Roland seemed to sense her discomfort. “I will stay as long as I can. Don’t forget that even if you don’t see them, Drake and Teagan are out there as well. Someone will be watching you at all times.”

Ree nodded her head but realized he couldn’t see her. “Thanks.”

“It’s never a problem, Ree.”

Chapter 28

Her mother was back in the kitchen when Ree made her way out of her room. She had pancakes and bacon waiting on the island. Ree threw her bag toward the door and snagged a slice of bacon.

“Sit down and eat, Ree. Your father said you were running late yesterday and didn’t eat a good breakfast.” Her mom poured a glass of milk and set it next to Ree.

“So, you’re feeling a little better?” Ree attempted to keep her voice neutral and upbeat, but she couldn’t help but notice there was a large change in her mother’s behavior.

“I do feel better. Ever since I had that dream of Tristan watching over me, I just feel peaceful.” Her mother hummed a little as she set the skillet in the sink. Ree almost gagged on her mouthful of milk.

“Mom.”

“No, dear. I know it sounds crazy, but it helps.” Fixing Ree with a serious stare, her mom shook her head ruefully. “I know he isn’t here anymore. But I like thinking he’s watching over us. I’m sure he keeps an eye on you as well.”

“Yeah. I’m sure he does.” Ree pushed the bacon on her plate around and tried to swallow around the bitter taste in her mouth. Thankfully, there was a honk from the driveway and she was saved from having to talk anymore about Tristan.

“Remember to come straight home today, Ree McKenna. You’re on lockdown, girly.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Ree set her plate in the sink before grabbing her bag and heading out the door. “Love you!”

Melanie and Ree went straight to Sophie’s shop. Surprisingly, the others were there as well. Paden was sitting on the steps outside the back door, worry clouding his eyes despite the smile he flashed at Ree.

“I’ll see you inside,” Melanie said. She shoved Paden’s arm playfully as she ran past and pulled the door closed behind her.

“Hey.” Ree tried to smile but found her face just didn’t want to cooperate. She was itching to touch him and make sure he was really unhurt, but something in his eyes kept her at bay.

“Hey, yourself. Did you get any sleep?” They sat down on one of the parking stones. As if he couldn’t help himself, he reached out and played with a strand of her hair.

“Not really. Lots of bad dreams.” Ree looked at him closely and couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his eyes. “What about you? Why didn’t you come over last night?”

Snorting, he shook his head and looked away. Ree could feel his embarrassment, which only piqued her interest.

“They grounded me.” Setting his arms on his knees, he looked down at the ground. “No, that’s not right. They forbid me from seeing you again.”

“What?” Ree felt her mouth fall open. “Why?”

“Ree, you have to understand that with Claire dying and my aunt staying with us, they aren’t thinking straight.” His green eyes pleaded with her to believe him. “It isn’t anything you’ve done. You have to understand that.”

“No, I don’t understand that. Why would they say you can’t see me anymore? Did you tell them…” They hadn’t had a chance to discuss any type of relationship status with everything else going on. In fact, it seemed silly to ask about it, but maybe he had mentioned something to his parents that made them aware of the fact.

“They’ve known for a long time how I feel about you, Ree. It’s kind of hard to hide things like that from the people that love you.” Smiling, he wrapped her hand in one of his. “Even when I was trying to hide it from myself.”

“Oh.” Ree blushed and looked down at their hands. A soft laugh slid out of his throat, warming Ree all over.

“God, I love it when you blush. Do you know what it does to a guy? To know you’re blushing for me?” Ree looked up to find him staring at her with fathomless eyes. “It makes me want to do all sorts of things, Ree. I’d do anything to make sure you keep looking at me the way you are right now.” He leaned toward her, and she tilted her head up. When his lips touched hers, she couldn’t help the soft sigh that escaped her.

After a moment, Ree pulled back and looked into Paden’s deep green eyes. “Now tell me why you’re forbidden to see me.”

“I missed curfew last night.” Closing his eyes, Paden grimaced before peeking at Ree. “They think you’re a bad influence.”

“Bad influence? Me?” Ree couldn’t help the squeak in her voice.

