The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

"You're bleeding," he said, as the coldness began to seep from his eyes.

"Well, I fucking wonder why?" I swiped at my nose with an arm. "Are you going to hit me again? Or are you finally over your little hissy fit and ready to do something useful?"

"I didn't mean - " He stopped. We both knew he did mean. "I'm sorry."

"So you fucking should be." I tossed the chair leg aside and got up. "You might want to shift shape. I think I did some damage to your leg."

"Yeah," he said, wincing as he tried to move it. He shifted shape, lying there in wolf form for several seconds before changing back to human form. He climbed to his feet and grimaced. "Better, but not great."

I couldn't feel sorry for him. I might understand why he'd lashed out, but that didn't mean he was getting any sympathy. Especially when my jaw was aching and my nose was throbbing.

"First things first," I said. "We need to find the old school photo Liander was going to give me, and check all the names on it. We need to know if it's just Liander he's snatched, or whether he's taken them all."

"That's downstairs on the coffee table." He spun and headed for the stairs. The anger still bubbled in him, thick and strong, but at least it now had direction. "He was showing me before we had our argument."

I followed him down. "What the hell were you arguing about this time?"

"He wanted to move in with us."

"So?"

He looked over his shoulder. "You knew?"

"He asked for my permission first." I raised a hand to my jaw, massaging it lightly. It hurt to talk, but it didn't feel like anything was broken. Maybe he'd pulled his punch at the last moment. "Don't tell me that's what you argued about."

"I don't know if I'm ready for that yet."

"You're never ready for anything he wants, Rhoan." I hesitated, then added harshly, "And now you may very well not have to worry about it ever again."

He stopped and swung around violently. "That's unfair - "

"No, what you're doing to him is unfair. He's your soul mate, Rhoan. Dammit, why won't you just start treating him like it?"

"Because of this! Because of things like this!"

I looked at him incredulously. "Why has him being kidnapped got anything to do with your relationship?"

"It's what could happen to him. I'm a guardian - "

"That's just a fucking excuse, Rhoan, and you know it.">"Only if you catch them at night. They're impossible to kill during the day."

Great. Just great. "God, I hope something hasn't happened to Liander."

Quinn took one hand from the wheel and reached across to squeeze my knee. His hands were warm against my skin, his touch comforting - even if it didn't ease the sick fear sitting like a lump in my stomach.

"Liander's ex-military. He can fight. He'll be okay."

I licked my lips and looked away from the caring in his eyes. Not because I didn't want to see it, but because I was trying to be strong and any sort of understanding and caring right now just might make me cry.

"I'm a guardian," I said softly, "and this thing almost whipped my ass."

"Because you weren't expecting it - "

"Liander mightn't be, either." My one hope was the fact that I did warn him to be careful. Please, please, have been careful, Liander.

Quinn swung into Bangalore Road so fast the tires squealed and the smell of burned rubber briefly invaded the car.

"Be careful of the speed bumps," I said, just a second too late. The car went flying across the first one and came crashing down on its nose.