“Where’s everyone?” Hope asked as she secured the end of the tape.
“Calla and Taze will be here soon,” Evie answered. Calla had been hanging around that male a lot lately. It was odd, because Taze had given all of the females so much trouble in the beginning, but now, he was one of their biggest supporters. He’d taken to Calla after the final straw had broken and Taze was almost stripped of his Guardianship by the alpha.
“That’s a weird pairing,” Hope chuckled, then stood from where she had been sitting on the ground in front of Evie.
“Tell me about it,” Evie said, rolling her eyes. “Calla swears there’s nothing going on.”
“I think Malaki had something to say about that.” Hope frowned.
“He will come around,” Evie hoped. “He’s very protective of his sister.”
The door opened, quieting their conversation. Calla and Taze entered, both of them smiling. Just like all of the males, Taze was so much larger than Calla. His body could shield her if the need ever arose. He’d let his hair grow out on top, but he had kept the back undercut and shaved tight to his scalp. His icy blue eyes glowed from the contrast. Calla kept her blonde hair up in a bandana most days, preferring not to have it in her face. Evie understood the need. The wolves liked to use that to drag them around when they were held hostage.
“Evie?” Calla whispered as she approached.
“I’m fine,” she promised, shaking her head slightly. “My mind wandered for a second.”
“I know the feeling,” Calla sighed, reaching out to take Evie’s wrapped hands. “We are going to beat this.”
“Yeah, we are,” she agreed, looking at the door when it opened.
“Hey,” Kye said as he walked in. His eyes immediately fell on her, and she felt his love from across the room. “Are we ready to train?”
A collective agreement sounded and they got down to work. Calla and Hope paired up as Kye approached her. He didn’t say anything as he stopped a few inches away. He tucked a finger under her chin and gave it a little nudge. When she looked up, he pecked her lightly on the lips and gave a wink. “Let’s see what you can do.”
Kye donned the focus mitts and turned toward her. She held her fists up in front of her face and waited for him to nod, giving her the okay to begin. She jabbed with her right hand, making the perfect connection. Their eyes were locked on each other and she felt an overpowering connection to him. Each time she hit, he would nod and softly say, “Good.”
The sound of her knuckles meeting the mitts was one of the most comforting sounds she’d ever heard. Each and every time, it told Evie that she was winning the fight against her demons. She’d done this on her own. No one had forced her to learn to fight, and it’d been the one thing that was solid in her life since that night.
“Focus,” Kye barked, bringing her thoughts back to the present. He didn’t stop her. He didn’t ask her what was wrong. All he did was hold those mitts up to remind her where to send all of her energy.
She punched with her right hand, feeling a small thrill as Kye was pushed back a few inches from the strength of her blow. The next one, he held his ground. The third, fourth, and fifth time, the force sent him back a step. Before she knew what had happened, Evie relaxed and leaned back, signaling she needed a break. When she finally broke eye contact with Kye and looked around the room, she noticed they’d worked their way to the other side of the mat. Her strength had done that, and everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing to watch.
“You did well, baby,” Kye beamed.
Everyone parted and started cooling down after their training. The door opened and Dane walked in, searching the room. Evie felt his worry when his eyes fell on Calla. “Your brother is looking for you, and he’s not happy.”
“What the hell is his problem?” Taze barked, taking a protective stand next to Calla.
“His sister,” Dane answered as he rolled his eyes. “I’m here so he doesn’t cause any trouble. The little punk has been quite irritating, and I figure if he starts something in here, I can tell the alpha that we were training.”
“Please don’t,” Calla gasped, stepping around Taze. “He’s going through a lot right now.”
“Like?” Evie pushed, moving to her friend’s side.
“Well, he just turned twenty three months ago, and I’ve been fighting.” Calla shrugged and bit her lip. “I think he wants to try to fight for Guardian status next summer.”
“Unless we have new members come into the pride, he will have to fight me,” Kye stated. “He needs to be training.”
“He’s running on anger and hatred,” Calla explained. “I’ve moved out of the alpha’s home.”
Everyone gasped at her confession. Hope came over to take Calla’s hand. “She’s staying with Ranger and me for a little while.”
“Is it that bad?” Taze asked, his eyes flashing amber. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want anyone to make a big deal about it,” she frowned, the blush of embarrassment reddening her cheeks. “He’s going through his maturity. I’m sure he’ll settle down in the next few months.”
Dane tsked, looking out the back door. “Well, you can either stay or head out the other side of the building, because he’s coming.”
“I’d rather go,” Calla said, looking up at Taze. “Will you walk me back to Hope and Ranger’s place?”
“Get your things,” Taze ordered, but Evie could tell he wanted to stay. The young Guardian seemed very protective of Calla, and she was sure that Taze would give Malaki a beat down if he disrespected his sister.
“You two need to go,” Dane urged, pointing to the back door of the building.
Both of them left only seconds before the door flew open and one pissed off male entered the room. “Where’s my sister?”
“She’s not here,” Dane said, leaning against the wall as if he were bored. “Might want to tone it down a bit. The attitude is causing problems around here.”
“Man, fuck you,” he snarled.
