The Guardian by Connie Hall Read Free Book Online Page B

his nightlight turned off.
    Fala almost smiled. “I’ll be back.”
    She ran down the stairs, wondering at her last statement. If Tumseneha was lying in wait for her, she might not come back. But she couldn’t risk anyone else getting hurt because of her. What had happened to the SWAT team? She couldn’t hear the gunfire outside.
    Her cell phone rang. She continued down the stairs and pulled it from her pocket. Urgent flashed on the caller ID. Must be Winter. Great. The last person she wanted to talk to. More than likely he called to grill her on what had happened at the station. Why did she sensehe knew more about her than he had let on? And why had her insides somersaulted around him? Men didn’t do that to her—none had made her body tingle like he had. Definitely someone to keep at arm’s length. She caught sight of a text message that flashed, Answer your phone. Urgent.
    She slapped the phone closed and slid it into her pocket as she reached the exit door.
    She stepped outside and grew aware of the stark emptiness of the alley, the tight air breathing down her neck. The sky was changing, black melting into purple, hints of morning sun burning away the night. The row buildings on all sides blocked her view of the moon, yet she felt the pull of it still there, grasping at its last few moments of power, losing the eternal war with the sun.
    She glanced past the Dumpsters, toward a security light still humming at the back of Burney’s. Many of her coworkers’ birthday parties had been thrown at the bar. Fala had lost count of the rounds of beer she and Joe had bought each other there. Its dim swatch of light hardly pierced the alley’s darkness, but it afforded enough glow to scan the immediate shadows as she advanced slowly down the alley.
    The trail Tumseneha had left stirred every nerve and flashed neon warnings to be careful. Was it a former trail, or a more recent one? Was Tumseneha lurking, waiting? She didn’t dare believe he’d given up so easily. She slowed her stride, eyes darting at every shadow.
    Suddenly a hand snaked out from beside a Dumpster and clamped over her mouth, another around her waist. Before she could react, her back hit a solid chest. The flash of familiar silver eyes burned in her retinas.

Chapter 4
    S tephen heard her muffled protest die behind his palm. The sensation of her struggling against him, overpowering her, bending her to his will, sent a knee-numbing rush through him for one second. Then it changed into something agonizingly awesome as her white magic collided with his own, warred with his essence. He hadn’t known full physical contact with the Guardian would be this intense. Was it the spell he was under that caused this reaction? The direct psychic connection? Or the magic protecting her? He had never experienced anything like this with a female, a feeling of spiraling out of control and bursting at any moment.
    He wanted to push her away, but the delicious smell of spent magic still crackled along her skin and held him. Her thick braid brushed his cheek. He felt her gun and holster poking his side, and something much worse: her shapely ass twisting against his growing erection.
    â€œShhh, be still and I’ll let you go,” he said, knowing he couldn’t let her go even if he wanted to.
    Her stiff back bent slightly and she quieted in his arms. He felt her surrender to the same sensations he was experiencing. She bent her neck toward his lips as she said, “You’ve got two seconds to let me go, Ice Storm, or you’re gonna need a new set of family jewels.”
    He pressed his mouth close to her earlobe and fought the urge to taste the soft flesh near his lips. He felt her body shaking in his arms as he said, “You’ll thank me very soon.”
    â€œNot on your—” A thump at the end of the alley cut off her sentence and commanded their attention.
    The lycanthrope had leaped down from