Her Guardian Series Box Set

by G. Bailey

  "Stupid vampires," Freddy mutters under his breath, and I glare at him.

  "Settling in at the castle. Others have been turning up, but it's a slow build to get the place suitable for the people. Jaxson’s been helping us," he says. Jaxson nods his agreement.

  “That’s good. I was wondering what all your last names are, what’s the baby’s?” I ask Jaxson.

  “Jaxson Ulrika, but we don’t use last names often. The baby’s last name will be the same,” he tells me.

  “I know Atti’s is Lynx, Wyatt?” I ask him.

  “It’s simple, Wyatt Reynolds. Like Jaxson said, we don’t use last names often,” he says.

  “And Dabriel?”

  “Dabriel Demetri. The royal name is as close as they can get to Demtra,” Atti explains.

  “Mine was Bloom. My real last name, that is,” I tell them all. It’s weird because it’s a connection to a father I don’t remember. I don’t feel connected to the name, because I don’t feel connected to my father, I guess.

  “Winter Bloom. That’s kind of strange, like your full name is a representation of the cold month and the spring month, in one. They’re opposites of each other,” Dabriel says.

  “It sounds like a randomly generated name you would get on The Sims,” Freddy says, and I grin at him.

  “That’s true. They come up with some weird names,” I say.

  Fifty-Seven

  Winter

  “So sweet,” I say to little Marie as I hold her in my arms at the pack house. Marie’s blonde hair is the same colour as Anna’s, but everything else is from her father. Anna is sitting next to me, watching as I hold little Marie’s hand. Her tiny fingers squeezing my thumb as hard as she can.

  “Do you want children?” Anna randomly asks. I look up at her, thinking on her words. Anna has her dressing gown on, and she looks so tired.

  “I don’t know, maybe?” I say.

  She nods. “I never wanted children, not in this world. It was Fergus who wanted a child.”

  “Anna–” I start.

  She shakes her head. “I couldn’t imagine my life without her now. She is the image of Fergus,” she says, looking at her daughter with love. I couldn’t imagine bringing up a child after losing their father; it must be so hard.

  “She is,” I say. I stare at the door when I hear something, something loud, and then the ground starts shaking.

  “Jaxson just sent out a message using the bond. There are demons attacking,” Anna says. I pass her Marie carefully as she rushes to me. The fear in her eyes is clear, and she holds Marie close.

  “Go upstairs and hide,” I tell her. She steps away from me when I start glowing, not in fear but shock.

  “You’re coming, too,” she says. The earth shakes harder, making me sway a little. Anna leans on the wall to stay standing. Something is really wrong.

  “No. I can’t, and as queen, I’m telling you to go upstairs and hide. Please,” I say, and she nods finally. I run towards the door and outside. The wolves are running in one direction, so it’s easy to follow them using my increased speed.

  When I break into a clearing of broken trees, Jaxson is right in the middle, looking every bit the powerful king with his green, glowing crown on his head. He’s glowing green as he holds a sword in his hand, and he swings it down onto the neck of a man. The man’s head rolls off, and he disappears into a dark-blue dust. Jaxson’s eyes meet mine across all the wolves fighting with the men. I see his eyebrows crease together with worry, but two more of those men jump in front of him, and he has to fight. The ground is still lightly shaking, and a hand goes around my throat. I try to pull the hand away as I manage to turn to see who is holding me. The demon man has glowing blue eyes that remind me of me when I glow blue. The man is grey, and his face is covered in blue veins, giving him a scary look. There is no emotion on his face, not happiness or fear, just blank. The hand is burning hot enough to leave a mark, and I feel for my own power as he tightens his grip and lifts me off the ground. I start glowing just before my power sends the man at my back flying in the air. He isn’t the only one that goes flying, so do lots of wolves and all the demon men they were fighting as well.

  Whoops.

