Winter's Guardian

by G. Bailey

"That's no problem. I can choose something for you." Albert nods before leaving.

  "The lobster is really tasty here, it’s a favourite of mine but anything here is. The chef is known around the world for his cooking talents and has won many awards. I wouldn’t stop eating if that man cooked for me all the time." Wyatt says as I skim though the menu.

  “I do like fish, it sounds really good.” I reply, wondering how expensive the food must be here. The menu doesn’t have any prices, which makes it expensive. I don’t know if I like Wyatt spending that much money on me, I know he must be well off because of his car. It’s still something I’m not sure how to get used too. We wasn’t poor by any means growing up, we had a lovely two bedroom house in a nice neighbourhood and my mum found enough to take us on a few nice holidays over the years. I’ve just never been to a place as expensive as this, and honestly I think I’m a little intimated by it all. I don’t want to ruin tonight, so I force myself to act comfortable.

  I decide on the mixed fish food plate they do and as the waiter brings us our drinks, I order my food and Wyatt has the same as me.

  "How did you find this place, it's almost magical." I inquire as I look around. The walls look like they are polished brown stone and there are a few couples on the other tables who look more interested in the room than their partners. The thoughts of what Harris said about other supernatural flutters to my mind as I look around the place. It's really a very magical place with the lights that look like they are hovering above us, too bright for me to make out what kind of lights they are. The table even has a rose in a vase, which looks too perfect to be real.

  "This place was created by my mother. I actually own it now but it always feels like hers, rather than mine. My mother was just like this place, unique and stunning." He looks around the room as he talks; his eyes are distant with a lost memory.

  "Your mother had beautiful taste in things," I comment.

  "She did. She was a magical person inside and out, you could say." He smiles and I'm reminded how handsome he is when he does. We chat about normal things until our food arrives and Wyatt was right, the bit of lobster I had was amazing, as it all was.

  "Would you like desert, sir?" Albert asks as we come back.

  "Yes, a chocolate pudding to share please." He says and Albert nods before he leaves.

  "How did you know I wanted desert?" I ask with a slight smile when he grins at me.

  "Well, a little bird told me of your weak spot for chocolate." He says with a wink.

  "Alex." I groan and he nods, laughing. She is right; I have a serious addiction to chocolate. I really believe the stuff should be banned because it’s the main problem for my hips and ass. No, actually I don’t want it banned, I would have to buy it illegally and then end up in prison on a chocolate overdose.

  "What else did she say?" I ask, feeling my cheeks going red.

  "I'm afraid we discussed you’re running around the house naked phase at seven, and my favourite memory is the time you tried to save a cat in a tall tree and got stuck for a whole night, while everyone searched for you." He laughs with me as I chuckle. I put my hands on my red cheeks trying to hide them.

  "The damn cat betrayed me,” I say with a pout as Wyatt laughs.

  “How did the cat betray you?” He manages to say between laughter.

  “The cat climbed down, once I got up and walked off. I had to have firefighters use their truck ladders to get me down." Wyatt laughs harder as I add,

  "The whole neighbourhood, who had looked for me, had to watch as I was thrown over one of the men shoulders and my trousers fell down, flashing everyone my kitten knickers," I say with a slight grumble that makes Wyatt laugh more.

  I can't help but laugh with him, as I plan ways to get back at my revealing friend later.

  The waiter smiles as he hands us the chocolate pudding cake with only one spoon.

  Wyatt calms down enough to break off a bit of mouth-watering cake and smirks at me.

  "Try this," he whispers as he leads the spoon to my mouth, and slowly feeds me the cake. I can't help the small moan that escapes my lips as I taste the amazing flavour of the cake.

  I look up to see Wyatt eyes almost glowing black before he looks away.

  "You can have the rest if you want." He says gently.

  "We can share," I say and we take turns feeding each other. It became way too much of a turn on every time he licked the spoon that I had to go to the toilet to calm down and get away from him for a second before I do or say something embarrassing. I finish in the bathroom and when I come back to the table, there is a man in my seat.

