“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m a Guardian.” He wiped away a tear with the pad of his thumb and let out a short laugh when she gave him a what-the-hell-is-that kind of look. “Essentially, I work as a bodyguard and security for the Amoveo royal family. Aside from being handy with a gun, I’m also trained in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. At the risk of sounding immodest, I can kick ass with the best of them.”
“It’s not that, Zachary. I—”
Her words were cut short when Zachary’s mouth covered hers in a savage kiss. His tongue demanded entrance and tangled with hers, stealing the breath from both of them. He held her head in his hands, taking full charge and silencing her doubts. Breaking the kiss, he suckled her lower lip and rested his forehead against hers. She sagged against him and her hands covered his as they held her cheeks.
Between heavy breaths he whispered, “There’s still one part of me you haven’t seen, and if I want you to trust me, then I should show you the same courtesy.”
Zachary kissed the tip of her nose and stepped back, significantly increasing the distance between them. Wind whipped around them and the sky darkened as one of those sudden tropical thunderstorms started to roll in. He held out his arms, tilted his face to the darkening sky, and whispered, “Verto.”
A violent rush of static covered Zachary, and his skin hummed with electricity as the surge of the shift fired through him. His body undulated and stretched as the change took place, and within seconds, Zachary had shifted into the form of his lion, emitting a ground-rumbling roar. The instant he shifted, thunder rolled around them and lightning seared across the sky as the wind picked up.
Landing on all fours, Zachary stood proudly before Annabelle and held his head high. Her hands covered her mouth, and wide green eyes stared at him with a combination of shock and awe. To his great relief, she didn’t run away or scream in terror; instead, she stepped toward him. Her long hair, still damp from their excursion in the lagoon, fluttered around her in the air with the gusts of wind, but she seemed oblivious to everything except him.
This is who I am, Annabelle. His mind touched hers gently, not wanting to push too hard and yet knowing he had to. He took a few steps closer, and when he was only about a foot away from her, he stopped and lowered his head in deference to her. Thunder rattled around them and the palm trees swayed in the wind. I am Zachary McKenna, a Guardian from the Lion Clan, and I am your mate—if you’ll have me. I would die to protect you.
“Y-you’re beautiful.” Her hushed tone washed over him, and when her delicate fingers tangled in the fur of his mane, he could have wept with relief. Annabelle inched closer and slipped both hands in the thick ruff of fur around his face. A growl rumbled in his throat as she continued her gentle ministrations and whispered, “I still can’t believe this is happening.”
That I can shift into a lion? Or the telepathy? Or the mate thing? The teasing tone of his voice was not lost on Annabelle, who gave him a doubtful look. Zachary lifted his head and was almost eye-to-eye with Annabelle, even though he was standing on all fours. Believe it, babe. It’s all real and it’s all happening.
Zachary closed his eyes and thought the ancient words. A few seconds later, he shimmered and shifted back into his human form, leaving Annabelle looking no less amazed.
“Have I convinced you that I can fend for myself…and for you?” He glanced at the quickly darkening sky and the angry clouds. “Because right now, I have to get you the hell out of here or you’re gonna get soaked again.”
Annabelle opened her mouth to respond just as a massive thundercloud rolled overhead. Rain poured down in driving sheets, and the two of them stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. Zachary grabbed her hand and ran with her through the foliage, back toward the beach.
“How the hell are we gonna ride that Jet Ski back in this storm?” Annabelle shouted over the roar of nature. She tried to shield her eyes from the rain and looked out at the massive crashing waves with more than a little fear. “Maybe we should try and find someplace here to hide out until the storm passes.”
“I got you covered.” Zachary smirked, grabbed her around the waist, and kissed her hard and fast. “Trust me,” he murmured.
With one hand on the Jet Ski handlebars and the other arm wrapped around Annabelle’s waist, Zachary shouted the ancient words and pictured the secluded patio of the rental cabin in his mind. As static fired over them and Annabelle’s eyes widened with amazement, Zachary kissed her and they vanished with a crackling snap.
