14. Chapter 14
Can we meet for lunch?
John stared at the text he’d just received.
He was rarely thrown, but he wasn’t sure what Sienna wanted.
If he took it literally—although his long life had taught him never to take things literally—then he shouldn’t be worried.
That she didn’t have an agenda. But Sienna was a determined female.
The whole reason he was standing in this cabin on Simonson clan lands was because he was a possible means to an end of the curse. He knew this. Appreciated it even.
After all, he had been the means to the beginning of the curse, so his destiny was already written in blood.
He read the text again and blinking dots appeared below it.
He must have taken too long to respond back.
It wasn’t like he knew texting protocol.
When you’re a four-hundred-plus-year-old hermit, you aren’t spending time on your phone texting with your besties.
And before you say no, Mr. Antisocial, I will come to you with the food.
He sighed before typing. Fine.
See you in thirty minutes.
Maybe Megan had found something in his notes. But if so, why wouldn’t she be the one coming to see him? Had something else happened with the Templars? Was Sienna delivering bad news?
There was little point running worst-case scenarios in his head. But he’d become the king of worst case. How could he not when all he had was time and frustration on his hands?
Instead of pacing inside the small space, he headed outside and walked around the clearing, hoping that he didn’t look too anxious.
The dragon guards passed above him on regular intervals.
They were flying watch over the valley and clan lands, including the little cabin he occupied.
Was he an oddity to them, like some sort of exotic animal in a zoo?
The sound of an approaching UTV stopped his brain from spinning out. He turned to see Sienna drive into the clearing and park. She was dressed casually with her blond hair pulled into a bun. She reached behind her and lifted out an honest-to-goodness picnic basket.
“Are you going to pull out a blanket next?”
Sienna smiled. “No. I didn’t want to push my luck. We can eat inside. Marilyn made chicken and dumplings for us, so a table would be best.”
She followed him inside and set the basket down, taking out a couple of containers. One held the chicken and dumplings, and the other what appeared to be some sort of salad. John grabbed dishes and silverware, and they plated the food before taking a seat at the table.
One bite and he barely held back a groan.
Sienna didn’t hold back her moan of appreciation. “This is one of my favorite dishes. I hoped you would like it.”
He took another bite and sighed. “I’m not a bad cook, but I seldom eat food cooked by another, and this is amazing.”
She nodded. “Food is always better when someone else makes it. Marilyn is our cook. Tessa insists that she’s a gastric artist.”
John couldn’t keep his lips from tipping up. “Of course she did. Tessa is…”
“A force. Yes. She is. And not scared of voicing her opinions.”
“I found that out quickly when she came to my cabin and told me that I would be teaching her what it meant to be a witch. I didn’t have much of a say in the matter.”
She chuckled. “Which is not something you’re used to.”
“I’m not used to a lot of things.” Damn. Why had he said that?
She looked at him for a moment before taking another bite of food, as if she wanted to think through whatever her response was going to be. He appreciated that about her. She weighed her words. That was the sign of a good leader.
“I can’t imagine the challenges you’ve faced,” she said. Her eyes held understanding and not pity, which would have had him shutting down.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t deflect the conversation away from him. “We all have challenges, right?”
Again with the stare before she smiled. “We do.”
He appreciated her dropping the conversation thread. “So what brings you here? Has Megan found something? Or has something else happened?”
Sienna hesitated for a moment before answering him. “We had someone try to fly a drone over clan land.”
He scowled. “Templars.”
“That’s what we think. We dismantled it quickly, and the footage was stored in the drone. When we reviewed it, the drone hadn’t captured much of our land before it was taken down.”
He shook his head. “Did they catch who was controlling it?”
“The guards saw an SUV on a side road take off after we grabbed the drone.”
His stomach dropped. “They have to be looking for me.”
“Possibly.” Sienna continued before he could speak. “Which is why it’s more important than ever to figure out how to break this curse. You leaving isn’t the answer.”
Sienna stood and walked to the sink with her empty plate.
“But that’s not the reason I came here. I thought you would like a home-cooked meal versus a sandwich.
Ryan said you haven’t reached out with any additional grocery requests.
” She turned to face him. “You can come to the main house and eat dinner with us if you’d like. ”
He couldn’t control his frown.
She held up her hands. “If that doesn’t work, we can pack up some meals for you. Marilyn will make anything you request.”
“I’ll think about it,” he gritted out.
She smiled again and he felt his mouth try to smile in response before he tamped it down.
She leaned against the counter. “Have you had a chance to check out the valley?”
“No.”
Sienna grabbed two bottles of water from the basket and held one out to him. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“Are you sure we should be walking around the property?”
She sighed. “We have safeguards in place. We quickly stopped the drone. As a precaution, we’ve added some new security measures. We can’t stay locked away forever.”
John followed her out of the cabin and to the side of the clearing. She walked confidently through the woods as if on a mission.
“You taking me somewhere specific?” he asked.
She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “I am. I think you’ll like it. Are you up for a short hike?”
He nodded and they continued on. The scent of pine and vegetation and the sounds of scurrying animals teased his senses as they walked quietly.
He appreciated that she didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with chitchat.
He was the antithesis of chitchat. They walked through a line of trees before Sienna stopped and he came to stand beside her.
In front of them sat an outcropping of rocks that created a ledge overlooking the valley below.
He took a deep breath and admired the green pines that reached up to meet the clouds.
John spent so much time hiding that he didn’t often get to appreciate the beauty that still existed in the world.
He felt Sienna studying him, but he didn’t turn to face her. Couldn’t. She saw too much, and that was dangerous for him. After a few seconds she stepped away from him and out onto the rocks, sat down, and took a drink of water. He hesitated for a moment before joining her.
