Page 21 of Guarded By the Bigfoot
“Because you are.”
She rolled her eyes, but her smile remained. “We’ll see about that.”
“Yes, we will.”
Her expression softened, but I saw uncertainty creep into her eyes.
“That’s just it, Brock. There’s so much about your world I don’t understand. It’s just the basics because you keep it that way. Wards, crystals, ancient prophecies.” She gestured to the monitoring crystal. “I’m just a human who happens to be good at fighting.”
“Parker.”
“No, let me finish.” She pulled away, wrapping the sheet tighter around herself. “You’re a Guardian. You’ve got all these responsibilities, this ancient power. What if I can’t keep up? What if I’m not enough?”
I reached for her again, relief flooding through me when she didn’t pull away.
“You’re the strongest person I know. You’ve faced down things that would make most humans run screaming.”
“Yeah, but.”
“And you did it with no fancy powers or ancient bloodlines. Just pure skill and that incredible stubborn streak of yours.”
She snorted. “There you go with the stubborn thing again.”
“Because it’s true.” I traced the line of her jaw. “You don’t need to understand everything about my world. You just need to be you. The fierce, brilliant, occasionally terrifying woman I can’t get enough of.”
“Occasionally terrifying?” A spark of mischief lit her eyes. “I must be losing my touch.”
“Well, you are pretty adorable when you’re sleeping. Kind of ruins the whole scary ARC agent image.”
She launched herself at me, pinning me to the bed with surprising strength.
“Take that back.”
“Make me,” I challenged, grinning up at her.
Her hair fell around us like a curtain as she leaned down, her lips inches from mine.
“You’re impossible.”
“Part of my charm.”
The crystal flared brilliant red, cutting off her words. A surge of dark energy rippled through the Veil, strong enough that I felt it in my bones. Parker felt it too. I watched her eyes widen as the darkness washed over us both.
“It’s back.” The tone in her voice was masked by determination.
I was already moving, retrieving my clothes from where they’d been discarded the night before.
“They’re testing the boundaries again, but this time...” I checked the readings, my heart sinking. “The energy signature is different. Stronger. More focused.”
Parker scrambled out of bed, reaching for her own clothes.
“Then I’ll call in backup. Let me contact the ARC Elite Team.”
“No.” The word came out harsher than I intended, making her flinch. I softened my tone. “This isn’t something your team can handle. This is Guardian business.”
“Guardian business?” She stepped into my path, hands on her hips. “I was sent here to investigate these exact fluctuations. Why do you think ARC assigned me to this mountain? We’ve always monitored the Veil activity.”
“ARC was restricted from the Veil territory for good reason,” I growled. “This isn’t your typical disturbance.”
