Free FREED (Angels and Gargoyles Book 2) by Brenda L. Harper

this afternoon.” She pointed a finger at Wyatt as he began to object. “You take the others somewhere safe, and we meet up in three days.”
    “How will I know where to find you?”
    “You’ll know,” Dylan said, remembering how she and Davida had communicated through him. If that was possible, it had to be possible for her to communicate directly with him.
    She hoped.
    Wyatt shook his head. “I don’t like it,” he said.
    “We have to make sure the others are safe,” Dylan said. “It’s not enough for us to separate. They have to go somewhere where they can defend themselves from another attack.”
    “Why can’t Sam do that?”
    Dylan looked at Sam at the same time Wyatt looked at him. Wyatt backed up a little, crossing his arms over his chest again. He seemed to come to a conclusion after a moment because he said, “All right. I don’t like it, but if this is the only way—”
    “It is.”
    “I’ll keep her safe,” Sam said, patting Wyatt on the shoulder.
    Wyatt didn’t acknowledge the gesture. Instead, he marched off, wandering farther down the stream before stooping to pick up a few pebbles to toss into the water.
    “Thanks for trusting me,” Sam said, moving closer to Dylan. “I’ll keep you safe.”
    Dylan looked over to where Ellie, Carver, and Bobby were sitting in the shade. “I’m more interested in keeping them safe.”
    “Yeah,” Sam said. There was hurt in his voice. She wanted to apologize, but she wasn’t sure what to say. Wyatt knew the area, knew where he could take the others where they would be protected. She was only taking Sam with her because she knew Wyatt wouldn’t let her go off alone. She suspected Sam knew that.
    “I should go check on Ellie,” he said after a moment. Dylan just nodded.
    She watched him walk away. He seemed to have a connection to Ellie. Dylan didn’t think there was much to it, just a sister-like connection that stemmed from the fact that they had found one another while wandering alone in the desert after the people of Genero abandoned them there. But, still. It was a connection.
    He and Wyatt. What was it about Ellie?
    Dylan was still thinking about it as she walked toward the trees. Just as she moved out of sight of the stream, Stiles stepped out from behind a tall, thick tree.
    “Hey,” he said, as though nothing had happened that morning.
    She punched him in the chest.

Chapter 14
     
    “What was that all about?” Dylan demanded. “Did you know about Demetria? That they were coming for me?”
    “No,” he said, leaning back against a tree as though this was just a normal, ordinary discussion. “I was just as surprised as you were.”
    “Where were you?”
    He shrugged, but when he did, she saw a flash of blood at the bottom corner of his shirt. She snatched it up before he realized what she was doing and tried to stop her. A gash, a long, wide gash, marred his pale skin from just above his hip to below his belly button.
    “Stiles, for goodness’ sakes,” she muttered, slipping her fingers over it. It wasn’t bleeding as much as she might have thought something that long, that wide would. In fact, it was hardly bleeding at all. It was as though it had already begun the process of healing. But her touch made it disappear.
    “Some guardian you are,” she mumbled as she dropped the hem of his shirt and stepped away.
    Stiles shrugged. “I can’t be everywhere at once.”
    Something about his tone annoyed Dylan. It made her anger rise again.
    “Are you working with Demetria?” she asked.
    He straightened at that. His eyes studied her. “I’ve helped you,” he said.
    “Why?”
    That only seemed to make him mad in a way her punch to his chest hadn’t. He turned away, kicking his feet through the twigs and leaves that littered the ground. “It’s a very ungrateful thing to do to question someone who has helped you.”
    “I’m sure you understand my side of things,” Dylan said. “I need to know who I can trust and who I