The Guardians (MORE Trilogy) (4 page)

Ava, however, rarely stuck to plans.

“Caleb? You awake?” Bel’s prodding jerked Caleb out of a near-doze.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m here,” he mumbled. “What’s up?”

“We need your help. Nothing fancy. Just transport for a Half-Breed up to the Colony.”
 

Caleb yawned but slid out of bed and grabbed a duffle bag from his closet. “When? Where?”

“You’re to rendezvous with Balaam in Milwaukee tonight, six o’clock your time for the handoff.” Bel paused, and Caleb could hear the shuffling of papers over the phone. “Balaam will lead any Protectors south while you shift the Half-Breed, Evan, north.”

Caleb nodded even though Bel couldn’t see him.
 

He was familiar with Balaam’s ability to mimic any Race member or Half-Breed. Because of their individual mental capabilities, each gave off a unique electrical signature. Balaam was able to imitate that.

Caleb frowned. Correction. Not
every
Race member gave off the signature. Ava didn’t, and Caleb wasn’t sure why. She’d been fitted with a psychic block as a baby, which blocked her Race abilities; it was possible that parts of the block were still in place and that was why she didn’t give off a Race imprint. It was just one more mystery among a host of them where Ava was concerned.

He yawned, his jaw cracking as he threw some clothes into the duffle bag. “Six o’clock. Evan. Milwaukee. Got it.”

“Don’t be late.”
 

Caleb tossed the phone onto the bed and finished packing. He needed to meet Ava for coffee and tell her he was leaving for a few days. Caleb didn’t like it, but it actually helped that he knew Tiernan would be watching her. Even if he was sent to protect the Council
from
her, he knew that if push came to shove and any Rogues showed up, Tiernan would protect
her
from
them
.
 

Not that she really needs it
.
 

He smiled. Ava had become a formidable opponent, her powers growing every day. In truth, he couldn’t blame the Council for being nervous.
 

If he didn’t know she was on his side, he might be, too.

Ava smiled when she saw Caleb waiting for her outside the campus coffee shop, balancing two cups as he adjusted his backpack. He gave her the vanilla latte with a quick kiss to her cheek, and she took his hand as they set off across campus toward her English literature class. It always filled Ava with a little bit of glee that she got to start her day with Chaucer and Bronte instead of Pascal and Bernoulli. Sure, physics had brought her Caleb, but she couldn’t say she missed the class.
 

Without warning, Caleb yanked her into the shadows between two buildings and pulled her against him, wrapping his arms tightly around her.
 

She barely had enough time to clench her eyes shut when, with a dizzying whirl, the ground dropped out from beneath her. When she opened her eyes, she stumbled, blinking uncertainly until she realized he’d shifted them to the top of the bell tower. The campus was spread out before them in a grid-like pattern of green and brown, the town of Witteville sparkling in the morning sunshine just beyond.
 

When Caleb released her, she smacked his arm, and his coffee sloshed out of the hole in the plastic lid. “You need to warn me before you do that!”
 

Caleb grinned. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
 

She shook her head but couldn’t keep from smiling herself. Taking a sip of her coffee, she crossed to the low brick wall circling the huge bell at the top of the tower and dropped her backpack at her feet. “You do realize if we ever get caught up here, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”

He shrugged, lowering his own bag to the ground. “I like to live dangerously.”

“Mm-hmm.” She faced him and leaned on the wall, setting her cup down next to her. “I do have class, you know?” Not that she was that worried about it. Spending time with Caleb was always more fun than bonding with Chaucer.

“I know. I needed to talk to you alone for a minute.”

Ava didn’t like the sound of that. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just have to leave town for a few days.”

Ava fought down a rush of concern. “For the Council?”

“Guardians.”

Ava nodded, turning back around to look out over the campus. She knew Caleb had been secretly working with the Guardians on occasion, unbeknownst to the Council. The Guardians operated in the shadows, and if the Council knew he was helping them, he’d not only lose his position as a Protector, he could be tried as a traitor to the Race. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to get involved, though. She knew firsthand how frightening it was to be hunted by the Council and the appalling way Half-Breeds were treated. Still, it
was
dangerous. And she couldn’t help being worried.

“I could go with you.” She kept her back to him, not wanting him to see exactly how much it meant to ask, how much she really hated to be apart from him.

“You know that won’t work,” he said quietly. “I can’t shift you and him.”

She nodded. “Well, be careful, okay?”

He drew closer and set his coffee cup next to hers before reaching out to rub her shoulders lightly. He pulled Ava back against his chest, his arms crossed over hers and their fingers tangling. “I’ll be fine. And you know Tiernan and Katherine are around if you need them.”

She smiled wryly. “You really think Tiernan would help
me
?”

Caleb laughed. “Well, maybe Katherine. I think she likes you.”

“I doubt that.”