  The wolves use it to their advantage and rip the heads off of the men on the ground, turning them to dust. I fall to my knees when the ground shakes harder than before. I look up to see Jaxson, his sword in the ground at his feet, and his hand is glowing green as he holds the handle. Hell, his whole body is glowing a bright green. I can’t stand up as I watch the earth split open from his sword, causing a massive crack that spreads towards the herd of demon men running towards him. They don’t even notice as they fall into the hole, no screams, nothing leaves their mouths as they fall. The wolves make quick work of killing the last of the demons, and Jaxson closes the hole he created. When the shaking stops, I walk over to Jaxson. He’s still staring at the place where the hole was, and he’s still glowing. I put my hand over his on the sword, and he seems to snap out of wherever he had been.

  “Eight,” he says to me. I frown, not understanding until I hear a cry and then the pain-filled screams. I turn to see Angela holding a brown wolf to her chest, Katy is behind her and crying silently.

  “We lost eight,” I say, and Jaxson nods. I watch as he walks over to Angela and places his hand on her shoulder. He speaks quietly to her, and I walk over to Katy. She lets me hug her, and we stay quiet for a long time.

  “I need to redo the ward, they shouldn’t have been able to break through,” Atti says. I didn’t even realise he was here. His eyes meet mine, but he only nods. I forgot he was coming to take me back to his house for a movie night today. I’ve been at the pack for a few days, and I spent a few days with Wyatt at the castle, too. The castle is improving slowly, Wyatt thinks that one quarter of the six hundred bedrooms are finally done. It’s a big job, and there is only so much they can do in a short amount of time. The kitchens and bathrooms are done, which is a big improvement. Wyatt showed me the ten buildings outside of the castle. He thinks they used to be where the humans lived because they have about ten rooms in each of them and their own kitchens.

  “No, we are moving,” Jaxson’s says suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  “What, J?” Atti asks.

  “The castle has the best ward. They just walked through our ward like it was nothing and started killing. They could attack us at any time here,” Jaxson says.

  “The castle is safer,” Atti agrees. The wolves standing around us start speaking quietly.

  “What do you think?” Jaxson asks me. I glance around at the wolves; most are covered in blood and blue dust. I see two men covering a black wolf with a large coat.

  “It’s smart for us all to be together,” I say quietly. There are several wolves around us, and I blink when I see Harris push them out of the way. He comes over and drops to his knees in front of his mother and the dead wolf.

  “No,” he cries and places his hand on the wolf’s back.

  “Harris,” I say gently as Jaxson stands. He moves next to Atti.

  “Go and get Dabriel. We have many that need healing,” Jaxson tells Atti, and he nods. He disappears a second later.

  “I couldn’t get here in time; they attacked near the other cabins but not as many. The weapons don’t work on them; you could stab them, and they just carried on. We had to cut the heads off, and I couldn’t leave them,” Harris mumbles.

  “No one expected you to, my boy,” Roger, one of Angela's mates, says, coming out of the trees with three other men following closely. They all fall to their knees around Angela and place a hand on the wolf. All of her mates band together to mourn the one they lost.

  “We move tonight after we bury our lost wolves. We are at war!” Jaxson shouts, his voice vibrating around the trees. They seem to carry his message along with the fear that follows his words.

  We are at war.

  Fifty-Eight

  Winter

  Once again, I find myself
in the middle of the arena, a little scared, but more determined to make a better future for the children like Marie. Her sweet face flashes through my mind, I have to do this. I have to win. I have no idea what I'm up against, and Dabriel has tried desperately to see any part of this future. He says a blue wall is blocking his vision, and we suspect Taliana has found a way to block visions like the vampire king did before his death. Atti has tried finding out by asking around the witches he trusts, but no one is talking. Everything we are hearing is just rumours.

