Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

shook her head. “No. I don’t want you to go after him. You wanted this chance to be something—someone—different, and I’m not taking that away from you.”
    “A man has the right to protect his home, Rikki,” Lev said. “And his woman.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to the arm of his chair. “That’s what men do.”
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    Airiana inhaled sharply and looked at Judith.
    Blythe stood up. “Let’s everyone just slow down. What is it, Judith?”
    “His aura changes when he’s close to Rikki,” Airiana whispered.
    “Judith, did you see that? He’s totally different when he’s near her.”
    “I don’t know what that means.”
    Rikki trembled, but she didn’t move away from him. He knew in her mind that she was standing with him to protect him, not to commit to him, but her sisters saw it differently and he was damn well going to take her position in the same way they did.
    “I tried to tell you earlier,” Judith said. “Airiana and I see auras, colors surrounding people. Every color you have around you, Rikki, is about water and compassion. You’re incapable of starting a fire that would kill someone.
    Lissa has the colors of fire, bright and passionate, but she tempers those things with her protective instincts.”
    Lev held up his hand to stop her. “She’s trying to say that my colors say something else, Rikki.” The knots were back, but he kept all emotion from his face.
    “You surround yourself with darkness, with violence and death,” Judith said without flinching. “Yet when you’re with Rikki, other colors pierce that shroud of darkness, almost as if when you’re close to her, your true self emerges.”
    He forced a nonchalant shrug. “If one believes in that sort of thing.” He didn’t see auras, but he knew they existed. He’d known from the moment Judith and Airiana had approached the house that they were strong psychics.
    He didn’t doubt for a moment that they saw death and violence surrounding him, but it was disturbing to know they caught glimpses inside, to the man he hid from the world—hid from himself.
    He slowly let go of Rikki and forced himself out of the chair. His head nearly exploded. He needed a quiet place to try to keep healing the concussion, even if only for a few minutes. “If you ladies will excuse me for a time, I need to lie down.”
    It was true, but he was still retreating. Her sisters didn’t trust him—but they wanted to for Rikki’s sake. He’d made his claim in front of them, and while Rikki wasn’t paying attention, they were, and they were a protective bunch.
    Blythe followed him right into the bedroom and he turned a cool stare on her. She didn’t flinch. In fact, there was steel in her dark chocolate eyes.
    “You’d better not hurt her.”
    He sank down onto the bed, mostly to keep from falling. He was more nauseated and dizzy than worried about appearances. “Is she autistic?”
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    Blythe shrugged. “I believe so. She certainly has acute sensory dysfunction, and if she is autistic, which we all believe, she’s very high functioning. As far as we know, she’s never been diagnosed, but she doesn’t talk much about her past.”
    She put her hands on her hips and pinned him with what he could only interpret as a stern “mother” stare. It was very effective. The woman, as elegant and sweet as she appeared, could look intimidating.
    “I don’t want her taken advantage of.”
    He laid his aching head back on the pillow. “Do you really think that’s possible? Rikki is very intelligent, and more than that, she’s tough.”
    “She’s also very fragile. I’m just saying, mean what you say or leave us alone.”
    “She’s not starting those fires, Blythe. She’s got someone out to destroy her for whatever twisted reasons he thinks he has. And he’s found her. Go up to that ridge and examine it. He was there. I’m not leaving her to face him alone. You don’t have to like me—none of you do—but I’m staying.”
    “Are you a man of your word?”
    He thought that over. Was he? He didn’t know if Lev Prakenskii was or if Sid Kozlov had been, but Levi Hammond would be. “Yes.”
    “And you’d never hurt her?”
    “Not intentionally.” He closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink further into his own consciousness. “Nor will I let anyone else.”
    “That’s good enough for me.”
    He knew it wasn’t. The moment she left, she would be going to someone she knew to have him