Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
I was thinking of how Carlo had remembered me again and also the fact that Big Nicky Valentino was probably still angry with me for how his private Spirit Session had turned out. Not to mention that there was still a three-headed Hell Hound out there looking for me. I just hoped that particular situation would resolve itself. If the door I had opened would just close on its own—
My thoughts cut off abruptly because something weird was happening. I had been bracing myself on the statue’s thigh as I bent over to read the carved inscription at its base. But for a moment I had sworn that I could feel the statue’s stone flesh moving under my hand.
“Get a grip on yourself, Willow,” I muttered, pulling my hand away and rubbing the palm uneasily. “It’s just your imagination. There’s no way—”
And then the statue blinked and looked down at me.
“Mistress?” he rumbled in a deep, smooth voice. His feathered wings flexed as he spoke.
“What the hell?” I jumped away from the statue, my heart pounding
“Mistress…”
The statue stepped down off his pedestal—it was the angel side talking to me, I saw. Or no—now he was all angel and the gargoyle had disappeared. Maybe absorbed into him when he came alive? I didn’t know. Also, he now had some clothes on—just a pair of tight black trousers and some black boots, though. His chest and arms were still bare and still impressively muscular.
Also, what the hell was happening to me? Was I dreaming all this?
I didn’t seem to be. The former statue was staring down at me intently and he seemed as real as I was.
“Mistress, I am Kael—I am here to serve and to protect you,” he said.
And then he knelt at my feet.
6
KAEL
Icouldn’t understand why the curvy little human jumped away from me. I wasn’t showing her my Gargoyle side—which is the fearsome visage that comes out when an attacker is near. Nor was I menacing her in any way—I had even knelt at her feet to make myself less frightening. I didn’t want to loom over her in the moonlight like a beast.
But still she gasped and jumped away from me, her eyes wide with fright.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, frowning at her. “You asked for a protector and you hold my key, do you not? No one else could break the spell that held me in stone.”
“Your what?” She still looked panicked. “What are you talking about?”
“My key,” I said patiently. I pointed to the locket that encircled my throat—which had been placed by the hand of the Almighty himself after I fell from grace. “You hold my key—you are my Mistress.”
“I…I don’t know anything about any key! I don’t…” She trailed off, looking down at her hand, which was gripped into a fist. When she opened it—her fingers trembling—I saw the tiny golden key. She was indeed the holder of my key—my rightful Mistress.
I felt a sigh of relief leave me. Thank the Heavens that it was a woman holding my key this time. The last time I had been brought to life, it had not been so. Which was why I had asked that an inscription be added to my stone form, specifying that the one who held my key must be female.
The last woman I had been called to protect…but I chose not to think of that. I had a new Mistress now—a new charge to protect and I was determined to do exactly that.
But it seemed my new Mistress did not wish for my protection.
“Stay away from me,” she said, backing away. “You just stay aw—” Just then her foot caught on one of the many plants in the garden and she tripped and started falling backwards.
Luckily, I am blessed with super-human speed and strength. I reached for her and caught her almost at once. Before her head could hit the ground, I had her in my arms. I looked down into her face…and I must admit, I liked what I saw.
She was curvy, as I said before, and she had long, black hair that fell like a waterfall down her back. Her features were delicate—she had luscious lips and big eyes that were such a pale green they almost seemed to glow in the moonlight.
Then I saw the marks on her face—bruises on her pale cheeks that could only have been made by a hand—a male’s hand, no doubt.
I felt the anger rising inside me—the Protective Wrath was filling me, causing me to change my form, to change from Angel to Gargoyle. I tried to tell myself to hold back—to push the Wrath back down. I couldn’t help remembering how my first Mistress had reacted when she saw my demonic form…but I couldn’t stop myself. The idea that anyone would hurt the woman I now protected made me so angry.