“Well, you know. You are turning into quite the rebel: staying out to all hours, letting guys into your room at night, even carrying a concealed weapon. To be honest, I’m starting to see why they might think that way.” Scratching his chin, Paden cut his eyes toward her and smiled slyly. “Of course, I think it’s all sexy. So, win-win for me.”

“Paden! They can’t possibly know all of that!” Narrowing her eyes, Ree pushed his shoulder. “I’m sure you’ve missed curfew before.”

Something dark fluttered across his face for a moment, and the sadness in his eyes wrenched at her heart. “Actually, I haven’t missed curfew since the night Tristan died.”

Ree laced her fingers with his and leaned into his shoulder. “Well, I guess I can understand why that would upset them.”

Wrapping his arm around her, Paden pulled her closer, and Ree noticed he was wearing his school jacket instead of the leather one he’d had on last night. “I guess your coat from last night was a complete loss, huh?”

“Yeah. Apparently my healing abilities don’t apply to leather. Can’t heal something that’s already dead.”

“Good to know.” Ree couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image of him sitting in his car, trying to use his immortal gifts to heal a leather jacket. Standing up, Ree pulled Paden with her. “Let’s get inside before we freeze to death. I’d hate for you to experience another fail.”

“Hey! It wasn’t a complete fail!”

“Really? Did the bullet holes close up on the jacket?”

“Um, no.” Standing on the steps of the back porch, Ree turned around and looked at Paden.

“Did the jacket start mooing?” Raising one eyebrow, Ree crossed her arms over her chest and tried to fight the smile pulling at her mouth.

“Okay. Now you’re just being mean.” Reaching out, Paden grabbed her and pulled her against his chest. Digging his fingers into her sides, he tickled her while she squirmed. In some unspoken understanding, she didn’t use the power to escape, and he didn’t use his immortal strength to hold her. Once she managed to get loose, she was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. He looked up at her from the bottom step, a boyish smile brightening his face. Her heart thudded in her chest as she looked down at him, the memory of her dream coming to mind. She needed to push that image away and replace the nightmare with this moment, with the happy gleam in his eyes.

Pulling him back toward her, she crushed his mouth to hers. At first he stood there, shocked, but then his mind seemed to catch up and he set his hands on her hips. He never tried to take control of their kiss, instead letting her decide on the intensity. When she finally pulled back, breathing heavily, he touched her cheek softly.

“What was that all about?” He used his thumb to catch a tear that slid out of the corner of her eye. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

“I just… needed to know you were here with me.” Sniffing gently, Ree gave him a watery smile. “Just don’t let anything happen to you, okay?”

“Happen? To me? Bah. I’m Paden, The Super Immortal! Nothing can happen to me.” Puffing out his chest, Paden made Ree laugh. “C’mon. Let’s go in before they come looking for us.”

Inside the back room of the shop, the others were lounging around the room. Everyone was wearing street clothes, which meant none of them planned on going to school that day. I guess I’m a bad influence after all, Ree thought to herself.

“Ree!” Juliette looked up from her book and smiled. “How’d your parents take it last night?”

“Not good. I’m officially grounded.” Ree sat down on the floor next to the sofa. “I have to be home after school lets out.”

“Kind of hard to fight vampires when you’re stuck in your bedroom.” Weylin was sitting sideways in a plush chair, casually tossing a ball from hand to hand.

“Yeah, I know, Weylin.” Leaning against Juliette’s legs, Ree threw a piece of scrap paper at her friend. “Any tips on getting out of my punishment would be greatly appreciated.”

“Um, I’m much better at getting into trouble than getting out of it.” Weylin rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe Sophie can call and say she needs you at the shop.”

“No go. They want me to quit.”

“Quit? Oh, that’s not good.” Juliette set up behind her and started pulling at Ree’s hair. “Ree, you’ve got to start wearing your hair down more often. It’s going to have a permanent ponytail hump.”

“Ugh, Jules. It gets in my face and I’ve got bigger things to worry about than my hair.”

“Okay guys, we need to talk about last night.” Sophie walked down the stairs as Jules finished braiding Ree’s hair. “Mr. Warren is going to be here in an hour to watch the shop while we go out.” Ree had met Mr. Warren once a week ago, the night Claire had been murdered. He was a professor from the local art college who had been introduced to the ‘Community’ when his wife was killed by Dark Ones.

