Guardians Of The Shifters

by Shannon Schoolcraft

  “Don’t get dressed, just wrap up in a towel and come out.” Of course he didn’t tell me his name, just ordered me about like I was some kind of tool. I wrapped my hair up in a white towel the best that I could before tightly wrapping another white towel around my body. I wasn’t sure how I felt about going out there in just a towel. I waited a couple more heart beats to calm myself down before stepping out of the bathroom.

  When he saw me his hand froze over a thing of gauze on one of the little tables. His eyes traveled from my face, down my body and back up again. I could feel the heat in my cheeks and looked away. He cleared his throat a couple of times. “Sit.” I slowly walked over clutching the towel tightly in my hands and sat down. His green eyes found mine.

  Seeing him up this close was nerve wracking because he was handsome. (Although, handsome isn’t the right word.) His bottom lip was slightly fuller than the top. His cheekbones were high and perfectly sculptured with a razors edge to them. His jaw and chin were square-like and perfectly smooth. There were no traces of stubble on them. His nose was perfect for the shape of his face and in the center of his chin was a dimple that I found to be sexy. His long muscled fingers were tender as he cleaned and bandaged my many wounds.

  His black t-shirt showed off muscled arms and shoulders, it stretched tightly across his chest and showed that he was very well muscled. I bet he had killer abs to. I cleared my throat a few times so I could get words past my lips.

  “What is your name?”

  He looked up at me from what he was doing. “Caden.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. “You’re who I’m supposed to find.”

  “Yup, but instead I found you.”

  Well, that’s one less thing to do. “I’m-.”

  Caden interrupted me. “I know who you are Cora, I’ve always known.”

  “That’s not a bit unsettling.” I said sarcastically.

  He smiled. “All done, go get dressed and we’ll go get something to eat…I’m sure you have questions.”

  Standing, I nodded my head and quickly went back into the bathroom where I left my bag. Digging through it I found a bra, panties, blue jeans, a light blue t-shirt, socks and shoes. After I was dressed I looked in the front pocket and found a brush and hair ties. I brushed out my hair the best I could and plopped it up in a ponytail. Looking back in the bag I found a blue plaid long sleeved button up shirt and slipped it on tying it at the waist. Once I was semi satisfied with my appearance, I exited the bathroom and came up short.

  Caden changed from his navy blue jeans to a black pair that had rips in them, but that’s not what stopped me. What stopped me was, was that he was pulling on a white t-shirt as I was walking out. His back muscles rippled with his movements and between his shoulder blades was a tattoo of a black panther with yellow eyes. When he turned around I noticed that his pants were hung low on his narrow hips. When he saw me ogling him like a freak he smirked and winked at me. “See anything you like?”

  Yeah, I was so not answering that. He chuckled low in his throat. “Come on little guardian, I’m ravenous.” I followed him out the door making sure that I was a step or two away from him. Once in the elevator, he pushed the button for the main floor. Once it stopped we walked through the lobby out the front doors and into a warm sun shiny day.

  Chapter 5

  I stopped for a minute and tilted my head back so I could feel the warmth from the sun on my face. Closing my eyes I let it sink in. A light tap on my shoulder had my eyes popping open and staring up into green eyes. I just now realized that he is much taller than my 5’8, he’s got to be closer to at least 6’2 if not 6’3, either way he is pretty tall. I took a step back because I could feel the heat from his body mingling with mine. The all-male scent that rolled off him was earthy and did funny things to my insides. Caden stood there looking down at me.

  “Are you just going to stand there all day?”

  “Thought about it.” I didn’t miss a beat.

  He shook his head. “I’m seriously hungry.” He looked at my mouth then back up to my eyes. “It’s never good to starve a man.” He stepped closer. “We intend to do stupid and irrational things.” Before I knew what was happening, his mouth slanted over mine and his tongue exploded into my mouth making our tongues do an entangled dance. The kiss seemed to wake up every nerve in my body making me melt into his seductive kiss. And just as soon as it started, it stopped. I looked up at him confused.

