The Guardians (MORE Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

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.
    He felt a telltale prickle up the back of his neck, indicating a Race presence nearby, and turned to watch the door to the coffee shop, sipping a cappuccino as he waited for Balaam and the Half-Br— Evan, he corrected—to appear.  
    After a few minutes, the two men walked in, Balaam raising a hand in greeting as soon as they were through the door. They joined Caleb at his table and took a seat as Evan looked around nervously.  
    Caleb smiled and held out a hand. “You must be Evan. I’m Caleb, your ride north.”
    Evan looked at him in confusion, and Caleb was forced to reevaluate his initial impression. He wasn’t a man, but a boy—a teenager, at most—all spiky blond hair and wide, innocent eyes, with a sprinkling of freckles across his nose.  
    Caleb glanced at Balaam, raising an eyebrow in question.
    Balaam, however, turned to the boy, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Despite the man’s large and rather intimidating frame, thick black dreadlocks, and curling tattoos around his muscular, dark-skinned arms, he had a way of soothing frightened Half-Breeds. “Caleb is going to make sure you get to the Colony safely,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “I’ll lead anyone following us away.” His dark eyes were intent, reassuring.  
    Evan nodded and turned to Caleb smiling hesitantly. “It’s nice to meet you. Thanks . . . for helping me.”
    “That’s my job,” Caleb said lightly, offering his hand again.  
    This time, Evan shook it.  
    “You two should get going,” Balaam said, getting to his feet. “I think we have Protectors about half an hour away. Luckily, no shifters, as far as I can tell, so I should be able to keep them busy long enough for you to get away.” He reached out to touch Evan again, closing his eyes and breathing deeply for a moment.  
    Caleb knew it was how the man focused in on Evan’s unique signature so he could mimic it, and he waited patiently until Balaam stepped back with a nod.  
    “Good luck,” he said before stepping out the door without another word.
    Caleb got to his feet and tossed his empty cup into the trash. “Come on,” he said to Evan. “We need to find someplace less . . . busy.”  
    They left the coffee shop, and Caleb led him down the street and into a dim alley he’d scouted when he first arrived in Milwaukee. “Did Balaam tell you how this works?” he asked.
    Evan swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his gaze darted toward the slimy walls and down to the littered