But she had to make him understand that dealing with ghosts was as important to her as shifting into a wolf was to him. It was her destiny, her path.
Kylie put her hand on his chest. "The spirit didn't do this," she said. "It was probably Mario and his grandson again and their shape-shifter buddy. If anything, the spirit probably saved my life."
Okay, so she was guessing that was what had happened. But it made more sense to her than it did that Jane was somehow evil.
He inhaled. "Damn it. What's with that guy? Doesn't he know when to quit?"
"Obviously not."
Lucas pulled her against him again. "The timing of this sucks."
"What timing?" Kylie asked.
"I have to go away for a few days." He touched her face. "If it wasn't an emergency, I wouldn't go."
"What happened?" Even as she asked the question, Kylie worried he wouldn't tell her. Werewolves were also known to keep things to themselves.
"I told you about my half-sister. She was supposed to come here for school when the summer camp ended."
"Yeah?" Kylie said, thrilled he trusted her enough to share.
"Well, now my dad has her with his pack and is refusing to let her come. I'm going to have to go there and change his mind."
"I thought you didn't get along with your dad."
"I don't. But I don't have a choice. I shouldn't be gone more than a few days at most, though. I'm going to have Will keep an eye on you."
Kylie remembered Lucas introducing her to Will, another werewolf, a while back. But as with most of the weres, she hardly knew him and didn't particularly like the idea of having a stranger "keep an eye on her."
"I'll be fine," she told him. "Burnett has assigned me shadows. I don't need-"
"It'll make me feel better. Knowing one of my own kind has your back."
Kylie didn't like being reminded that Lucas trusted his own kind more than he did the others. But she had too much stuff to worry about without taking on another problem to chew on her sanity.
"When are you leaving?" she asked.
"Now. I should be back by Saturday, or Sunday at the latest." He kissed her again. The kiss went on longer than a typical good-bye kiss, and it involved a lot of passion.
When he pulled away, she heard the slight humming sound rumbling from his chest.
She grinned with a hint of warning. "You're humming again."
He arched a brow. "You bring out the wolf in me." Leaning down, he gave her another quick kiss.
Seconds after he'd left, Kylie realized he hadn't said anything about asking her out this morning.
Was he having second thoughts? Closing her eyes, she pushed that worry into the mental closet with all her other worries.
Holiday walked into the room and hugged her. "I think we need a trip to the falls, don't you? How about I set it up with Burnett and tomorrow we make it a date?"
"That would be good," Kylie said. "Really good."
* * *
The next day, Kylie and Holiday ran through the cascading water of the falls and dropped down on the rocky bank. Tiny pinpoints of water spilled over from the rush of the falls and splattered against Kylie's face. Her hair, already soaked from the walk through the sheet of water, hung around her shoulders and dripped down onto her legs.
She didn't care. The serene atmosphere seeped into her pores, and for the first time in over a week, she felt at peace. She knew this didn't mean her problems were solved. They were far from it. But for right now, for this moment in time, she felt everything in her world was going to be okay.
Burnett, unhappy about their being here, stood guard outside. He'd been extra concerned about them coming out here because of yesterday's incident. That's how they were referring to the giant hole that nearly swallowed up Perry, Kylie, and Ellie: as the "incident."
The geologist they'd called in to look at the pit was calling it a freak of nature, a sinkhole. Kylie knew better, as did most of the campers at Shadow Falls. Amazingly, the size of the hole had shrunk before the scientist arrived. Magic, bad magic, was involved. This much Kylie knew, and Miranda had confirmed it, too.
Because of the weather and the thicket of trees, the security alarm hadn't picked up on any intruders. Burnett had been over-the-top pissed about that, too. Not at anyone in particular, but at the situation in general. She'd heard him on the phone with the FRU, telling them he needed a better security system ASAP.
But since whatever happened apparently came from underground, Kylie didn't know if a system existed that would detect underground intruders.
Powerful underground intruders who, for reasons Kylie didn't understand, wanted her dead.
Kylie breathed in the serenity of the falls. Amazing. Even the thought of being on someone's hit list couldn't ruin her peaceful mood.
Leaning back on her hands, she studied Holiday, who was doing the same. "You know, we should bring all the campers up here."
Holiday opened her eyes. "I wish it was that easy."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't bring someone to the falls, Kylie. They have to be called. Remember?"
Kylie did remember and was suddenly curious. "So why does the falls call some people and not others?"
"Don't know," Holiday said. "But it's said that they call less than half of one percent of all supernaturals."
"Are all of the ones called ghost whisperers?"
"All of the ones that I know of are. There are legends of the falls that go back thousands of years. The Native Americans called it sacred grounds and decreed that only the chosen could enter."
"Burnett entered," Kylie said.
"I know, and that shocks me."
"Because you don't think he's chosen?" Kylie asked.
"No, because he can't see spirits."
"You should have seen him watching you when everyone was greeting you at dinner the other night," Kylie said, acting on impulse. "I think he loves you, Holiday."
Holiday arched a brow. "Still trying to play matchmaker, huh?"
"Maybe I'm just trying to help out a couple of friends."
"Or maybe you're concentrating on someone else's problems so you don't have to think about your own."