He really did intend to take Cliff out into the sunlight, every day if necessary, to help him fight the madness. And Cliff, curse his selfish hide, would let him, wanting to put off saying goodbye to Emma for as long as he could.
“Listen,” he began, thinking of Emma and his concern for her. “There’s something I need you to do.”
“Name it,” Aidan replied without hesitation.
Cliff was so damned fortunate to have friends like him. He really wished he didn’t need to do this. He just couldn’t accept what might happen if he didn’t. “I wouldn’t ask,” he said. Aidan had done so much for him already. “I had hoped I wouldn’t have to. But Bastien can’t teleport and—”
“What would you have me do?”
Cliff drew a folded piece of paper from his jeans pocket and held it out. “I need you to go to this address.”
Aidan took the paper with his free hand. Flipping it open, he read the numbers and words scrawled across it.
Emma’s address. Cliff needed Aidan to provide her with tools she could use to safeguard herself should the madness ever reach the point where Cliff failed to recognize her when he flew into a rage.
As long as he still saw her, he steadfastly believed he wouldn’t hurt her. But if he didn’t… Or if he was wrong…
Aidan nodded. “Consider it done.”
Cliff studied him. “You know what I’m asking?”
“Yes.”
“I’d ask Richart, but I don’t really know him well. And Seth…”
“You’d rather Seth not know, if he doesn’t already.”
“Yes.” Emma was Cliff’s lifeline. His reason to keep fighting. If he lost her, he would lose himself. He would lose everything.
“I understand.” Aidan tucked the paper into his back pocket. “Shall I go tonight?”
“No. It doesn’t have to be tonight. I don’t want you to cut your date short. Just… soon.”
Though Aidan smiled, it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll take care of it.”
“You don’t have to bring me out in the sun again,” Cliff told him. Preventing him from harming the woman he loved meant far more.
“I didn’t have to bring you out into the sun today,” Aidan responded. “I did it because I wanted to. And I’ll do it again tomorrow for the same reason. And every day after that as long as you continue to fight.”
Cliff wished he had a way to repay him. Sharing what he knew about the names on Aidan’s list of female gifted ones seemed woefully inadequate. “You’re a good man, Aidan.”
“So are you, Cliff,” his friend said, his voice earnest. “Nothing that happens in the future will ever negate that.”
Sorrow filled him. “You don’t know how much I want that to be true.”
Chapter Twenty
Emma jerked awake. Disoriented, she glanced around and realized she’d fallen asleep while trying to lose herself in an e-book.
Boots thumped on her front steps, as loud as a bass drumbeat in the night’s quiet.
She glanced at the clock. It was too early for Cliff to arrive. The sun had barely set, so he probably hadn’t even started hunting with Bastien yet.
Hard knocks rocked her door.
Unease shot through her. Cliff didn’t knock. He rang the doorbell they’d installed together.
Careful not to make a sound, she padded over to the door in bare feet and peeked through the peephole.
A black shirt and coat blocked her view until the man inside them bent his knees to reduce his height enough for her to see his face.
Oh shit. Her heart began to slam against her ribs.
Aidan O’Byrne, a nearly three-thousand-year-old Immortal Guardian who had pretty much moved into an apartment down on sublevel 5.
What the hell was he doing here?
A full minute passed while she wondered what to do.
A sigh wafted to her ears. “I can hear your heartbeat through the door, so pretending you aren’t home isn’t going to work, Emma.”
She swore. “What do you want?”
“I need to speak with you. Open the door please.”
Hell no. Not until she figured out why he was here. But the late nights with Cliff had left her somewhat sleep-deprived, so her mind was sluggish.
Another masculine sigh. “You know who and what I am, so you know no locks can keep me out. I’m asking you as a courtesy.”
Well, crap. Emma turned the locks on the door and opened it only enough for her to stand in the gap and speak to him. No way was she inviting him inside.
She tilted her head back. She’d passed Aidan in the hallway a time or two at network headquarters. He was handsome. And tall. Taller