Guardians Of The Shifters

by Shannon Schoolcraft

  After a small bag of chips and two and a half subs later I was full. I sipped the bottled water as I watched Caden eat the rest of the food. When he was done he grabbed the empty wrappers and took them to the trash can. He walked around the table and offered me his hand. Taking it he helped me up from the table. Most of the people or shifter cleared out, only a few remained. Once outside, I was grateful for the cool air and the darkness that surrounded it.

  Caden walked me back to my unit. He stopped me just before I stepped all the way inside.

  “Get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Why?”

  He smiled. “Tomorrow morning we start training.” He was about to turn but stopped. His eyes raked my body. “Oh…and wear something comfortable and something you can easily move around in…goodnight Cora.”

  Before I could get the word “night” out he was already walking away. Letting out a deep breath I closed myself in my room and locked the door. I was glad that I left the light on, that way I didn’t stumble around looking for it. I forgot about the mess on my bed and set about to cleaning it off.

  I put my clothes in the dresser and carefully laid out the daggers and swords on top of the glossy surface. I didn’t know where to put the money so I just opened up the pants drawer and put it under the pile. I grabbed a long sleeping shirt and headed to the bathroom to change. Crawling into the bed I turned off the light and snuggled under the blankest wondering what Caden had in store for me tomorrow. Closing my eyes it didn’t take long for me to fall into a deep slumber.

  Chapter 9

  The sound of pounding in the distance woke me up from a deep slumber, I groaned as my heavy lids lifted. The red numbers on the clock were blurred in my groggy state. The pounding came again. I whipped the sleep from my eyes and looked at the clock again. The red numbers indicated that it was six in the morning. I groaned again as I pulled the covers over my head. Again the pounding echoed through my head and it was relentless. I threw back the covers and lazily got out of bed. I stumbled my way to the source of the noise and stubbed my toe on the metal bed frame. “Son of a bitch!” The pounding came again. “I’m coming, hold your horses.” I made it to the door, twisted the lock and pulled open the door.

  Caden stood on the other side of the door dressed in grey jogging pants that hung loosely on his hips and a white tank top showing just how muscular his arms really were. My mouth went dry just at the sight of him. I backed up as he stepped forward crowding my space. He gave me a disapproving look. What did I do now?

  “What?”

  “You aren’t dressed yet.”

  “I just got out of bed.”

  With that statement he looked down to what I was wearing and inhaled sharply. His eyes flashed a light green before going back to their original color. He cleared his throat before speaking. “I’ll step outside so you can change.” He turned and exited the unit closing the door behind him. I turned around and slowly made my way to the bed side table and clicked on the lamp. Going over to the dresser I opened the pants drawer and pulled out a pair of black yoga pants and pulled them on. Rummaging through a different drawer I found a white tank top with a built in bra. I pulled my night shirt over my head and tossed it on the bed and put on the tank top. After my hair was brushed and my socks and shoes were on, I walked outside.

  There was a bite of cold for it being this early in the morning but it would soon warm up. I followed Caden to another building, we didn’t say anything as we entered. Lights flicked on overhead and I got a real good look at the room. Each wall had daggers, swords and staffs mounted, on the left side were gym equipment, on the right side were mirrors and in the middle of all that were a bunch of mats on the floor. Caden went up to the wall in front of us and took down two staffs that looked the same length.

  “Today we start with these.”

  Taking the stick. “And doing what?”

  He pursed his lips in thought and I thought it was sexy. “Have you ever seen a sword fight?”

  Nodding my head. “Yes…on TV.”

  “We will be doing that but different, instead of holding it at one end you’ll be holding the center with both hands.” He paused. “Watch.” With his own staff he showed me where to place my hands and began to do an up-down side to side motion. He showed me a couple more times to make sure that I got it. We took our shoes off before we stepped on the mats. “The trick is not to get hit.” Before I could voice my thoughts he lunged at me bringing his staff down. I barely brought mine up in time to block the blow and the tip of his stick clipped my shoulder and I could feel the sting from the hit, I also know that it would have hurt worse if I wouldn’t have brought my stick up when I did.

