Free INVITING FIRE (A Sydney Rye Novel, #6) by Emily Kimelman

outside the safe zone. We are going to have to retrain him on that."
    "He was after someone, Merl."
    "Or this is another example of him disobeying you." His voice was tight and I could see the muscles in his neck straining.
    "It's been months," I said, "and he never would set off that alarm if he was not sure. I know that bark. I know what he was saying." I realized my fists were clenched and loosened them.
    "What did you see?" he demanded.
    I shook my head. "Blue tore up the ground around the tree. But I heard a zip-line. Is it possible there is someone out there? Someone setting up the zip-lines again?"
    “What else? Lightning?”
    I nodded.
    "So you're still seeing things?" He didn't wait for me to respond. "You said you were ready for watch duty."
    "I am," I said. "I'm ready for more." Merl just shook his head. "I didn't lie to you, Merl. The visions, the lightning, the thunder. It doesn't affect me. I can tell what it is now."
    "Going off the trail, into the jungle without permission."
    "There was someone out there."
    "And we have ways of dealing with that. And they do not include you leading your own mission of two into the depths of the jungle." He was yelling at me. Merl was yelling. I'd never seen him this upset before. "You decided to put Tanya in danger. For what?"
    I pressed my lips together, feeling ashamed.
    "What if there had been an entire team of armed men out there? Wouldn't it be better to wait for them to come to us? Make them engage our defenses?"
    "You're right. But I didn't make her come with me."
    Merl threw up his hands and turned away from me. His shoulders were tense. I could see the lines of them under his black T-shirt where the electric light fell on him. He took a deep breath. "They would follow you anywhere," he said without facing me. "Everyone here would." His voice was calm again.
    I reached out and touched his shoulder. It felt burning hot. Merl spun away from me, turning so that I could see his face. "Hey, it's okay," I said, holding out my hands palm forward. "You all right?"
    "I'm fine," he said. "Let's continue this tomorrow. I apologize that I lost my temper." His voice was calm again but I saw a muscle tick in his jaw.
    "I'm working hard on it, Merl," I said.
    "I know you are, Sydney."

CLEANING UP
    I got back to my villa without running into anyone else. They were all up at Lenox's lecture. I kicked off my shoes at the door and Blue padded into the living room and over to the kitchen for some water. I followed him, filling a mug from the fridge door and gulping it down like medicine.
    "Time for a shower," I told Blue.
    He followed me into my bedroom where I unbuttoned my shirt and peeled it off my sticky skin. I'd worked up a sweat on our run. The hair at the base of my neck stuck to my damp skin until I pulled my undershirt off, then it just stuck straight out. I pulled off my socks and tossed them on the dirty shirts before wiggling out of my pants.
    I turned on the shower and didn't wait for the water to get warm before stepping under the cold spray. My skin jumped, prickling and paling against the onslaught of cold water. But I needed it. The heat inside of me seemed to never die down. I'd felt the same on Merl's shoulder this evening. There was something going on with him. He never yelled. There was something bothering that man. And it wasn't Malina's death. Grief he could handle.
    The water began to warm and I lathered up my short hair, washing it clean, feeling the balls of foam slide over my body toward the drain. Using a sponge, I scrubbed myself clean, working on my finger nails, getting in between my toes.
    When I stepped out of the shower I felt raw but good, cleansed. I grabbed a towel and dried my hair and ran the rough white rectangle over my legs and arms before wrapping it around my body.
    Steam followed me out of the bathroom, adding to the already hot and humid environment. Blue waited on his bed. His eyes followed me as I crossed the room and opened my balcony