The Guardian (6 page)

“Don’t thank me yet. The things you will learn will
probably make you want to do anything but thank me,” Michael said ominously.
His hand rested against the side of her head. Cassie felt too tired to hold her
eyes open.
“Sleep.”
She heard the command come from
everywhere. She couldn’t resist and closed her eyes.

****

Michael kept one hand on the bite on her side, and the
other moved slowly over her head and down her back. She needed to sleep, but
she had too much adrenaline pumping around her system to fall into slumber on
her own. He used just enough of his gift to pull her down into sleep. Now that
her pain was gone, she would have a restorative, natural sleep.
 
What she was going to go through shortly
would be exhausting, and she needed to be as rested as possible. He watched
Cassie as she closed her eyes and rested her head against him. He did not need
his shifter senses or
Ilithyia’s
gift to sense her
exhaustion. Lucas's attack alone would have been enough to drain her physically
and emotionally, but to go through the pain of the latent essence in her
awaking just added more strain on her.

Michael could feel the supernatural bond between them.
He had an overpowering urge to claim her, but that would have to wait until he
changed her. “You don’t know this yet, but you are mine.” He felt her soft skin,
and felt the animal in him roared possessively.
Ilithyia
had chosen her for him, so he knew she would feel just as strong of a sexual
attraction to him. Mating while he changed her would make it a little better on
her, at least until the end. When the cells changed and he forced her to shift
for the first time, nothing would ease that pain. Fortunately, it would be fast
and only hurt the first time.

He rubbed his hand on the worst bite when he was sure
she was deeply asleep. Her skin heated under his touch as the essence in her
stirred once again. Cassie’s brow furrowed, and she whimpered in her sleep. Had
he not put her into a deep sleep she would be screaming from the pain. “Damn
Lucas for this,” he muttered.
 
As much as
he wanted her, he was also angry at the ordeal she was about to endure.
Halflings should change because they wanted to, knowing how painful it will be.

Why had Lucas started to change her? None of the
reasons why he would do such a thing sat well with Michael. Even more of a
mystery was why
Ilithyia
spared his life. Lucas had killed
an innocent woman, and shifter law was clear regarding this. Why would Lucas
kill one woman and try to change the other?
 
Lucas claimed the dead woman was the same one who had harmed so many
shifters. Lucas had not been the same since his captivity and torture. It was
hard to believe Lucas. He thought all humans meant to harm them. Michael could
not understand why
Ilithyia
spared him. He was
dangerous not only for humans, but shifters as well.

For now he would think about this woman that was given
to him. He had thought about mating before, but had never found a woman he
wanted to share his life with.
Ilithyia
had made the
choice for him it seemed. He had sensed the bond almost immediately. He
wondered what her reaction would be when she learned how much they would be
touching over the next couple of days. He resisted the urge to lean down and
place a gentle kiss on her head. The other shifters in the room would not mind
or be surprised if he did. They were soul bonded already. It was not so rare
among shifters, but for a human and a shifter, it was very rare. She would not
be human for long though. She did not have much more than a couple of days to
make her decisions.

He heard her snoring and smiled. He did not resist
this time and kissed the top of her head.
Mine,
he thought to himself.
 
He could feel the
bond between them growing stronger already. Humans were shy about their bodies.
Where shifters saw one another naked all the time, humans didn’t.
 
He would have stripped her bare and pressed
her naked body to his if he thought it would not have caused her more distress
than it calmed. Soon, no matter how shy she was, she would be stripping and
begging him to take her in every way a man could have a woman.

Michael saw Cole watching him with Cassie. He knew
Cole would give his opinion sooner or later. If he disapproved Michael was sure
he would let him know. Cole was a Dom through and through, including where it
was none of his business sometimes.
 
Michael rubbed his cheek against the top of her head to start marking
her. His essence would soak into her skin. His scent glands carried it as well.

“Are you going to claim her?” Cole stood against the
wall with his arms crossed.

 
“
Ilithyia
gave her to me, as otherwise our souls would not
have recognized one another.”

“I could sense the soul bond, but you do not have to
claim her.”

It was a good question. Would he claim her? He had
been lonely and wanting someone to share life with for a while. He had many
friends, and while he never lacked for someone to talk to, or fuck, he yearned
for a mate. Perhaps it was time. “I will let her decide how she wants to
change. I will not force her to mate.”