An instant later, he broke the kiss and smiled at Annabelle, who was clinging to him like her life depended on it. Her fingers dug into his arms, and she looked around in awe to see that they were back at the private beach of the rental house—Jet Ski and all.
“That. Was. Amazing,” Annabelle said, laughing after each word.
“That’s visualization, baby.” Zach smacked her on the ass and kissed her quickly. “I’ve still got a few years until my thirtieth birthday, so my powers will be good for a while.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the sliding glass doors of the house. “But not all of my powers will go away. So what do you say we get in out of the rain and I’ll show you a few other tricks?”
He wrapped one arm around her waist and dragged her to him. Annabelle sighed contentedly as he kissed her deeply while deftly opening the slider with his free hand. The stormy skies left the living room practically dark, and the two of them stumbled into the house while licking, tasting, and touching one another.
“See?” He shut the slider behind her and gathered her hands in his before bringing her fingers to his mouth. Zachary brushed his lips over her knuckles. “Now will you please tell me the truth? If we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together, I should probably know your full name.”
The smile disappeared from Annabelle’s face, and even in the dim light, he saw the color drain from her face. “No!” She shook her head and her voice quivered with fear. “Oh my God.”
“Hello, cousin.” An unfamiliar male voice drifted over Zach’s shoulder, and he froze as the cold steel of a gun pressed into his back. “In case you didn’t know, her name is Annabelle Marie Caedo.”
Zachary growled and his eyes shifted as every defensive instinct he had went into overdrive. He spun around, pushed Annabelle behind him protectively, and came face-to-face with two men. A shorter, older man he’d never seen before stood behind a taller younger one, who was armed with a gun and had a familiar face. Zach had seen that face in the files of known members of the Caedo family. The guy pointing a gun at him was Silvio Caedo—the man responsible for the latest attack on his people—and Annabelle’s cousin?
“Son of a bitch.” As the words fell from his lips, Zach’s body went cold and his head spun, trying to wrap his brain around what was happening. Pain exploded through him as the truth of it sank in, and in that moment, he didn’t care if he lived or died. Getting shot wouldn’t hurt half as bad as being betrayed by Annabelle.
His eyes glowed amber and his blood hummed with outrage, making his muscles twitch. The pounding of his own breaking heart filled his head as the blood rushed through his veins.
Zach glared at Annabelle. “You’re Caedo.” It wasn’t a question.
Chapter 10
Why the hell hadn’t she seen this coming?
Silvio and her father stood in the living room of Zach’s rental house, and Silvio had a gun pointed at Zach’s chest. Hatred oozed off him, and the smile on his face was one of pure pleasure. Annabelle knew he planned on killing Zachary and would take great pleasure doing it.
“Zach.” Annabelle’s voice shook. Stepping out from behind Zachary, she was more afraid to see the look on his face than anything else. She tried to touch him, but Zach pulled away with disgust and leveled a deadly glare at her. Hands at his sides and his body wound tight, the look on his face w
as nothing short of furious. Please, Zachary. She tried to touch his mind with hers but was met with a wall of silence. “I can explain.”
“No need,” Zachary bit out. The muscles in his jaw flexed, and he shifted his gaze to Silvio and her father before turning those burning orbs back to Annabelle. Zachary’s fists clenched at his sides, and his energy buzzed with the pain and fury of her betrayal. He could barely get the words out due to his anger, and she couldn’t blame him. “It was a setup. I get it. You figured out that we were destined to be mates and you used it to get close to me so these two assholes can kill me.”
“My daughter will not be your whore,” her father swore. He stepped forward, but Silvio raised his hand, stopping him in his tracks. Snapping his fingers at her, he commanded, “Annabelle, come here!”
“No, Daddy. Can’t you see how wrong all of this is?”
“Be quiet, Annabelle.” Her father sliced a nervous glance at Silvio, and sweat covered his balding head. “You have to come back with us.”
