Guarded Heart Read Free Page B

for the other
factions. Not to mention the security issues posed by the odd vanilla human
with a weapon…like the one who had tried to gun down the high priest three days
ago. And the filmy curtains did nothing to help the situation. Even the garden
gate was wide open.
    In short, these people weren’t thinking of their safety at all.
    Brook stood at the edge of the lake, drawing in calm off the
slowly sloshing water. The water was cold; she could sense that without
touching it. And deep, deeper than most of the lakes she’d been near. If she
ignored the nearby industrial outcrops and the frustrating male in the house
behind her, she could admit the lake was rather nice.
    Too bad it was ruled over by such a tool.

Chapter Two
     
    Morgan’s focus remained on the stiff figure posed at the
lake’s edge outside his office window. “We can handle this threat on our own.”
    In his peripheral vision, he saw Irvin shake his head three
times. “We? I don’t know what you expect me to do, Morgan. Because I most
certainly can’t be vigilant twenty-four hours a day for myself, let alone for
you.”
    “Neither can she.”
    “She has more of a shot than we do. Her sole intent would be
your safety.”
    Morgan’s breath caught.
    Brook’s sole intent would be my safety.
    He couldn’t deny she’d kept him safe the few times they’d
run into each other over the years. But her violent methods and rotten attitude
were simply too hard to swallow for longer than five minutes. She was a danger
to his people, not to mention a serious downer. Morgan had enough dour
individuals in his life.
    “This isn’t like you, Morgan,” Irvin said. “You and this
Ranger Calder have a past?”
    Morgan pressed his eyes shut against the memories of the
scrapes youthful Brook Lochlan had helped him out of and he her. Yes, they had
a past.
    He forced himself away from the window. “It’s nothing like
you’re thinking.”
    Moving to the desk, he sat and took hold of a steno pad and
pencil. His intent had been to jot down the pros and cons of accepting the
Ranger’s help. What he did instead was absently scribble shapes. Several
seconds passed before he realized Irvin awaited a better explanation.
    “I met Ranger Calder when she was eight and I was six. We
were vacationing at the beach in Oregon,” he said without looking at his
friend. “I’d been showing off in the surf with my father’s new fishing pole. A
trio of vanilla humans asked to see it. They knocked me down and then ran away
with the pole.”
    Morgan’s gaze shot up in time to catch the recognition on
Irvin’s face. His cheeks warmed guiltily.
    “Yes, that fishing pole,” he said. “Brook got it back
for me but not without collateral damage. She gave the two larger boys black
eyes. For their wounded pride, they snapped the fishing pole in two places
before giving it back to me.”
    Morgan stared at the window, vision blurring. “She told me
I’d been stupid to let the boys touch the pole—that I was an idiot for trusting
vanilla humans.”
    He shook his head as the old memory rushed back in as if it
had happened only yesterday. “It was me who defused the situation when the
boys’ mothers came looking for the bully responsible for blackening their
children’s eyes. Brook told the women the truth but they didn’t believe her. It
made her angry. So she tried to make them believe the truth. Though
Father had taught me never to use my magic unless it was an emergency, I
couldn’t let her abuse her power. I used it on her. She never forgave me for
intervening. And she reminded me of my failing every time her mother brought
her to the coast.”
    Morgan dropped the pen. “Remember the summer I drove my father’s
car into a tree?”
    Irvin nodded.
    “Brook was behind that as well. The local priestess’s
daughter Amanda had been flirting with me since I’d arrived at the beach house.
All of the Water witch kids got together one evening. Amanda suggested we go
for ice