Betrayal: Book 3 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 4.1 Shirts And Wings

In the carriage house, Alex stood in a defensive posture, staff in hand, but her gaze strayed to Rile. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed on his chest, and eyes in police dog mode.

Jerk is deliberately not wearing his shirt and looking better than he has a right to be.

"You're supposed to be watching me," Cale said.

Alex startled at Cale's gentle rebuke. He was her sparring partner and she was lucky. If she had been that distracted with Rile as her partner, he would have swept her butt onto the ground.

"Sorry." Alex realized that she was doubly lucky.

If Gabe had seen me looking at Rile, he would be justifiably angry, but he isn't here. Off again. But his propensity for solo wandering was how I met him, so I shouldn't complain.

Cale prepared her with an easily deflected blow. He always let her get her bearings first. It made up for Rile slamming her to the ground in the first two seconds. Cale instructed and encouraged her for the rest of the lesson.

"Hurry up, it's time to go," Rile said the instant Cale lowered his staff.

"Put a shirt on," Alex shot back.

"Why?" he taunted, pushing off the wall to tower over her.

Alex sifted through several replies. She put her hands on his hips, looked up at him, and said, "So I don't get shot when I'm distracted by your gorgeous chest."

Alex wanted to repay him for his painful teasing. Knowing Alex thought his chest was gorgeous hurt Rile just as she intended.

Jabs back and forth, back and forth.

Cale sighed and sheathed his staff. He hated it when they acted this way, especially when Gabe was gone. Cale had wanted to go with him, but Gabe had asked him 'to keep an eye on things'. Cale knew 'those things' were Alex and Rile. They all had smart phones now, thanks to Alex.

The unfortunate consequence of this luxury was that Gabe used it as an excuse for prowling alone even more, claiming he needed time to think.

Cale was unhappy, for a smart phone was not protection, not an extra set of eyes, and not a guard on your back. On cue, his rang. He was glad that Gabe was checking in. If he hadn't, they would have followed his phone to its location.

"Hello, Gabe," Alex trilled over Cale's shoulder into his cell phone. "Coming back soon?"

Rile dragged Alex off while Cale talked to Gabe.

"Hurry up. You'll never get any experience if Cale tags along," Rile said.

"I feel guilty about ditching Cale," Alex whispered, but followed him.

"Cale is overprotective when we're out on the street and you wanted some hand to hand practice," Rile said.

Alex snagged Rile's T-shirt on the way out and threw it at him once they were outside.

"Put it on," she said with as much irritation as she could muster. She didn't like the look in his eye when he caught it.

"Really?" He stretched his arms upward. His wings unfolded gracefully from his back.

Alex's jaw dropped as she watched the reddish gold wings glisten in the light, shimmering. Then she flung her arm across her eyes. "Hey! Put those away! Isn't that personal?"

"Why would you think that?" Rile asked with a wicked grin.

"Gabe said...he implied...you said..." Alex spluttered, still shielding her eyes.