Page 11 of Saved By Her Guardian
There was a moment where time stood still in the way she’d read in old romance novels she’d snuck out of the school library.Cliched but accurate.
Her gaze dropped to his lips and he let out a low purr.
He pulled her close and she tilted her head to meet his lips in a kiss that seared her to her very soul.Her heart ached as the passion flared between them, and then Church howled and the kiss abruptly ended.
She grumbled out a sigh and looked over her shoulder to see Church sitting on his haunches and looking at her.
“He’s got great timing,” Maverick said.
“Clearly,” she said with a snort.
With the passion waning after Church’s interruption, they turned their attention back to the task and shared stories of their pasts.She envied him the close-knit snow leopard community and the friends he’d made in Northernmost.She didn’t have any close friends because she was Grim’s niece.In another world, she might have been the most popular girl around because people wanted to get in his good graces, but he scared the living crap out of everyone, and no one wanted to mess with anyone related to him.
When the day dawned and their time together had drawn to a close, she hung up her apron and faced him.“I can’t believe how fast the night went when I had you to talk to.”
“I’m glad I could hang out with you.”She walked him to the cemetery gate.He stared down at her and she could see the conflict in his eyes.“We exchanged phone numbers, but it doesn’t feel like it’s enough.”
It seemed wildly unfair, but that was the way of things sometimes.
She put her hand on his arm and said, “You have a job to do, and so do I.You have to go back to Northernmost and I have to stay here.But Christmas will be here before you know it and you can come back to see me then.In the meantime, we can talk on the phone and text whenever we want.”
It wasn’t much but it would do, because what the hell choice did she have?
She was being punished and she didn’t want to know what the punishment for bailing on her punishment would be.
He lowered his head and kissed her, and once more, the world dropped away and it was just the two of them.
Her heart ached as the kiss ended and she thought she might cry.
He pressed his forehead to hers.“You’re my truemate, Aralyn.I want to break my vow to Santa and the Guardians and stay with you.”
“I can’t let you do that.The Well is too important to good magical people to lose even one Guardian.Besides, it’s only a few weeks.And maybe by the time Christmas is over, I’ll have figured out a way to get a new assignment that doesn’t rob me of my magic.”
He snarled.“I hate this.I hate that I just met you and I have to leave.”
“I hate it too.”She kissed him again and said, “Call me when you get to Northernmost so I know you’re safe.”
“I will.”
With a final kiss, he walked away, his shoulders hunched as if he were carrying a heavy burden.As heavy as her heart was as she turned and walked back through the double gate, closing them with a squeak and a clang.
Church was waiting on the cobblestone walkway.
“Why did he have to show up now?”she whispered.“Now, when I’m stuck here in punishment and can’t be with him?”
Church whined softly and nudged her with his nose.
She scratched behind his ears and sighed.
“It’s just not fair.He has to leave to protect the world’s magic and I have to babysit a graveyard.”
Church barked once, the sound echoing in the early morning.
“I know, I know.He’ll be back.I’ll be here.But damn, I miss him already.”
She’d been punished, exiled to a cemetery where no one but people with bad intentions showed up, and she’d met her truemate.She was thankful she’d been assigned there just because she may never have met Maverick if she hadn’t been, but now that he was in Northernmost and she was stuck?
She hated it.