  I can only see his back and he has a lot of shiny white hair, it’s tied loosely at the nape of his neck in braids and meets his middle back. There are odd bits of silver in it, must be a really good dye job. When I get to the table, both the men stop talking and Wyatt looks up at me with a slight smile. The white haired man is even more impressive up front. He has a handsome baby face, with white eyebrows that I wouldn’t think could look hot on a guy, but it does for him. His purple eyes are big and bright as he stares at me; I notice he is wearing some kind of white tunic with what looks like white trousers underneath that showcase his massive build. I would guess he as big as Jaxson, or just a tad bigger than Wyatt but who knows. When he smiles at me, two perfectly placed dimples appear.

  “Wyatt, where have you been hiding this gorgeous one?” He asks and I watch in slight curiosity as he stands and offers me my chair back. I was wrong about his height, he towers over me and I feel tiny next to him. I take the chair and feel his large fingers slide across my back as he tucks me in.

  “Dabriel this is Winter.” Wyatt introduces with a friendly smile on his lips. I’m a little surprised he didn’t take offence to this guy calling me gorgeous but maybe they are just good friends.

  “Nice to meet you, that’s an unusual name you have,” I comment and smile up at him from my seat. I watch as Dabriel gets another chair from a nearby table and moves it next to ours, before sitting on it.

  “So is Winter. Were you born in winter by any chance?” Dabriel winks at me and I laugh.

  “Nope, my birthday is in May. I asked my mum about it once and she said she just loves winter. It’s odd actually because when it’s cold at home, she hates it.” I say and we all laugh a little.

  “How do you guys know each other?” I ask, Dabriel looks the same age as Wyatt, so maybe they grew up together.

  “We have been friends for a long time, Atti will want to meet you, and he is our other friend. It’s a shame that Jax won’t speak to us still.” Dabriel says and I briefly panic before realising that they couldn’t mean Jaxson. That would be possible; I couldn’t imagine the big bad wolf having friends that are human. No, it’s just a coincidence.

  “I bet he would and one day Jax will stop being an idiot.” Wyatt shakes his head.

  “Yeah, that’s not happening.” Dabriel laughs.

  “Can I call you Dab? I like it.” I say randomly.

  “You can call me whatever hot stuff.” Dabriel winks,

  “That was bad. Winter said I was bad at hitting on her but come on. He is worse.” Wyatt waves a hand at a laughing Dabriel.

  “Ok, I'll admit your both bad. How do you get dates?” I laugh at their pouting faces.

  “Must be the good looks.”

  I think and realise too late that I’ve said it out loud. Both of them grin at me.

  Men and their egos.

  “I have to leave, but I will see you again Winter,” Dabriel says as he gets to his feet.

  “Dabriel,” Wyatt warns in a low voice.

  “It’s true; it’s not the right time but soon.” Dab tells Wyatt and them both stare each other down before Wyatt nods. He looks at me and eventually smiles.

  “Soon Winter.” Dabriel says before walking off, I watch until he leaves the restaurant up the large wooden staircase.

  “Sorry about Dabriel, he is different and well not usually this friendly. Honestly, I’ve
never seen him come out with such terrible pickup lines before.” Wyatt apologies.

  “I thought he was nice,” I say, not wanting to tell him that I actually thought he was hot as sin, wrapped up in a tight package. I wonder what colour his eyes are usually; I think he must have worn some cool eye contacts. I remember when Alex brought some pink ones and she looked really creepy for a while. It kind of suits Dabriel.

  “Nice is not a word I’m sure Dabriel has ever been called.” Wyatt chuckles to himself, his dark eyes meeting mine.

  “How did you meet him?” I ask, breaking the building tension between us.

  “Our fathers all hated each other, when they were all alive at least. We all protested against them by being secret friends as kids. Atti was the first to come to us all, he found a way without anyone knowing and then we all used to meet once a week. As we got older, they became like brothers to me. We all have our own family issue’s and it was great way to escape.” He says.

  “Sounds like most kids, tell them not to do something, and they will go straight ahead to do it.” I chuckle.

