The Guardians (MORE Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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