Cole snorted. “Of course you won’t, even though you
can use your authority to just claim her. Shifter law is clear with soul
bonds.”

“Thank you, Cole.” Michael glanced over at him. Cole
would if he thought he could get away with it, like with Blair. If he got
enough leverage he would not give her a choice. He had allowed foolish fears
cloud his judgment, and made a huge mistake. Now Blair’s heart was broken, and
she wouldn’t allow him near her. Cole had asked Michael to give her to him, but
there was nothing he could do. While Blair was sassy, bull-headed, and had her
own way of doing things, she never broke shifter law. He had no reason to put
her under his authority.

Cole shrugged. “Just trying to help make sure you
don’t make my mistake.” He glanced at Cassie as she slept in his arms.

 
Michael looked
up. “So if you had it to do over you would have forced a mating bond on Blair?”

“Maybe.
She is a stubborn fox
who refuses to listen to me.” Cole sighed and looked at a painting. “You should
have killed him. He has been a nuisance for too long.”

Michael allowed Cole to change the subject without
comment. “I agree, but
Ilithyia
still hopes he will
come around. Death is only used as a last resort.”

Cole shook his head. “He killed a woman tonight.”

Michael closed his eyes. Michael was aware of the
woman that was dead. He mourned her passing and knew Cassie would be dealing
with her own grief. Lucas had not only killed the other young woman, he had changed
Cassie’s life forever. Had he been wrong to punish him with
another
banishment
? He hoped not, but time would be the judge of that.

Chapter Five

Lucas paced in the cabin. His prey had escaped him
from.
 
He had sensed the essence in the
female when he bit her. In that moment his plan had changed from killing her to
claiming her as his own. He could nearly taste the innocence on her as he bit
down. She would not stay that way though. He would make sure he molded her into
the perfect companion. It would be fun to watch her descent into darkness, and
thrilling to know he had led the way for her trip to hell. He had not
transmitted much of his essence before that fucker, Michael, had come along.

Thinking about the asshole reminded him he needed to
get out of here before he came back. He stormed out of the cabin and headed
towards town. Thanks to that fucking guardian he could not go into town, but he
could watch from the edges. Michael Sinclair was the bane of his existence. Lucas
used to get along with him just fine until he dared to judge him. Michael
thought he was so superior for being able to remain aloof. Lucas hoped to have
the opportunity to bring Michael down to his level.
Let’s see how aloof the bastard is when he loses everything.

Michael had turned traitor on him and decided he was
in the wrong for exterminating the vermin infesting his territory. He had never
harmed a single human before that; he had never wanted to turn humans into lab
experiments. Humans had done it, and when he decided humans needed to be
eradicated. Michael came in where he had no business and judged him. The damn
idealistic bastard had taken everything from him.
Stupid Goddess-damned fucker.
Lucas
would find a way to hurt him as much as he hurt right now. He kicked the door
down, shifted and loped off towards town. He would not be able to walk through
town like he had earlier in the week now that he was banished. He would wait
and watch to find a weakness to exploit with Michael. He would show him how
much it hurt when those who should have your back turned traitor.

Lucas made it to the town surprisingly fast and
prowled around the edges of town. His wolf was able to detect the scents of
others better than his human form could. He would know if anyone approached. He
was banished again, just as he was on the edge of being released from his last
banishment. He still had the last traces of darkness around him that made
others want to get away from him. Now he had it back in full force. The pain in
his chest had nothing to do with his fight with Michael earlier and everything
to do with a shifter’s need to be around other shifters. It was painful to be
parted from others like him.

Lucas found an area and shifted. Unlike useless humans
he did not feel any sort of discomfort crouching on the ground naked. Once upon
a time he had been a friend to humans, trusted them. That was over now though.
Humans were traitors that saw shifters as nothing more than animals. They did
not see intelligent beings that were valuable.
they
saw
ways to exploit them.

He spotted Myra Evans walking out of the clinic. His
wolf hearing made it easy to hear her as she yakked away on her phone.

“Yes, she was in the motel and very ill from Lucas’s
bite.”

Interesting
,
he thought. Normally if a human was really a
halfling
they had a couple of days after being exposed to a guardian’s essence before
they became that ill. She must have had a powerful shifter as a parent.
Question was why would a shifter leave their own child to live among humans?
Most
halflings
grew up among shifters, and then when
they took a mate they decided to change fully. A few hours of hellish pain to
trade for extended life, far better senses, and whatever gifts
Ilithyia
decided to hand out.