  The queen smiles down at me, her black cloak wrapped around her head today as she sits alone on her throne. She’s wearing a long, green dress that I can see through and a black cloak. Atti, Dabriel, and Leigha are at the sides, watching me. Wyatt is helping move all of Jaxson’s pack into the castle. There’s space, but it’s cramped. It doesn’t help when the werewolves and vampires don’t get along. There have been many fights, but Wyatt and Jaxson end them quickly. Alex and Drake are working closely with Harris to keep the guard up on the castle. They run twenty-four-hour watches around the castle grounds and in the local village. We haven’t sent any people to check out Paris yet. There’s little point, the red wall is impossible to see through, and our magic won’t work on it. The humans say technology can’t get near it without exploding. So, what little photos they have are from a distance. That’s good in a way, but people are angry they can’t get in touch with their loved ones, and I fear that the demon king has them possessed to make an army.

  I glance back at the queen when she claps her hands, and the arena goes silent. I look around, noticing that many witches have their cloaks down today, and many smile at me as I meet their eyes.

  "Witches have the ultimate control over the elements. The next challenge is to see if the human can defend herself, or if she will die when the elements are used against her. Any true queen would be able to survive this," the queen’s voice surrounds the arena; her sarcastic tone isn’t lost on me. The crowd cheers, and the metal gates open. I look down as four witches come out. Two light witches and two dark. There seems to be one male and one female for each side. They all stop in a line a few steps away from the gate and a good distance from me. I can’t see what they look like as they have large cloaks covering their bodies, the only reason I know what side they are on is because of the colour of their cloaks.

  One of the dark witches, wearing a black cloak, steps forward and holds his hands high in the air.

  "Fire," he says into my mind, and a stream of fire leaves his hand and surrounds me in a circle. The heat warms my skin but not enough to burn. The second dark witch steps forward, she bows her head slightly at me.

  "Earth," she says, and the ground underneath me rises. I fall to my knees, unable to stand, as the loud sounds of the earth cracking fill my ears. The ground rises around ten feet in the air before it stops. I stand up and move as close as I can to the edge. The fire rises higher until I can’t see the witches anymore, only the tops of the arena.

  "Air," a man speaks into my mind. The fire mixes with the air and twirls up into a whirlwind tornado of fire. The tornado stretches high into the air, leaving only a small hole of sky when I look up.

  "Water," the last witch says, and the ground shakes roughly making me fall backwards onto it. I crawl towards the edge, pulling my head over to look down just as a section all around the raised ground falls in. It’s instantly filled with deep water that shoots up; I move out of the way just in time and watch as it shoots into the sky. Mixing with the fire and air tornado.

  Holy shit, I'm completely trapped. I can't see the sky anymore when I look up, and it’s getting harder to breathe. Or even think.

  "Winter, use your power, stop this," Atti says in my head. Everything starts to blur as I call for my power. The pressure builds as fear for my life takes over, the hot water starting to scald my skin as it falls from the top of the tornado. Death by suffocation is not a good way to go. The edges of my vision are going black. The pressure of my power is building, but I can’t think straight because of the fear.

  “Winter, I’m coming love, hold on!” Atti shouts in my mind, his voice frantic but muffled to me.

  My head snaps up as pressure I'm not used to takes over, filling my body, and the blue wave shoots out of me. My feet leave the ground as a blue wave of my power hits the tornado, pushing it away. The water falls away–as does the fire and wind–as I take in a deep breath, and open my arms. My feet are slightly floating off the ground, and my blue waves are still leaving me. The last thing I see before everything goes black is the queen’s shocked and fearful face.

  Fifty-Nine

  Winter

  “Winter, Winter, Winter,” sings the child-like voice. I open my eyes slowly, not seeing the child that’s singing but, instead, the back of a large man standing in front of me. The song drifts away as the man walks forward towards a bed. When he moves to the side, I can see Elissa. She is sitting in the middle of the bed, covers wrapped around her. A small bassinet made out of vines is by the bed. It’s the same room she died in. I glance at the man as he leans over the bassinet. He looks about forty with blond hair that’s cut short. He’s only wearing black trousers, and it leaves his pale chest in full view. There’s a mark–a phoenix very much like Wyatt’s–on the middle of his chest. I can’t really see his face from this angle as he looks down, but I’m guessing this is Wyatt’s ancestor, the first vampire.

