Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1) by Tamar Sloan (adult books to read .TXT) 📗

the day. But she knows she needs to write her paper so she can go to her big dinner tomorrow. That is, if the Pierces don’t cancel because of what they just saw between her and Suki.

A sigh squeezes through her clenched teeth, and she opens the front door and walks in. She hugs the Abraham Lincoln book tight against her chest like a battle trophy, knowing it wasn’t worth what she sacrificed. Brielle imagines many of the soldiers who fought in the very war she’s supposed to write about probably felt the same way when they returned home.

She hears the whispers before she enters the common room, and she comes to a dead stop at the threshold. One of those voices belongs to Marie. After the recent confrontation with Suki, Brielle has no strength of will left to endure a verbal beating from Marie.

She stands in the shadows just outside of the common room for several long minutes, frozen with indecision. The paper needs to be written, but Brielle would do absolutely anything to avoid Marie. There’s always the chance that the Brady Bunch won’t see her, if she’s quiet enough. But that’s not a gamble Brielle is willing to take at the moment. She could just make a run for it, although that might inspire them to give chase, and she definitely doesn’t want that.

Finally, Brielle adjusts the shoulder strap of her backpack, turns around, and walks back out the front door to sit on the steps. She takes out her spiral notebook and a pencil and cracks open the library book, resigned to write the whole thing out here in hopes that the Brady Bunch will be gone by the time she’s finished. She can always type it up later, even if it takes her all night.

What a coward I am.

She tries her best to push her troubles to the back of her mind and puts all her focus on the task at hand.

The wall lamps cast a dim light, making it hard to read in the cozy evening darkness, but Brielle manages to find more than enough citations she can use. Blocking out the rest of the world, she spends the next hour or longer—there’s no clock out here to tell time—writing what she feels is an excellent exposé about Abraham Lincoln’s politics.

By the time she’s finished, the sky above is completely black and star-spangled, her butt is sore from sitting on the cold hard cement, and her fingers are so stiff she can hardly flex them.

Satisfied and exhausted, she sets the notebook aside and leans back, enjoying the night air and wondering if it’s safe to go inside yet.

She looks up at the stars, trying to keep her mind as open and empty as the vast expanse of space she sees. But so many things fight to get in, all the things she’s afraid to face: Marie and her cohorts in the common room, whatever mayhem Suki will inflict on her at school tomorrow, the fragile hope of the Pierces adopting her.

So when Tristan pops into her mind, as he so often does, she welcomes him.

He thinks he’s an alien prince, and she has visions of bad things people have done. Maybe they really are perfect for each other. Two people on the outskirts of normal, albeit for different reasons. Does it really matter if he’s crazy? Who is she to judge? There has to be a reason why she’s so undeniably drawn to him. Despite his delusion, he’s funny, sweet, sincere, and gorgeous as hell! If he’s the best option she’ll ever get, is that really so bad? Maybe after the adoption is finalized, she’ll give him a second chance.

If the adoption goes through at all.

And if Cassandra hasn’t gotten her claws into him by then.

The crunch of leaves nearby startles Brielle out of her daydreaming, and she whips her head in the direction of the sound. She expects to catch a glimpse of the tail of one of the stray cats skittering by, so she’s even more shaken when she sees a large silhouette under the trees across the lawn.

Her heart rate spikes, flooding her veins with adrenaline and the urge to run, but she’s stuck, unable to do anything but stare at the figure who she can feel is also staring at her.

After a few eternal seconds, her motor skills return enough for her to swallow and stutter, “W-w-who’s there?”

The figure steps forward, and Brielle mentally prepares herself to use the thick library book as a weapon if need be.

His face comes into the light, and confusion mixes with the fear brewing in her chest.

It’s Eye Patch Guy.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, his gruff voice softer than it was at the library earlier today.

Suddenly, every story Brielle’s ever heard about him replays in her mind, and she’s filled with the morbid curiosity of which one she’s about to experience first-hand.

“After that whole mess in the library, I needed to make sure you weren’t on their radar,” he says. “I needed to make sure you were safe.”

Brielle isn’t sure what she expected him to say, but that certainly wasn’t it, and she’s even more confused.

“On who’s radar?” she can’t help but ask. She knows she should just turn tail and run inside, Marie and the Brady Bunch be damned. Why doesn’t she run?

He shakes his head, looking very much like an ex-soldier. “I can’t explain that to you, yet.” He takes another step closer, and Brielle flinches backward, which makes him raise his hands in a gesture meant to calm. “Trust me when I say I’m not the one you should be afraid of.”

“If you don’t intend to hurt me, then why are you here?” she asks, surprised by her own bravery. Or maybe it’s just recklessness.

“Like I said, I only came to check on you, but since you caught me, I might as well warn you.”

Check on her? Why would he care about an argument between her and Suki?