KIRA

The demand in his tone sends shivers up my spine.

What's with the urgency in his voice?

Whoever this man is clearly has no idea what happened to Elsie, which I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing. If everyone in town already knows, why hasn't he heard already?

The closest town from Alpine Springs was over an hour away and nothing but the high-peaked mountains and dirt roads lay in between. Maybe he doesn't go into town?

My hand tightens around the latch of the window. "She's not here."

"Can you tell me where she's gone?" His face drops in disappointment. "We have important business to discuss."

Business? What business?

I can't even imagine what that would entail, or what would get Elsie to have a visitor like him stopping by unannounced. He looks young enough to be a couple of years older than me, nowhere near the age I'd expect for someone who hangs around with an elderly woman.

And...he looks so much like the man from my dream that I'm certain it has to be him. Especially his eyes. His eyes are a deep black. The resemblance makes me gasp. I hope he didn't notice.

I can't see his body out of the tiny window, and to be honest? I'm afraid to look. How would I react to seeing what I saw in my dream in real life?

"Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but she passed away." I swallow down my emotions and yank nervously at the bottom hem of my shirt.

It's hard to say the words aloud.

Even so, there's something about him that has me completely enthralled—had we met before? Is this some kind of strange grief-fueled break with reality?

I've never felt a magnetic pull toward someone like this before. Not even for my long-term college boyfriend—who was half of the reason I'd decided to come all the way out to Alpine Springs and escape my life back in the city in the first place.

"Passed away?" He repeats, his brows pulling together.

He frustratingly runs a hand through his hair while his eyes shift away from mine, touching his pointer finger lightly against his bottom lip. The action has me staring at his mouth, focusing on it to the point where I forgot to blink for a few long seconds.

Jesus, what could lips like that do to a hyper-sensitive body like mine? If the reality is anything like what I dreamed... Ooh, I should not be thinking about this right now.

The man finally nods. "I see." His head drops down to look at the ground. My heart drops a little. I remember looking the same way when I heard the devastating news about Elsie.

Eventually, I force myself to blink. "Yeah, so—"

"You are the new Guardian then, yes?" He tilts his head, almost animal in his curiosity.

His question throws me off balance. Guardian? What the hell is he talking about?

"Look, I don't know who you were to Elsie," I sigh. "But I have no idea what you're talking about."

He stares at me for a long moment while his lips part in surprise.

It catches me off guard at first when I notice it because it's so subtle, but the longer I stare at him, the more I realize that he ceases to move. Every inch of his body becomes stiff, turning into a real-life statue right before my very eyes. My gaze darts down to look at his chest and the small slit of porcelain colored skin that's visible between the lapels of his strange silk shirt.

I don't even think he's breathing, that's how still he looks.

It's almost completely inhuman, the way he carries himself. I've never seen a man with such total control of his body.

I can't stop my tongue from darting across my lip, but who could blame me?

He's easily the most beautiful man I've ever seen in my life—I know that he can't really look like the spider creature from my dream; that's just completely impossible, but...a dark curiosity in me is almost disappointed by the idea that he's probably totally human on the other side of that door.

My mind is brought back to my heated dream on the plane. I didn't seem to mind that he was a spider creature. In fact, I seemed to long for him...for his touch. The way every word he spoke to me made me melt into his hands like silly putty.

"My heart." The words ring in my head the same way he whispered them softly into my ear in my dream. These thoughts send shivers down my whole body.

As I hear those words, I feel the urge to rip open the door and drag him inside, allowing him to take me right in this moment.

It seems like more than just curiosity at this point. I need to know if he is a full human or not, to put my mind at ease.

It would be rude of me to look, right?

"You are her kin, are you not?" His eyes travel down me, as much as he can see from the window. "You are much younger, but the resemblance is uncanny."

His questions pull me out of my steamy thoughts.

"She's my great-aunt, or...I guess, she was." My mouth suddenly feels very dry. "I...this is the first time I've been back in ten years."

"I should have known by the state of her garden that something had happened." His eyes fall to the ground, his head bowed in grief. "She would never have allowed it to go untended for so long."

"Oh god, the garden!" I feel like the air has been knocked out of my lungs. "I haven't been out to check on it yet."

Every summer, my great-aunt would have me outside with her, telling stories to an audience of her favorite plants.

It's probably one of the reasons I write today.

