Molten Read Online Free Page B

a lovely evening.”
    Nanette turned and walked away from him, away from the close group of Guardians and back to her runner. It was time to go home.
     
    * * * *
     
    Wren looked at him in surprise. “Rand, what did you do?”
    He grimaced. “I screwed up. I asked her what she did to me and she shut down.”
    Wren covered her eyes. “Wonderful.”
    “I thought it would be flattering.”
    “If a woman asked you what you had done to her and the question always prefaced rejection, what would you do when you heard that question?”
    He leaned back. “I would shut down, back away and pretend that nothing had ever happened. Certainly, I would not have remained in her presence, not if we had just met.”
    “You would go back to square one.” Wren shook her head. “This is going to be complicated. You two glowed on that dance floor. She was as bright with energy as you were.”
    Rand closed his eyes and his skin brightened again. “I remember. I felt heat welling inside me. I have never felt anything like it.”
    “And if that is the experience her human partners had, they would have called her a freak and gone running. My people do not like to admit that talents, the gifted or powers exist. They are traces of magic and alien DNA that none of us acknowledge as possible.”
    “So, what you are saying is I did everything wrong.”
    Wren patted his arm. “No, you did teach her to dance. That counts for something. Starting over with her again, that will be something else.”
    Wren heard Beryl’s voice raised and excused herself quickly. It seemed that Beryl was trying to pick a fistfight with a peacekeeper, and while she would win, it might not be good exercise for the baby.
    A Caretaker’s work was never done.
     
    * * * *
     
    Nanette spent the next two weeks working on sculptures in her garden. She created an entire set of Guardians, including Beryl and Wren in the arms of their mates. With a bit of effort, she put all of them in her garden with Rand at the furthest edge, in the shadows. She didn’t like to be reminded of him, but he did complete the set.
    The calls for assistance in repairs were infrequent until an earthquake on the other side of the globe had them calling her before it had ceased. She was going to do what she could to help them rebuild.
    Her runner was well stocked by now, her needs had been outlined over the first few months she had been on W’lyn, and now, she covered the basics with a more efficient selection of the most common metals in use in building.
    She set the coordinates and climbed aboard her means of transport while hoping that there had been little to no loss of life inside city she was flying to.
    “Nanette? Can you hear me?”
    Beryl’s voice was coming through the com systems on her runner. “I can hear you.”
    “The prefect’s home has been caught in a landslide. You are the best bet to get them out.”
    “Landslide?”
    “Rockslide. I am sending you the coordinates, but I must warn you, this is Rand’s family, and he will be a little eager to see them safe and well. He is on his way to the site; I hope that you beat him there.”
    Numbers spun across her screen, and Nanette bent down as her runner picked up speed. If folk that she loved were buried under rock, she would be willing to do anything she could to get them out.
    When her vehicle decelerated, she lifted her head and examined the lay of the land and the half-buried stone home under the huge pile of boulders that had landed on it from the mountains above.
    She worked her hands on the scanner, looking for solid rock and airspaces behind it. By the time her runner settled, she had an idea of where she was going and a plan to get there.
    Nanette looked at the wall of rock sheered into a flat, neat face and she looked around. This was not what her talent was for, but if she could get to those airspaces, she could look for survivors from behind the prefect’s home.
    The hard part was going to be in pulling the heat