Free Guardian Demon (GUARDIAN SERIES) by Meljean Brook Page B

again. “What in the world did he do?”
    “Ah, well.” Taylor appreciated Savi’s willingness to be outraged on her behalf, but she didn’t intend to fan that anger. Fortunately, her friend was easy to distract with details. “I was walking around, and Michael showed up as a big dragon just in time to save me from a hellhound. Then he ate it.”
    “
Ate
it?” Savi’s mouth dropped open. Even Colin looked a little squicked.
    “In about three bites. Then Michael shifted into his own body, and Khavi came and stabbed us both with the spear.”
    Savi stared at her. “But . . . where did the hellhound go? Why didn’t Michael explode when he shifted? How can all of that mass in his stomach just disappear?”
    “I know, right? I wondered that, too.”
    “And I prefer not to ponder such things.” Colin hadn’t been distracted, Taylor knew. He studied her face for a moment as if debating whether to ask everything that she hadn’t said. He finally continued, “Your psychic scent is different from before you left.”
    “A lot different?”
    “It is your own again—as it was when you were human.”
    So definitely no Michael in there, then. That was a relief.
    “And everything else is back to normal, too? Caelum’s been rebuilt, Michael’s in charge again . . .” She trailed off when Savi grimaced a little. “What?”
    “Caelum still lies in ruins,” Colin said. “And Irena still leads the Guardians.”
    “What?” Taylor stared at them, certain they must be joking, but Colin steadily returned her gaze and Savi appeared apologetic, as if she was sorry that they’d been the ones to tell her. “Why?”
    “Michael says he’s not connected to Caelum anymore.” Savi returned to her seat, plopped back down. “We don’t exactly know what he means by
connected
, but he can’t repair the realm.”
    Taylor knew what he meant, in a fashion. She’d felt the way the city responded to him when his mind had been linked to hers—almost as if Caelum had been seeking his touch. Not like a lover, exactly. But as if the city recognized him, called him her own.
    In Hell, he’d told her that connection had been lost. She’d never imagined that it wouldn’t return when he did.
    Unsettled, Taylor rose to her feet. She didn’t know what to do with the glass full of juice in her hand, so she vanished it. “And why isn’t he leading the others?”
    Not that Irena was doing a bad job. She’d been great, in fact. Given her temper, far better than anyone had expected. No one would complain if she led the Guardians forever.
    But that had been the whole point of bringing Michael back. He’d been going to lead them all to victory against Lucifer.
    “Well,” Savi said, “he’s been scary.”
    “He’s always been scary.”
    “Not like this. We’ve never been afraid that he’d hurt us—”
    “Never afraid that he’d hurt
you
,” Colin interrupted, glancing at Savi. “He has come uncomfortably close to it with me.”
    “Because you were an ass and deserved it,” Savi said.
    But Colin must have been afraid, even for Savi. Taylor looked to him. “You held her back. Out there, when he teleported in—you held Savi back.”
    “I am reasonably certain that he would never harm her,” he said softly. “Except that she might have come between him and you.”
    Savi’s mouth rounded, as if in sudden realization. Taylor pinned her with a look.
    “Okay, well—that’s kind of the reason some of the Guardians aren’t so sure about him.” She hesitated and glanced at Colin, who lifted his hands as if to say,
Go ahead.
“I’ve been monitoring computer searches, so whenever someone looks up certain names in different databases or online, I receive a notification. One of those names is yours. Another is your mom’s.”
    Not exactly legal, but no different from some of the other things Savi did. Taylor nodded. “All right.”
    “Because you were just lying helpless in bed, and if someone looked up your mom’s