Prologue

**This story is the second in the Guardians Next Generation and sixth in the overall Guardians series. While it can be read as a standalone book, there will be references to events and people in the other books that may not be fully explained in this book.

In addition, this book occurs in a parallel timeframe to Shattered Bonds. Crossovers and timeframes from that book will be seen in this book.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy Lily and Aolis’s story. For updates, follow me on social media.

Lily

I’ve known Aolis was my mate since I was born. The Elf Prince even helped deliver me, or that’s the story my Aunt Angel tells me. My mother and I were dying. My Aunt Angel was busy trying to save us, but I was stuck in the birthing canal. A ten-year-old Aolis had come in, placed his hand on my crowning head and guided me through my birth. I, of course, don’t remember any of this and neither do my parents, my mother was near death and bleeding out, my father was half-crazed that he was about to lose his mate and only child.

My father, Rik Forte, is the Alpha of Canyon Ridge pack. The Alpha line has been passed down through our bloodline for generations. When my brother Cohen reaches maturity in a couple of years, my father will pass the line to him.

My mother, Cara Forte, is the first Guardian to have been born from two Guardians. According to my mother and aunts, it was my grandfather, Alpha Anders, and my father that started the change that would allow Guardians to find their fated mates rather than being forced into a mate bond with an Alpha or his son because of the power the Guardians bring to their mate and the pack.

This change started an entirely new generation of Guardians being born from their fated mates. I was the first, the oldest of the next generation. Being a female, I always knew that I would not take over as my father’s heir, and I’m okay with that. I am my mother’s daughter, and as with every other female born in my generation, I am a Guardian. We all have enhanced hearing, sight, smell and strength, more than other wolves and even more than most Alphas. However, my sense of smell has always been the strongest of everyone. Even when I was a child, I was able to smell my brother, Cohen, in my mother’s womb before my parents could. He smells like hot chocolate, a slightly different chocolate than my father’s brownie scent that my mother loves.  My brother, Clint, the youngest of our family, smells like chocolate chip cookies. While I can’t exactly smell myself, my family tells me I smell like our mother, vanilla and honey.

So now, I’ve turned 18 and I feel the mate bond between me and Aolis, but it’s weird. He’s like my big brother. Being mated to him is like being mated to Rich or Emerson, the oldest sons of the other Guardians. He’s been a constant in my life, always there for me, always willing to make time for me, always there when I needed him. But I feel like I’ve missed out. Most she-wolves at least have someone that they’ve kissed. No one will come near me, not only because I am Alpha Rik’s daughter, but because they know that Aolis is my fated mate. So, I’m not sure I want my first kiss to feel like my brother kissing me.

I’m just having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Aolis is my fated mate. But I’m running out of time as Aolis is running out of patience. He’s ten years older than I am and ready to take his place as King of the Fae. My wolf wants him, he wants me, it’s just me that has to figure out what I want.

And I need to do it quickly.