Title: Guardians
Author: T.J. Baer
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 07/18/2023
Heat Level: 1 – No Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 57400
Genre: Fantasy, action/adventure, enemies/rivals to lovers, humorous, magic, secret agents, slow burn, lesbian, romance
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Description
Seventeen-year-old Alisha Howard is having a hard day.
She’s had to rescue her headstrong little brother from getting eaten by a monster from another dimension, her mom has put her on dish duty as punishment for bringing her sword to the table (again), and her lifelong enemy, snarky rich girl Belladonna, is starting to look like both a real human being and someone Alisha would like to kiss.
Oh, and to make matters worse, it looks like the world is about to end.
Guardians
T.J. Baer © 2023
All Rights Reserved
Jake and I got stuck with dish duty after dinner, which wasn’t particularly surprising given that Aggie had company; Dad had shut himself up in his study, muttering something about “work to do;” and Mom was still pretty mad at Jake and me for waltzing in to dinner at the last possible second.
“You know Dad’s not doing any work in there,” Jake said as he swiped a dish towel irritably over a plate. “He’s probably watching stuff on Netflix or something.”
“My money’s on Tumblr,” I said. My hands were buried deep in warm, sudsy water, and for all that this was supposed to be a punishment, it was actually kind of relaxing scrubbing the dishes clean. “Fueling his man-crush on Benedict Cumberbatch, I bet.”
Jake made a face. “Man, our family’s so weird.”
“That includes you too, little brother.”
“I know it,” he said. “But man, our family’s weird. I mean, jeez, we show up all dirty and roughed up after a fight with a freaking bug monster, and does Mom even ask if we’re okay? Nope, just bitches us out and makes us do the dishes.”
“Well, you know Mom. She likes to keep her worry buried deep down under a façade of icy rage. It’s her defense mechanism.”
“Whatever,” Jake said, showing—as usual—zero appreciation for my more profound moments of psychological insight.
We were nearly done with the dishes when the doorbell rang. There was the usual “who could that be?” mutter from my mother as she headed for the door, but I knew she’d be all smiles and politeness when she greeted whoever it was. I heard the door swing open—
“Alisha!” Mom called.
I gave a start and nearly dropped the plate I was washing. Who would be coming to see me at seven o’clock on a school night? If it was Guardian stuff, this couldn’t be good news.
Exchanging a puzzled glance with Jake, I set off at a jog for the front door—and stopped short in the entryway. There, shaking the rain off his tan overcoat, was a tall, lanky man with graying blond hair and a pair of glasses perched on his nose. His pale face was lined with years of worry, but it was still the kindest face I’d ever seen.
“Uncle Lucas!” I cried, and despite my usual attempts to act my age, I couldn’t help launching myself forward and giving him a tight hug.
He laughed and fell back a step, his arms wrapping around me. “Good to see you too, kiddo.” His voice was as mild and good-humored as the rest of him.
“God, you’re even more skin and bones than usual,” I said as I released him. “I think one of your ribs just cut me. What are you doing here? I thought you were off doing important stuff in Bolivia or somewhere.”
“Argentina,” he said. “And I was.”
“Then what are you doing back here? You said you were going to be gone for a year at least.”
His brow creased, and I realized that what I’d thought was just his usual tired look was actually something deeper and darker. “I promise I’ll explain everything, but for now I need to speak to your father.”
I frowned a little but nodded. Adults had been keeping things from me for my entire life, but Uncle Lucas had always been honest with me. If he said he’d explain later, I knew he would.
“Yeah, sure, he’s in his study.”
Uncle Lucas gave a twist of a smile. “Netflix?”
“Tumblr, I think.”
“Here, Lucas,” Mom said, uncrossing her arms and stepping forward. “Let me take your coat.”
Uncle Lucas smiled and handed over the coat, and Mom smiled as she accepted it, but instead of a warm interaction between a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, it was more like two robots acting out what humans were supposed to do in this situation.
“Thanks, Helen,” Uncle Lucas said, and with one last tired smile at me, he headed down the hallway to Dad’s study, leaving a dark trail of raindrops in his wake.
After he’d gone, Mom stood staring after him with a deep frown creasing her face, so I took his coat from her and hung it carefully in the closet.
“Mom, why are you like this every time Uncle Lucas comes over?”
Her voice was cool. “Like what?”
“You know ‘like what.’ Like you can’t stand him, or— I don’t know, like you don’t trust him or something.”
She pursed her lips and shook her head with an unmistakable air of No Comment, then gave me a sharp look. “Don’t you have dishes to wash, young lady?”
I rolled my eyes. “Back to the kitchen, Cinderella.”
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T.J. Baer is a queer trans author of novels and short fiction. Born in Western Pennsylvania, he currently resides in his adopted hometown of Chicago with two cats and a well-stocked cupboard of tea. When not writing, T.J. can be found either discussing queer media on his YouTube channel or failing to escape from murderous ghosts on Twitch.
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