Guardian's Mate

by Jennifer Ashley

  * * *

  Coming home for Rae was a mixture of joy and trepidation. Joy as Colin drove around familiar corners where she’d spent the last twenty years of her life among her loving family. Trepidation because she knew many of the Shifters here wouldn’t welcome her back. They’d watched her drive out with relieved eyes, glad the embarrassment to Shiftertown was departing.

  Zander had been completely right to keep it quiet about the broken sword. He’d been on his cell phone almost constantly before Miles had put in near the seaplane, talking to the Goddess only knew who. He really did have connections all over the place, Rae realized. She was starting to think that if he decided to fly to Mars, he’d know people with rockets that would take him here.

  It made Rae wonder what Zander would do once he finished training her. Go back to Alaska to fish? Find a new place to hide out? Trek around the world, healing Shifters hither and yon? And who would help him recover when he took the Shifters’ pain into himself?

  Rae’s heart began to burn. Zander was compelling, not to mention hot-bodied, and he’d no doubt find plenty of female companionship along the way.

  The thought made growls roll around Rae’s throat. Female Shifters, especially Lupines, were possessive of the males they chose. Nothing was more ferocious than a she-wolf protecting her mate.

  Is that how I think of him? Rae wondered with a jolt. Her potential mate? I need more cold showers, she decided.

  Zander sat behind her in the pickup’s cab during the ride to Shiftertown but his nearness made her shiver. She tried to push away remembered sensations of Zander on the bunk with her in her cabin and kissing her on the deck, but it wasn’t easy. Even pulling up in front of the two-story house she shared with her dad and brothers couldn’t quite clear her mind.

  But she was home. Rae leapt from the pickup before Colin had completely stopped the truck, and ran to the man waiting on the porch.

  “Daughter.” Eoin’s love for Rae surrounded her as he lifted her into his arms. “I missed you, sweetheart.”

  “Missed you too, Dad.” Rae clung to him, her eyes stinging.

  It didn’t matter that Eoin wasn’t her biological father or that she was Lupine and he Feline. Love transcended boundaries like that. Eoin was her true dad and this was Rae’s home.

  She hoped her other brother, Logan, would come to greet her too, but she didn’t see him. Eoin answered her question before Rae could ask. “Logan’s out looking into something for me. He’ll be back soon.”

  “What?” Rae asked, worry trickling through her happiness. Running a Shiftertown was never easy. “Is anything the matter?”

  Eoin shrugged, but Rae saw the concern in his eyes. “Some of the Shifters want to hold another Choosing.”

  Rae’s heart constricted. The clan leaders in this Shiftertown were arrogant and ruthless—traits that made for a good clan leader. But if they opposed the Shiftertown leader, things could get sticky. If she confessed she’d broken the sword, the shit would truly hit the fan.

  “Let them,” Zander, who’d come up onto the porch behind Rae, said, not sounding alarmed. “The Goddess doesn’t like to be second-guessed. Are they willing to risk pissing her off?”

  “It might be better to let them go through with the Choosing,” Eoin said. “When Rae is Chosen again, there can be no doubt.”

  Zander didn’t look reassured, and Rae privately agreed with him. If Rae was touched at another Choosing, it might only convince the more hostile Shifters that Eoin had rigged it. Unrest in Shiftertowns could lead to violence, no matter what the rules, no matter that the Shifters wore Collars. “Shiftertown leader” was an artificial position, created by humans, and the other clan leaders were always vying for it.

  Eoin released Rae and went to greet his guests. Ezra looked exhausted—he was breaking down from grieving—but he took Eoin’s welcoming embrace with equanimity, grateful for a place to stop.

  Carson looked around with wary gray eyes, hand whitening as he gripped his pack. Zander had convinced him to leave his pistol on the boat with Miles—or Shifters might make him eat it, he’d said. More than once, Carson started to rest his hand on the absent weapon, then flinched when he didn’t find it.

  “Your hurt is deep,” Eoin said as Zander led Carson up to the porch. Eoin didn’t try to touch the man—he knew when to take his time. “You are welcome to rest here and heal.”

