Authors: Apryl Baker
“Tell her I’d like that,” I murmur, my lips inadvertently brushing his bare skin.
He lets out a shaky laugh. “You have to stop that, Hilda, if you want me to finish telling you all this.”
“Sorry.” I try to sit up and he pushes me back down.
“Just be more careful,” he says gruffly. “Anyway, living Reapers have always been guardians to the lost souls on this earth, making sure they cross over safely. They’re rare, though, so you won’t find a lot of references on them. My family only has books about them because throughout history, it has been my family’s duty to protect them. Mom called those in my family with that duty a Guardian Angel.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” I wiggle free enough to look into his eyes. He’s dead serious.
“Nope, Mattie, I’m not kidding,” he says. “Everyone in my family who met you has this insane urge to protect you, starting with Dan and ending with me. It’s hardwired into our DNA to protect living Reapers. Think about how Caleb and I reacted the first time we met Dan. We’d heard you talking in your sleep about how he’d hurt you and we wouldn’t let him near you. Even
we
questioned how bizarre it was that we
had
to keep you from any kind of pain.”
“You never did tell me what I said.” I
really
want to know.
“It doesn’t really matter.” Eli shakes his head. “You could have just said
‘he hurt me’ and that would have been enough for our instincts to kick in.”
“So, all of you share this…this
thing
with me?”
He sighs and I feel it go through his whole body. “No. They just want to protect you, but they aren’t your Guardian Angel. Very few living Reapers get one of those. Records show only two in the last four hundred years. Reapers who get assigned a
Guardian Angel are ones meant for something very important. It’s the Guardian’s job to make sure they stay alive long enough to accomplish whatever it is they’re supposed to do.”
“And you’re mine?” I whisper, every muscle in my body tensing. Eli’s arms tighten around me in response.
“Don’t freak out,” he soothes. “You promised me no running.”
“I lied,” I reply. “It’s what I do best.”
“I know,” he says softly. “Here’s the thing, Mattie, it’s not that big of a deal. There’s just a few extra perks to the whole protection thing is all.”
“Like what?”
“Like I always know where you are,” he says. “I just think about you and the bond leads me to you. It’s that simple. You could fly around the world, and I’d find you. I know if you’re in trouble. That’s how I got to your house so fast the other day. I sensed something was wrong and drove like crazy. Thank God I did or you’d be dead now.” He shudders and so do I.
“When did the…the thing start?” I ask him. “You said it wasn’t when we first met?”
“The first time I felt it was when you disappeared in the library in New Orleans. Everyone else searched the house, but I ran outside. I felt you. Dan was right behind me. Mom thinks he may have a similar bond with you—not as strong as mine, but there’s definitely something there. She’s started researching it.”
“Dan has always made me feel safe,” I say. “I trust him.”
“And it could be that simple.” Eli sighs. “You might have forged a bond with him for those precise reasons. It’s almost as rare as that of a Guardian Angel. The Reaper usually instigates the bond, but in those cases, it’s been a direct bloodline connection. You and Dan aren’t related, so Mom’s in full research mode. She loves a good mystery.”
“So how’s it different between you and Dan?” I ask.
“Dan will get a
general
idea of where you are, but can’t go straight to you. He can also get a flash of how you feel, but not all the time. If you’re in danger, the bond won’t let me ignore it. I have to find you or it causes me physical pain. Dan feels a little uneasy, but that’s about it. He doesn’t have the driving force to save you that I do.”
“Wait, you know how I’m feeling?” I ask, alarmed. He knows how he makes me feel? My face flames.
He chuckles. “Not the way you’re imagining, Hilda. I have a general idea if you’re happy, sad, in danger. That sort of thing. I can’t tell if you’re having hot fantasies about me or not.”
A wave of relief washes through me. Maybe some of my secrets are safe.
“So you see, it’s not as bad you thought now, is it?”
“I don’t know.” I lean back. “Does this thing make me feel the way I do about you?”
“How
do
you feel about me, Hilda?” he asks curiously.
“Aggravated enough to wring your neck over that blasted nickname
.” His only response is to smile wider. “I ran because you scare me, Eli,” I confess. “You scare me even more than Dan did.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t get close to people or let them in because it’ll hurt when they leave. Everyone always leaves me—or did. I’ve spent my entire life very closed off and couldn’t recognize the love I had standing in front of me. I don’t know how to love or…to be loved.”
“I know all that, Hilda.” Eli pulls me closer. “Dan and I had a long conversation about you last night. He explained all your hang-ups and then threatened to beat me bloody if I ever hurt you.”
“I don’t know if I can explain to you how I feel,” I say after a minute. “I can’t even explain it to myself.”
“Well, let me explain it
for
you. I’m not going to say we’re in love. We haven’t known each other long enough for that. I think we have a lot of very deep feelings, made even stronger by the bond between us. I think if we give it half a chance, it will develop into something really beautiful. You have to give it a chance, though, Mattie. You can’t run from the emotions between us no matter how much you’re hardwired to do that because of your past. You have to make a stand and fight for what’s looking you in the face.”
“I might mess it up,” I whisper.
He laughs. “Sweetheart, I have a temper, do stupid stuff on a regular basis, and say all the wrong things. Trust me, there’s going to be more than enough messing up on both our parts to be able to fill the pages of a hundred romance novels. We just have to remember to forgive each other. So what do you say? Are you willing to try? To see where this can go?”
I look up into those eyes of his and nearly swallow my tongue. They are full of warmth, vulnerability
, and are beseeching me to try. How can I say no when he’s staring at me like that?
“I’ll try, Elijah Malone.”
That’s all that needed to be said.
