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Nelle.
The prick of tears stings my eyes as I return her hug, squeezing her back just as tightly as she’s crushing my ribs.
“Oh, just saving the world, no big deal,” I chuckle, pushing her away slightly so I can see her face. Her black hair is pulled back into a ponytail, her brown eyes shining as they meet mine. I rub my hands over her arms, needing to reassure myself that she’s here and she’s real. “Nelle.” I can’t help the sob that slips out when I say her name, all the emotions from the last few days coming crashing back in.
Of course I saw her, just she was still on bed rest, and both of us were reeling from her near death and transformation. My soul had been crushed at the thought that I’d lost her, and then I was terrified that she hated me. But this is my Nelle, energy bursting from her like a shooting star.
“Liv.” She claps her hands on either side of my face, and I don’t even care that my cheeks sting under her palms, not when she’s alive and here with me. Slap me all ya want, bestie.
“You have to tell me everything,” both of us shout at the same time, before we both erupt in roaring laughter.
“What on earth am I watching?” Titus asks hesitantly, his lips twisting in disgust as his eyes flick between the two of us.
Nelle’s spine goes ramrod straight at the sound of his voice, her hands slipping from my face as she turns on her heel to face him.
“You,” she shouts incredulously and points a stern finger at him. She takes a step towards him, her feet stomping on the grass. I can’t help the grin that spreads on my face as Titus’s face pales, and he casts a worried gaze over her shoulder to me.
That grin doesn’t last long though, not when her skin starts to glow in a pale gold light and white wings spring from the back of her pink racerback tank top.
What the fuck.
I knew I changed her into a guardian, but knowing and seeing are two completely different things.
“How dare you show your face here?” Nelle screams. She shoves him back a step, sparks zapping from her fingertips as she places them on his chest. They vanish in the next minute though, as he stumbles back, clearly caught off guard since he nearly trips over his own feet.
“Nelle, wait,” I say, stepping between them from going at each other’s throats again. “There’s a lot I have to catch you up on, babe, but he’s not the bad guy.”
“I don’t know about that,” she huffs, but thankfully doesn’t start after him again.
“I know you have every right to be pissed at him, but just please, give me a chance to explain everything.” I know the words have little meaning right now—he was the reason she was even in that clearing, the reason why her life has been completely turned upside down.
“Fine.” She slices a cutting glare his way.
“What the hell was that?” I blurt, turning to Titus, my stomach twisting at the sight of the sparks that erupted between them when Nelle pushed him.
“It was nothing,” Titus says hurriedly, eyes darting from side to side as the nosy onlookers begin to turn away. He straightens his black suit jacket as though he hadn’t just seen what happened.
“There was definitely something,” I say, looking between the two of them.
Nelle crosses her arms over her chest, her snow-white wings fluffing up behind her.
“Probably just something with her new powers,” Titus says, clearly still flustered, despite his feigned nonchalance. “I should go.”
“Yeah, you should,” Nelle says, glaring at him as he turns on his heel.
“No, you shouldn’t,” I call after him, but he ignores me. He strides away a bit too quickly to be classified as casual.
What the hell is going on with him?
“Did you see that?” I ask Nelle, my lips quirking to the side as I study her.
“See what?” she huffs, cocking a brow at me expectantly.
“Nevermind.”
Was that all in my head?
“Does that happen often?” I nod pointedly to her wings, a smile spreading on my lips as I take her in. As strange as it is that Nelle is part of this world now, I have to admit, it suits her. She seriously looks like an avenging angel as the glow slowly seeps away.