“This is one of my favorite spots. You can see most of the valley from here. When my brothers were kids, they used to get into all kinds of trouble. Raced the skies from one side of this valley to the other. I’ve heard stories about them staying out all day until they were forced to come in at night.
Marcus would have to go looking for them. ”
Marcus and not their father. That was interesting. “Was Marcus in charge of security back then?”
“He was. But that’s not why he would go find them. In truth, Marcus raised my brothers. He was more of a father to them than ours ever was.”
“Because he was busy running the clan and business?” he asked.
Sienna hesitated for a moment as if deciding what she wanted to say before making up her mind. “Because he was a selfish, petty man who was jealous of his own sons,” she responded matter-of-factly, like she was ordering food at a restaurant. She took a sip of water.
He did the same to collect his thoughts. If she was anything like him, she didn’t want his pity or attempts to make her feel better. “Did you get in trouble with your brothers as well?”
She shook her head. “Adam and Eric are ten and eight years older than me. By the time I was old enough to get into trouble, they were grown and not about fun and games any longer.”
He didn’t like the story she was painting for him. “You didn’t have anyone to fly the valley with?”
Sienna grinned. “I didn’t say that. Ryan and I grew up together.”
So Ryan was more than just a coworker. But he’d figured that out from their first interactions. Heat bubbled in his chest. “Did Marcus have to search for you too?”
“Sometimes. But Marcus was more like an uncle to me. Adam raised me. Ryan and I got into our share of trouble. I’m surprised Adam didn’t go prematurely gray.”
He hesitated. “How old were you when you lost your mother?”
She looked out over the valley. “Twelve.”
“That had to be hard.”
Sienna turned back to him. “It was, but you lost your parents much younger.”
John shook his head. “Grief isn’t a competition. Each of us is allowed to mourn in our own time and way without minimizing it because we think others have had it worse.”
She blinked at him. “Wow. That was profound.”
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
She laughed before her expression turned a bit sheepish. “I’m sorry. That came out wrong—”
He interrupted before she kept apologizing. “Don’t worry about it. Loss is something I’m familiar with.”
Her smile faded and he wanted to kick himself. What was with him just blurting things whenever she was around. It was becoming a problem. “Tell me a story about you getting into trouble as a child.”
Sienna’s face lit up again—thank the Fates—and she set her water down.
“When we were sixteen, Ryan and I snuck into an R-rated movie and, of course, we were caught. Instead of just kicking us out, the theater manager wanted to call our parents. I told him I had to call my brother. But I called Jonas instead.”
“Jonas?”
“Sorry. He’s Marcus’s son. He’s only a year older than Ryan and me, but he’s always acted older than his age.
He treated us like bratty tagalongs back then.
But I figured he was better than having Adam or Marcus come.
Jonas showed up, assured the manager that we wouldn’t do it again, and took us home.
But not before lecturing us like he was our father, teacher, and preacher all in one!
He was such a stick-in-the-mud. Still is sometimes.
He’s in charge of systems tech for our clan and company now.
Jonas dropped me off at home, and Adam caught me sneaking into the house.
And I had to sit through another lecture.
At the end of the lecture, Adam asked me what I had learned. ” Her eyes danced.
“What did you say?” he asked, knowing that it was going to be good.
“That I must not have inherited the sneaky gene like he and Eric had, so I could cross being a spy off my future job list.”
The muscles on either side of John’s mouth fought him for a second before he smiled along with her. “What did Adam say?”
She chuckled. “He started laughing. Especially after I went on to tell him about the lecture Jonas gave us. He just responded, ‘Serves you right.’ And that was it. Honestly, most of his punishments were minor unless he threatened to ground me from seeing Ryan.”
Heat hit the middle of his chest again. He couldn’t remember the last time he had heartburn. “You and Ryan are close.”
She picked up her water bottle and took what John thought was a long time to answer.
“He’s my best friend.”
“Which is why he works for you,” he pushed.
Her eyebrows drew together. “He works with me because he’s smart and can multitask like a rock star. I couldn’t run things without him.”
John thought she could do pretty much anything she set her mind to, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. “Is he your guard?”
“He does watch out for me, yes. Marcus and my two brothers are overprotective. I compromised with them when I told them that Ryan was going to work with me. Marcus trained him as a guard himself, so he knows he’ll protect me. Although I can protect myself.”
His heart sped up at the thought of her being in danger. “It doesn’t hurt to have someone watch your back.”
Sienna’s eyes widened. “Says the man who should have I am an island tattooed on his forehead.”
He looked out over the valley instead of continuing to look at her face since it was doing weird things to his heart.
“Why did you really want to meet today, Sienna?”
“I wanted to check on you.”
He pushed down his emotions and schooled his expression before facing her again. “That’s it?”
Her eyes filled with determination. “Partly. And partly because I wanted to get you out of the cabin and show you the valley. We could go for a flight if you want.”
“No,” he barked before he got control of his emotions. She didn’t know he couldn’t fly any longer, and that was the last thing he wanted to talk about.
Her eyes widened at his tone. “You don’t have to quarantine yourself here, John.”
Hell, the news she shared about the drone made him want to leave and never come back, hopefully taking the Templars with him. “I’m better on my own.”
Her lips formed a thin line. “Bullshit.”
He reared back a bit at her pronouncement. Before he could respond, she stood and brushed off her pants. “None of us are better off on our own. So you should get used to having me around because you’re not getting rid of me anytime soon.”
John looked up at her fierce expression and lost the ability to bluster back at her. He wasn’t used to talking to people, much less letting them tell him what to do. Especially a strong, smart, and breathtaking female. But with Sienna all bets were off.