Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

worried,” she told her sisters a little belligerently.
    Blythe nodded. “We can see that.”
    155

    “I take it no one was out there,” Lissa said. She didn’t sound as if she believed that.
    “Someone had been,” Lev said. He needed to sit down before he fell down.
    As if reading his mind, and maybe she was, Rikki took his arm and led him to the recliner, gently pushing him into it.
    “I won’t give you a lecture about wearing shoes in the house,” she said.
    “This time.”
    “Sorry, lyubimaya.” He leaned his head back because he couldn’t help it. It felt good to be off his feet. He hadn’t realized just how dizzy he was.
    “I’ll remember.”
    “Tell me,” Lissa insisted.
    “He’s a fire lover,” Lev confirmed. “And he was watching Rikki. He smokes Camels. There were several cigarette butts there. I didn’t touch them. While he was watching, he started seven small fires, just playing, but the potential could be disastrous. Fortunately, everything is soaked from the storm.”
    Rikki sucked in her breath, the color draining from her face. “Do you think he plans to start a forest fire?”
    Lev studied her sisters’ faces even as he took her hand, his thumb sliding over the center of her palm, tracing small circles there. “I don’t know what he plans to do. If he wants to destroy everyone Rikki cares about, then none of your homes is safe.”
    Lissa lifted her chin. “He’ll have to fight all of us.”
    Rikki shook her head. “No. No way. If he’s found me, then I’m getting out of here. I’m not taking chances with any of your lives. Who is he? Why is he doing this to me?”
    “And if he didn’t know where you were, which he couldn’t have or he would have been starting fires before this, then how did he find you?” Lev asked.
    “You aren’t leaving,” Blythe said. “We’re in this together.”
    The other women nodded and Lev liked them all the more for their united stand.
    Judith snapped her fingers. “The news. Rikki, you were on the news the other night. I meant to tell you about it.”
    Lev scowled, his fingers tightening around Rikki’s hand. He tugged until she was up against the chair. “What the hell were you doing on television?”
    She shook her head, looking confused. “I have no idea what she’s talking about. How could I get on the news, Judith?”
    156

    “When you came to the village and I went into Inez’s store to get the soup for you,” Judith reminded her. “Remember the place was crawling with news reporters. You were standing outside by your truck and then there was another shot of you sitting on the bluff with the sea behind you, right out on the headlands.”
    “I didn’t notice anyone filming me.”
    “They were across the street filming everything. The man who owned the yacht was big news all over the world. And it was such a unique event, a methane gas bubble sinking a ship,” Lexi added. “Very strange and sort of spooky. That’s why so many scientists are here.”
    “They’ve thinned out a lot,” Lissa pointed out.
    “That’s how he found Rikki,” Lev said.
    “I’m calling Jonas, Rikki,” Blythe announced. “I know you’re uncomfortable with anyone official, but he needs to know that someone’s stalking you.”
    Rikki shook her head. “He’ll think it’s me, just like they all do, Blythe.
    None of them believed me. He’ll read all the reports and he’ll start watching me.”
    “Let him,” Lissa said. “At least he’ll be keeping an eye on things.”
    Rikki remained silent, but Lev could feel the thoughts racing through her head. She was close to tears, yet it didn’t show on her face. She was going to leave them all, try to draw the danger away from them. All of them
    —even him.
    “You’re not leaving,” Lev said quietly. “I know what you’re thinking, Rikki, and no arsonist is going to take your life away again. I know you’re saving my life. Maybe I’m supposed to be here to save yours.” He said it aloud deliberately so she’d know he was serious. He stated it quietly yet firmly in front of her family, uncaring what they thought. “Do you trust me enough to stay and see this through?”
    “And risk them?” Rikki gestured at her sisters. “They mean everything to me.”
    “Even if you’re gone, there’s no guarantee that he won’t strike at you through them,” Lev pointed out gently. “You’ve been inside my head, you know me. You know what I am. You know I can do this.”
    She