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Lily is a Guardian. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. When I take her in my arms, she breaks down. I’m not sure what happened while I was away, but I intend to find out. I hold her for a moment while she cries before picking her up and carrying her to a chair. Sitting down, I settle her in my lap and let her cry until she cries herself out. I can tell the moment she realizes that I’m wearing nothing but a towel, and I’m holding her in my lap. Her body tenses and I relax my arms, letting her pull back. I rub my thumbs over her cheeks and wipe her tears away. “Better?” She nods. “I’ve been waiting for you to get home all day. I didn’t….” “Shhh, I’m here now. We can figure this out together.” I was so worried about her. It encompassed all my thoughts for the last day and a half. Now, I can’t help but touch her. I tuck her hair behind her ear, sliding my fingers down her cheek. She leans into my hand. “Why don’t you start from the beginning.” I say. It’s everything I
While I’m mortified that Alpha Anders saw me sitting in Clint’s lap, even though nothing was happening, I’m more concerned about what is going to happen next. Now, not just one but two Alphas will know I’m a Guardian. If I had any idea where to go, I’d run. As if sensing my discomfort, Clint comes up behind me, his hands rubbing up and down my arms. “You said you trusted me, right?” He asks, turning me around to face him. “Yes.” I say quietly. “Then trust me that I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t let Anders or Patrick force you into any kind of mate bond. Not that I think either of them will, but if it helps you feel safe, then know that I would never let that happen.” He leans in, kissing my forehead. He’s entirely too close. I can feel the heat from his chest through my clothes. I don’t know if it’s because he just had a shower, but he smells like warm apple pie, fresh from the oven. He smells like home, like my own personal happy place, and it’s making my mouth water.
Donovan is thrashing around in my head so loudly that I can barely hear the conversation going on around me. The only reason he hasn’t forced the shift was Alpha Patrick’s warning that he’d send us out of the room. I’m not leaving Lily, not now that I’ve heard the entire story and know that Alpha Mahli touched what is mine. I’m disappointed that she didn’t trust me enough to tell me what was happening. I only feel slightly better knowing she waited for me to get home and came to me immediately, knowing I would help her. I turn to Patrick. “So, what do we do now? Lily is in danger, not only from this Alpha Mahli, but also from every other Alpha that finds out she is a Guardian.” He turns to Lily. “Lily, do you feel that your father will keep you safe and trust that he will take your feelings into consideration around taking a mate?” I can see Lily struggle. I’m sure she wants to say that she believes that he would keep her safe, but he’s given her trust in him quite a blow over the
I follow Beta Calvin to a room on his floor. It’s nice, but I feel like a stranger in this room. I go sit on the bed with nothing else to do. Nothing in this room is mine. I have no clothes, no toiletries, nothing. The reality of my situation comes crashing down on me. My father was going to sell me to an Alpha to pay his gambling debts. I’ve never felt so lost or scared. I’m nervous for how my father will react when Alpha Patrick speaks to him. Will he yell at me? Most likely. Based on how he responded earlier, he will be furious and try to make this about me being ungrateful. I don’t know how my mother will feel. I can’t believe she knew anything about this. But she does what my father tells her to do. She has always been a good mother, but she never goes against my father. Now that her being a good mother and a good mate are at odds, I’m pretty sure that the mate bond will win. Will she be angry with me as well? Will she blame me for whatever punishment my father receives from Alph
As Lily closes the door, I immediately hear her sniffles and soft sobs. I clench my fists and go in search of Patrick. I’m furious that they didn’t throw her father in the cells or at least make sure he returned home. I find him in his office. I walk in without knocking. He looks up and when he sees it’s me, he sits back in his chair, folding his hands together on his desk. “Clint? Something on your mind?” I should sit down, but my temper won’t let me settle. “I took Lily for a run tonight to get her out after everything that happened.” I look up to see if he’s going to make some smart comment, but he remains quiet, watching me. “Her father was laying in wait for us when we returned.” That got his attention. He sits up, leaning forward. “Where?” “Outside the packhouse. Called her slut, ungrateful and basically blamed her for everything. Then he said something about it all being a misunderstanding and Lily will be moving back home when it’s figured out.” I turn to look at him, my
I’m warm and comfortable when some rude person starts shaking me awake. “Lily, wake up, we have to get back to your room.” That jolts me awake and I shoot up. I’m outside, on the roof with Clint. I fell asleep. I’d been tossing and turning all night and on impulse, I texted him. When he brought me up here, I was ready to stomp right back to my room until he told me I was the only one he’d every brought up here. And then…..I fell asleep, almost immediately. Between Clint’s fingers in my hair and Donovan’s purring in my ear, I didn’t stand a chance. Clint is standing up, holding out his hand to me. “We have to get you back to your room before anyone notices.” “What time is it?” I ask, moving off the blanket and letting him fold it up and put it back where he stores it. “Early, but not early enough. We both fell asleep.” He gets to the slanted roof and carefully slides down before turning, reaching out for me with one hand and putting a finger to his lips. The universal sign to be qu
