Guardians Of The Shifters

by Shannon Schoolcraft

  He held my hands. “Cora, you were stabbed in the side pretty badly. I thought you were going to die.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “But then you were standing engulfed in flames. I’ve never seen anything like it. You barely touched the assassins’ chest and the next thing you know he’s burnt to a cinder laying at your feet.” He cocked his head to the side. “You don’t remember that?”

  My voice came out small. “No.”

  Caden pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me. He started to slowly rock me back and forth like I was some kind of child. The movement was comforting. I know that I should be weirded out by what Caden said, but I found that I wasn’t weirded out one bit. Although it does kind of sucks that I don’t remember it. Maybe in time I will, it would be something to ask Kevin, after all, it seems like he has better control over his hybrid side more than I do. I pulled back from Caden.

  “Why don’t you go clean up?”

  “What, you don’t like the rugged look?’

  I arched a brow at him. “Please…you’ll always look good no matter what you look like.”

  He chuckled. “True.”

  “Big ego much?”

  “Very.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Go clean up.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  He gave me a kiss before disappearing into the bathroom. I waited until I heard the water turn on before I climbed out of bed. My legs felt shaky and I had to use what I could for support. Kevin was sitting on the chair leafing through papers and looked up when he heard me. He jumped off the chair making the papers flutter to the floor as he quickly made his way over to me.

  “What are you doing out of bed?”

  “Sh.” I looked over my shoulder and whispered. “We need to talk.”

  Kevin put his arm around my waist to help me walk. “Okay.” He said wearily.

  “But not here.”

  “Cora…”

  I sharply looked at him. “I need fresh air.”

  “Fine.” He said dryly.

  Kevin helped me towards the door and together we walked out of it. When we got to the lobby I tried to walk on my own. Kevin stayed close by just in case I needed his help. We were half way to the door when I started to fall over and luckily Kevin grabbed hold of me again. Once outside, he helped me sit into a chair. The sun helped warm my skin, I closed my eyes and tipped my head back so I could feel the warmth on my face. I let out a content sigh. Kevin broke my moment of comfort when he spoke.

  “What do we need to talk about?”

  I looked at him. “Has this ever happened to you?”

  He shrugged. “After the first couple times you’ll start to remember.”

  “This isn’t the first time I’ve shifted.”

  He looked at me in surprise. “Really? And did you remember the other times?”

  “Yes.”

  “I wonder why you didn’t this time.”

  “That’s what we need to find out.”

  That seemed to pique his interest. “Where do we start?”

  A thoughtful look crossed my face. “With my research.”

  His brows dipped down. “That’s the thing.”

  “What is?”

  “I’ve gone through the books and papers you have and even done some research of my own. Nothing I came across explained what happened to you.”

  That’s odd. “We need to dig deeper.”

  “Cora…there wasn’t much recorded from that hybrid shifter or any other for that matter.”

  “But there has to be something.” I sounded desperate.

  He sat back in his chair and looked thoughtful. After a few more seconds of silence he spoke. “Maybe there is a way.”

  I narrowed my eyes not getting it. “What way is that?”

  “You won’t like it.”

  “Just tell me.”

  “Caden won’t like it either.”

  “Kevin!” His eyes snapped up to mine. “Just tell me.”

  “Okay…back with the other assassins, a few of them were talking about one of their oldest members. One that knows a lot of things about a lot of different stuff. The only thing is is that he/she doesn’t live in this part of Florida. I guess they live in a swampy area. If we can get to them, then maybe they can shed some light onto what’s going on with you.”

  I smiled at him. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “What’s going on here?”

  We both looked up at the sound of Caden’s voice, he was peering down at us with a scowl on his face and I wondered how much of mine and Kevin’s conversation he heard.