By the time we emerge from the woods, the others are all waiting by the boat. I can feel everyone’s stares as we walk over to Dan. Snickers follow us and I want to turn and glare, but Eli squeezes my hand. He doesn’t care about it, so why should I? It’s not like I’m going to see these people again
, anyway. I don’t even live in Mooresville.
“Everything okay now?” Dan asks, eyes on me. Before, he’d have given Eli a death-glare for holding my hand. Since our heart-to-heart, though, things have gone back to the way they were before I got my feelings mixed up and confused us both. Dan and I are friends. Period. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s nice to have my friend back, no strings attached. I’m even flirting with the idea of forgiving Meg because I know how important it is to Officer Dan and he’s
that
important to me.
“
Not sure yet,” Eli says, surprising me. His face shows a mixture of hope and wariness. “If you haven’t issued an all-points bulletin for her by tomorrow, then I’ll be more confident of where we are.”
Dan laughs outright. “I was thinking the same thing.”
I glower at them both and try to disentangle myself from Eli. He only grins at me and pulls me closer. “You’re still shivering, Hilda. Get warm before you flounce off in a huff.”
“I do not
flounce
!” I seethe.
“Okay, so Caleb explained the whole Guardian Angel bond to me,” Dan says, still laughing, “but why is she only warm when you’re around? I don’t get that.”
Ohhhh, I’d forgotten to ask that.
“Yeah, why is that?” I demand.
“Well, I’m your Guardian Angel, Hilda,” Eli winks. “That means whatever you need from me, I’ll give, even unconsciously. What
you
need most is heat, so my body automatically generates enough heat to warm the cold from your bones.”
Huh. My own personal furnace on call 24/7. That’s actually really cool.
“Hi, I’m Ava!”
I blink as the girl gets right in my face. Jeez, hasn’t anyone ever told her about a little thing called personal space? My face must have reflected my thoughts because her eyes widen and she takes a hasty step back. Her blonde hair is pinned up in a high ponytail and she’s wearing a purple two piece bikini. It
has
to be purple? How can I tolerate another purple-loving fiend? Just shoot me now.
“Ava, this is Mattie,” Eli says while I give her my best back-off-before-I-punch-you glare. “She’s not as hostile as she seems, promise.”
“Speak for yourself,” I mutter, my mood souring rapidly.
“What put
you
into such a snarky mood?” Eli asks, frowning.
“This is me,” I tell him. “Deal…or don’t.” I pull away and then join Dan on the boat. I really have no idea why I went from blissfully happy to all dark, snarky
, and gloomy. It’s just plain weird.
“
Can you grab the life vests out of the bin?” Dan asks, not looking at me. “We should be ready to push off in just a minute.”
I go and count out six vests. I spotted Mary right before I fled to the boat. Caleb is trying to talk to her and she’s adopted one of my better back-off glares. Good girl. Caleb needs to learn he is not the holier-than-thou persona he comes off as sometimes. He’s nice as pie, but there are times he acts like an arrogant arse.
“Wanna learn to drive the boat?” Dan asks, interrupting my dark thoughts.
“Really?” I squeal.
Dan laughs. “Sure, Squirt. As soon as we’re away from the other boats, I’ll show you how.” He hollers for everyone to load up and they pile on board.
Mary stalks straight for me, eyes flashing fire. Caleb must have really pissed her off. I’ve never seen her this mad. “He is an idiot,” she mutters and straps on her vest. “Why did I ever think he was cute?”
“Because he is?” I offer. Caleb isn’t just cute. He’s all dark and broody and most girls would be all over him in a minute. Me, on the other hand, I feel nothing like that when I look at him. He’s just Caleb. Doesn’t mean I’m blind, though.
“Well, of course he’s cute,” she snaps. “He’s also stupid.”
Okaaayyyy…what in the world did he say to her?
“I’m sorry,” Mary sighs. “I didn’t mean to dump on you…he’s just so, so, so…” She throws her hands up and turns to look out over the water as we pull away from the dock.
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her. “How’d you get them to bring you?”
“What, you think I’d miss an opportunity to come to the lake?” she laughs and then blushes slightly. “I sorta parked myself in Caleb’s truck and refused to get out. Not a lot he could do about it, unless he physically hauled me out.”
My eyebrows shoot up. That’s ballsy. I’d have done it, too.
“I just wish I could I wear a bikini,” she says wistfully, staring at Ava.
My eyes travel to where Ava is seated between her brothers. The girl is a miniature copy of Eli, except she has wheat blonde hair, streaked with lighter strands that are so pale, they could be white. Her eyes are brown like Caleb and Dan’s instead of the aqua color of Eli’s and their baby brother, Ben. She’s beautiful, but then so are her brothers.
“So what’s wrong with you?” Mary asks, turning her attention back to me. “You seem to be in a bad mood.”
“I don’t know,” I tell her truthfully. “I started to feel weird as soon as we came out of the trees. It felt like all the happiness from earlier drained away and left me empty.”
“So did you and Eli work things out?” she asks, her eyes lighting up. “Are you guys like together now?”
Leave it to Mary to focus only on the boy. “Maybe,” I hedge, not wanting to admit that we were an item. I still have this nagging feeling that Eli and I as a couple might not be such a good idea. That one memory of the guy with his eyes haunts me all the time. I’ve tried to shake it, but I can’t. It’s important, I just don’t know why.
“There is no ‘maybe’ to it,” Eli accuses from a few feet away. “You promised you’d try, Hilda.”
I close my eyes and groan. When had he sneaked up on us?
“She has a right to change her mind,” Mary tells him. Bless Mary, she’ll always come to my defense, no matter how hateful I am.
“I haven’t changed my mind,” I say, trying to ward off the argument bubbling up between them. “I said I’d try, Eli. It doesn’t mean you’re my boyfriend. We haven’t even been out on a date yet.”