Stone Cold Lover by Christine Warren Read Free Book Online

“Are you honestly going to try to deny that you’re one of those people? To me? After you saw some of the things that happened with me?”
    Spar saw the quick denial rise to Fil’s lips, and saw her just as quickly push it down. She looked less than happy to have such an admission pulled from her lips.
    “Fine. I can’t deny that I can see things most people can’t,” Fil bit out, clutching her blanket tighter, “but I have never in my life ‘worked with’ it, or however you want to phrase it. Seeing auras and being able to identify people with special abilities is a hell of a lot different from casting spells and battling the forces of evil, El. In case you hadn’t noticed.”
    On the screen, Ella’s face went hard for a moment, the expression ill suiting her appearance of soft sweetness. “Believe me when I tell you, Felicity Jane, that I know more about evil forces at the moment than I hope you will ever have to find out, but neither one of us gets to make that choice. If you’ve awoken a Guardian, you’re in this war now, and your place is as a Warden. Like it or not.”
    “Um, not.”
    Felicity. Was that the human’s actual name? It suited her far better than that masculine nickname he so disliked, Spar decided. At the moment, however, a name that translated as “happiness” sat poorly on her small shoulders. She looked as pleased with the news of her involvement in the battle against the Darkness as he felt. A longing to protect her surged within him, and he fought back the urge to snarl his displeasure.
    He leaned down and peered into the phone, seeking out his brother’s gaze, hoping to convey his feelings without stating them so abruptly. “I like this idea no more than she does, Kees. Even if you are correct about Felicity being an unnamed Warden, the very fact that she has no training makes bringing her into a situation like this untenable. She cannot be expected to face nocturnis untrained. We must find what is left of the Guild and deliver her to them. They can protect her while you and I confront this danger.”
    “‘Deliver’ me? Am I a bloody package now?”
    Both warriors ignored her.
    “Were you not listening, Spar? The Guild no longer exists, not as we knew it. Even if we could locate a member who would agree to train her, it would do us no good. The Wardens have all they can handle protecting themselves at the moment. We cannot place on them another burden.”
    “And now I’m a burden. This just keeps getting better and better.”
    Spar felt a tiny thud on the back of his shin, as if a moth had butted against him on its flight through the night air. Wait, had that been the small human? Had she kicked him? He could not tell by glancing at her face. She had worn the same belligerent expression for at least half an hour.
    “Yet more reason to think she must be placed somewhere out of harm’s way.” He turned back to Kees, determined to impress upon him the importance of keeping Felicity safe. “She has already been injured once. It is too much to ask that she risk such danger a second time.”
    Ella butted back into the center of the frame. “Fil, is that true? Were you hurt? You sounded fine, so I just assumed Spar got you out without a problem.”
    Felicity shot Spar a glare, which he ignored. If she expected that he would not mention the nocturnis ’s spell, she was mistaken. Kees and Ella needed to realize what sort of risk they courted by asking her to join this crusade.
    “I’m not hurt,” she repeated, irritation filling her voice. “Like I told rocks-for-brains over here half a dozen times, I’m fine. The lunatic at the abbey tried to blast me with something, but I don’t think it took.” She held her hand up to the phone’s camera and showed them her palm, where only a patch of reddened skin indicated the spot where the magical blow had landed. “A little sunburn is all. Magicburn. Whatever. I’m fine.”
    Kees peered at the screen and scowled. “The vermin