Dark Guardian - Jan Hambright

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watching her speak briefly with Judy Bartholomew. Turning his head slightly, he searched for the sound of her voice among the street noise, picking out enough of the conversation to understand the trouble it invoked. After a couple of moments, she resumed her stroll along the sidewalk on the opposite side.

      Olivia Morgan hadn’t left well enough alone, hadn’t taken the information from the clinic and come to a conclusion that would have made her leave town singing the praises of the facility’s attempts to help her brother. To give him a normal life.

      Everything was in danger as long as she remained here. Her life, the lives of anyone who dared to help her along the way and his secret. Their secret.

      Worry ground over his nerves and forced him into the sunlight. The air was charged; he could feel the surge of energy on his skin. He searched for a source, isolating it to within a block of where he stood. They were up to something.

      Picking out Olivia’s movements, he reached out and put a field of protection around her.

      The squeal of brakes behind him brought his head around.

      An out-of-control sedan zoomed past, the driver waving his hands frantically.

      Turning back around, he saw Olivia crossing the street one block ahead of him.

      He broke into a run.

      They planned to kill her, had from the moment she’d stepped foot in Black’s Cove. In that instant, he realized how determined they were to keep their secret. He wanted to keep it, too, but at the expense of another human being’s life?

      He heard the impact, felt it jar his bones much like it jarred hers.

      Bolting in between a couple of cars, he ground to a stop, assessing the situation unfolding at the intersection less than fifty feet away.

      Heightening his senses, he listened for her heartbeat among the crowd gathering around the spot where Olivia Morgan lay in the street. There were too many of them to isolate her distinctive cardiac rhythm.

      Concern pushed him forward. He mixed with the growing mass of interested folks who wanted to catch a glimpse of what had happened.

      The hair at his nape bristled, warning him they were nearby, watching just like he was. Waiting, hoping, praying their brutal attempt to deal with Olivia Morgan had succeeded this time.

      Chapter Four

      Olivia faded in and out of consciousness, wondering where it hurt, if it hurt and what had just happened.

      She opened her eyes, staring up at the crowd gathered around her. The asphalt under her was hard and cold. She’d been hit by a car? It was the only thing that made sense.

      The sudden pressure of hands on her body sent a charge of electricity shooting through her along with disbelief as she tried to sit up, realizing there was no one next to her.

      She closed her eyes again, trying to reason away what was happening. It was crazy. Maybe she was unconscious or imagining the feel of hands moving over her body, almost like an examination. As quickly as the odd sensation took her, it stopped.

      Sucking in a breath, she sat up, focusing on the faces of the people crowding around her.

      “Hurry! Someone call an ambulance. I think she’s hurt.” A man in his twenties knelt next to her and touched her arm. “Are you okay?” he asked in an excited voice.

      She stared at him and nodded her head. “I think so.” Mentally she searched for any injuries, but short of feeling slightly dizzy and a bit out of sync, nothing else hurt.

      “It knocked the wind out of me and I banged my head on the pavement.” Reaching up, she touched a tender spot on her left temple, and recoiled in pain.

      The wail of sirens screamed in the distance, but she found her hearing focused on a voice in the throng of people.

      “The Phantom protected her.” The whispered comment drew a string of agreement through the crowd.

      The Phantom? Protection? The people in this town were certifiable, she decided. This was a simple case of car versus pedestrian, and the car hadn’t won. Just like the elderly couple had been lucky and escaped their accident.

      Olivia attempted to stand up, but nausea pushed her back down. She fought off a rush of panic. She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She hated hospitals. But maybe she did need to be checked out.

      The sirens grew louder and finally quit about the time the crowd parted and a couple of EMTs carrying equipment stepped through the crowd and knelt next to her.

      “What happened?” the EMT asked, opening his jump kit.

      Olivia focused on his name tag. Todd Nicholls. At least she was still cognitive.

      “I’m fine. The car barely touched me. Nothing is broken.” She searched for the vehicle, her stare settling on the crushed bumper that hung at a cockeyed angle from the impact.

      A measure of disbelief tingled in the back of her brain. She should be hurt. If the condition of the car was any indication, she should be broken, but she wasn’t.

      “I don’t need to go to the hospital.” A wave of claustrophobia washed over her and she closed her eyes for a moment until it passed. When she opened them again, she was ready to stand up.

      “You took a terrific hit, Miss. We’d feel better if you got checked over in the ER.”

      A measure of reason silenced her protest and she nodded. “You’re right. I don’t feel so great. Better safe than sorry.”

      One of the medics went to retrieve the gurney and she watched him maneuver it through the masses being slowly pushed back by a uniformed officer, as his partner questioned the driver.

      “Nothing to see here, folks. Move along, let the medics work.”

      Glancing up, her gaze locked on the only familiar face in the crowd. Jack Trayborne? She’d know his intense blue eyes anywhere, but before she could decipher the look of anger on his face, he stepped back into the throng.

      An unexplained jolt of disappointment glanced off her brain. What had she hoped would happen? That he’d rush to her side and begin a conversation? Spill the clinic’s secrets in the middle of the street next to her?

      A slingshot full of reality slammed into her brain, leaving her almost giddy in its simplicity.

      She’d been digging down the wrong tunnel, mining the clinic’s secrets, when she needed to be uncovering his. He was Black’s Cove Clinic.

      Olivia tried to relax as the EMTs wrapped her up like a mummy in a C-collar and strapped her to a backboard. It was all for the sake of her safety in the event she’d injured her spine in the accident, but that didn’t help her level of discomfort as they wheeled her into the ambulance and headed for the hospital.

      RAGE CONSUMED HIM as he took the steps two at a time, his heart pounding out a war beat he was sure they’d heard long before he kicked open the door in the empty warehouse loft and stepped into the dark room.

      Waves of energy rushed him, but he encircled himself in a wall of protection much like the one he’d used to save Olivia’s life in the street below.

      Reaching into the darkness with his mind, he found them standing together in the corner. The mental contact solidified their involvement, as he pulled in their thoughts.

      Fear, slow to take shape but palpable, emanated from one of them, but the other…

      “I said I’d deal with her. She’s mine! Do you understand?”

      “You’ve had enough time. We won’t stop until you get rid of her.”

      Anger streamed through him like molten lava. It hit its flashpoint in a violent explosion he couldn’t immediately control.

      “No!” He thrust out his

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