Iron (The Warding Book 1) by Robin L. Cole Read Free Book Online

my gait looked graceful and deliberate rather than snail-slow to prevent my shaky legs from giving out. I took a seat, putting equal distance between myself, Seana and the impossible feline who had curled up contentedly on my chair, purring loudly. Kaine stood directly in front of me, once again silent and fixated on the dark, empty street outside my second-story window. For a fleeting moment I wondered, if the little one could read my emotions, see the future, and turn into a freaking cat, just what the hell could he do?
    His eyes flicked back to me, boring in to my own with a chilling confidence for half a second before ignoring me once again. On second thought, maybe I was better off not knowing.
    I took a deep breath and readied myself for the plunge. “Okay, I’m listening.”

Chapter Five
     
     
    I’m not sure how I managed to get to work the next morning, fully dressed and looking like my world hadn’t just been shattered into tiny, pixie-dust covered pieces. 7am saw me bleary-eyed and rattled; short on sleep and high on nerves. I poured creamer into my cereal instead of into my coffee when I tried to force myself to down some breakfast—and that was only after burning my toast so bad I was forced to resort to said stale cereal. I had completed the morning by knocking my coffee off of the counter, breaking my favorite mug. Red letter start to the day, it was.
    Luckily, those breakfast snafus were between me and the four walls I wasn’t entirely certain I’d ever feel safe in again. After cleaning up my messes, I pulled on my big girl pants and tried to pretend it was any other day. I hadn’t driven into the river on the way to work (though it might have crossed my mind once or twice) and I managed to punch in on time. I even smiled and told my boss that everything was just peachy when she pretended to care. No, I didn’t mind working on my birthday one bit. Of course I wasn’t offended that she had forgotten to get me a card. I’m pretty sure my laugh at her “who wants to be reminded that they’ve turned thirty anyway” joke was convincing. It got her to leave me alone in any case and, really, that was all that mattered.
    I managed to lose myself in the mindlessness of the office grind, though I knew I was only half present in the dreary gray little world of my cubicle. One good thing about my job—at that moment, at least—was that it didn’t require much brain power. I was a glorified switchboard, though I think the company had given my position some self-important (and wholly bullshit) secretarial title like Customer Service Specialist. Whatever you called me, I was an office grunt. A monkey probably could have done my job if it had legible handwriting and a pleasant speaking voice. I had been working there long enough that routing calls and pretending to care had become routine. Oblivion proved short-lived, however. When the lunch-time slowdown hit and the phones stopped ringing, reality crept back in on quiet cat-feet.
    God, that was such a bad metaphor, given the night I had just had. I hated myself for even thinking it.
    Taking a deep, shaky breath, I slipped my hand into my purse and pulled out the neatly folded piece of paper tucked safely behind my phone. I must have told myself to throw that paper out half a dozen times while I sat on my couch, every lamp blazing deep into the early hours of the morning. I know I had told myself to throw it in the trash at least once more as I stood in my kitchen, staring at the garbage can while I poured Coffee-Mate into my bran flakes. I didn’t need their brand of crazy in my life. I wasn’t buying whatever it was they were selling. I couldn’t write them off as wackos, given the furry antics I had witnessed with my own two eyes, but I didn’t need shape-shifting and faerie bullshit in my life. That sort of crazy could only bring trouble. I didn’t care what kind of super powers they claimed I myself had.
    “Your Gift allows you to see through the