“No, fuck you,” Dane growled, pushing away from the wall. “Little boy, you don’t want none of this.”
Malaki launched himself at Dane, but was quickly brought to heel when the Guardian used his strength and training to subdue the maturing male. “Let me go!”
“Wrong move, asshole,” Dane laughed. Evie cringed when his fist connected with Malaki’s face.
Harold tied off the last stitch to Malaki’s eyebrow. Sometimes, the damage would require a stitch or two for a day, and from the beat down Dane had delivered, this male needed it. Patching up Guardians was his specialty, but these young ones were getting more and more heated as they matured. The one in front of him was already on his last nerve.
“Boy, don’t you know not to cross a Guardian?” the healer scolded, turning to drop the bloody gauze in the trash can behind him. He grabbed a stool and pulled it away from the wall to sit down and maybe talk some sense into the kid. When he turned around, he saw the young male’s eyes had turned amber, his jaw set.
“They’ve turned my sister against me,” he stated.
“No, they didn’t.” Harold sighed, shaking his head. “Boy, your sister is learning to fight alongside the other females for a reason.”
“There’s no reason why she needs to learn how to fight,” he scoffed. “It’s my job to protect her until she mates. After that, her male will keep her safe.”
“You have a lot to learn about females,” Harold laughed sarcastically.
“What do you know?” Malaki asked, a smirk turning up the corner of his mouth. “You’ve never been mated.”
One minute, the healer was sitting in his chair. The next, he’d moved with super speed to take the young male’s throat into his hands. His claws extended and nicked Malaki’s flesh.
“I may not have a mate, but I have had a mother and three sisters,” he snarled. “They’re dead because they didn’t know how to protect themselves, and the Guardians weren’t there in time t
o save them. I’d have given anything to go back and teach them how to fight, but I can’t because it’s too late. Do you want that to happen to Calla? Huh, boy?”
“I’ll be with her,” he choked out when Harold squeezed tighter.
“You cannot be with her all the time,” he barked. “She is strong, and you’re putting her at risk by causing problems. That young female cannot concentrate on getting stronger when all you do is treat her like she’s a fragile doll. Have you seen her fight?”
“N…no,” Malaki stuttered when Harold’s canines thickened in his mouth. This little punk ass kid was going to make him break his rule of not doing damage to a pride member that he’d have to later put back together.
“She can take down a Guardian,” Harold informed him, putting his nose against the male’s. “God, you make me sick. Be respectful toward your sister, and if you come back into my office with injuries from getting your ass kicked again for being a jackass, I swear to the gods, I will let your little punk ass bleed out on my doorstep.”
Chapter Eight
The following week, Evie sat at the desk in her room, holding a calendar. Her birthday was in two weeks. She’d finally be twenty, and the first thing she wanted to do was run directly to Kye when she opened her eyes that day, but he had other plans.
A note was on the doorstep of her parents’ cabin that morning. The paper was made of thick, beige parchment, and there was a red string wrapped around it. Her mother excitedly pushed Evie to the door so she would be the one to pick it up.
“Go in your room and open it!” Maria, her mother, giggled.
“I’m going!” Evie smiled as her mother gave her a little push.
She’d climbed on her bed and pulled at the end of the string, loosening the bow. Carefully, she removed the letter inside, opening it to reveal a handwritten letter from the love of her life.
Evie,
Please do me the honor of meeting me in the meadow tomorrow for lunch. My brother Noah will escort you at exactly noon.
Until then,
Kye
Evie folded the letter and held it to her chest. What was he up to?
She blushed hard, wondering if he was finally going to give in and make love to her before they mated. Did it really matter this close to her birthday? The more she thought about having sex with him, the more nervous she became.
“What is wrong with you?” she mumbled to herself.
She was a strong woman, and had been learning to fight for herself. Why did the idea of being intimate with the love of her life send her into a giggling fit of a teenager? How hard could she roll her eyes before they got stuck that way?
“Well?” her mother asked from the doorway.
Evie looked up and smiled warmly. A tear welled up in her eye and, before she knew it, she was sobbing like a damn baby.
“Oh my, Evie,” her mother gasped, rushing to her side. “What happened?”
“He…he is so sweet,” she laughed, holding up the letter for her mother to see.
“Oh, daughter,” Marie said, pressing a hand to her chest. “You scared me.”
Her mother read the letter and smiled, setting the paper aside to pull Evie into an embrace that was one she’d come to find more comfort from recently than she ever did as a child.
Marie was in her late fifties, her hair was kept long and the blonde from her youth had turned into a beautiful white color. Her father still told her how beautiful she was… just like the day they’d mated.
She wanted that with Kye, regardless of what fate had planned for them.
“What if we are not mates?” she asked after several minutes.
“There’s no rule that says you have to wait for your destined mate,” Marie said. “I’ve known several couples who never had the spark and still lived their lives as if they’d been chosen for each other by the gods.”
“I don’t want another male, mama,” Evie said, wiping her face. “God, I hate crying.”
“It’s normal,” Marie chuckled, wiping a motherly hand down Evie’s hair and tucking the locks behind her ear. “You are about to go through a change of your own.”