  Chapter 9

  Caden did not look happy at seeing the two of us together. He doesn’t have anything to worry about, the only man that I’m interested in is Caden, not Kevin. I’m not into the whole rocking-the-cradle-bit. Plus Caden should know better. I gave Kevin a look that said be quiet and I hope he understood the look. The slight nod of his head told me that he understood and thankfully it looked like Caden didn’t hear the conversation.

  I stood from the chair using the back for support. I really hope that I feel myself soon because I wasn’t used to the whole not-being-able-to-walk-on-my own crap. Caden helped me walk back to the room and tucked me back into the bed. I grabbed the roll of cookies and tore the package open with my teeth. The roll of cookies were half gone within five minutes. I know that I looked like a slob while eating them and I really didn’t care. The sugary goodness would do wonders and I could already feel my strength coming back and would hopefully be able to eat an actual meal.

  After eating my fourth roll of chocolate chip cookies, I contemplated on how to tell Caden mine and Kevin’s plan. Kevin was in the sitting area of the hotel room which left Caden and I in the room. I chose my words carefully.

  “Kevin and I have a plan.”

  “Hmm.” My words brought him out of his musings. “What plan is that?”

  “Kevin says that there is this older assassin person that knows pretty much everything. He said that he over-heard some people talking about it.” I looked up and met his gaze. “They may also know about the hybrid shifters and their history.”

  He frowned. “What are you getting at?”

  Here goes. “I want to go and talk with this person and get any information that I can and possibly more.”

  His eyes widened. “Absolutely not.” He all but yelled.

  I kind of figured he’d say something like that. “Why the hell not?” My temper began to rise.

  “Because it could be dangerous.”

  “Oh please.” I scoffed. “Can’t be any more dangerous then what I’ve been doing for the last four months, let alone three nights ago.”

  “That was reckless on your part.” He growled. “You don’t think before you go charging in. You think just because you’re a hybrid shifter that you can’t get hurt or die.” He let out a frustrated curse and looked me right in the eyes. “I can’t and won’t lose you.”

  “And you won’t.”

  He stood there staring at me. “The answer is no Cora.”

  He turned to leave. “You can’t stop me from doing this.” His steps faltered and his back stiffened. Closing the bedroom door he slowly turned around to face me. In two angry strides he was towering over me. His eyes flashed a dangerous shade of green. His eyes give away his emotions and what he was feeling and right now he is pissed.

  “I’ll tie you to the bed if I have to.” His voice was dangerously low.

  “Sounds kinky.”

  “Don’t play cute with me.”

  I tried one more time. “Please Caden.” I lightly touched his arm. “If we talk to this person, maybe there is a way to end all this assassin-verse-guardians and shifter stuff. Maybe we’ll finally be in the clear to live the life we want.”

  He briefly closed his eyes pinching the bridge of his nose. When he opened them again I could tell there would be no more arguing on this matter. He let out a defeated sigh. “Fine.” I sat up in my excitement to give him a hug but h
e put out his hands to stop me. “But, we won’t leave until your strength is at a hundred percent.”

  I nodded my head. “Okay.”

  “And you won’t charge in all hot headed…you will listen to me and outline a plan if I feel we’re in danger.”

  I gave him a bland look. “We are always in danger…but I get what you are saying and I’ll listen.”

  He leveled his eyes at me. “Promise?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay…get some rest…I’ll go talk to Kevin.” He didn’t seem thrilled about it.

  I didn’t want to sleep but I hunkered down in the bed and watched as Caden slipped out the door closing it softly behind him. Muffled male voices carried its way to the door but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. After a few minutes, I gave up on trying to make out what they were saying.

  I closed my eyes and tried my best to relax myself and sleep. My blood hummed through my veins as my heart pounded in my chest. Just thinking about finally getting answers sent a jolt of excitement through me. Finally I was able to relax enough to fall asleep listening to the beat of my heart.

  Chapter 10

  Within the next couple days, I was back to my old self and working out to get my muscles working again. Caden and Kevin watched me do my pull-ups on the pull-up bar as they talked and made plans on how we should proceed in said plan. Every now and again they would tell me to take it easy but I always had it go through one ear and out the other. Caden still wasn’t happy about going to the swamp lands to talk to the assassin person, but I never let it go. How could I when they hold the key to everything?