Lucas saw the imp fly over to toss Myra’s rain hat off
her head then disappear before she could spot the troublemaker. Myra sighed. “Hold
on, Julie, let me grab my hat.”
 
Myra got
her ridiculous looking hat back in place on her head then continued talking.
“Like I was saying, when we got to the motel she was very ill. Michael picked
her up, and she started to feel better.”
 
Myra was silent for a moment, which for that long winded wolf was a
miracle. Pity, she was such a beautiful, white wolf. Her nonstop chattering drove
the idea of mating her far from his thoughts. She would never shut up as she
begged to be let go. He wanted a woman he could train to be silent and
obedient. Myra was never silent, and the way Warren allowed her to mouth him
was offensive. Then again Warren was an offense to bears everywhere.

“Oh Cole was thinking they have a soul bond as well.
Can you believe it?
A soul bond with a
halfling
that came from the human world.”
She nodded her head and clucked more
like a damned chicken than a wolf. “I liked her from the moment she came in. I
wonder if Michael will claim her after she is changed.”

Myra got into her car with an imp sitting on the top
of the car. Lucas almost wished he could see the show of the mischievous
creature causing trouble with the woman. Then again Myra was a sickening kind
of sweet shifter. She would probably feed the damn thing.

He needed to stay here though. Michael and the woman
he attacked had a soul bond?
Interesting.
If Michael decided to claim her, or if she
didn’t reject him from her silly human morals of not fucking someone she wasn’t
married to, he may have found the perfect revenge. He could take Michael’s mate
from him. A plan started to form. Of course the woman would take Michael’s
offer to change her. She would die otherwise. Once the essence in a human was stirred
it must come to full life or it destroyed its host. Only a guardian giving his
own essence throughout the entire change could keep the magic from ripping
apart the host. Powerful essence worked fast, which would mean Michael would
have to have a very long period of contact. He would be weaker than normal for
a while. He would have to act quickly before Michael regained his full
strength.

Lucas changed and loped off back towards the forest.
He grinned to himself as he hunted a raccoon.
Bond well, my old friend. I want to watch your unrelenting agony as I
take you mate away from you.

****

 
Cassie sighed
contentedly and stretched. She had the strangest dream and was happy to be
waking up at home. She could smell Grandma cooking breakfast. She thought about
opening her eyes, but she was so snugly warm cuddling with her large Pooh bear.
It was warmer than usual, not that it was a bad thing.

Gentle fingers brushed her hair out of her face making
her open her eyes. She was not in her room. She looked around, and nothing
looked familiar at all. She blinked and saw a man with dark hair, a couple of
days’ worth of growth on his face and lovely jade green eyes.

“Good morning, Cassie.” His deep voice rumbled in
greeting.

Instantly everything crashed back in on her.
Marcy’s attack and death, how she had cowardly run away leaving her
to die, and her own attack that led to the awful pain.
“
Hi,”she
said while she tried to calm her churning stomach.
She looked around and then let out an
eeep
of
surprise. She had no shirt on at all, and neither did he. She was in bed with a
man, and both of them were nude.

“How are you feeling this morning, Cassie?” he asked,
as if oblivious of her state of nudity and embarrassment.

She grabbed the blankets and jerked them to her. They
uncovered him, and she was thankful he was turned so she couldn’t see his
penis. Not that she wasn’t curious, but she didn’t want to be caught gawking at
him. She wrapped the blanket around her torso. “Okay, why are we in bed
together?”

He smiled at her as if he found her modesty amusing. “Did
you forget last night?”

Cassie frowned at him. “Forget?
 
My best friend was murdered, and I—” She
choked on the words that would admit what a horrible friend she was. “I was
attacked after I ran away,” she whispered with her face flaming in shame. “I
will never forget that.”

Michael looked at her with a serious expression. “Cassie.”
He brushed away a tear that had formed and ran down her temple. “There was
nothing you could do to save your friend. I am unsure how you broke away from
Lucas’s compulsion to obey him. You are very strong and brave.”

Cassie opened her mouth to disagree, but he placed a
gentle finger over her lips.

“None of that.
Do you
remember everything from the hotel and clinic?”

Cassie nodded mutely. There was no way she would ever
forget that pain and awful feeling she was dying. She could not imagine
anything hurting worse than that. “I remember. It hurt a lot, until you touched
me.”