  “Why…why did you do that?”

  He smirked down at me. “Proving a point.” He leaned in closer and whispered. “And you liked it.” My eyes widened as his words sunk in…proving a point? I swung my hand out to slap him across the face but he caught it a mere inch before it connected. His eyes flashed to a lighter green.

  “Tsk tsk, that’s not very nice little guardian, no hitting.”

  I pulled my hand free. “Why do people call me that?”

  Caden looked over my shoulder and then back down at me. “I told you.” He half turned. “Let’s get something to eat and I’ll answer all of your questions.”

  He started walking again as the words left his mouth and I had to jog to keep up with him. I made sure to stay at least a couple steps back. My mind wondered back to that kiss, was it just to prove a point or was there something more to it? The harder I thought about it the could- there- be- something- else seemed less likely. I’m not saying it wasn’t a great kiss because that’s totally not the case. I’ve been kissed before but nothing compared to that. My lips and tongue still tingled from it. I could still feel how velvety smooth his tongue was against mine.

  We stopped at the closest restaurant from the hotel that he was staying at and opted for an outside table. The name of the food joint was LuBlacks. The outside tables were glass with silver fittings that glinted in the sun. There was an umbrella in the center of the table that enveloped us in shade. A waitress came over.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Her eyes were all over Caden and you could say that I was pretty much invisible which was okay with me. Caden didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll take ice water…Cora, what would you like?” The waitress (Sandy) according to her name tag turned to face me. I didn’t miss the slight widening of her eyes when she looked at me. I knew what got that reaction, I got it most of my life when people saw my eyes. “Ice water to please.” I mumbled

  She scurried away and for the first time in my thirty years of life I wished that my eyes were any color but Amethyst. Shaking myself mentally I plucked a menu out of its little holder in the middle of the table and opened it. I knew that Caden was looking at me, I could feel it…hence my looking at the food list.

  Did I want a salad or did I want a cheeseburger with bacon? I pursed my lips in thought and only glanced up when a different waitress set down our drinks. I smiled a little because I knew why our first waitress switched with a different one. I plopped the menu back in its holder as our new waitress took out her order pad.

  “Are you ready to order?”

  My smile deepened. “I’ll have a cheeseburger with bacon and curly fries.”

  She turned her attention to Caden. “Anything for you sugar?”

  His eyes never left my face. “I’ll have the breakfast special.”

  “I’ll be back with that.” I watched as she walked into the restaurant and only turned my attention to Caden when he tapped the end of my nose with his straw.

  “What secret has you smiling little guardian?”

  Shrugging. “Just that I know why our first waitress switched with another.”

  His eyebrows arched up. “Oh, and why is that?”

  “Because of my eyes.”

  He frowned a little. “What about them?”

  It was my turn to arch a brow. “Have you taken a god look at them? I’ve been getting reactions like that since I was a kid.” I explained.

  He sat back. “I think they’re beautiful.” I tilted my head to the side. He brought his hand up to his mouth to cover a fake cough.
“I mean, they show just how unique you really are.”

  “Right.” I said as I looked away from him and watched as people walked by. When I said right I wasn’t sure if I was agreeing with him or disagreeing with his logic or if it was something else. When our food arrived, I picked up my greasy cheeseburger and took a big bite. I moaned as I chewed and swallowed. My stomach made {as what I’m guessing} a happy sound because it was finally being fed. I took a couple more bites of the best thing I’ve tasted in a day or two, took a swig of my cold water and looked at Caden. I wiped my hands and mouth with a napkin before speaking.

  “Why did one of those assassins or whatever and you call me little guardian?”

  He took a drink of his water. “Because, you are a guardian.”

  Squinting my eyes. “A guardian of what?”

  He smiled a little. “It’s not a what but a who.”

  “Okay, who am I supposed to be a guardian of?”

  “Me.”

  That one word had my eyebrows inching up my forehead. “You…why?”

  “All in due time.” He chuckled. “Wouldn’t want to spoil all the juicy details now would we?”