“Here,” he said, untangling one of his arms to fumble in his coat pocket. “I have something for you.” He reached around and held his open hand in front of her, a small, polished wooden box lying in his palm.

She glanced up at him over her shoulder. “What is it?”

He shrugged, a hint of pink creeping up his cheeks. “Open it and find out.”

Ava took the box as Caleb loosened his hold on her, his arms falling slowly to his sides. Absently running her fingers over the smooth wood, she turned around to face him. “It’s not my birthday.”

“I know when your birthday is.” He smirked, and Ava laughed lightly. Caleb knew pretty much everything about her, actually. Having been assigned to her, knowing every detail about her had been part of his job, at least until their relationship had developed into something more.

“So what’s the occasion?” Ava couldn’t resist prodding a bit, since Caleb was so adorably embarrassed.
 

His face flushed a little more as he shook his head in exasperation. “No occasion. Just . . . something to remember me by while I’m gone.”

A rush of warmth raced through Ava at that—the idea that Caleb
wanted
her to think about him,
wanted
her to miss him—and she looked down at the box, her own face heating rapidly. She lifted the lid of the box, and her heartbeat sped a little then seemed to stop altogether when she saw its contents. A hammered pewter pendant hung on a black leather cord, and she brought it closer to examine the design: two linked circles, and where they overlapped, a woven knot, obviously Celtic in design. Two gleaming stones were set in the larger circles, one blue and one green. Ava smiled, realizing the stones were the color of Caleb’s eyes—his true eyes, when he wasn’t wearing his contacts.

“It was my mother’s,” he said quietly. “The only thing my father gave her that she kept.”

Ava blinked back tears, rubbing her thumb over the green stone. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “But I can’t accept this. It’s too important to you.” She held it out, but he wrapped her fingers around the pendant, holding her hand tightly.

“
You’re
important to me.”

“But . . . your mother
 . . .
”

“She wants you to have it, too,” he said, swallowing thickly. “I think it’s her way of letting you know that even though she has to fulfill her duties to the Council
officially
, she’s glad you’re in my life,
personally
.” He leaned in to kiss Ava, their clasped hands pressed against his chest.
 

Ava melted against him, the feel of his power familiar yet not diminished in its intensity. When he reluctantly pulled away many minutes later, they were both breathing heavily.

“Here, look,” he said, his voice raspy as he opened her hand. “The two circles are a symbol of both our worlds, the two stones representing humanity and the First Race. My father added the knot in the middle for my mother—a symbol of unity.” He traced the twisted metal with a fingertip. “Actually, it became a symbol for the Guardians later on, so she could no longer wear it, for obvious reasons. But she always kept it close. Even after he left. And now . . . now, I want you to have it.”

Ava examined his features, seeing nothing but sincerity there, and looped the necklace over her head before kissing him again. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I love it.”

“You’re welcome.”

They stood there for a moment, wrapped in each other’s arms, before Ava looked up at him again. “You never talk about your father.”

He shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. He wasn’t around.”

She fingered the necklace. “But if your mother kept this, she must have missed him, at least a little.”

Caleb pulled away, sighing heavily. “That’s a long story,” he said, checking his watch. “And one we probably can’t get into right now. Not if you’re going to make it to class on time.”

Ava wanted to protest, but Caleb had taken on that stiff look that always accompanied any mention of his father. He only moved back a fraction, but in that moment, it felt as though he was miles away. His jaw twitched with tension, his eyes hard, and she recognized the look of him getting lost in thoughts of the man who’d abandoned him and his mother. Ava could push it. She’d tried to before, but the closest Caleb had ever come to opening up about his feelings on the topic was to say that he didn’t know much about his father and didn’t feel the need to.

She left it alone and simply reached up to touch his cheek, waiting.

She didn’t have to wait long. He looked down with a soft smile and pulled her close, getting ready to shift. “I’ll tell you everything once I get back,” he said, the promise clear in his eyes.

He seemed almost nervous at the prospect, but she didn’t mention it, instead asking, “Which will be?”
 

“Soon,” he said with a laugh. “Few days. A week at most.”

“Okay. I can do a week.” She tucked her face against his chest and closed her eyes. “But any longer and I’m coming after you.”

Caleb laughed.
 

Little did he know, she wasn’t kidding.

That evening, Caleb waited at the rendezvous point, a nondescript coffee shop on a street corner in Milwaukee. He checked his watch again, impatient to get this assignment over and done with. He’d pushed himself, shifting rapidly and wolfing down R-cubes so he could get where he was going and back home again.

Of course, he hadn’t taken into account having to wait for the Half-Breed. All he could think about was getting back to Witteville and to Ava. He didn’t like leaving her alone, both for personal and professional reasons. Despite his reassurances to her that she would be looked out for, he felt a lot more comfortable when he was the one doing the looking.