she knew Kellen had been running for the past seven years, from a past corroded by guilt and a year that had vanished from her mind.

“Breathe with me,” he said again. “In… Out… In…”

She concentrated on the slow breaths, blanking her mind as she relaxed…and dreamed.

* * *

Through the darkness, she could hear him calling her. “Ceecee. Ceecee. Where are you? Come back to me…”

She loved his voice. Unlike Gregory’s, this voice was deep and warm, loving and despairing.

“Ceecee, I love you. Come back.”

Who was he? Memory came in flashes, like a night sky split by lightning. Deep brown eyes surrounded by long dark lashes. Tall, over six foot. Fast, smooth, physical, accomplished.

“Ceecee…” His voice grew fainter, like a spirit’s fading into the gray lands.

She strained to open her eyes, but the darkness would not yield. The lightning was moving away, over the horizon.

She was alone in the night. Alone…

* * *

Kellen woke and sat straight up on the massage chair.

Her pocket was vibrating, her alarm going off.

She pulled out her phone and silenced it, then placed a hand over her racing heart. The dream. The man. The dark. Again.

On a stool across the room, Xander sat balanced in the lotus position.

“Did I say anything?” she demanded.

“You were silent, but your soul walked in a far, dark place where combat rages and death holds sway.” His large, sad eyes watched her as if he could see her pain. “You’ve returned from war to find your own battlefield still waits.”

“The war is over. Only the shadows remain.” Enough of that. If she hung around Xander much longer, she would start talking like a guru, too.

“Every hour, do one thing. Take a moment to stop and breathe.” He lifted a hand and breathed in, lowered his hand and breathed out.

“Idoknow how to inhale and exhale,” she snapped.

He looked a reproof.

Right. He didn’t deserve to have her snap at him. “I’ll do it. Thank you, I feel better. You are a magician.” She checked her texts.

Nothing back from Temo about the animal carcass. If she didn’t hear back soon, she’d give him a call.

She strode to the door, opened it and halted, her head cocked toward the commotion down the hall.