  Shaking my head. “Why am I your guardian?”

  “To keep me safe.”

  I couldn’t help but to laugh. Surely this muscled guy couldn’t be serious, he did not look like he needed someone to keep him safe. The serious look that was on his face cut my laughter short. “Keep you safe from what?”

  He gave me a pointed look. “You remember those people dressed all in black?” He leaned in closer. “Or have you forgotten already?”

  Scowling at him. “No I haven’t forgotten.” Crossing my arms. “Who are they?”

  Caden sat back and took a couple bites of his pancakes mixing it with a piece of sausage. I watched his throat move as he swallowed and for reasons I don’t know, I found it attractive. Taking a drink of his water he set the glass back down.

  “They have been around for longer than I can remember, they’re trained killers. Nobody I know knows their groups actual name, so we just call them assassins.” He paused. “They track down my kind and try to wipe us out.” He looked at me. “Hence the reason we have guardians. But for the past fifty-sixty years they go after our guardians first.” He paused again for a couple seconds. “I guess you could say that they are getting smarter by going after you guys first.”

  I was confused by that last part. “Why would you say smarter?”

  “Because.” He smiled half-heartedly. “If they are able to capture you, they could torture you for information on where we are hiding. Besides…” He shrugged. “Since you don’t know much, they’d just kill you.”

  “Oh gee, thanks.”

  He winked at me and looked down at my half eaten plate. “Are you done?” His eyes scanned the distance. “We have already been out in the open for too long.”

  Looking down at my plate I found that I’ve lost my appetite, but I didn’t want to waste it. Swallowing down the ickyness I felt, I finished the burger in record time. Caden left enough money on the table to cover the cost of the bill plus a healthy tip. As we walked he had his hand on my lower back. I could feel the heat from his hand through both layers of clothing and it felt like a branding iron.

  My back stiffened with the sensation of being followed and instead of looking behind us, I peeked up at Caden. He was already looking down at me. “I know.” He whispered. Instead of going back to the hotel, we walked past it towards a less secluded area. Once we got to a spot that we knew nobody would come down, at the same time Caden said get down, he was turning and throwing a star shaped knife and it struck its target…smack dab in the middle of the forehead. You would think that there was a bulls- eye for how accurate it was. The guy didn’t even make a sound as he fell to the ground in a motionless heap. We walked back towards him, Caden kicked the man’s foot to make sure he wasn’t alive, then he bent down to retrieve his throwing star.

  It made a sucking wet sound as he pulled it from the guy’s head and it took everything in me not to lose my lunch. Caden bent back down to go through the dudes pockets, the only thing he managed to find were a few throwing knifes, sharp looking daggers and a retractable sword, all in which Caden confiscated. He looked at me over his shoulder. “We will stay at the hotel tonight and first thing in the morning we will head to the bus station.” Standing up he wiped off his hands on his jeans. “Then we’ll head to my people’s safe house.”

  I wasn’t able to form words so I nodded my head instead. We left the body where it was and quickly headed back to the hotel room. There was still an hour or two left of sun light, but I was tired. I eyed the only bed in the room with longing. Caden ran his fingers through his hair making it spike up. HOT!

  “You take the bed, I’ll crash on the couch.”

  Standing. “Are you sure?”

  He looked at me thoughtfully. “Yeah…unless you want to cuddle.”

  Um… “I’m good.”

  His low chuckle followed me as I climbed into the bed pulling the covers up to my chin. The last thought I had before exhaustion took over and pulled me into a deep sleep was, was there any place that was truly safe anymore?

  Chapter 6

  I could feel someone or something shaking me and I tried my best to ignore it. I just rolled away from who or what it was because I wasn’t ready to wake up yet. But the shaking persisted. I was beginning to get annoyed so I pried one eye open. I wasn’t expecting for a face to be so close to mine. At first the persons face didn’t register in my brain and I didn’t even think. I cocked my arm back and swung. My fist connected with the side of his face making him fall backwards. When the familiar voice floated to my ears I jumped out of the bed and went to his side.

