Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1) Tamar Sloan (digital ebook reader .txt) 📖

and Adalind sit at their station in cooking class before the bell rings, savoring the last few precious seconds of alone time they have.

Brielle nods, keeping an eye on the door for Tristan. “Yeah, I should’ve known a good-looking guy like that was too good to be true.”

“He actually thinks he’s an alien?” Adalind’s smile is joking, but there’s a spark in her eyes that Brielle doesn’t recognize.

Brielle doesn’t want to be the one to start rumors. She’s had her fair share of gossip started about her, and no one deserves to be plagued by them. She shakes her head. “He was probably just messing with me. Some kind of joke to screw with my head.”

Adalind purses her lips, then shrugs. “Well then, it’s his loss. Some better guy will come along, and he’ll be even hotter.”

“Maybe. I shouldn’t be thinking about boys right now anyway. The only thing that matters right now is keeping the Pierces’ favor.”

“I’m so glad your visit went well with them,” Adalind squeals. “Just two more days till your big dinner!”

The spark of excitement and glee that Brielle had felt when they left yesterday flares back to life. She can’t wait for Friday!

Just as the smile starts to spread on her face, Tristan walks through the classroom door. Brielle straightens her lips and looks away in case he thinks she was smiling at him. As he approaches their station, she’s aware that his eyes are on her, the heat of his gaze making her heart flutter and her nerves sizzle even as she tells herself she wants nothing to do with him.

He sits beside her, his sweet, musky scent teasing her nostrils, as if to whisper, “come closer.”

She doesn’t acknowledge him as he settles into his stool, and the uncertainty over where to put her gaze is almost maddening.

“Hey,” he says, nudging her arm with his elbow.

She doesn’t want to be rude, so she flicks a glance at him and says, “Hey,” in return.

“Listen,” he whispers, leaning closer. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to freak you out. Can we just start over? Friends?” He holds out his open hand.

Tristan isn’t the kind of person she should be friends with, but she definitely doesn’t need any more enemies.

“Sure, friends,” she whispers. She stares at his open hand for a moment, debating accepting such a gesture. But the desire to touch him is too strong, and finally, she can’t hold back anymore.

She grasps his hand.

Warmth radiates over every millimeter of her palm at his touch, and before she can guess whether or not he feels it too, he gasps. Brielle looks up at him. His eyes are magnetic, a sort of gravitational pull locking hers to them. She’s struck by how blue they are, and how comforting it feels to be held by them. She could stare into these eyes forever, curl up into them and disappear into their crystalline abyss.

The classroom door closes, the sound shaking Brielle out of the spell.

She jerks her hand free a little too forcefully and says, “Just friends.”

He nods, accepting her terms. “You’re staying at school all day today?”

Brielle tenses. Please don’t let him ask to sit with her at break. “Ah, yeah. But—”

“Good. Make sure you do. It’s the safest place for you right now.”

Before Brielle can ask what that means, Tristan pushes to his feet. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Brom. But my mom just texted. We forgot I have an appointment.”

Brielle frowns. She didn’t hear a message, not even the buzzing when a cell is on silent.

Ms. Brom crosses her arms. “I find that hard to believe.”

Tristan grins as he walks toward her, holding up his cell. She reads it, her brows low. “You’ll need to wait here while she contacts the front office.”

But Tristan is already at the door, pushing it open. “I’ll tell her when I meet her there. Hope the class goes well.”

He’s gone before Ms. Brom can say another word. Brielle pulls down the brows that had hiked up. What in the world just happened?

Ms. Brom starts instructing their next cooking assignment—homemade mac ‘n cheese—and Brielle almost succeeds in getting through the period without thinking about the boy who is far too tempting, and far too great a threat to everything she truly wants. His weird actions just proved that.

When the bell rings for break, Brielle can’t get to the cafeteria quickly enough. She hasn’t been able to focus on anything but touching Tristan’s hand since this morning, and she needs the mental distraction she’s sure conversation with Adalind will give her. Why can’t she get this guy out of her mind?

She gets her lunch tray and sits at their usual table, absentmindedly squirting a packet of ketchup onto her burger as she scours the hundreds of faces for the one she’s waiting for.

Unfortunately, Cassandra’s face is the one she finds, and Cassandra sees her, too. Like a Brielle-seeking missile, she zooms straight through the sea of students to Brielle’s table.

Great. Maybe if she ignores her, Cassandra will just go away.

“Hi freak,” Cassandra’s venomously silky voice chimes over her shoulder.

No such luck.

“Don’t you have anyone else to torture?” Brielle asks in as cool a tone as she can manage.

“I heard Tristan ditched you at Creamy Dreams,” she says, bulldozing Brielle’s calm façade. “What did you do to scare him off so quickly?”

Brielle rolls her eyes, disbelieving how quickly true events become distorted by the gossip wheel.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was the one who walked out on him.”

Cassandra throws her head back and lets out an insulting laugh. “I’m so sure.”

The last thing Brielle wants is to put any kind of black mark on Tristan’s social life as the new student. “I had to leave to meet with a couple that’s interested in adopting me, as a matter of fact.” A small tingle of satisfaction swirls in her chest as she confesses this to her childhood rival.

Cassandra’s black-lined eyes widen in surprise, then squeeze shut as she buckles over