Keepers: A Timeless Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

door since we came back from
Avella. Lucia’s been our own personal subway system, using her
portals.” I was wearing a hole in my floors with all the pacing.
Any second smoke would rise from my feet. “We were
discrete.”
    The only person left in the
living room was Andrew, and he watched me as I turned for another
round of chasing my tail.
    “ I’m not talking about
that,” the Director shouted. I pulled the phone away from my ear.
“I’m talking about that angel with all the silver markings using
magic while the media films. You’re asking for trouble.”
    I gritted my teeth. “Asking
for trouble?” I snapped. “What are the police doing? The FBI? What
about protecting us?”
    He scoffed. “It seems you
don’t need any help from us—just send your pet angel out to take
care of the problem.”
    While Tom was all cozied up
in his FBI penthouse office, I was stuck at ground zero. For the
first time ever, I wanted to clock Tom. I wanted to punch him right
in his stupid nose.
    “ She’s a Fallen Angel, and
I asked her to help keep people away after some asshole threw a
brick through my window and almost hit Jules!” I was furious now,
though I realized I’d just cussed at my boss. “Excuse my French,” I
amended.
    Andrew’s eyebrows furrowed
at my words, and for the tiniest of seconds, I almost grinned at
his confusion over the idiom.
    “ You’re about to cross a
line, Agent,” the Director warned. That wiped away any
humor.
    I was about to retort with
something very ungentlemanly when Andrew blew past me, taking the
phone with him. He had moved so fast I was left staring at my empty
hand for a few seconds, baffled. I glanced up just in time to see
Andrew vanish out the back door. I followed him, a flurry of
protests escaping me like tiny missiles. Gabriella came from
nowhere and blocked my path. I nearly tripped over her as I skidded
to a halt.
    Before I could speak, she
held up a hand. “Let it go.”
    My angry gaze landed on
her. Gabby was a beautiful woman, but that didn’t stop her from
finding a way to get under my skin and infuriate me. Secretly, it
was one of the things I liked about her, but not today and not
right now.
    “ Let it go?” I
barked.
    Gabby wasn’t even fazed by
my nasty tone-of-voice. “Let Andrew deal with it. You’ve got a
fiancée and a little girl who are scared to stay here locked in
your bedroom.”
    I opened my mouth, ready to
retort, but her words had pulled me up short. That was another
thing I liked about Gabby: she always got straight to the point and
had this easy way of throwing everything into perspective when all
one saw was the endless dark. Gabby was always seeing the light at
the end of the tunnel, and all those other cliché ways of saying
she was a glass half full type of woman.
    I lowered my head and went
back inside like I was a scolded puppy—I sure felt like one. At
least my backyard was free of the media, but who knew when they’d
get over their aversion to climbing fences.
    When would this all be
over?

CHAPTER 6: THE LAST
STRAW
     
    Firen leaned against my
bedroom door, dejection pulling her lips down into a severe frown.
Firen wasn’t one for conversation or showing any type of strong
emotion, so I knew she was honestly upset.
    “ Hey. You okay?” I asked,
worried.
    Her grey eyes widened at my
approach, and she appeared panicked. She bit her lip, hesitant to
speak. I’d never seen her act anything less than a warrior, even
with Jenna and Jules. This completely threw me off guard, and I
wasn’t sure how to go about getting her to talk or if I even wanted
her to.
    “ What is it?” I probed,
hoping I wasn’t crossing some invisible line.
    Firen sucked in a breath,
and then words exploded out of her. “She’s upset with me and thinks
all of this is my fault,” she cried. “Jenna’s probably told Jules
that I caused this. They’ll never want to see me again. I was just
trying to protect them, I swear.”
    Surprised by the outburst,
I