While I expected Calista to support Lily, it was nice to have it confirmed. As much as I want to be the one Lily goes to when she’s worried or upset, our relationship isn’t at that point yet. She needs the support of her lifelong friend. As we’re pulling up into the parking lot, Calista asks one more question. “So, Alpha Patrick knows what happened, but who is looking out for you? You’re not 18 yet.” “Alpha Patrick has taken over as my parental guardian. My mother could have come to stay with me, but I expected her to stay with my father, and she did.” “Well,” Calista says as we exit the car, “I guess I’ll just have to come to the packhouse to so we can do our homework together.” I watch as she wraps her arm around Lily’s shoulders, and they begin walking to the school entrance. Anders and I walk behind them, almost in a protective stance. I’m not sure what look we have on our faces, but no one approaches us as we walk inside. We split off to go to our lockers. I can see that Lily
Dinner was strange. First, I don’t usually eat in the packhouse. Since my parents have their own house, we usually eat there unless there is a pack event. But Clint insisted that I eat with him and Anders, which meant that I am sitting with all the ranked wolves. If people hadn’t noticed that I had moved to the packhouse before, they certainly notice that I am getting special treatment by eating with our ranked members. When I sit, Luna Olivia and Beta Naomi turn their attention to me. “Lily, dear, how have you settled into your room? Do you have everything you need?” Luna Olivia turned to me. “Oh, Alpha Patrick had my things brought over today. I haven’t checked but I should have everything I need. Thank you.” “If not, please let me know, or Naomi can help you. You are closer to her room if it’s something urgent.” “Thank you both, I really appreciate it. I don’t want to be a burden.” “I was thinking it was nice to have another she-wolf at this table.” Beta Naomi whispers so only
Hello everyone, Thank you for taking this journey with me. As many of you may have read, Lily was adamant that I tell her story. And while it took longer in the beginning than I expected, I hope you got to see what a great person she is. Many of you have asked for a continuation of the series and your wish is granted! My first book about the Guardian's children, Shattered Bonds, is out now. This is Richie and Emlyn's story but will touch on many of the Guardian children as they have all grown up together. You will also get glimpses of Lily's story, which is scheduled to be the second book in the series and Alexander's, or Xander as he's called by his friends and family. Xander's book is scheduled to be third and Leana's book is scheduled to be fourth. I'm trying not to get far ahead of myself, my brain starts writing books long before I'm ready to put them on paper. But, I do have a tentative story line for Xander and Leana and Lily's book has already start writing itself in my head.
We watch as Angel and Cara explain the best that they can what Grace did to save the packs. She probably could have done it on her own, but I was concerned for her child. Having whatever strength she pulled from everyone was great, but she wasn’t reserving any for herself. She would have given everything to save them. That is something I understand very well. I would have done the same in her position. But Clint and I had the ability to save her, to make sure that she had enough reserves to survive. “You were never meant to be this strong.” Selene says, coming up behind us as we watch everyone wakes up, or, come back to life, because that's really what they are doing. They were dead and now they are alive. “What do you mean?” I ask her. “I created the Guardians to strengthen the packs. You were always meant to find your fated mates and birth a new generation of stronger wolves. I guess I should have known that the Alphas would not want to part with the strength and power that the Gu
At first, when the vampire sank his teeth into my neck, I fought. I probably could have defeated him, even in my disadvantaged state. But then, I realized if I died, I’d be with my Lily bud. I feel my tether to everyone in my life break and I tell Lily I’m coming as everything goes dark. When I open my eyes, I’m back in the meadow that I found myself in right after Lily died. I sit up and look around. All I care about is finding my Lily bud. I’m going to hold her and kiss her and remind her of what being my mate means. I’m happy when I realize I can stand. It takes me a moment to readjust to being able to walk again. “Look at this Donovan!” I say, wanting to share my excitement with my wolf. I’m met with silence. “Donovan?” I say, looking around like I’m going to find him in the meadow. What I find instead is my heart, my soul, the love of my life. “Mate.” She says and it makes my heart sing again. It’s just like it was that day beside the lake and I have to let her know that I st