What strikes me the most though, is that this man knows how deeply my great-aunt cares for her plants. She'd always had a natural green thumb and would constantly try and mitigate my own lack of gardening skills when I was younger by teaching me the proper care techniques for each species she owned.

To this day, for the life of me, I can't keep anything alive for more than a month. Even cacti tended to die on me. But I never forgot those lessons she instilled in me.

"How exactly did she die?" There's a nervousness to his expression, like there's something he's not telling me. "Have you been told?"

"She died a few weeks ago of heart troubles." It doesn't feel real, saying the words out loud—Christ, I haven't even seen the body. "Someone from town came around and found her after she...well, she's buried at the cemetery in town."

His entire body jerks back, the strange sounds of feet shuffling backward following. "No...no, something isn't right."

Jesus, I feel horrible.

The heartache in his eyes is no joke. I know this because I'd seen my own reflection the days after I'd gotten the call from her lawyer about her will, learning then of her passing while some man on the other end questioned me on how I wanted to come down and get the paperwork signed.

The last thing I wanted to do at that moment was to sign papers or set up a meeting.

That first week after finding out had been horrible. Monday spent days comforting me and bringing me meals like I'd become some kind of fucking hermit.

He must have really been close with her, to look so shattered right now. That thought piques my curiosity about their relationship even further.

"I'm sorry," I say. "At least the coroner's report says that she passed painlessly in her sleep. So, she didn't suffer."

He nods slowly, his head dropping down again. "That...is good. Thank you for telling me."

"Yeah, of course." I say, giving him a small consoling smile.

Should I offer him a tissue? I don't know what to do when other people are grieving—it's not like I have a whole lot of experience with death. Part of me wants to ask him if he'd like to come in, but I'm not ready to open that door. The door, rather.

"I should've checked on her." He says after a long moment, finally lifting his head again. His brows are pinched together as he speaks. "My duties have kept me away for too long."

I nod at him, not really knowing what to say to that. It's honestly what I wish people would've done for me. Nodded and just listened. Losing someone who you are close to and having people bombard you with their condolences, is very difficult to handle on top of the grief.

He lets out a deep breath he seemed to be holding, finally focusing back on me. "I am truly sorry for your loss. Elsie was a great and noble woman. Her duties and sacrifices will never be forgotten. Nor will they be in vain." He swallows, like it's hard to get the words out. "I truly hope that one day, we may both make our peace with her passing."

Wow, talk about a heroic speech.

But what sacrifices? What contributions is he talking about?

I want to change the subject to something a little more lighthearted and happy. The only thing I can think of at the moment is the memories I shared with Elsie when I would spend time here with her in the garden and around the property.

"I remember when I used to come here in the summer." My eyes mist up just thinking of it, and how I'll never hear her voice again. "We would sit outside working in her garden for hours—she always told me to take care not to disturb the spiderwebs when I pulled the weeds, because spiders protect the plants from pests."

His lips part in a small gasp, but he smiles all the same. "I used to help her too."

"Really?" I suppose she needed someone to help out around here when I was gone. The thought makes me feel a little guilty.

Okay, a lot guilty.

"I remember one summer when a small tornado ripped through the valley, an entire tree toppled into her tomato patch and I needed to drag it away." He explains. "I don't know how she would have managed without help."

"A whole tree?" I ask, eyes widening in surprise. "Did you bring a truck up here?"

He blinks at me in confusion for a moment. "No."

A whole tree?

Just how strong is he? From what I can see of his shoulders, he's fit, but he's not exactly built like the kind of guys I'd expect to do things like that.

"Did she ever rope you into talking to the mushrooms?" I ask, awkwardly shaking off my doubt. "She always had me coming up with stories."

He tilts his head, an amused look on his face. "Some of the fungi here are wonderful conversationalists."

I can't help but crack a smile at his joke. "Yeah, I guess they are."

Suddenly, he jerks backward, looking off into the woods. "It was...good to meet you," he offers, his gaze snapping back to me.

Did he hear something I didn't?

"Um, you too." My brow furrows. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome. Please let me know if there is anything you need or desire. I will be hasty in fulfilling it."

I force myself to clear my throat and slowly start to shut the window. "Thanks. Yeah, of course."

He gives me one last nod. "I look forward to working with you."

I flash him a tight smile and then finally shut and latch the speakeasy window. My heart is pounding in my chest loud enough to drown out the sounds of my suddenly heavy breathing.

Wait, does that mean he'll be visiting me again?

Just how did Elsie know him?