  “Jesus Christ woman!”

  “Oh my god, Caden I’m so sorry.” I rested my hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off. He stood up rubbing his jaw.

  “Remind me not to wake you up again.”

  I pressed my lips together to suppress a smile. “I really am sorry.”

  Still rubbing his jaw. “Coffee’s in the kitchen.” He walked away from me towards the bathroom. I couldn’t hold back my smile anymore as I headed to the kitchen. I grabbed a cup off the counter and poured myself a cup of joe and added the right amount of sugar and creamer. Taking a sip I wanted to spit it back out. “Yuck.” I dumped the rest of the contents down the drain and went back out to the room area.

  Caden was packing a duffel bag and stopped when he saw me. My eyes zeroed in on the red mark that was on his jaw, I didn’t think I hit him that hard. His eyes narrowed at me, awe…I think I bruised his ego, poor baby. With a hard jerk he zipped up the bag.

  “After you freshen up, we will leave.”

  Nodding my head. “Okay.” I walked past him and closed the bathroom door behind me once I entered. My backpack was still where I left it and so were my clothes. I rummaged through the bag and found another set of clothes and a light blue jacket. I set them out before stripping out of my clothes and stepping into the shower. It was one of the quickest showers I’ve ever taken in my life. After I was done I got dressed.

  My black pants hugged my curves and the blue long sleeved shirt was a little loose. Bending down I dug into the pocket of my dirty ripped jeans and pulled out the key, a little surprised that it was still there. Grabbing the torn bundle, I tossed them in the trash can by the door, put my other clothes back in the bag, grabbed my jacket and walked out of the bathroom. Caden was standing by the room door when I walked out. When he saw me his eyes raked my body. His eyes flicked to mine.

  “Has anyone ever told you you’re phat?”

  Narrowing my eyes at him. “Excuse me…did you just call me fat?”

  His eyes widened in alarm. “No, no, not fat as in your fat, phat as in P-H-A-T, pretty hot and tempting.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that so I just stood there staring at him like he grew two heads. Still at a loss of what to say I shook my head and joined him
at the door. Now I don’t feel so bad about punching him in the face. With my coat in one hand and my bag slung over my shoulder, I followed him out of the room, down the hall and to the elevator. I caught him staring at me a few times and each time I wanted to knock that cocky look off his face. I still don’t know why he needs me to guard him, I’m probably better off leaving him to defend for himself but I can’t do that, I still needed answers. Also I don’t even know what he means by his kind of people.

  Tapping my foot impatiently drew his attention and I ignored him. When the doors opened I all but stumbled out in my haste to get out of the confined space. With both of us in an enclosed space it felt like it was closing in on me and hard to breath. Probably because he’s so damn big. I waited for him by the hotel lobby doors while he dropped the key card off at the desk and checked out. As he walked towards where I stood, I couldn’t help but to watch the way he moved. For some reason he reminded me of a big cat, he moved with grace and yet it was lethal at the same time.

  Once outside we headed to the side of the building and down an alleyway. Did it really have to be an alleyway? Tucked up against the side of the building was a motorcycle, it was sleek, shiny and blue with black spirals etched up and around the sides. Caden strapped his duffel bag on the back and sat astride it. I stood there wondering how two people could fit on it especially with a man his size.

  He looked at me over his shoulder. “Hop on love.” He has got to be freaking kidding me, I’ve never been on a motorcycle before, and it looked like a death trap waiting to happen. The low frustrated sound he made had my feet moving and me climbing on the back with my arms dangling at my sides.

  “You might want to hold on.”

  “Hold on…hold on to what?” His low chuckle told me that I wasn’t going to like it. He reached behind him grabbing my arms and wrapped them around his waist causing me to slide closer to him. I tried not to notice how well my body molded its self around his. The death trap roared to life and I found myself holding onto him tighter as we shot down the alley, around a corner and onto the road. I buried my face between his shoulder blades. We weaved our way through traffic and I was surprised by how well he maneuvered the bike.