Chapter 20

**Harper**

I thought I knew tension. I mean a Christmas dinner with my mother and her family is tense. But that didn't hold a candle to the tension that had just entered the dining room. Callie moved back and let Michael walk-in. I felt my heart jump up into my throat, and I crossed my fingers. Praying that he hasn't brought his wife and Miles. That would have been such a slap in the face to Callie. I would not have stood for that kind of disrespect. He handed the bottle of wine to Callie and she walked into the kitchen with it. I didn't think it was meant of us, we were all underage, but I had a feeling she would keep it for herself for later. I shifted in my seat and he looked between Gabriel and myself.

"It's nice to see you again Harper." I smiled and nodded looking away. Gabe's hand reached for me under the table. For his comfort and my own. Callie came in and sat down next to Michael. He kept glancing at her and I looked at Callie who was staring at Kayla and Gabe. Trying too hard not to look at the guest she had invited.

"I wanted to learn more about sailing, it can help me become a better guardian, if you are unwilling to teach me, I will find another, or I will seat myself." Gabriel came off extremely aggressive, and I felt like it was going to go badly. But Michael looked at his son, and I felt myself willing him to see through the aggression. A half-second after I wished that, Michael's eyes snapped to me.

"Stop." I looked between him and Gabriel.

"I'm not doing anything." He frowned and his eyes felt like they were looking through me.

"Yes you are," And I felt his mind reach for mine, and I didn't have a defense for that. Gabriel's mind was so quick to wrap around mine it almost made me fall off my chair. His father looked at his son and then to me.

"Outside, both of you. Callie, please excuse us for just a moment." She nodded and looked at me and Gabriel. We stood and walked through the house out the back door. Gabriel kept himself between me and his father. And his mind was still firmly around mine.

"You can relax Gabriel, I mean her no harm." Gabe turned on his father and I reached a hand out to touch his arm.

"It's okay Harper." Michael stepped up to his son, and if there was one thing I knew it was that Gabriel wouldn't back down. Not when he had someone to protect. I pushed softly at his mind to get his attention. He took a step back towards me, and I put my hand in his.

"She is a demon." I felt my heart stutter in my chest.

"Very funny, my mom is an angel. And my father is human." He looked at Gabriel.

"Let me in, I can find out the truth." Gabrel's shoulder trembled and his hand tightened over mine.

"No." Michael looked to me for a second, judging me I think. My strength and his hand came up and clocked Gabriel in the jaw, he went down like a sack of bricks, and my fist flew up across Michael's cheek. I moved in front of Gabriel and Michael stumbled back.

"Fair hit girl. I mean him no more harm, I needed his mind to release yours, you are not all angel Harper. Angel's cannot fly." I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"This won't hurt if you don't fight me." I felt his mind carefully roll over mine like someone would roll a pie crust over the pie filling. And it felt too heavy to be comfortable. It was felt kind of like drowning.

"Easy Harper, I won't hurt you. I am looking into your young memories." I didn't know if I really wanted him to. It felt like an invasion of privacy.

"I can tell you everything you want to know. My mother is an angel and my father is human." He shook his head at me.

"No. I doubt your father is human." I felt myself start to laugh, my father was indeed human. He didn't have wings, and then I stopped and thought about it. Demons had the ability to hide their wings...they never had to show them if they didn't want to. And those men came after me even though my father was still standing in the same room. Why would they go after an angel when a human was easier? Because he wasn't human. It was easier to take an angel with eleven-foot wings and a small skill base in Guardian training than it was to grab my father from that room...who for my entire life I thought was human. I looked to Michael and he was sifting through old memories, but the frown on his face told me he wasn't finding anything that was useful. That was only because he didn't know where to look.

"Wait until Gabriel wakes up he can help me dig deeper." His frown deepened.

"I am more than skilled enough to help you go through your memories." I pursed my lips and settled myself on the ground by Gabriel's head. Lifting it from the grass laying it on my lap.

