Read Online Guardian by Heather Burch - Free Book Online

recuperate rapidly.”
    “Cell recovery?” Will said.
    “Why not?” Mace said. “It would work with the horses too.” Several gasps created their own little vacuum. Winter leaned forward. “Mace, you aren’t suggesting the horses could have spirit horse DNA.”
    But Raven knew that’s exactly what Mace was saying. It was written all over his face, even when he shrugged. “Just a thought.” Glimmer looked at Raven. “Why do you think Richmond’s basement laboratory experiments have anything to do with Omega?”
    “I don’t know. But they do.”
    Glimmer’s curls shifted in the wind, catching light. She’s pretty if you can get past the razor tongue and steely eyes. “You’re going to have to spend more time with him,” she said, but he sensed a quick moment of recognition in her eyes, where she’d obviously read his mind about the whole thinking-she’s-pretty thing.
    Great.
    Glimmer tipped one shoulder and blinked heavy lashes at him. “You seem easy to talk to—maybe Richmond will confide in you.”
    As if that hadn’t been his plan all along. “Yeah, well, I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean right now, so that’s going to be difficult.” Raven shot a dark look at Will.
    “You’re where you need to be, Raven.”
    “Whatever,” he mumbled. One thing was certain. As soon as Will backed off this whole let’s go on a cruise thing, he was headed back to Missouri, back to Dr. Richmond, and back to the fight.

Chapter 6

    Zero was mumbling and hunched over his laptop as Nikki approached. Her movements were slow, the kind she imagined a person would use when trying to capture a wild kitten. “Stop!” he yelled, and raised a hand.
    She froze.
    “Stay right there.” He dropped his arm, crouched his head a little closer to the monitor, and went back to click, click, clicking away at the keys.
    She waited, listening to the almost melodic sound of his fingertips against the keyboard. It would be soothing if she didn’t know he’d eventually open his mouth and ruin the moment. “What am I doing just standing here, Zero?” she asked when the seconds stretched.
    “Obscuring the sun,” he answered without so much as a pause in his typing.
    Nikki nodded. “Wow, I’ve really got to go on a diet, eclipsing the entire sun and all …”
    His silver gaze lifted up for a moment. “You do look a little thick.”
    Nikki shifted her upper body, and the sun slammed him in the face. Silver hardware flashed, he growled, and she returned to standing still as his sun blocker.
    “Women are evil,” Zero muttered, pressing his palms into his eyes.
    “I hear Ocean is going to stop the boat later and everyone is going swimming,” she said cautiously.
    He visibly shuddered.
    “You know, Zero, I could teach you how to swim. I’m a really strong swimmer.”
    He slammed the laptop closed. “What makes you think I can’t swim?”
    Those silvery irises bore into her. But she’d thought about this discussion and wouldn’t back down. “I’m not saying you can’t swim, but you don’t seem to like the water. If you’re afraid of …”
    “I’m not afraid of the water,” he spat. He pointed over the side of the boat, then to the laptop. “Water and electricity, they don’t really get along. I hate the water, I’m not scared of it.”
    “Okay,” she said. “So you know how to swim?”
    His hands closed into fists. “I don’t, and I don’t care to learn.” Each word shot toward her like poisoned arrows. She should walk away, but she couldn’t. She liked Zero. At least she did when she wasn’t busy hating him. Nikki stared over the edge of the boat. Endless blue, above and below. “Well, if you change your mind, we’ll be off having fun.”
    “Tell you what,” he said as she’d started to walk away.
    “Yeah?”
    “You teach me how to swim right after I teach you how to f ly.”
    Suddenly, she didn’t care if he could swim. In fact, she’d like the opportunity to drown