“I hope it’s for the better,” Evie grumbled. “Things are still… bad with the healer.”
“Give your body time, sweet girl,” Marie replied, touching Evie’s flat stomach. “Everything happens for a reason. Mother Earth knows what is best for us. Trust her to guide you. Whatever her will is, accept that, my child. You have years left to think about children. Mate that man and love him before anything else.”
“Have you talked to Jon?” Evie asked, changing the subject. Her brother had moved to a different pride when he’d taken a job with them in Nebraska.
“Yes,” her mother nodded. “He said he loved his new job, and he would have time to come home during the holidays.”
“I kind of miss him,” Evie admitted. Her brother had always been a loner, but he was sincere. She wished that he’d stayed, but the offer was too awesome for him to pass up. He wasn’t wanting Guardianship within the Shaw pride, and moving was something he yearned to do.
“We do too,” Marie smiled, “but he’s happy, and that’s all I want for my children.”
Kye was nervous as hell, waiting for his female to arrive at their meadow. Noah promised he’d escort her there so she’d be safe making her way through the woods. It didn’t matter that she could protect herself. The fact that a human had gotten onto their land and was able to get close to her set him on edge.
Kye wasted time looking over the items he had placed on the blanket. He’d made a lunch fit for a queen… his queen. The selections were her favorites; fried chicken, potato salad, rolls, and enough chocolate chip cookies to feed an army. Okay, most of those were for him, but she loved them almost as much.
The wind blew softly through the tops of the trees. Summer was coming to an end, and a few leaves had already fallen from the trees despite the warm temperatures. It didn’t take much longer for Evie’s scent and the sound of her soft footfalls to reach him. When he turned around, Noah was standing next to his girl at the opening to the meadow. He whispered something to Evie and nodded before leaving without saying another word.
“Hey,” she blushed. “You did all of this for me?”
“Of course,” he replied, taking her hand and leading her to the blanket. “Hungry?”
“Starving,” she said, a smile lighting up her face.
Evie took a seat next to him and kicked her legs out so she could rest on her elbows. Kye watched her as she tilted her head back to soak in the sun that was shining down on her beautiful face. His heart swelled to the brink as he waited for her to come back to him.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “The sun feels good on my skin. Colder weather is coming, and I don’t like it much unless I’ve shifted.”
“I know,” he said, remembering the first winter when they’d started a relationship. She’d been cold as they took a walk through the woods, and he had given her his coat. She still had it to that day and Kye would never ask for its return.
“Can we eat?” she asked, eyeing the spread of food. “You brought cookies?”
Kye nodded and handed her the food, waiting until she started eating before making his own plate. They spent the next hour snuggling on the blanket, petting each other. He could kiss her every moment of every day for the rest of his life and die a happy male.
“I need to work off some of this energy,” she stated, helping him pack everything away.
“Do you want to run or head back to the dorms and spar?”
“Spar,” she said, standing up. Kye caught sight of her ass in the tight jeans she wore, and tamped down his need for her. They’d have time to explore each other in just a couple of weeks.
As they stuck to the trails leading back toward the alpha’s home and the Guardians’ dorm, Kye passed his mother’s home, stopping at the short driveway that led to the garage. “You know this will be ours, right?”
“Is that what you
want?” she asked, looking up at him. Concern flashed across her features, but only for a split second.
“I’d love to have you live there with me,” he said truthfully.
“I’d be honored to call it ours.” Evie leaned up and kissed his lips, taking a moment to cup his face as she stood on the tips of her toes to reach him.
“Come on,” he said, taking her hand away from his face reluctantly. He didn’t release her as he started walking, moving aside as a few cubs ran past them on the road.
Evie stopped at her family home to grab her bag and change clothes. Kye waited patiently on her porch and then they headed to Talon’s place when she was done. After leaving the leftovers in the fridge, they headed over to the gym in the dorms, finding Storm, Dane, Ranger, and Hope inside.
“Let’s spar,” Kye suggested, watching the others do the same. Storm and Dane were on the ground, fighting for dominance, and he knew that Evie was starting the same training with Hope a few days a week. He wasn’t ready to do any floor work with her until she was stronger. The thought of her getting hurt by him because he was easily more than two times her size left a bad taste in his mouth. He could accidentally hurt her, and he’d never forgive himself if he ever left a mark on her skin.
Chapter Nine
Soldiers stood with weapons strapped across their chests at the entrance to the underground facility. The island off the coast of Maine was considered private property, and the Community was banking on that to keep them off the radar. With over two hundred acres of wooded area, the scientists would be able to study the shifters in the wild. An underground bunker was used to house them when it was time for the experiments. The home was a disguise for them, and the strict security protocol ensured that no authorities would be sticking their noses into the research they were doing to prove the shifters needed to be eradicated.
So far, they’d captured several black panthers, a few black bears, two wolves, and one small female coyote. Their research began to take a turn when they realized that the ones they had captured were dying after several weeks in captivity. After some harsh interrogation, they found out that the species only lived with the blood of a leader, an alpha. The most exciting, and puzzling, information they’d discovered was that these creatures could live with the blood of any shifter leader.
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