TWENTY-ONE
Angela kneeled at her mother’s gravesite. The headstone read:
ROSALEEN DUBOISE
Beloved Mother she struggled to swallow.
And then, like a tide turning, her fear eased. Her heartbeat steadied.
Angela pinned him with her best back-off glare. “Are you doing that? That calming thing?”
“I don’t want you to be afraid.”
“Stop it.” She clenched her fists and pushed at the calm. It lifted, as if she’d yanked a curtain open.
Zarek narrowed his eyes at her. “How did you do that?”
“None of your business.” She honestly didn’t know what she had done.
But her foul mood was back, so she stomped towards her car, refusing to look at the armed men so tall they’d have to duck into a house.
The blond guy had a set of arms on him that would make him walk sideways though some doorways.
They’d make a bar full of bearded, inked-up bikers into nothing more than a bunch of harmless Christmas elves compared to Zarek and his crew.
“Angela.” Zarek caught her arm, pulling her to a stop.
“Don’t grab me.”
“We need to speak to you. My brothers believe you have a power that puts you at risk.”
“No, I don’t.” She jerked her arm free. “Whatever power you think I have is nothing but a figment of your imagination. I’m normal.”
“The Black Cloaks will come for you.” Zarek’s gaze flicked down to her new medallion then back up to her eyes.
“Then go hunt them. Isn’t that what you do?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Of course it is. When we all know fortune cookies lie when they say life is simple.” She turned away and headed for her car, suddenly in the mood for Chinese food.
Zarek inhaled slowly, then said, “Your aunt calls them gifts.”
Angela stopped dead.
Sure, it’s what Claudine always said, even Father Michael did, too. But it was the way Zarek wielded her family’s words that finally snapped her restraint. Because he was invading her privacy, again, while here at the church when she’d told no one she was coming here. Was he seriously stalking her?
That’s when the flash of heated fury blinded her so hard, she turned and slapped him right across the cheek. The sound rang across the parking lot like a gunshot.
Angela’s hand stung, and her voice shook with fury. “Don’t you dare use my family against me. Leave me alone.”
“No.” Zarek’s voice dropped, now laced with anger. “I’m doing this for your own safety.” He moved too fast for her to react.
One moment she was on her feet, the next she was thrown over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing.
“Put me down!” She slammed her fists into his back, kicking her legs, and grabbing at his jacket.
Zarek didn’t flinch.
“Zarek!” Fuming, the blood rushed to her face. Her hair was everywhere as she hung over his shoulder like a sack. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Saving you.”
Angela’s scream cut off as her entire world folded from her view.