  Carson obviously didn’t know what to say. He gave Eoin an acknowledging nod, but his suspicions were going to die hard.

  “He’s all right,” Zander said. He closed his hands over Carson’s shoulders. “We’re going to help him find his enemies, figure out what’s up with them, and kick ass if we have to. Carson’s actually not a bad guy, just a little confused.”

  Carson stepped out from under Zander’s touch. “I’m not a Shifter,” he said. “And the fact that you can help me doesn’t negate that you tranqued me, imprisoned me, stole my boat . . .”

  “I could say the same about you,” Zander said in a light voice. “But here I am, forgiving and forgetting. You do the same, while you’re here.”

  Carson raised his hand. “I’m willing to call a truce. But you walk a thin line, Shifter.”

  Rae gave Carson a sympathetic look. “Zander has that effect on everyone. But I don’t care right now—I just want some burgers. Colin’s cooking.”

  With that, Rae walked past her dad and brother into the house, which seemed to reach out and embrace her.

  * * *

  Rae’s exuberance at being home again lasted until after supper. Colin did set up a grill in the backyard and started turning out perfect hamburgers, topped with gooey melted cheese. Logan returned from wherever Eoin had sent him and ate three burgers in one sitting. They all lounged on the porch after eating and sipped beer as they did many a summer night, as the stars came out and frogs and crickets began their nightly songs.

  There was no sign of the Lupine Zander had asked to come to their Shiftertown. Rae didn’t want to mention him again, not before talking to Zander about it first. She hadn’t yet confessed to Eoin that the sword was broken—if Zander’s friend could fix it, she might not have to.

  Zander related Carson’s tale about Shifters going on a killing spree to Eoin and Rae’s brothers. Carson filled in details—he and his wife had been staying in a cabin along the border between Idaho and Canada. Shifters had attacked the cabin, and when Carson had shot one, they’d turned savage. They’d beaten both Carson and his wife senseless, stolen or destroyed everything in the cabin, and finally departed. Carson had recovered, but Viv had not. She lay in a hospital in Seattle, on life support.

  Carson had reported the attack, of course, but investigations by Shifter Bureau, their military detachment, and local law enforcement, no matter how vigilant, had turned up nothing. Carson, angry and frustrated at their lack of progress, had taken it upon himself to hunt down un-Collared Shifters and bring them in, hoping one day he’d find the specific ones who’d hurt his wife.

  “I heard about that when it happened,” Eoin said. The night was soft, a breeze keeping things cool. “Indirectly—Shifter Bureau questioned the Coeur d’Alene Shiftertown closely but none of their Shifters had gone missing.”

  “Rogues,” Zander said. He swallowed a sip of beer. “Shifters who never took Collars,” he said to Carson. “Some of them go feral.”

  Rae looked pointedly at Zander’s bare neck, but he only winked at her and toasted her with his beer bottle.

  “There might be some information about them in the Guardian Network,” Zander said. “Speaking of that, Rae needs access to it.”

  Eoin started. “Why?” he asked, his voice hard.

  Zander became watchful, but Rae realized that those who didn’t know him might think he didn’t care one way or the other. “She’s a Guardian. She should already be in.”

  “Shifters here are not going to be happy if Rae messes with Daragh’s laptop,” Eoin said sternly. “In fact, his entire house has become a shrine
to his memory.”

  “Since when?” Rae asked indignantly. True, the small house Daragh had occupied apart from his clan—his right as a Guardian, though not all Guardians exercised the right—had not been taken over since Daragh’s death. Rae had never imagined living there herself. It was Daragh’s.

  “Since you’ve been gone.” Eoin gentled his tone. “The clan leaders who claim there is no Guardian are keeping Daragh’s house intact for the next one.”

  Rae clutched her empty bottle and kept herself from throwing it. She wondered how long it would be before these Shifters openly defied Eoin and tried to challenge his leadership. They might kill him if he didn’t submit, and make sure the reports of his death to Shifter Bureau said “accidental.”

  “You’re Shiftertown leader,” Zander rumbled. “Overrule them.”