  I wasn’t one to get my hopes up, but I couldn’t help but to have high hopes for this. After a few more pull-ups I dropped down from the bar and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off that ran down my face. My face was hot and red from the workout but I wanted to do a few crunches. I still had some energy to burn from staying in the bed so I dropped to my back.

  After a hundred or so crunches I peeled myself off the floor. I gave Caden a saucy look before I disappeared into the bathroom. I turned on the water, stripped and just stepped in when the shower door sprang open. I was about ready to scold the person until I saw that it was Caden.

  My eyes followed the length of his body and a blush crept to my cheeks. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a man fully unclothed, but it has been a long time. My eyes drank in the sight of him. Hard muscles twitched under his skin as he stepped forward to join me in the shower.

  He reached out to brush back my hair that clung to the side of my face. I closed my eyes and leaned in. His hand slowly made its way to the back of my neck and pulled me forward. Our wet bodies were flush against each other and the feeling of his skin on mine set a tidal wave of warmth to the core of my body and pooled low in my belly.

  In the next instant our mouth sought out each other, kissing the exposed skin before coming together. My hands roamed over every hard slab of muscle they could find and let me tell you, there is a lot. When our bodies came together in the center I thought I would explode. We were wrapped around each other tightly and I met him stroke for stroke. Our panting drowned out the sound of the water. Before I knew it, I was spiraling, tiny stars dotted my vision as I came crashing down. You could say that it was earth shattering. Caden soon followed.

  After that moment, we just held each other, stealing kisses and touches as the water fell on us from above like rain. When we could feel our limbs again, we set about to actually taking a shower and washing up. I’ll admit, it was hard to wash up and keep my hands to myself. When we came together it was better than anything I could have imagined and all I kept thinking was that I couldn’t wait to do it again.

  Caden gave me a knowing look and kissed my forehead before stepping out, drying off and getting dressed. He already had on a fresh pair of pants when I stepped out after him. I wrapped a towel around myself as I watched a stray droplet of water move its way down the muscles of his back and disappear at the waist band of his dark blue jeans. He smiled at me over his shoulder and a part of me melted inside.

  He dropped another kiss on my still swollen lips and shimmied his way out of the bathroom. I quickly dried off and got dressed in my black jeans and blue t-shirt. Caden was sitting on the couch with his arm draped along the back of the couch talking to Kevin. Both of them looked up as I walked around the couch to sit next to Caden. I was ready to get down to business.

  “So…when do we head out?”

  “Tomorrow at dusk, it will probably take us a couple hours to get there.” Kevin spoke casually. “But before we go, we’ll have to stock up on weapons.”

  “I have the weapons part covered.”

  Kevin looked at me. “Yeah, for you guys.” He stood from the chair. “I’ll be back before midnight. There are a few things I need to grab. I’ll come back, crash on the couch and we’ll leave at first light.”

  Caden and I didn’t say anything as we watched him walk out the door. “Can we trust him?”

  I turned my attention back to him. “I’m sure he wouldn’t think to cross us or lead us into a trap.” But even as I said it I couldn’t help but to wonder myself. Caden stood from the couch and held out his hand.

  “Come on.”

  Sliding my hand in his. “Where are we going?”

  “Out to dinner.”

  “Shirt first.”

  He looked down at himself. “Oh…right.”

  My stomach growled with my forgotten hunger. Caden chuckled as he pulled a shirt on as we walked out the door. The sun was just beginning to set when we walked out of the hotel into a warm cool evening. There was a small out door restaurant a couple blocks from the hotel. We each took a seat and looked at the paper menus that were already placed on the glass table top. Caden asked for ice water while I opted for coffee.