  “I enjoyed tonight, spending time with you is relaxing,” Wyatt tells me.

  “Me too,” I whisper with blushing cheeks and he runs his fingers across my hand on the table. We leave not long after and on the way home I look over at Wyatt.

  "Thank you for tonight; I had a really good time," I say and I mean it. Being with Wyatt had become relaxing. Jaxson is so intense that I feel like I’m going to kill him half the time, whereas being with Wyatt is fun. It doesn’t mean I’m not intensely attracted to him because I am but being with him feels right.

  "How about next week, the same time? I’m free Friday if you are and I could invite Atti to meet you," He asks.

  "I would like that, I like getting to know you and meeting your friends," I say gently, placing my hand on his arm.

  Wyatt stops the car on the side of the road, ignoring my questioning gaze. I let him undo my seatbelt and pull me onto his lap.

  "It's so hard to be around you all night, and not beg you for a kiss." He says before his hands cup my face and his cold lips meet mine. My hands curl around his neck and into his hair, as he kisses his way down my jaw and to my neck. I lean my head back to give him more access but he pulls away looking at me, his hands tightly holding my waist.

  "You’re beyond temptation, you know that?" He groans, kissing my forehead before lifting me and clipping me back in my seat.

  "Am I?" I flirt a little, as I check him out with his messy hair from my hands. I like the relaxed look on him.

  "If you keep looking at me like that sweetheart, I will end up showing you in my car how much of sexy temptation you are." He says as smirks at me.

  Wyatt drops me off home with a sweet kiss, not letting the kiss go any further as I scowl at him.

  "I don't want to rush this, us. There are things I haven't told you and I need you to know before we become serious." He says rubbing my arms, as he pulls me into his chest for a hug. I wonder what he needs to tell me? I mean I have the feeling he is a good guy, well I hope he is. My thoughts go back to when we first met, how scary he was to me and how much I wanted to run. I can’t understand what changed my mind other than he seems like a different person to who he was when we first met. He seems warmer.

  "No rush," I whisper back confirming his thoughts. My feelings rush to Jaxson and how different it feels to be held by him. Wyatt feels relaxed and safe in a way. Jaxson feels wild and untamed but safe in the same kind of way.

  "Goodnight Winter." He whispers as he kisses the top of my head. I walk into my apartment locking the door behind me with a large grin on my face.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dabriel

  The prophecy said she would be the one for me but I didn’t expect to fall her the moment I met her. I had been warned about a human girl all my life but my visions never warned me about how it feels. I saw myself meeting her tonight; I saw how happy I was. For once in my life, I actually felt a peace when I walked into that restaurant; my powers weren’t pressing me to heal everyone in the room that had anything from a paper cut to cancer.

  My mind and eyes couldn’t look away from her. Winter has an aura like no other, like a glowing blue beacon and it’s beautiful, much like her. Her dark brown hair looks softer than fairy wings and her body was made to make angels fall. I can’t actually fall by mating with humans because that’s just a human rumour. We angels are born either light or dark, two light angels can have a dark angel child, and much like two dark angels can have a light child. We don’t mix our races yet somehow the Goddess always chooses who we belong too.

  “We have a problem,” I say to Wyatt, flying down next to his car outside Winters apartment. I flew behind them, watching as he kissed her. I can’t say I’m a little jealous but I’m trying not to be.

  “Yeah what?” he asks as he watches my wings. Supernaturals are always fantasised with our wings. We hide them from humans most the time and I was a little surprised that Winter didn’t see through my glamour tonight at the restaurant. Her powers are coming through but I’m not sure what they are, what she is.

  “Jax is protecting her; our little wildfire is tangling with the wolves,” I tell Wyatt who looks over at me in shock.

  “How?” He asks finally.

  “Jax didn’t tell me. All I know is that he hasn’t killed her and they have swapped blood. He thinks of her as his pack. I didn’t see it in a vision until after it happened or I would have stopped it.” I tell Wyatt who nods.

