Page 5 of In Darkness Transformed
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The sun had just started to peek over the mountain ridge to the east when Eli woke up. He didn’t hear any noise coming from down the hall, so maybe his unexpected and unwanted guest was still asleep. He was in no hurry to face Safara again, at least not until he could figure out a better explanation about how he’d come to be living in Martin’s cabin.
Damn, the woman had played that whole situation perfectly last night. Her last question had been a well-placed verbal sniper shot, flying in out of nowhere to almost knock Eli to his knees. It had taken every bit of self-control he had not to blurt out the truth. Maybe she hadn’t heard about his supposed death before he answered her, but he couldn’t count on it. The last thing he wanted was for the authorities to start poking their noses around in his private business.
On his few trips down below to buy supplies, he’d planned all along to claim he was a distant relative of Martin’s, the last member of a family that had never been all that large to begin with. Until last night, no one had been curious enough to even bother asking his name, much less where he came from. Obviously he’d gotten a bit too complacent, but then he’d never planned on ending up with a strange woman sleeping on his couch, especially such a beautiful one.
And she was that. Even with her dark hair wet and straggling down around her shoulders and her clothes all muddy, Safara Dennell was a head turner. Something about her pale ivory skin and forthright gaze. She was built along lean lines but with long legs and all the right curves. Not that he had any business thinking that way. He couldn’t risk tangling his life up with anyone else’s right now, especially someone in law enforcement.
So if she asked again, he’d make it clear to her that he was Eli D. Jervain, Martin’s great-nephew, and hope that she would accept his explanation at face value. At least his grandfather had had the foresight to tell his attorney to put Eli’s birth name on the paperwork when he’d transferred the deed to him after Martin’s death. At the time, Eli had been mad about it, figuring he’d have to go to court or something to have it redone in his legal last name of Yates.
“Eli? Are you awake?”
“Yeah, give me a minute and I’ll be right there.”
He’d slept in flannel pajama pants in case Safara had needed him during the night. He normally only wore boxers or nothing at all. Somehow he doubted she would’ve appreciated him showing up to help her to the bathroom wearing nothing but a smile.
After putting on a clean T-shirt, he made a quick stop in the bathroom before joining Safara in the living room. To his surprise, the sofa was empty, and the blanket he’d given her to use was neatly folded on the coffee table. The woman herself was in the kitchen area, standing on one foot as she started a pot of coffee.
She smiled at him over her shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind me making myself at home, but I don’t function well until I’ve had my first shot of caffeine.”
“No problem.” He pulled a chair out for her at the table. “But why don’t you sit down before you fall down? I promise to pour you a cup of caffeine as soon as it’s ready.”
He supported her arm while she hobbled to the chair. “I hope bacon and eggs sounds good to you. That’s about all I have in the way of breakfast food.”
“Anything is fine, but I don’t want to be any trouble.”
She’d already been that, and his gut told him that she would continue to be if he wasn’t careful. Throwing strips of bacon into Martin’s old cast-iron skillet, Eli made a mental list of oddities that still bothered him about last night’s events, questions he would never ask for fear she’d turn the tables on him and start asking a few more of her own.
Starting with what Safara had been doing out in the woods in the first place. If she’d been there on official business, he had to figure she would’ve simply said so. It seemed unlikely that she’d hiked her ass up the mountainside that late at night just for her health. So had she been there to meet up with that weird guy for some reason? If that was the case, deputy or not, it was a pretty stupid thing to do.
There was also something hinky about the way she’d reacted when he’d brought up the subject of talking to the police about what had happened. Yeah, so she was a deputy. Big deal. That didn’t give her a free pass on having to make a formal report, or at least it shouldn’t. From what he’d seen over the years, cops didn’t react well to an attack on a fellow officer, making it more likely they would demand to know every damn detail so they could go after the guy.
Of course, who was he to point fingers at people for not wanting to tell the powers that be the truth about what happened? It wasn’t like he’d stuck around to talk to all the investigators swooping in to determine what had caused the helicopter to crash. He’d followed the story in the papers and online, but it had been barely a blip on the radar. After a few mentions, the entire incident disappeared from sight almost overnight. That was good for his personal situation, but his friends hadn’t deserved to be forgotten that quickly.
Back to last night. Safara also hadn’t been totally freaked by two guys fighting with swords instead of guns or even regular knives. She had no way of knowing that Eli had come charging to her rescue with the only kind of weapon he had immediately at hand. That other guy, though, had fought with that curved blade with a deadly skill that spoke of lots of experience. Hell, he’d even been wearing a scabbard for it. Who did something like that?
Safara jarred him out of his reverie by tugging on his sleeve. “Hey, Eli, I think the coffee is done.”
And so was the bacon. He hoped she liked it extra crispy. How long had he been lost in thought this time? That had been happening to him ever since the crash. It was like he got caught up in endless loops of questions and memories. Sometimes he lost a few seconds, sometimes far more. He grabbed a pair of mugs down off the shelf and filled them with coffee. “Do you take cream or sugar?”
“Nope, black.”
Safara accepted the mug, her expression almost worshipful as she took the first sip. “I haven’t tried this particular blend of coffee before, but I’ll definitely be adding it to my list of favorites.”
It had actually been Martin who’d bought the beans. Eli had found them when he’d moved in. God knows how long they’d been in the freezer. “How do you like your eggs?”
“Scrambled is fine.”
He put four slices of bread in the toaster and then cracked half a dozen eggs into a bowl. After beating them with a fork, he dumped them into the hot skillet. The eggs were finished just as the toast popped up. He dished it all up and set a plate in front of Safara before taking his own seat.
“This is delicious. I usually make do with cold cereal in the mornings.” She smiled at him from across the table. “Thanks again for everything you’ve done.”
He managed a small nod. “Anyone would’ve done the same.”
She didn’t look convinced of that fact. “Look, I’ve already intruded enough on your time. I hope driving me back down the mountain this morning doesn’t interfere with any plans you might’ve had.”
“No plans, but we should get moving.”