  He didn’t give me enough time to recover as he brought his weapon down again and this time it smacked my arm. Instead of crying out I swallowed it down and gritted my teeth. After a few more smacks with the stick I got a bit fed up. Amber tinted my vision and I lunged at him first. The crack of the sticks connecting echoed through the room. I was able to land a few smacks on him and I was able to block all of his jabs and swings. I’m not sure how long we trained with the staffs but it had to have been hours.

  Sweat ran down both our faces and bodies. My eyes latched onto a drop of sweat that ran down his neck and disappeared under his shirt. That little distraction cost me, I didn’t have enough time to jump out of the way. He swiped at my feet connecting with my ankle causing me to fall on my back hard. I thought the mats would cushion the blow, boy was I ever wrong. Caden leaned over me and I stared up into his green eyes, in that moment I was brought back to the time in the alleyway when we first met. He held out his hand and helped me up. “I think that’s enough for today.” I was jumping for joy on the inside.

  My muscles hurt and my body ached and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take anyway. The amber tint slowly cleared from my vision and I could see normally again. Caden’s head was tilted to the side as he stared at me, he had a thoughtful expression on his face. All too soon he shook himself out of it. It’s not the oddest thing he’s done. He took the staff from my hands and placed both back on the wall.

  I limped my way towards the door, my ankle freaking hurt from where Caden smacked it with the stick. I was just about to open the door when it opened by itself, bright light assaulted my eyes and I had to blink a few times to get my vision back. When I could see again I noticed that Cole was standing there, his eyes roamed my body and I didn’t like it. I pulled my tank top away from my sweat soaked skin to get it unstuck from my body. Caden put his hand on my shoulder and I flinched from the touch, which seemed to make Cole smirk a little.

  “How did training go?”

  I know that the question was directed at me but Caden was the one who answered. “It was fine.”

  Cole looked between us. “I see.” His eyes lingered on Caden’s hand. “Bet you two worked up an appetite.” I had a feeling that he wasn’t talking about the training and a bunch of remarks were on the tip of my tongue but Caden opened his mouth before I could voice them. “We were just leaving to go get cleaned up and head to lunch.”

  “Great, I’ll join you.”

  Well this should be an interesting and awkward lunch. I limped my way down the steps and I would have fallen over if it wasn’t for Caden’s fast reflexes. Cole didn’t miss the action either. “You must have really done a number on her.” Caden growled low in his throat and Cole raised his hands in defense. “Easy there fur ball, I wasn’t meaning anything by it.” They stared at each other and it looked like they were about to get into it and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be in the middle of it. I pushed Caden away from me and backed away from them.

  “Okay, you tow have fun and try not to kill each other to much.” I limped away from them and ignored them calling out my name. I knew that if they wanted to catch up to me they would, it’s not like I was walking very fast anyway. I was half way to my place when I ran into someone because I wasn’t watching where I was going.

  “I’m s
o sorry.”

  The guy looked me over. “It’s alright…you’re Cora right?”

  “Yes.”

  He stuck out his hand. “I’m Jamie.”

  Taking it. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You to…Want to grab some lunch?”

  Does he not see how gross I look? I didn’t want to sound mean to the first person I’ve met since being here, well besides Cole but he doesn’t count. “Sure.” We headed to the cafeteria building and engaged in small talk.

  “Did you just get out of training?”

  “Yeah, what gave me away?”

  He chuckled. “You are limping.”

  “Ah, yeah, damn ankle.”

  He chuckled again as we reached the building and he opened the door. “Who did you get pared with?”

  Confused I asked. “Pared with?”

  “Yeah, like a training teacher.”

  “Oh, wasn’t a teacher, it was my charge.”

  He looked surprised. “Really?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Well it’s kind of odd.” We grabbed some food and sat down. “Guardians train with guardians and shifters train with shifters.”