"I don't trust you." He knelt down in front of me, and I looked at him.

"You don't know me, Harper." I felt like there was something I was missing. It was right in front of me, but I didn't have all the pieces to put it together.

"I know enough, you hurt her without remorse," He looked away from me his jaw clenched tight. He glanced back towards the house and I felt protective of the family I had found.

"Callie and I have an understanding..."I snorted and ran comforting fingers through Gabriel's hair.

"You ripped her heart out, even if she knew it would happen, she still gave it to you and you took it from her and threw it on the ground in front of her." And his eyes blazed at me the same way Gabriels' did when he was angry.

"You know nothing about what happened, I left to protect them. To protect my family."

"Your family? You left Gabriel to grow up thinking his father doesn't love him, that he has to protect his mother. His childhood? thrown out the window, he stepped up when you left." And I knew this from his own memories that he had shown me. Michael looked down at his son and then to me.

"I love Callie, with all of my heart. I will love Callie for the rest of my life, but it's not safe for me to be here with them. I love my son and my daughter." The shock must have shown on my face.

"She is part demon yes. Her wings never came in, which isn't anything rare. But she belongs to me." I felt my heart go out to Callie, she had given too much to him for nothing in return.

"I take care of my family, they want for nothing." I snorted and that wasn't true.

"Yes, they do Michael. They want a lot of things. Every single one of them wants something different. Callie wants for a partner a lover who will be by her side to choose her damned the consequences," He looked down and I wanted him to understand what he had put his family through.

"Gabe? He wants his father's approval, and it tears him apart..that he wants that because he knows he shouldn't!" A tear leaked out of the corners of my eyes and Michael reached for his son touching his shoulder.

"I am proud of him...proud of the choices he has made and the things he has done. I have always been here for him, whenever he wanted to reach out. He is just so damn stubborn..." He wasn't wrong, Gabriel was stubborn.

"But he is loyal. He saw the aftermath of you leaving, what it did to his mother. Do you even know how much reasoning and pleading I had to do for you to be able to be here tonight?" Michael's eye narrowed on me, trying to understand.

"Why would you want me to be here?" I looked down at Gabriel's calm face.

"Because I need him. And the thought of him not being strong enough to handle any mind that comes at him terrifies me, I am terrified to lose him. And you are the only one who can teach him to be stronger than them."

"Harper--I want you to understand that my son--he is already strong in his mind, even though he doesn't know it..."

"He needs to know it, he needs to have the confidence..."

"How long has this drive been pushing you?" I sighed.

"Since the kidnapping...it has been rough for me...and him. But he is stubborn." I thought about classroom speech and the speech he had given me in my dorm room.

"It won't go away you know, that drive to be better, stronger, faster but it will make you a damn good Guardian."

"I am hoping that when we get our first assignments we are assigned together as a team." Michael looked between his son and my face, rubbing his cheek absentmindedly.

"I might be able to talk to some people." My eyes narrowed on him.

"I feel like making a deal with you is like making a deal with the devil." He chuckled and Gabriel started to move.

"You might want to move back, he is going to be angry when he wakes fully."

"I can keep him from attacking you..." Michael shook his head at me.

"No, this needs to happen for us to grow closer. Go inside Harper, sit with Callie please." I nodded and carefully set Gabriel's head back down on the grass.

Callie was sitting at the table, and she had her head in her hands. I walked over and sat down next to her, just wanting to offer her silent support.

"He is even better looking than I remember...and he smells..." She stopped herself and ran a hand down her face.

"Callie explain to me what happened? Michael didn't want to leave you guys, he still doesn't want to be away from you." She gave a small laugh and I saw the tear glowing in her eyes.

"It's too dangerous for him to be here, my kids..." I frowned and reached a hand out to her.

"Gabriel can protect himself, and Kayla is on her way to becoming a little woman, she is already taking self-defense classes. You deserve happiness, you and Michael should be a team, you are better together. You can protect your family together." She squeezed my hand

I felt her heart jump in hope. What I was saying made sense to her and she wanted it to be true.

