Kissed by Smoke
down.
    “It’s late, Jack.” I didn’t really have to
ask why he was standing on my doorstep in the middle of the night.
He was the Guardian, after all. My Guardian.
    “You didn’t answer your phone.” His voice
was grim and just a little angry. I could sense he was trying to
keep his temper in check.
    “Let me guess,” I said, letting myself in
through the kitchen door I hadn’t taken the time to lock. I didn’t
bother turning on the overhead light. “You were calling to warn me
of impending danger. Thanks, but I’d already figured that one
out.”
    “What on earth are you wearing?”
    I glanced down at myself. I must admit I was
a bit of a sight. “My pajamas. What does it look like?”
    “Morgan … ”
    “Thanks for the heads up,” I interrupted,
“but as you can see, I’m fine.”
    “Morgan,” his voice was nearly a snarl, “how
can I protect you … ”
    “I don’t need your protection, Jack. Don’t
you get that? I can take care of myself. Obviously. I killed the
bad little vampire all by myself.” I didn’t mention the contract.
The last thing I needed was to give Jack more of an excuse to play
Guardian.
    “I know you can take care of yourself,
Morgan, but I’m your Guardian. I’m supposed to watch out for
you.”
    “Then how about you do it from a distance?”
It was mean, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to deal with
Jack. Maybe I couldn’t deal with Jack. “Now, it’s late and I’d like
to go to bed.” I glanced pointedly at the backdoor.
    “Fine. But I will be watching.”
    I had no doubt of that.
    ***
    “Someone has a hit out on you? You’ve got to
be kidding me.” Inigo’s voice on the phone had lost all sound of
sleepiness the minute I’d told him about the vampire attack.
    “No, I’m not kidding. I’m staring right at
the advertisement.” The vamp hadn’t been lying about that. It was
right there on the website in black and white. Somebody wanted me
dead and they wanted it bad.
    Welcome to my life.
    “I’m coming over, Morgan.”
    Part of me wanted to argue. That old
independent streak rearing its head. But a bigger part of me just
wanted to curl up in his arms and hide from the world for awhile.
Inigo might not be as big and muscular as Jack, or Trevor, for that
matter, but he was mine.
    And he was a freaking half-dragon for crying
out loud.
    I figured I might as well make coffee. I
sure as hell wasn’t going to sleep.
    I closed my eyes on a sigh. I fingered the
Atlantean amulet that hung around my neck. There was no use denying
it anymore. Ever since I’d come into contact with the amulet, my
life had been turned upside-down and sideways. That included the
fact that I was now some kind of human conduit for every superpower
the people of Atlantis had ever concocted.
    Shit.
    Fortunately, Inigo arrived before my
thoughts could get too maudlin. He tsk-tsked over my ruined robe
and promised to buy me another. I didn’t doubt it, though I was a
little scared about what he might buy. With my luck it would be
sheer. And pink. I shuddered at the thought.
    He hauled me off to bed, not for sex, just
to cuddle. Having a boyfriend who could read your every mood was
sometimes a really good thing. I snuggled into the heat of him,
inhaling the chocolatey campfire smell of him. Sometimes I wondered
what I’d ever done without him in my life.
    His arms were deliciously warm as they
wrapped around me. I could hear his heart under my ear, its strong
beat lulling me. Before I knew it I’d slipped off into
dreamland.
    ***
    “ You owe us, Marid.”
    “ We owe you nothing, kinsman,” the giant man
spat. His overdeveloped muscles bulged and shifted under reddish
hued skin. His enormous frame completely dwarfed me.
    “ We brought you here,” I reminded him. My tone
was calm, but inside my heart was beating furiously. “We saved you
from certain death. Without us, you would have died along with our
sun.”
    “ You should have let us die,” the Marid spat.
“This

Similar Books

Re-Creations

Grace Livingston Hill

The Box Garden

Carol Shields

Razor Sharp

Fern Michaels

The Line

Teri Hall

Double Exposure

Michael Lister

Love you to Death

Shannon K. Butcher

Highwayman: Ironside

Michael Arnold

Gone (Gone #1)

Stacy Claflin

Always Mr. Wrong

Joanne Rawson

Redeemed

Becca Jameson