AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was looking at the bracelet, holding her wrist up so the stones caught the light.
“From a friend,” she said, snatching her hand back. “Why?”
“Oh, just a friend?” he said. “You mean you’re walking around with these on your wrist and you don’t know what they are?”
“They’re rocks,” said Gabriel. “Leave her alone.”
“They’re not just rocks.” Michael glared at her. “Are you playing me? Was this a trap to find Gabriel—”
“No!” she cried. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m so stupid,” he said. “The way you felt the sunlight, the way you knew we’d find—”
“What are you talking about?”
“These.” Michael grabbed her wrist again. “These rocks. They’re full of power. Who are you, Becca? What do you—”
“They’re not mine!” She was ready to tear them off her arm. “They’re not!”
Michael’s face was right in front of her. “Then whose are they?”
She took a deep breath. “Hunter’s.”
“That punk kid?” said Gabriel. “The one who got into it with Chris last night?”
“Yeah.” She glanced between him and Michael. “He said they were his mom’s. He said they were for silly things, like ... like ... confidence, or clarity of thought.” Then she realized what Gabriel had said. “Wait. He got into it with Chris?”
“Yeah. Nicky, too. I don’t know what happened, because all hell broke loose, but he said they had a run-in.”
“What were they fighting about?”
Gabriel snorted and gave her a look. “Guess.”
“These rocks are for a lot more than confidence or clarity of thought,” said Michael. “Take them off.”
“This is stupid. A lot of people wear crystals. What, are you going to do some magic—”
“Just shut up and take them off. If you’ve got nothing to do with this, then he does.”
Michael looked like he was going to rip them off her wrist if she didn’t concede. She was ready to dig in and fight—but she kept hearing Chris’s words on the soccer field the night before.
Just how much do you know about our local narc?
Hunter had never been anything but kind to her. If anything, he was overprotective. Maybe protection just ran in his family, with his police officer uncle and special forces father. Hunter coming to town at the same time as the Guide was nothing but coincidence. An accident.
I don’t believe in accidents.
His father had been killed in a thunderstorm and a rock slide. Was that a coincidence? An accident?
Becca unchained the rocks and held them out to Michael.
He pulled the chain free, letting them drop into his palm. Quartz and amethyst, from the night she’d choked down too much tequila. Citrine and garnet, from the morning Hunter had picked a fight with Chris.
Michael studied all four, then picked up the clear quartz. “What did he tell you this one was for?”
She tried to remember. “Ah, to make the rest of them work better, I think.”
“More likely to keep track of the rest of them.” He held it up and crushed it in his palm.