  Interesting. “Go on.” I prompted.

  He looked embarrassed. “Well, Guardians and shifters aren’t supposed to train together, they only fight together when they are attacked by the assassins.” He paused to take a drink of water. “They aren’t even aloud to have a relationship with one another.”

  I dropped my sandwich. “Why?”

  “Because it’s forbidden.” He looked around, leaned in closer and whispered. “Rumor has it that if a guardian and a shifter mate together their child would be a hybrid shifter.”

  “Hybrid shifter?” I asked.

  He lowered his voice more. “Yeah, they aren’t just human, they are shifter to, a lot like normal shifters except when a hybrid shifts, and fire surrounds their entire body. It’s been said that hybrid shifters are more ruthless than a normal shifter, that they are pretty much an abomination.” He took a bite out of a cookie. “If you ask me, all hybrid shifters should be found and destroyed…it would make the world a little safer.”

  A thought accrued to me. “Um… Jamie, what would happen if a hybrid shifter and a shifter mated?”

  He blinked at me. “Nobody knows, as far as anyone knows nobody has heard of it happening.”

  With every bite of food I took it didn’t sit well in my stomach. Jamie was the first person to tell me a little of what I wanted to know. I mean Caden told me a few things and showed me what he was, but knowing what Jamie has told me was kind of a big deal. I’m a guardian and Caden is a shifter and these feelings that I’m starting to have for him could lead me down a very bad path of no return.

  Chapter 10

  Jamie and I finished eating in silence, plus I had a lot to mull over and a lot to figure out. I felt a pair of eyes on me, I looked towards the door and saw Caden making his way over with Cole right behind him. The only thing Cole was missing was a collar and a leash attached to Caden. When they reached us, Caden sat down next to me and Cole sat on the edge of the table, it wouldn’t take much to push him off the edge. It was a tempting idea but I managed to refrain from doing it. Caden picked up my cookie and took a bite.

  “I see you’re already eating.”

  Looking at him. “Yeah, Jamie invited me.”

  “How nice of him.”

  Was that sarcasm I heard in his voice or was it something else? Jamie jumped up from the table grabbing his empty wrappers. He gave me an apologetic look. “See you around Cora.”

  “Yup.”

  He took off and never looked back. How was I supposed to make friends with these two hounding my every step? Maybe they were trying to keep me from making any or maybe they knew something that I didn’t. I decided that it was best not to dwell on it, all thinking did was stress you out and make it feel like your head would explode. I gathered up my garbage and took it to the trash. I knew that Caden was following me, not because he was right behind me but because I could feel his body heat.

  I’m not sure that it’s even humanly possible for a human to feel someone else’s body heat unless they were touching. Not only that but I also knew when Caden was around or close by. Something about what Jamie told me banged around in my head, that when hybrid shifters shift their body is surrounded by fire. Wouldn’t that mean before they shift while fighting that their vision would tint with a different color? I stopped in the middle of the cafeteria causing Caden to bump into me and I hardly felt it. There was no way that I could be one of those hybrid shifters.

  The only time my vision tints with amber is when I’m fighting and get hit to many times and when I see a different color I seem to fight better. I shook my head trying to clear where my mind wondered to. I’m a guardian and I’m sure we all see a tint of color while fighting. Yes, that sounds about right, I’ll just stick with that. Caden put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him. He had a concerned look on his face. “Are you alright?”

  Nodding. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I paused. “I just want to go get cleaned up.”

  He looked at me like he didn’t believe me. “I’ll walk you back.” Together we walked out of the building only to see two people fist fighting. I was half tempted to yell FIGHT! But figured that it wouldn’t be a good idea. It kind of reminded me of a school fight and I wanted to watch how it all played out and to see who would win. But before it could escalate any farther an older man with greying hair broke it up. “Alright you two, enough…save it for the enemy.” With that the two knuckle-heads turned and stalked off in different directions but not before giving each other death glares. I turned my gaze to Caden.

