Karma Patrol Read Online Free Page A

surprised, but her expression changed to delight when she realized who was behind her. She slowed down so Jade could catch her and then pulled the smaller blonde into a tight hug.
    “Jade! I’m so happy to see you!”
    “We saw each other yesterday,” Jade laughed, extricating herself from the hug carefully to avoid spilling her coffee. No matter how recently they’d spent time together, Shannon was always gratifyingly thrilled to see her. “How did your annual review turn out?”
    “Oh, fine.” Shannon waved an airy hand. The Interpersonal Relations Division didn’t care nearly as much about numbers as Karma Division did, and from what Shannon had told her in years past, her annual reviews tended to focus more on the quality of her work instead of the quantity. There was no question that Shannon would do well in those reviews. While it typically took her as long to complete one job as it did for Jade to correct twenty karmic plan disruptions, the couples she brought together tended to stay together. She was one of the best Cupids in New York. “Jeff told me to keep up the good work. I had two successful soulmate pairings and nearly a hundred weddings this year, you know.”
    “I know,” Jade agreed fondly.
    Shannon was the best friend she had in Manhattan, and a large part of why she liked the other woman so much was Shannon’s devotion to other people’s happiness. Jade did her job because she loved the balance of it, the absoluteness of right and wrong and the way the punishment always fit the crime. Shannon did hers because she wanted to help people find love, whether they deserved the happiness it would bring them or not. Jade couldn’t say that she understood Shannon, but she respected her tremendously.
    “Did you beat Mark?” Shannon asked, in yet another example of her investment in other people’s happiness. Shannon had less than no interest in Karma Division’s intradepartmental rivalries. The Cupids from Interpersonal Relations all got along famously, lauding one another’s successes and supporting one another through their failures. She knew the rivalry was important to Jade, though, so she always made a point of asking. “I’m sure you did. You’re the best enforcer they have.”
    “Apparently, you’re right,” Jade said, still not sure she believed it herself. “I’m in first place, Shannon. Midtown West is the closest catchment area to a zero balance in the entire city.”
    “Oh, Jade!”
    That earned her another tight hug, this one coming perilously close to knocking the coffee cup out of her hand. She kept a tight grip on it, knowing none of the half-dozen other Starbucks in Midtown West had a prayer of making her drink order as perfectly as Tony had.
    “I’m so proud of you! Congratulations!”
    “Thanks.”
    Shannon loosened her grip enough to step back and meet Jade’s gaze, grinning. “Now if I could just find your soulmate, everything would be perfect.”
    “I’ve told you a million times, I’m not worried about it.” That was a bald-faced lie and both women knew it, but Jade hated being confronted about her absent soulmate. She loved the idea of having one, but she would’ve been perfectly happy not knowing he existed until he actually showed up.
    Only a tiny percentage of the population actually had designated soulmates, even among the special population that made up the ranks of Fate Divisions employees like Shannon and Jade. She could have lived her entire life unaware that her perfect man was out there somewhere, but since the day she’d turned sixteen, every Cupid she’d ever come across had made a point of telling her they could see the golden glint of her aura that indicated the presence of a soulmate somewhere in the world, and wasn’t she lucky to have one!
    She didn’t feel lucky. Oh, at sixteen she’d been thrilled, but by twenty she’d started to tire of waiting for her Prince Charming to show up. By twenty-five, as all of her friends got married