“I heard you tell Silvio about my dreams.” Choking on her conflicting emotions, she barely got the words out. “I’m not going back there. You’re wrong about them. The Amoveo aren’t the monsters Silvio described. I knew that. Deep down, I’ve always known that, and that’s why I left. I knew you wanted to use me to get to them, and I couldn’t let you do it…especially after the dreams started.”
Annabelle looked at her father, and her heart broke. The man who’d loved her so dearly, who’d been so sweet and loving, was gone and had been replaced by someone she barely recognized. The loss of her mother had pushed him over the edge into the abyss of anger. It was easier for him to feel hatred and prejudice than loss and grief. She took a deep breath. “I’m not leaving Zachary.”
Zachary’s brow furrowed and his mask of fury faltered briefly, which gave her a flicker of hope. Perhaps he could get past his anger long enough to hear her out and give her another chance.
“Relax, Philip. She’ll come home with us.” Silvio’s dark, hateful stare turned to Annabelle and made her stomach roil. Silvio smirked at her and kept the gun trained on Zach. Annabelle shook her head furiously, but before she could say another word, Silvio cocked the pistol and continued. “I’m impressed you were able to bag one all by yourself, cousin. Although I must say that running off the way you did was ill advised. If it weren’t for Grace, we might never have found you.”
“Oh my God,” Annabelle whispered. Nausea swamped her, and for a moment, she feared she was going to faint. The only person she thought she could trust had betrayed her. “Grace told you where I was?”
“Did you really think we’d let you work in the city without some kind of security in place?” Silvio’s grin widened. “The only reason I allowed you to take that waitressing job was to let you strengthen your gift and get better control over it. I knew that once you had to deal with people all the time, you’d figure out how to manage the visions more effectively. You got stronger, just like I knew you would. Your gift will be a huge asset to the Caedo cause, and it looks as though you’ve managed to snare this one with ease.” His eyes narrowed and he looked Zachary up and down. “Fucking demons.”
“She sure did. Fucked me and then fucked me over.” Zachary turned his body ever so slightly toward her while keeping his gaze on Silvio. “Well, your little spy here put on one hell of an act.”
“It wasn’t an act!” Frustration and outright rage fired through Annabelle from the sting of his words. Tears filled her eyes, and her throat tightened while she struggled to explain herself. She wondered, fleetingly, why Zachary hadn’t used his powers to simply disappear. If he was so furious with her and hated her so much, wouldn’t he have gone away and saved himself? But he stayed. That gave her hope, and some much-needed bravery.
Annabelle tried once again to touch his mind with hers. Get out of here, she pleaded. Visualize yourself anywhere but here. I know you probably hate me and think I set you up, but I swear to God I didn’t.
“I’ve had enough of this. Between the travel and paying off the local cops to clean up the mess after we leave, this entire fiasco has cost me a fortune.” Silvio glanced at Philip and jerked his head toward Annabelle. “Get your troublesome daughter so we can get back to civilization. I’ll take care of him.”
Annabelle? Zachary’s voice shot into her mind on a growl, and her frightened gaze clapped onto his. Run.
What happened next happened in an instant.
Annabelle’s father grabbed her arm, yanking her toward him, and when static suddenly crackled in the air, she knew what was happening. Zachary shifted at the same instant Silvio fired the gun, and Annabelle screamed with outrage as the deafening crack echoed through the room.
Annabelle did the only thing she could think of doing. She launched herself away from her father and toward Zachary. A split second later, Silvio fired again. Pain bloomed in her chest, and it felt like her veins were filled with liquid fire. The blinding pain radiated down her torso, and a scream surrounded her. It may have been hers. She wasn’t sure of anything except that she was dying.
The pain ebbed as swiftly as it came. Her body went numb, and the cold tile floor beneath her had seemingly vanished, giving her the odd sensation of floating. With the feeling of weightlessness, a smile played at her lips when the sound of a lion’s roar rumbled in the distance.
Zachary. The last image Annabelle saw before tumbling into the dark abyss was a pair of furious amber eyes. As they faded away, she whispered, Forgive me.