  “She looks just like you, my beloved,” the man says in a gruff voice. It takes me a second to realise that the baby is Elissa’s, and that the baby must be my mother.

  “You say that every time you see her, Athan,” Elissa says with a sigh. She looks very tired.

  “And every time, it’s because it’s true. She is the image of you,” he says in return and smiles at her. I look over just as Elissa starts glowing white. Every part of her skin glows, and Athan falls to the ground, his hand clutching his head in pain.

  Elissa says nothing aloud, but I hear her make the prophecy in my mind.

  The blue-sided human will choose a side.

  When four princes are born, on the same day, they will rule true.

  Her saviour will die when the choice is made.

  If she chooses wrong, she will fall.

  If she chooses right, then she will rule.

  Only her mates can stop her from the destruction of all.

  If the fates allow, no one need fall.

  For the true kings only hold her fate, and they will be her mates.

  After she speaks the final word, she closes her eyes. Athan shakes his head as he gets off the floor. He checks on the baby just as a woman in a long, red cloak comes into the room. I can’t see her face or anything other than the ends of the white dress under her red cloak.

  “Every person for miles just heard that, the demon king will find us,” she says, her voice worried rather than angry.

  “Then it’s time, Demtra,” Athan replies sadly and looks at Elissa.

  “My poor sister,” the goddess says, and she turns her head to where I stand.

  "Winter, Love," Atti says, and I blink my eyes open. I’m in Atti’s arms as he holds me close. Dabriel has his glowing hands on my head, and he lets go when he sees I'm awake.

  We’re still in the arena; it must only be moments since I blacked out. Yet it seemed like a long time in the dream-call. I didn’t even mean to see that, so why did I?

  So, it was Elissa making the prophecy that let the demon king know where she was and where his child was.

  My mother.

  Elissa must have hidden her not long after that dream, and I know she died in that room. I’ve seen all her mates now: Athan the vampire, Henrick the witch, Nicolas the angel, and Leo the wolf. She had mates just like me, but she had the demon king as a mate too.

  I sit up slowly as Atti helps me stand on the rock we’re on. I see Leigha seconds before she runs and jumps onto the rock. Warrior princess makes that look easy.

  "A win," Taliana’s voice drifts o
ver to me as I stand. I turn to see her watching me as Atti grabs my arm, Dabriel holds my hand, and Leigha puts a hand on Atti’s shoulder. We disappear while I smile at her, a smile proving that I can do this.

  When we reappear, we are just outside the goddess’s castle. I smile at a few wolves who bow when they see us, and I look around. The outside is quiet, with just the two wolves sitting outside. The castle looks so much bigger from here as I look up at it. It’s made of smooth, grey stone, the parts that were destroyed are fixed, and it doesn’t look like anything has ever happened to the castle. The four towers stretch into the sky, and right in the middle is the huge balcony that I spent time with Atti on. Someone has a row of flowers on the small wall that has been newly built, yet still looks like the rest of the castle.

  “Let’s go and find the others,” Atti says. I see Harris come out of the castle and stop, not looking at us but at Leigha. I turn a little to see her staring at him as well, a mixture of emotions written across her face, but her stubbornness wins out when she turns and walks away. Harris’s growl fills my ears, and I turn just in time to see him shift into a large, brown wolf. He jumps down the steps and goes chasing after Leigha.

  “Never run from a wolf,” Dabriel says gently.

  “That’s something Jaxson said once, she will be okay, right?” I ask him and Atti.

  “You should be asking if Harris will be okay, Leigha is the scariest woman I’ve ever met,” Atti says, and then chuckles to himself. “Well, other than you when I try to steal your chocolate,” Atti jokes. Well, I hope he’s joking. I’m not that bad.

  “Very true,” Dabriel nods, and I glare at him.

  “You are meant to be on my side.” I cross my arms.

  “You nearly bit my finger off when I tried to taste that chocolate ice cream just last week,” Dabriel says, crossing his arms in mimic of me.