  Eoin turned dark eyes to him. “You’ve obviously never lived in a Shiftertown, lad. Keeping the balance is never that simple.”

  Ezra, who’d been withdrawn and silent since they’d arrived, spoke up. “The whole discussion is ridiculous. Rae is a Guardian. She sent my father to dust. I witnessed it.”

  “So did I,” Zander said. “But I have the feeling the testimony of rogue Shifters like us won’t convince anyone. We’re not from around here.”

  Ezra growled. “Shiftertowns. I always said they were a bad idea.”

  No one contradicted him.

  Rae was exhausted. She rose, said good night, and went to bed in her own room, the small one at the top of the stairs.

  She’d so longed to be back here when she’d been confined to Zander’s boat, but an hour later she was still awake, staring at the ceiling, unable to relax. The space that had been so comforting to her only weeks ago pressed at her now.

  Shifters were turning against her, people she’d known for years. The clans had lauded and respected her father for the two decades he’d been Shiftertown leader. Now, Eoin had made one decision they didn’t like, and they were challenging his authority.

  If Rae couldn’t convince this Shiftertown she was truly the Guardian, or if she didn’t quit and relinquish the sword, things could go bad for Eoin.

  But the sword couldn’t be relinquished, could it? No one quit being a Guardian. You either were one or you weren’t.

  Rae closed her eyes but sleep eluded her. The only way the unbelievers would be convinced was if someone died and Rae had to send them to dust. She certainly didn’t want something that tragic to happen simply to prove the Choosing had been true. But that was likely the only thing that would convince them. Even then, she’d guess Shifters opposing her father would try to claim that the dusting had been a trick. It made her stomach hurt.

  She must have drifted to sleep despite her worries, because she came alert a short time later, her Shifter senses telling her someone was in the room with her. Rae hadn’t heard the door open but she knew good and well that a Shifter stood a few feet beyond her bed.

  She reached for the sword in swift silence and only to have it taken away from her. Rae struggled for it but a large hand pushed her back to the bed. Her sleepy confusion cleared, and she recognized the scent.

  “Hush, Little Wolf.”

  Rae abruptly ceased her struggle. The room was almost completely black but she saw the outline of Zander’s bulk, a braid swinging over his shoulder.

  “Damn it, Zander,” she said in a fierce whisper. “What are you doing?”

  “Waking you up.” His voice was carefully quiet. “Get dressed. We need to have a look at Daragh’s computer.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Rae led the way along the edges of Shiftertown to Daragh’s small house. She’d run around this town plenty as a cub, and she felt herself reverting to the tricks of her teenage years as they moved through woods and down a slope to the cabin that had been Daragh’s retreat.

  Rae knew how to avoid the busybodies who liked to keep note of everything that went on in Shiftertown, as well as Shifters who were simply out for a run or having quick sex in the woods.

  They shouldn’t be so predictable, Rae thought as she signaled Zander into the shadows. An older Shifter Lupine strode past, the man looking sharply around him, probably trying to see who was stealing a shag so he could be disapproving about it tomorrow.

  Once he was gone, Rae moved silently down the little path that led to Daragh’s cabin. Before she could dart to its front door, Zander’s hand came down on her shoulder.

  “Careful. If it’s a shrine now, they’ll probably have a sentry.”

  Good point. Rae faded back under the trees with him and they watched. The night was cool but not cold, though Rae liked Zander at her back, warming her.

  There was a sentry. A young Feline just past his Transition walked up to the house, checked the doors and windows, and strolled away. He called to someone in the woods beyond.

  “It’s fine,” he said, sounding annoyed. “Dad just likes to fuss. Let’s go.”

  Rae heard female laughter as the Feline disappeared under the trees. She recognized the voices—those two would no doubt be mated soon. They’d also be distracted for a while, giving Rae and Zander opportunity to enter the house.

  She crept forward, keeping to the darkness under the eaves in case there were more watchers. The Feline had demonstrated that the door was locked, but Rae knew where Daragh had kept his spare key. Everyone in Shiftertown did, in fact, and Rae quickly found that it was no longer in its hiding place. However, Rae knew where Daragh had kept his backup spare key.

