Free Her Guardian's Heart by Crymsyn Hart Page A

miles away from your house.”
    He didn’t seem to believe that I could get by on my own. “I’ll manage. I have a cell phone, so I can call a cab. Goodbye, Tannin.” I walked out the door and didn’t look back. I couldn’t tell if he would follow me or try and stop me. Everything in me prayed he would stop me and tell me he needed me in his life. Yet he didn’t. What I had hoped for would never come to fruition. A tear slid down my cheek and that sealed our fate.
     

 
    Chapter Five
     
    While I walked down the road, I called a cab company. It took them half an hour to show up, but I waited. On the drive home, my Guardian half knew that we wouldn’t be able to be around him and survive. She wanted me to give Tannin some time before she retreated into the darkness. I didn’t want to think about saying goodbye to the family that I had just met. However, being around them would mean I would be around Tannin. I couldn’t do that. It would drag back too many harmful feelings.
    When I returned home, it was noon. I spent the rest of the afternoon tending to the greenhouses in the backyard. I went in the one that was specifically set aside for the blue roses. The life around them vibrated. The flowers were supposed to be night blooming; Nick had loved them so much since he couldn’t go out in the sun. He suggested which ones would be better to crossbreed with and helped me create the hybrid. With a little help from the energy that I fed them, they became beautiful flowers.
    “It’s a shame you don’t share them with the world.”
    A cold chill ran down my back. I turned slowly, gripping the shears in my hand to see who the intruder was with a voice that I recognized. Behind me was a man with an eerie blue glow around him. I could see the delicate rose petals through him. The shears slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor. My hand flew to my chest.
    “You can’t be here.”
    He smiled that same enticing smile I had seen the first night I met him. His hair had fallen lopsided on his forehead. I wanted desperately to reach over and brush the lock aside. Nick looked exactly the way he had when he had died.
    “Why can’t I be here? Because I’m dead?”
    “The goddess took you. Why are you coming back from your rest?”
    Nick stood a few inches from me. I could see the little lines around his eyes that he got when he was thinking hard or something was troubling him. “I came back because you needed me. I swore to you that I’d never abandon you.”
    “No. I’m okay. I’m on the way to mending things with Landon. Why weren’t you there for me after you died? These past two years I’ve had a gaping hole in my heart because he pushed me aside. Why now? Did Tannin have something to do with this? Did he pull you back so you could convince me not to give up my Guardian half? Is that it?”
    He ran a finger down my nose the way he used to when he teased me. “The angel didn’t call me. Landon reached out and begged me to return. He said that you needed me. So I came. I couldn’t come to you before because you had to heal first before this meeting could happen. I’ve missed you, though.”
    “Why would he call you?” Every part of me trembled. The shock of seeing Nick before me hadn’t worn off.
    “Because he desperately wants you to forgive him. He can’t trust himself with you. I know he turned his back on you after I was killed, but he didn’t stop loving you. He watched you every night while you slept. He swore to me that he’d protect you. Landon’s worried that your heart will be taken by this other man and he’ll lose you to this new family. That, and I know Melissa was murdered.”
    “Did you see who did it?”
    “No. I just felt that she was dead. So, do you forgive Landon for everything that has happened?”
    “Of course. We have a long way to go with building trust on both sides, but that doesn’t mean I stopped loving him. Landon doesn’t have to worry about me being swept away