Read Online When a Gargoyle Lives (Gargoyles Book 2) by E A Price - Free Book Online Page B

from her perch on a fallen tree.  “Where the hell have you been?” she snapped.
    “I could not get away,” he said slowly.  “I have told you my situation is difficult.”
    “Why the fuck didn’t you call me?  Or even text me?”
    Ric was taken aback at her tone.  Until that moment, she had been at turns teasing, coquettish and amused.  But never angry.  And the expression on her face turned him cold.  If he wasn’t mistaken, it was loathing.
    Chloe blanched and then hung her head.  “I’m sorry, I was just… I…”  She pressed her hands to her face and sniffled.  “I thought you weren’t coming.  I thought something might have happened to you.  I was really worried.”
    Unease poured through him.  His experience of comforting a crying female was limited to his younger sister when she was a baby.  She soon grew out of it – she grew out of it within three weeks of her birth.  He understood that human females cried at all kinds of things.  Kylie did.  She cried when she was happy.  She cried at movies.  He once saw her cry over a particularly poignant TV commercial.  Female gargoyles did not go in for that kind of behavior.  Kara had generally liked to punch things whenever she felt any kind of emotion.
    Unused to having to comfort an emotional female, Ric awkwardly patted her on the shoulder.  She turned towards him and wrapped her arms around him, letting out deep sobs into his chest.  He froze for an instant before he gently rested his hands on her back, willing himself to relax.
    Her body felt strange against his.  Her wiry limbs seemed to clash against him.  It did not feel… natural.  But then he supposed they were two very different species.
    After a few moments of discomfort, she pulled back and gave him a watery smile.  “I really was worried,” she murmured.
    “You need not worry about me,” he said gruffly, wishing for the conversation to end.
    “But I do worry, what if… if the government or someone came and took you away.  You wouldn’t be able to stop them.  What protection do you have?”
    “We are well protected; we are adept at taking care of ourselves.”
    “But surely with modern technology…”
    “We will be prepared.”
    Her brow creased slightly, before she dabbed at her eyes.  “If you’re sure.”
    “I am.  But, ah, thank you for worrying about me.”
    “I can’t help it,” she said shyly.
    Ric grunted in assent.  “I must go now, I… I cannot be seen out in the daytime.”
    “Oh.  What about tomorrow night?
    He hesitated.  With Cai and Ingrede and the youngling, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get away without being missed.  Then there was that female Brenda – what if she came back to the house?  He would not want to miss that.
    He almost balked at the thought before managing to rationalize it.  The female was a menace, and he would be needed to protect the clan.  He almost dismissed that excuse as flimsy, but then he rubbed his bite mark.  No, she really was a menace, displaying fierceness that would have even have made Kara pause before attacking.
    “I am not sure I will be able to come.”
    Her face tightened.  “The night after?”
    “I will try.  Goodbye, Chloe.”
    “Bye.”
    He left her pouting as he leaped into the sky, soaring through the clouds, enjoying the brief, artificial feeling of being free as he flew the small distance to his new home.
    Chloe was concerned for him.  Perhaps her feelings for him were growing; perhaps she was starting to feel affection towards him.  He wasn’t sure he was entirely happy about that.  But hadn’t he been considering her as a mate just a few hours earlier?
    His father had told him of his first meeting with his mother.  As an arranged mating they did not meet until a week before their mating ceremony.  His mother hated his father on sight.  His father found his mother attractive, but could not help goading her fiery temper.  They went through with the mating