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His gaze went to the window, which had begun to lighten, and when he glanced back his expression was torn.
“Liam?” She moved toward him, but he was already headed for the door.
“ ’Tis nearly dawn.” He laid his hand on the knob. “I’m late.” And then he was gone.
“There’s something strange about him,” Marty said.
“There’s something strange about you,” Kris returned, gaze still on the door.
*
Liam hurried to the loch, for the first time in a long time needing its peace, craving the solitude. If he’d stayed with Kris she’d have asked him things he could not answer.
He should never have let her see the brand, which marked him as it had marked the others—binding them together, proving their loyalty for life.
Why had he touched her? Why had he let her touch him?
Simple. He’d been unable to stop. From the first moment, he’d felt a connection. That he would love, then lose, her was inevitable. Liam supposed he deserved nothing less.
He should disappear. Lurk about. Remain in the darkness. It was what he did best.
However, he wouldn’t leave her alone. He’d sworn to protect her as he protected the loch. Nothing would harm her while he was here.
But, for both their sakes, he must never touch her again.
*
“What else do you want to know?” Marty asked.
Kris hesitated. They had a lot on their plate—serial killers, shifters, Jäger-Suchers, Interpol. Her issues with family could wait.
However, when she opened her mouth the questions spilled out. “Why did you leave?” Kris lowered her voice, afraid that if she didn’t it might break. “Why didn’t you come back?”
“You don’t realize how much you’re like…” Marty took a deep breath. “Mom.”
“But…” That made no sense. “I don’t look like her at all.”
And Kris often wished that she did. At least then she’d always see a bit of her mom whenever she looked into the mirror. As it was, sometimes Kris panicked when she tried to remember the exact shape of her mother’s face and couldn’t.
“Not looks, no, but nearly everything else. Your voice is the same. You move just like her. Your hands. Your walk. It’s eerie.” He shook his head. “It was too hard for me. Too hard for Dad.”
“Too hard,” she repeated. “So you just disappeared?”
“I can tell you I’m sorry, and I am, but it isn’t enough, and it never will be.”
Kris wasn’t sure what to do with this information. She’d thought she wasn’t “enough” for them to love. She’d worked and strived and pushed herself to become someone. But all the time she’d actually been too much.
Like Mom.
“Dad,” she began.
“I tried to get him to watch one of your shows. He broke down, walked out. I don’t think he’ll ever be able to visit or talk to you on the phone. Maybe a letter, or e-mail.”
Kris made a derisive sound. For the first time since her mother had died and her family had left, she didn’t mourn their loss. They’d walked out. They’d lost her. She wasn’t going to feel “less than” anymore. Because she wasn’t. She never had been.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to speak to either one of us again,” Marty murmured.
Kris wouldn’t blame herself, either.
