Read Online Arc Angel by Elizabeth Avery - Free Book Online Page A

reached out and told Bryce the truth, but he didn’t want to help her, to take care of her. Sure, he believed her, but he wanted to study her like some kind of science experiment. He thought she was a freak. She was a freak.
    She couldn’t handle being under the microscope like this. Drawing on every bit of strength she had left, she pulled herself upright, holding onto the desk for support.
    “I’m s-s-sorry. I need to go.” She stumbled from the room and practically ran down the hallway. She thought she heard him call her name, but when she dared a glance over her shoulder, she saw only an empty house. Despite the lack of visible pursuit, she didn’t slow down until she’d slammed the door of the cab.
    “My apartment,” she managed to get out between deep gasping breaths. The driver pulled away from the curb and sped off. Miranda’s breathing settled down, and her heart rate slowed to normal. As she pushed her hair off her sweaty forehead, she had a sudden thought: the electricity. She hadn’t felt that power pushing at her the entire visit, not even when she was running away. She held her hands out in front of her, inspecting them, looking for any clue as to why the electricity remained dormant. She’d practically had a complete panic attack, but the electricity hadn’t showed up. Why not?
     
    ***
     
    Bryce punched the intercom button a little harder than necessary.
    “Matthews, can you come to the library?”
    Bryce retreated to his armchair to flagellate himself until his employee arrived.
    That had not gone well.
    Miranda James had fled the house, and he’d been unable to do more than walk semi-briskly to the door after her before his heart rate had started to rise.
    He opened another bottle of cold tea from the ice tub on the end table and gulped some down, trying to regain his composure. He needed to calm down and then figure out what in the hell had gone so horribly wrong.
    Matthews stepped into the doorway, impeccable as always in his crisp slacks and oxford shirt.
    “Sir?”
    “Come on in, Matthews,” Bryce waved him in without taking his eyes off the fireplace. “I need some advice about a girl.”
    The older man strode into the room, snagged a bottle of tea from the bucket and settled his broad frame into the chair opposite Bryce, his face impassive.
    “Saw Ms. James sprint out of here a few minutes ago,” he noted, smoothing his neat grey mustache pensively. “Not what I’d call optimal results. Looks you could definitely use some guidance.”
    Bryce continued to stare pensively at the grate in front of him as he began to ruminate aloud.
    “I’m a smart man, aren’t I? I always got good grades in school. I’ve done pretty well with the family fortune. I even managed to impress thousands of comic book fans, a notoriously nit-picky group of people. But after today’s activities, it is clear that I am a complete idiot.”
    “Why don’t you tell me what happened, sir?”
    Bryce turned his pensive gaze to his manservant.
    “It started off so well. I was being my usual charming self…”
    “And what’s that like, sir?”
    “Shut up, Matthews. I used to have women hanging all over me, some of whom had never even read a comic book in their lives! Of course that was before… Anyway, I was being my usual charming self, flirting a little, but why not? Miranda James is a pretty little thing. Like a little bird, dainty and soft, but ready to fly away at any sudden movement.”
    “Very poetic, sir.”
    “Shut up, Matthews. And she’s a fan of mine! When I heard that, I knew everything would go smoothly.”
    “She ran out of the house quite smoothly, yes.”
    “Shut up , Matthews. So then I told her about my dream, and I swear, she seemed honestly moved. I know she’d started to trust me, because she admitted to me that she does have Arc Angel’s powers. Holy crap, she has her powers! Isn’t that something, Matthews?”
    “It truly is, sir. It’s what you’d been