  It seemed like I haven’t had coffee for a year and smiled sweetly as the waitress set my cup down. A few minutes later she came back for our orders. Caden ordered spaghetti and meat balls with garlic bread and shredded cheese sprinkled on top. I ordered a chicken sandwich with mayo, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes with a side of French fries and cottage cheese.

  We talked and laughed as we waited for our food to arrive. One would think we were on a date. Maybe one of these days we would actually be able to go on one. I smiled to myself with that thought. When our food arrived and the waitress left, all conversation stopped as we dug into our food. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until that moment.

  The first bite exploded on my taste buds and made it feel like there was a party in my mouth. The chicken was divine with the perfect amount of spices. My sandwich was gone before Caden was half way through his spaghetti. After we finished our meal, we paid and headed back to my hotel room. We didn’t wait for Kevin to get back. With our stomachs full and after lots of kissing and touching (among other things) we fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

  Chapter 11

  A couple hours before the sun rose, I was being woken up by kisses and whispered promises. A smile was on my lips when I opened my eyes to see Caden’s green ones staring at me. The lamp on the bedside table cast a soft glow across the room. Caden’s hair was rumbled from sleep and stuck out in all different directions. I could see that he was still shirtless. When he moved his arm to brush my hair back, his bicep muscles bulged out and flexed. When he spoke his voice was laced with sleep and it sounded sexy.

  “Time to wake up love.”

  I groaned. “A few more minutes.”

  “We have to get a move on.”

  Groaning again. “Okay.”

  With a little more coaxing on his part, I finally got out of bed, grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. After drying off I pulled on faded blue jeans and a white tank top. The tips of my hair touched my shoulders…there wasn’t much I could do with it when wet so I just brushed it out. Before heading out to the sitting room, I grabbed a stack of cash from my bedside table shoving it in my pants pocket and
grabbed my trusty light blue jacket from the closet.

  The boys already had on their dusters, Caden’s was a deep faded brown, whereas Kevin’s was a deep dark blue which brought out the color of his eyes. After putting on my socks and shoes I slipped on my jacket. By Caden’s feet was one of my duffel bags and Kevin had a black backpack slung over his right shoulder. I still didn’t know which part of Florida we were headed to, just that it was a part that had a swamp. I’ve never seen a swamp before so I wasn’t sure how to dress or what to expect. Caden picked up the bag at his feet.

  “Ready?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” We walked out the door. “Where are we going anyway?”

  Kevin looked at me over his shoulder. “Daytona Beach.”

  Oh yippy, Daytona Beach was three hours and fifty seven minutes from Miami, so pretty much four hours. Probably longer depending on how heavy traffic was. As we walked out the doors of the hotel lobby into a cool morning, I wondered just how we were getting there. My question was soon answered when I saw Caden’s motorcycle and a dirt bike sitting on the road by the sidewalk. Oh great.

  Caden strapped the duffel bag on the back of the bike and slung a leg over the seat. Kevin put his left arm through the other strap on the backpack before sitting astride his dirt bike. I shook my head and grumbled to myself as I climbed up behind Caden. Kevin reeved up his bike and it kind of sounded like a dyeing chainsaw. Whereas Caden’s metal on wheels wasn’t as loud. Kevin pulled out in front of us since he knew where we were going.

  This was going to be a long and uncomfortable ride, we better take breaks to stretch our legs and get some food. An hour into our trip, the sky started to brighten up with the oncoming sun. Too late now to take off my jacket. We stopped once for a bathroom break and raid an outside vending machine.

  After three more hours of being on the road a sign loomed in front of us saying WELCOME TO DAYTONA BEACH. We pulled into the closest gas station to fill up on gas and get some drinks. No matter where you looked people were walking around in bikinis and shorts. I suppressed an eye roll, go figure. When I came back out from the gas station it took everything in me not to slap the boys on the back of their heads whenever they saw a model type girl in a bikini that looked way too small to cover their bodies. But instead I just grabbed their chins and yanked their heads forward.