  “We always knew she would find us all. I’m more surprised that Jax didn’t try to kill her. I smelt a faint wolf on her but I assumed she has a friend at school.” Wyatt says and I nod.

  “My visions aren’t clear about her. There is one but I’m only getting a party and a bad feeling.” I tell him.

  “You need to work on that brother.” He smirks.

  “I don’t like it. I’ve never been stopped from seeing something important before. Winter’s future is lost to me; all I see is death and love.” I say tensely, my visions have never been something I’ve feared but now they scare me.

  “What can we do? We have to be here for her and lead her along her path.” Wyatt tells me. Like I don’t already know this.

  “What is your father up to? My council has told me he has called us three times. Each time he wants us to stay out of something. I haven’t seen any visions about him in a long time, enough time that I believe he is blocking me somehow.” I tell Wyatt. A worried look on his face as he thinks, his father is pure evil unlike Wyatt and anything he does, everyone needs to be aware of. He won’t risk a war with the angels or witches. As far as I know, we are both still neutral, the witches are siding more and more with the wolves, and I bet Wyatt’s dad knows this.

  “How could he block you?” He asks me.

  “No clue man,” I tell him, I don’t know of any power that could block us. I look over at Winter’s simple apartment; it’s a grey building like many others in this town. It’s nothing remarkable and neither is our university, so why did Winter turn up here. I think someone must have known about her and sent her to the town with the most supernaturals in. The only place she could have met all of us.

  “I’m doing a protective ward on her building, Atti is going to come tonight and put another layer of protection on it.” I tell Wyatt.

  “Make sure the wolves can enter.” He says while watching the apartment.

  “Aren’t you worried Jax will hurt her?” I ask. I’m half tempted to tell Wyatt no. I don’t want Jax near her when he is like this. The brother I grew up with, one of my best friends is lost because of his sister’s death. A death I saw way too late.

  “If he does, I will beat the shit out of him,” Wyatt says bluntly. I have no doubt he would. Jax only hates me and Atti because we sided with Wyatt when he needed us. There was no right or wrong person but Jax didn’t see that. That wolf is as stubborn as the rest of us.

  “So would I. I'm more worri
ed about her heart,” I tell Wyatt.

  “She will fall for me instead,” He laughs, messing with his wavy blonde hair.

  “I'll be around.” I narrow my eyes at him and he smirks at me.

  “I’m sure you won’t go far.” He replies, a slight challenge in his gaze. There isn’t the normal jealously you would expect to find when I think about sharing Winter. I know if I had to share her with anyone else, I would lose it. My best friends are different, I guess it helps that I’ve always known I would have to share her. Sharing mates is not unheard of with many of our kinds, with our races not bringing out an even amount of females and males. The slight problem with us sharing is that it’s never happened before. I know all our families would lose their shit over this; I have enough problems with my two younger brothers as it is. They highly dislike me and want the throne I will inherit from my council in a year. The problem is, I have to follow every one of the council’s rules or they will give my throne to one of my brothers. They dislike me as much as I dislike them, a bunch of very old angels who believe their word is law and we shouldn’t help others.

  “I researched her family.” He tells me, shaking me from my own issues. Winter is all that matters now.

  “and?”

  “One mother, no other family but there isn’t a birth certificate for Winters birth. There’s a fake one, and it was made when Winter was a least two years old. I want to meet her mother and ask some questions.” He tells me. I have a big suspicion that Winter isn’t human, maybe a half of something. Purely because I’ve never seen humans have such a strong aura. Or a blue one for that matter.

  Vampires have a black aura, angels are yellow, witches are purple and shifters are green. Humans are gold.

  “Her father?” I ask.

  “None around, her mother grew up in the small town she lives in. She moved into her family home when her parents passed away. I saw that she went to university a few years before Winter was born but nothing else.” He says.

  “It’s odd. I expected her parents to protect her from us, not send her straight to us.” I tell him. I knew we would meet her eventually but I expected her to have protective parents. I know she isn’t all human because of a seer, a very old angel, told us that she would have strong parents. That was over hundred years ago, way before any of us were born so who knows. It could all be hearsay.