"He won't come back if he thinks there is a chance it would hurt us." I looked away from her, and I heard yelling outside. I wanted to go check but Callie kept me in my seat.

"Gabe needs to learn that Michael means no harm…he is so protective…I don't know how to handle him sometimes." I smiled.

"He is an amazing man, you raised him well. And I think Kayla is going to be kick-ass at whatever she decides she wants to be. You did that Callie, you are the power behind this family. There is nothing you can't do."

I heard wings open and my body tightened. Callie released my hand and I quickly walked to the sliding door that leads outside. Michael had a bloody nose, and a cut eyebrow, and Gabriel looked just about the same. They looked ready to go at each other again, and Callie followed my gaze up into the air at them.

"I think it is time that you can break them up now." I jumped into the air, heading straight for Gabriel. He felt me coming changing his course to avoid his father and catch me with open arms. I pinned my wings to my body allowing him to take my weight. He buried his head in my hair, his grip was tight as he tucked my body tightly against his.

"Harper, get out of the way, we have things we are settling," Michael called and I tightened my hold on Gabriel.

"You need to stop fighting and start listening! Both of you!" Callie called from the back porch. Gabriel's mind reached for mine in panic.

"I'm okay, I'm not hurt. Come. Your mom is worried, you don't have to fight…" His green eyes looked from me then to his father. Who looked like he was still fuming. I felt a dull ache start in the back of my head. I shook my head trying to clear it, like the ringing you get in your ears after a loud concert. Gabriel's pupils widened and his mind tried to rush to mine. But it was too late, black dots swam before my eyes and my body went limp.

((Gabriel))

Anger and panic erupted from my heart as her body went limp in my arms. I turned my head to my father and he had pinned her down in her own mind. Blocking me from reaching her to help her fight him off.

"She needs to learn that there is something she cannot meddle in." And I swooped down to the house, my mom put her hands on either side of her head.

"Mom…" My voice wavered, and she got a look on her face that I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Michael Mathers." My father came down to the Earth and he looked at me.

"Gabe, we are going to talk and you are going, to be honest with me. And when that is through and we have reached an understanding, I will release her." I felt a helplessness that seemed to consume my entire soul. Her mind was just blank, she was gone. No, she couldn't be gone.

"She is perfectly safe, I am keeping tight tabs on her." He had an understanding look on his face as his eyes took in my expression.

"I won't leave her here." My father sighed and looked at my mom.

"I will look after her," I felt my heart tighten. I pulled her closer to me, her head coming up to rest against my neck. I felt like if I got far enough away with her, that she would be outside his reach.

"Gabriel, I am just asking you to listen. Go lay her inside, and we can talk in the dining room. I won't make you leave the house." I felt like it was the best offer I was going to get. I walked her up the stairs being very careful not to trip over her wings. I laid her down in my bed. She was so still, no twitches, no murmurs. Just almost silent breathing. I walked back downstairs and my father was sitting at the dining room table. My jaw was sore, and it felt like my nose was still bleeding.

"You need to listen to me," He started and my mother touched his arm.

"Your father and I have been in contact for most of the time we have been a part." I sat down hard in my seat and looked between them. Harper was right, they loved each other still. It was easy to see the way they leaned into each other. I felt my heart squeeze in my chest, I wanted to protect my mom.

"And I have always kept him up to date on your training, and your life. And when you found Harper…we were both overjoyed that you had found someone to share yourself." I wasn't really sure where she was going with this.

"I think you guys will make a great pair, and I think that she is smart and intuitive. But I need you to understand how much you rely on her…it's not safe for you. Or her." And then I understood. Even though we had just gotten back together they wanted me to put us back on a break, or even just cut it off until I was done training. I don't know if that was the best thing to do. She needed me and much as I needed her.

"She is going to have to find someone who is going to teach her more about her own skill, which I am pretty sure she is am an empath. She can change people's emotions, she doesn't know it yet."