Guardian Demon (GUARDIAN SERIES) by Meljean Brook Read Free Book Online

pink flannel pajamas and tousled blond hair, her mother came out of her room and stopped dead, staring.
    “Andy?”
    “Hey. Sorry I woke you.”
    She started to close the refrigerator door, but her mother’s expression made Taylor pause and remain absolutely still, afraid of spooking her. Uncertainty and fear had tightened her softly lined face. At her neck, she gripped a pendant in one hand—not the silver cross that matched the necklace Taylor always wore, but one of the Guardians’ emergency alarms disguised as jewelry.
    “Mom? What’s going on?”
    Her mother’s mouth firmed. “Tell me something that only you would know.”
    Ah. So that was it. Demons and Guardians could shape-shift to look like anyone. Taylor had told her mother to ask this if she was ever unsure.
    “You gave me Dad’s badge while we were sitting on that old, ugly brown plaid couch. And we got rid of the couch after Barney peed on the cushions.”
    Her mother’s hand dropped away from the pendant. On a shuddering breath, she came forward and wrapped Taylor in a tight hug. Surprised, Taylor carefully squeezed her back. A Guardian could crush a human. Thank God she’d realized that she still had superstrength before the hugging started.
    “It’s definitely me. Do you want something to eat?” Taylor turned to the cupboard for another bowl. Though a Guardian didn’t need food, she liked it—and she liked the idea of a meal with her mother even more. “I can— Mom?”
    Keening, her mother buried her face in her hands. Sobs wrenched up from her belly. Taylor’s chest tightened, and she slipped her arms around her mother’s heaving shoulders. She’d seen this kind of crying before, the kind that came from sheer, hysterical relief—from a young mother whose kid had fallen out of a high window but got up without a scratch. From a cop who found the bullet embedded in a wall a few millimeters from his head. From so many drivers who’d walked away from a totaled vehicle. It was the kind of sobbing that came from a near miss, of seeing their lives destroyed and then—miraculously—everything was fine.
    “Hey, now. Everything’s okay,” Taylor soothed. Then, finally realizing that
she
was the reason for her mother’s relief, added, “
I’m
okay. I’m here. I’m all right.”
    Except she could barely get the words past her aching throat. God, her mother was so solid, so unflappable. It was devastating to hear this. And if Michael had brought Taylor to this apartment before she’d been healed and her mother had seen the hole through her chest, she would kill him.
    Her mother’s shudders slowly eased. Taylor rubbed her shoulders and steered her toward the small table in the kitchen corner that passed for a dining room.
    “Let me start some tea for you, all right?” She hovered until her mom sat and began mopping her cheeks. Taylor put the kettle on, dumped cereal into a bowl, and dropped into the opposite chair. “I’m surprised that I woke up here, actually. Did they bring me right away?”
    Shaking her head, her mother said, “No. After I heard . . . I asked the Guardians to bring you. Joe helped me convince them.”
    Joe Preston, Taylor’s former partner—and who worked for Special Investigations now. She studied her mom’s face, wondering about the sweet inflection that she’d given Joe’s name, remembering those two plates in the sink.
    Her mother . . . and Joe? When had that happened? And how far had it gone?
    On second thought, Taylor didn’t want to examine that right now.
    “How long was I out?” She rubbed her chest. Michael couldn’t heal wounds created by that spear—and he’d said the injury needed to be cleansed with fire. Thank God they’d done that while she’d been unconscious. “At least a few days, I guess.”
    Her mother’s mouth trembled. “Two and a half years.”
    “No.” How was that possible? Taylor stared at her.
“No.”
    “Yes.”
    Tears were filling her mother’s eyes again.