Page 8 of Saved By Her Guardian
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The longer Maverick walked, the stronger his feelings grew and the more insistent his cat became that he was on the right path.He was aware when he left Wildwood Crossing, but he wasn’t sure where he was going.
He felt like he’d been walking a long time, but a glance at his phone told him it had been just half an hour.His heart panged sharply, and he looked up to see a stone fence and a decrepit-looking double gate that surrounded a Gothic-style church.
He’d never seen the church before.It looked like something out of a monster movie.The moon overhead made the whole place glow eerily, and the flickering gas lamps added to the Gothic vibe of the whole place.
Why had his cat brought him here?
He put his hands on the cold, wrought iron double gate and pulled them open enough to let himself in.Their hinges creaked loudly and he winced, freezing to see if some monster was going to come running toward him in anger for crossing into the churchyard.
Oh shit, it was a graveyard too!
What the actual hell was his cat doing leading him here?
A chill swept up his spine as he walked down the gravel path with gravestones on either side, and then his cat let out a piercing howl in his head and the sound nearly spilled out of his mouth.
Someone was here.
“Who’s there?”a feminine voice called.
Everything inside him quieted for a profound moment, his leopard practically purring at the few words the female had just spoken.
He opened his mouth to answer, but he was momentarily struck dumb when a female stepped out of the shadows and into the lamplight.
“Who are you?”she demanded, her voice wavering slightly with fear.
“I’m… who are you?”he asked.He couldn’t really make out her features in the low light, but there was something wholly intriguing about her.
“Excuse me, I asked first, and Ibelonghere.You’re the one trespassing.”
He frowned.“You belong here?Are you a caretaker or something?”
She folded her arms with a harrumph and gave him a glare that made him realize she expected him to answer her questions first.“My name is Maverick Vaughn, I’m a snow leopard.My leap’s territory is in Wildwood Crossing.I don’t actually know where I am.I just was following my cat’s instincts and was led here.”
He moved closer as he spoke, and then he realized why his cat had brought him to the church.She was his truemate.The one female on the planet meant for him.
She pushed back her hood, and he could see her more clearly now.His eyes adjusted to the darkness and low light with the help of his leopard, who was eager to see her more fully.She was beautiful.Long, dark hair with a shock of white at the temple, pale eyes, and a heart-shaped face with the most kissable mouth he’d ever seen in his life.She was wearing pink from head to toe, but over top of her thick coat was a pale apron smudged with dirt and grime.
She glanced down at herself and brushed at the apron.“This is messy work.”
“So you’re the caretaker?”
“Sort of.”She tilted her head and looked at him, and then her eyes flashed with a pale, red glow for a heartbeat.She was supernatural, but what exactly?
“What’s your name?”he asked, moving a little closer.He inhaled, sorting through the scents of earth and decay around him to find her scent.It reminded him of the woods after a rainstorm, sultry and dark, like something exotic and rare.
“Aralyn Lethe.”
There was something about that last name, but he wasn’t sure where he’d heard it before.“You work here?Have you been here long?Because I feel like I would have felt compelled to come here sooner if you’d been here before.”
She tilted her head slightly with a curious look.“And why is that?”
He stepped closer again, so close that only a foot separated them.She was shorter than him and had to tilt her head to maintain eye contact.“I think you know why, Aralyn.I work for Santa in Northernmost as one of the Yuletide Guardians.I don’t come to my hometown much, but I was just here at Thanksgiving visiting my grandma, and I know for damn sure I would have wanted to come here to see you if you’d been here.”
He wanted to haul her close.To find out how her lips felt when he kissed her.But she seemed wary, and he didn’t want to push her.
“I was just assigned here,” she said.“I’m a reaper.”