  “Which one was the shifter?”

  “Neither of them, they’re both guardians.”

  “Oh.”

  He came to stand closer to me. “There isn’t a lot to do here besides train and most of them are itching for a good fight and not knowing if it will be their last.”

  “What’s the point of training then?”

  “To make you guys better.”

  Of course. “What about you guys?”

  “What about us?”

  “Don’t you guys have to train or do all of you have teeth and claws?”

  He chuckled at that. “Not all of us shift into the big bad and technically we don’t have to train.”

  Tilting my head to the side. “Why?”

  He smirked. “Because it’s your job to protect us.”

  “Oh gee, thanks for putting the life of another being on our shoulders.”

  “Hey.” He raised his hands. “Just stating the facts sweetheart.”

  I shook my head as I began to walk again, I really needed to get cleaned up because I was starting to smell and I never smell. People wrinkled their nose as we walked by and I wasn’t sure if it was from the smell of me or if they didn’t like seeing Caden and I together. When we got to my unit I tried to open the door only to find it was locked and I forgot the key.

  “Damn it!”

  “What?”

  “I forgot the damn key.”

  “So you are locked out?”

  I gave him a duh look. “Obviously.”

  He gently shoved me out of the way. “I got it.” He took a card out of his back pocket and shimmied it between the door and frame. After a few tries the door swung open and I looked at him in awe.

  “How did you do that?”

  He gave me a half cocky smile. “Pure talent love.”

  Yeah I bet. “Thank you.” I was half way in the room when he stopped me with a tap on my shoulder, so I turned to face him. “Yeah.”

  “After you clean up.” He looked at me sheepishly. “Would you maybe want to go for a walk?” Did he look embarrassed? Yes I think he did.

  I smiled softly at him. “Sure.”

  He looked surprised at first. “Okay, I’ll wait out here.” He leaned against the door frame as I walked in and closed the door. I grabbed some clothes
from the dresser and went into the bathroom. Setting the clothes on the toilet seat I disrobed and got in the shower. I washed up twice to make sure I was clean just like I did the day Carla died, the only difference was was there was no blood this time. After I was done I quickly dressed in black jeans and a blue t-shirt, grabbed my key and headed out the door.

  I was a little surprised to see that Caden was still standing in the same spot he stood when I went into the room. I thought that he would have gone off to do something for the half hour- forty-five minute clean-up. When I shut the door behind me he only said one word. “Ready?” I nodded my head as we began to walk. I was a little curious about where he was taking me and I decided not to ask that one burning question.

  Chapter 11

  I followed him past the training center and farther still until he lead me towards a path. We followed it all the way down and the first thing I saw were lots of different flowers ranging from roses, violets, daises and tulips. In the center of all that was a bench that sat in front of a small pond. I never thought that there could be something as beautiful as this in a world filled with danger. Caden sat on the bench and patted the spot next to him. The different scents of flowers assaulted my nose as I sat next to him.

  I stared at the small pond for a little bit and watched as ripples formed on the surface. I let out a breath as I turned my torso a little to look at the man sitting next to me.

  “This place is lovely…but why did you bring me here?”

  He shrugged. “I figured you could use something beautiful after the last couple days you’ve had…plus it’s a great thinking spot.”

  I could see that. “May I ask where you are from?”

  “Originally London.” He stared off in the distance. “After the assassins raided my house and killed my parents…I fled. I shifted into my panther form and ran.” He paused. “I was seventeen when they came. My parent’s guardian was off doing an errand for them. Hell, how was she supposed to know that we would come under attack? But I still blamed her for their death.” Letting out a deep breath he continued. “I ran for days in my panther form, it was the fastest way to get around. When I shifted back to human form I got from one place to another by stealing. I know, bad me. A few months after that I found myself here in Florida and found people like me. They taught me the ropes, how to live and how to fuel my anger towards the assassins.”