Michael grabbed the blanket and pulled her closer to
him. She held herself stiffen for a moment, but his insistent tugging won and
she half sat and half fell back into the bed. “That was the latent essence in
you awakening and stirring. When a
halfling
changes
it is very painful.”

“A—what and essence?
You said
it is like magic, like that guy in Las Vegas?”
 
Cassie would have laughed if she had not lived the horror of that
unbelievable pain.

“I know it is hard for you to accept, but there is a
whole other world that you have never seen before.”

Cassie could feel her eyebrows lifting.
“Another world?
Where?”

Michael smiled at her patiently. “You have lived your
entire life believing that magic is just in stories. It is real though, and
while some of us are born full of this essence that is already active, others
like you are born with latent essence. If you never receive the trigger to
activate it then you would live your entire life never knowing you carried it.
Last night the essence in you was triggered when Lucas attacked you.”

“Essence … magic?” she asked again in disbelief. “Like
making people vanish?”

“Essence like people who shift to an animal form and
can do things you have only read in fantasy books. Beings that you thought only
lived in fairytales are real.”

Cassie knew he was right. She had seen it with her own
eyes. A man had changed from a wolf to a man and then back to a wolf again. “I
saw it.” Tears flooded her eyes. “A wolf attacked my friend.” She felt her body
shaking.

Michael took her in his arms and pulled her into his
lap. “I know,
sweetling
,” he said gently as he ran
his hand up and down her back. “I am so sorry about your friend.”

Cassie cried even harder as the guilt ate at her.
“Oh Marcy.
It is
all my
fault. I
left her, and he killed her.” Cassie cried wracking, painful sobs while Michael
rocked her, while whispering soothing words in her ear.

Michael continued to hold her while she cried. When
her sobs had calmed he put his hand under her chin and pulled her face up to
look him in the eye. “You did not kill your friend. You had nothing to do with
her death.”

“I—” she started, but he cut her off with a finger
over her lips.

“There was nothing you could have done. Lucas is a
fallen guardian. Other shifters would not have had a chance with him, much less
you and your friend.”

“He told me not to move, and I just obeyed him without
even trying. I was just so scared and I wanted to save her, but I couldn’t move
for a long time. Then when I could I just ran.”

“Lucas has many abilities, one of which is he can
compel you to obey him. He is very good at it. He can also make you very
afraid, so you can’t think properly. Our Goddess,
Ilithyia
,
also cursed him with a darkness to make human and shifters alike run from him.”

“Why would she punish him like that? Why would he care
if people ran away?” Cassie tried to concentrate on Michael’s face as she
listened to him explain. It was getting hard with the way his hands moved up
and down her bare back. She kept reminding herself that she was sitting on a
man’s lap, without any clothes on. To make it even more mortifying he was
touching her bare skin, and she hoped he didn’t stop.

She looked at his lips, and they were full and looked
perfect for kissing. She wondered if he was a good kisser. She licked her lips,
then
felt a pang of guilt hit her again. Marcy was
gone, and here she was thinking about
boffing
this
guy she just met last night. But Marcy would fist pump the air and say, “You go,
girl.”

"Shifters live in clans, much like animal prides
and packs. The only difference is our animal halves live peacefully with one
another. Most shifters yearn to live among one another. There are a few that
are violent much like in human society, but most shifters live peacefully along
both humans and other shifters. It is painful for most shifters to live apart
from the clan. It causes a deep unquenchable ache in the shifter’s chest to be
separated. When a shifter that has been banished comes into contact with
shifters or humans the curse makes everyone want to get away from them. It
makes the pain of the banishment even worse.”

She had watched his face while he spoke, but she was
also aware of his strong arms that circled her. She also saw his muscular chest
and thought about how she would like to lick him.
What is wrong with me? I am no sex crazed woman who can’t keep her head
in a conversation because there is a sexy man in the room.
She concentrated
on his eyes, those beautiful green eyes that seemed to see right into her soul
when he looked at her.

“What was he banished for?” She asked breathlessly.

“He was a guardian of a territory neighboring mine.
People were disappearing, and humans were complaining of a rabid wolf attacking
hikers. Lucas had told us it was wild animals, but I suspected it was him.
Cholan
enforcers and I entered his territory to find out
what was going on. We caught him attacking a young man that was hiking. I had
my
enforcers
arrest him, and his punishment was
banishment.”