I’ve continued to watch the life of my family. I’ve watched my daughter grow into a beautiful woman. She is not only beautiful on the outside, but she’s also beautiful on the inside. Clint has done such a great job raising her, as I knew he would. And I love that he still talks to me at night, as if I’m right beside him, which, of course, I am. I’ve watched as Cara developed a sweet romantic interest in Liam, watched while Rik finally realized who my daughter is and began laying his claim to her and I never left her side when Eli kidnapped her. Andra had snarled and snapped at him every time he came in to try and mark our daughter. Not that it made a difference, but we were there, trying to protect her. So, I was there when they went to Araphyra. Donovan wasn’t the only one that seemed to remember King Ailduin’s name. Andra sat up when they mentioned him. “Do you remember him, Andra?” She looks at me and chuffs. Her memory seems to be stronger than Donovan’s. When they arrive, Andr
For the next few years, I get into a pattern of training Cara. We train early in the morning, then while she is at school, I work on my upper body strength by building and testing the training facilities I’m building for her. It’s a work in progress, but I feel closer to Lily while I build this for our daughter. In the afternoons, I train Cara again, sometimes joining her, and then it’s dinner, homework and bed before we turn around and do it again. Cara is the absolute best daughter a parent could ever want. I don’t know if it’s because we had those years after Lily’s death where I struggled to be present, but she never tests me. She is smart, and we talk about her schoolwork, her studies, and I give her extra Guardian studies during the weekends when she’s training her endurance in the pool. The older Cara gets, the more she looks like Lily. She’s gorgeous and I’m thankful that she has listened to everything I’ve told her about the mate bond and that she’s waiting for her mate. I t
My Lily bud is always here, watching over me and Cara. It changes things for me. It makes the days easier. I have no intention of letting my mate down, so I begin to plan what needs to happen to train my daughter and make her the strongest Guardian alive. That does give me a moment of pause. Guardians are reborn, so where is Andra's Guardian spirit? I would look after her too, make sure she is safe. I need to talk to Anders about that, see if she’s popped up somewhere and I’ve just been so lost in my grief that I didn’t pay attention. The next couple of days, I make a plan to build a training ground for Cara. I make a list of all the materials I'll need and what I can do in the interim while I’m building. When I go to the store for my dinner with Anders, I grab some steaks, potatoes and green beans. I pick Cara up from school and send her to the table to do her homework while I start dinner. It’s Thursday and I have a lot to prepare before Anders arrives. “Dad, what’s going on?” Car
Time moves differently in this place. At first, it moved slowly. I spent a lot of time with Cara and Clint as they were hurting so much. Most nights, I would sleep beside Clint. But if I heard Cara crying, I’d go lay down with her. Sometimes I would spend time with Calista who holds a lot of guilt for my death. No matter how many times Anders tells her it wasn’t her fault, she still blames herself. I listen to my daughter when she calls Liam, crying on the phone, or telling him something funny that happened at school. She’s afraid to tell her father, although he usually already knows. But she doesn’t want to upset him because she is finding small moments of happiness. Liam is always a good friend to her, supporting her and validating her feelings. I’m not sure I realized how important it was for him to have me, until I watch how valuable having him is to Cara. I watch as Clint slowly begins to live again. I like sitting with him at my memorial. It’s like he’s really talking to me. An
When I returned to the packhouse after being in the hospital, Anders had moved most of my things to a room on the first floor. It was just another reminder of how far I had fallen. The name stuck and I could hear people whispering about ‘the broken warrior’. I waited until after Lily’s funeral before approaching Anders. “I’m leaving Anders.” “Where are you headed, Clint.” He asks me as we navigate through the packhouse. It was never meant to house a wheelchair. Anders has made accommodations for me, but it’s not how the packhouse was built. “I’m taking Cara and we’re leaving. I can’t stay here.” He stops, turning to look at me. “No.” “You don’t have a say in it. I’m no good to you anymore. I’m not even capable of being your Guardian.” "You're still a warrior in this pack." "But a broken warrior, right? Isn't that what everyone is calling me, the broken warrior? I can’t live like this. I won’t live like this." Anders snarls and he immediately sends out an Alpha command telling
I wake up in a beautiful meadow. It feels like spring. The air is warm, but not hot. There’s a stream gurgling nearby and birds are singing all around me. I sit up, looking around. ‘Andra?’ My head is empty. Andra is gone. Is this death? I’m in a beautiful place, but I’m alone? “Andra!” I yell, looking around. And that’s when I see her. Selene. Beside her is a beautiful brown wolf. “Andra?” She comes bounding over to me, tackling me to the ground. “Andra. Oh Andra!” I say, hugging her and running my fingers through her fur. I look up and stand as Selene walks up. “Lily.” She says to me before looking around. “Is this your realm?” I ask her, following her gaze. “No, it isn’t. It seems you Guardians continue to surprise me. You’ve put yourself in a place where it appears you can choose.” “Choose?” “Choose to come with me to my realm or stay and watch over your family and friends.” She gestures in a direction, and I see what looks like a pack gathering in the distance. “Why ca