  She reached behind a low beam near the back door and smiled in satisfaction when she felt the cool metal of the key. Rae prayed to the Goddess that no one had changed the lock, then let out a sigh of relief when the key turned, letting them into the house.

  Zander came in quickly behind her, shutting the door. He closed the shades on the back windows but didn’t try to turn on a light. Rae understood—Shifters would see even the tiniest glow leaking through the cracks around the window shades.

  Rae relied on Shifter sight and her memory of the place to move unhindered to Daragh’s desk. Daragh had kept the cabin sparsely furnished, which made things easier, and as Rae’s eyes adjusted, she could see that nothing had been moved.

  This house truly had been made a shrine. Every single object was in place, from Daragh’s laptop, still plugged in to power, and the empty cup he’d set on the table the night he’d left for a walk in the woods. On that walk he’d been shot by humans out to steal his sword.

  Rae’s heart burned. The evil of that act enraged her. Daragh had been her friend, had taken care of her. Losing him felt the same as losing one of her brothers.

  Zander slid his hands to her shoulders, his warmth cutting through her grief and anger. “I know, Little Wolf. It was a criminal thing. At least his soul was rescued and his body sent to dust.“

  His voice was low, soothing. Zander had once asked Rae if she’d been in love with Daragh but now he seemed to understand. Daragh had been a special person in Rae’s life, a different kind of love.

  “You’re his successor,” Zander went on. “I think he’d be proud of you and want you to be here.”

  Rae sighed. “I just wish he was around to tell everyone that.”

  Zander’s voice held a hint of laughter. “You’ll have to tell them yourself.”

  “You have so much confidence.” Rae seated herself at the desk, on the chair she’d seen Daragh in so many times, and opened the laptop.

  “Helps to have confidence when you’re crazy.” Zander leaned in to study the laptop’s screen, which was blank and black. “Never liked computers.”

  Rae refrained from pointing out he used one to navigate his boat, and pressed the power button. “Turning it on makes a big difference.”

  The laptop hummed and beeped, various lights glowing orange then green. The computer quieted into a gentle hum, but the screen remained black, not even a cursor to break the emptiness.

  Zander knocked on it. “You sure this thing’s on?”
>
  “Yes, I’m sure.” Rae peered at the screen, tapped keys, and then deflated. “Maybe it’s broken.”

  Zander touched the keyboard, brushing her fingers. “Maybe you have to know the ultra-secret, secret password.”

  “Which I don’t.” Rae looked around the desk, which was as blank as the laptop. “I don’t think Daragh wrote it on a sticky note.”

  Zander didn’t move his fingers from Rae’s. He said quietly, “From what I heard, when Daragh was killed and the sword stolen, it was so some hacker chick could get herself into the Guardian Network. So, what does the sword have to do with it?”

  Rae had no clue. She slid her hands out from under Zander’s, picked up the sword, and withdrew the top part of the blade from the sheath. Runes crossed the hilt and ran down into the blade, curving around the crosspiece. Even in the darkness, the silver shone, the runes etched into it like black threads. The top of the hilt held a medallion that resembled the ones on their Collars, the Celtic knot.

  Daragh had known what the runes said but he’d never talked about them. Rae ran her fingers along the broken blade, tracing the strange letters she couldn’t read.

  Zander lifted the sheath and turned it upside down so the bottom half of the sword fell out. He caught the blade without cutting himself and laid it in front of the laptop.

  “Put the top part here.” He tapped the table.

  Rae carefully laid the top half of the sword in line with the bottom, then she and Zander pushed the pieces together. As had happened on Miles’s boat, the jagged cut fit like two pieces of a puzzle but the sword remained broken.

  Two runes, one above the other, reached across the cut, the break having sliced them exactly in half. Rae had no idea what that meant, if anything.

  Zander leaned to study the sword, his head close to Rae’s breasts. His warmth and scent soothed her but she resisted reaching to stroke his hair.

  “Press the A key then the R,” he rumbled. He pointed at the two broken runes before she could ask why.