***
He’d waited one second too long to make his move.
The moment before that Caedo piece of shit fired the gun again, Zachary shifted into his lion and leaped through the air. He landed on Silvio with bone-cracking force, making the gun fly out of his hands and clatter across the floor. His arms and legs pinned to the ground, the human was dwarfed by Zach’s massive size, and the look of surprise on Silvio’s face was almost comical. Zachary snarled as he latched his powerful jaws around the bastard’s neck and clamped down with a satisfying crunch.
A whimpering sound behind him caught his attention. With a roar, he spun around and crouched low, ready to pounce, but the sight in front of him made his heart stop.
Annabelle was covered in blood, and her weeping father held her limp body in his lap, saying her name over and over again, but there was no response from her.
Pure unadulterated fear filled Zachary at the sight of his mate covered in her own blood. He let out an earth-shattering roar, and in a violent rush of energy, he shifted back to his human form.
“Annabelle!” he shouted. Stumbling toward them, he fell to his knees and sent his energy signature in search of hers. He placed one hand on her forehead and the other over her bloodstained hand lying lifelessly on the tile. “You stubborn woman, what the hell did you do?”
For a tense second, he thought that she was dead. That the universe had played the cruelest trick of all and made him fall in love with her just so she could be taken away. However, through the fog of fear, a familiar gentle tendril of energy filtered through the noise and called to him.
“You have to help her,” Philip wept. The man’s shoulders shook as he sobbed and cradled his daughter’s wounded body. “Please. I know you can help her. I’m such a fool. Such a stupid, bitter fool.” Tears streaming down his weathered face, he held her head in the crook of his arm and placed a kiss on her forehead. “My baby. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this.” He turned his watery eyes to Zach. “Please. You can kill me if you want. I don’t care, just please help my baby girl.”
“I’m way ahead of you, old man.” Zachary picked up Annabelle and cradled her against him. Blood seeped from her chest in frightening amounts, and he prayed Tatiana would be able to work her magic. He stepped back and turned his glowing lion eyes to Philip.
Zachary wanted to rip this guy’s head off and eliminate him the same way he
had Silvio—but he didn’t. Philip was Annabelle’s father, and regardless of what he may have done in the past, Zachary would not kill his mate’s father.
“You’ll never be able to see her again. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? She’s now a part of my very own witness protection program. You will tell the other Caedo that I killed Annabelle and Silvio, and then you killed me. Case closed.”
Philip looked dazed but nodded his understanding.
“And one more thing.” A growl rumbled deep in Zachary’s chest, and the sound of it made Philip’s eyes widen. He winced and tried to push himself farther away, but the wall prevented it. “This is your one free pass. If you or any of the others come looking for Annabelle, me, or any of my people…”
“No more.” Philip held up his hands and shook his head adamantly. “I swear it.”
Zachary. Annabelle’s voice, weak and far away, drifted into his mind. Forgive me.
Her body lurched in his arms and fresh blood pumped from the wound in her chest, which elicited a curse from Zachary. Holding her tightly, with her long hair spilling over his arms, he visualized the surgical suite at the prince’s ranch in Montana. The scent of antiseptic filled his head as he whispered the ancient words and vanished in a maelstrom of static.
Chapter 11
The smell of fresh coffee and the sound of birds chirping seeped through the darkness, pulling Annabelle from the longest sleep of her life. Her eyes fluttered open, and she immediately squinted against the bright, invasive sunlight that streamed through the bank of windows to the right of the bed. She was completely disoriented, and for just a moment, Annabelle thought she was back in California at the Caedo house. She tried to push herself to a sitting position, but pain seared across her chest, and the incident with Silvio came roaring back into focus.
“Good to see you back in the land of the living.” A lovely woman with a wide smile and dark hair swept back into a ponytail stepped in front of the window and pulled the sheer curtains closed. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, she came over and helped Annabelle to a sitting position. “Sorry about the sun glare.”
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