“What are we going to do in town?” Paden leaned against the wall near the computer desk, his hands tucked into his pockets.

“There are things we need to work on. I want you guys to start functioning as group, to depend on each other as if Roland and I were never around.” Sitting down in her desk chair, Sophie looked at each of them. Ree could feel something dark and sad under the older Guardian’s smooth expression. Ree’s stomach tightened as she studied the tall Greek woman.

“We ran the gauntlet on the island.” Bryce settled back into the couch and crossed his arms. “If we’re going to do something similar to that then it would be easier at night.”

“We’re going to show you some of the places you can go if you are in trouble or if you need weaponry.” Sophie hit the power switch on her computer and quickly typed in her password. “We’re also going to talk about the gods some. And I think that is best done out and away from places they might be watching. This shop is supposed to be protected, but there are some new variables that make me cautious.”

Ree knew that the involvement of Ares and Loki had rattled Sophie’s confidence. The thought of the dark-haired god of war and the blond Norse god triggered another memory from her dreams last night. Biting her lip, Ree tried to think of a good way to bring it up without accidently attracting either of those gods’ attention. If she was right, Hecate had warned her about Loki last night, and it might help Sophie to know who to watch.

Chapter 29

“I’ll keep everything in line while you’re away, Sophie. I don’t have another class until late this afternoon and Roland’s offered to escort me on my walk back to campus.” Roland had shown up with the professor not long before the shop was set to open. Apparently Mr. Warren preferred to walk everywhere downtown. Pushing his black-framed glasses onto the top of his head, the older gentleman smiled at all of them. “Now, shoo. Go do whatever it is that you need to do. I’ll be just fine.”

Ree covered her hand with her mouth and looked away. Sophie might look young, but the thought of someone telling the centuries-old Guardian to shoo was priceless. Roland’s mouth was twitching, and he obviously found the situation humorous as well.

As they walked through the streets of the historic district, Ree couldn’t help but wonder what people thought. The Guardians moved with a dangerous swagger, while Roland moved so smoothly most people wouldn’t notice that his feet were even moving. And there, in the middle of the group, was Ree. She had changed in the last week, become more confident in herself, but it wasn’t enough to compensate for her mortal legs. To anyone looking in from the outside, it would seem as if Ree was a bumbling idiot.

Head held high, Sophie walked with purpose. She often drew the gazes of the men she passed, but her intense manner usually had them moving on quickly. After a little while, the group seemed to naturally fall into two separate sets. Reaching back, Paden grabbed Ree’s hand and pulled her close to his side. Sophie and Weylin stayed close, flanking them, while the rest of their group formed a small knot a little ways behind.

The sun was shining, which had the tourists out in full force as they passed the many shops. A group of older women walked past, wearing fanny packs and large cameras around their necks. The hens made a beeline for a gallery across the street. Apparently, the ladies had seen something the day before that they just couldn’t live without.

“I think I’m going to get one of those.” Weylin’s voice was thoughtful as he watched the women jaywalk.

“One of what?” Ree cocked an eyebrow and smiled at her friend.

“I don’t know, Wey-man. I think they might be too much woman for you.” Paden flashed a crooked grin.

“Har, har. I meant a fanny pack.” Looking thoughtful, Weylin ignored their expressions of disbelief.

“A… fanny pack?” Sophie was looking at Weylin as if he had lost his mind, but Ree noticed the corners of her mouth twitching.

“Yeah. Think about all the cool things I could carry in one.” Completely unperturbed, Weylin stopped at the crosswalk and hit the button on the light post. “I could carry knives and some of those cool collapsible swords that Roland uses. Oh, and snacks!”

Unable to contain her laughter anymore, Ree leaned over and clutched her sides. “Snacks? Weylin, I think you might need to lie down. You obviously have a fever or something.”

“You won’t be saying that the next time we’re out and you get a hankering for a pizza or some popcorn. I could even carry bottled water and little sanitizer wipes.”

“How big of a fanny pack are you planning on getting?” Paden raised an eyebrow.