Guardians Of The Shifters (23 page)

“I can assure you, I came alone.”

Her eyes landed back on me. “Do you think that was wise?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Does it really matter what I think?”

She shook her head. “No, not really.”

We stood there staring at each other.

“What are you doing here Ash?”

My pulse kicked up at the sound of my name on her lips and my steps faltered. I stopped moving as she bounded down the rest of the steps, stopping an arm’s length away. I took a deep breath through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth before answering her.

“You killed my cousin.”

Her eyebrows went up.” He attacked me first.”

“So I’ve heard.”

She laughed humorlessly. “So you came here to do what exactly, kill me?”

“Either you or one of the people you love.” I shrugged again. “It doesn’t really matter to me.” I said dryly.

She smiled. “Then what are you waiting for? I’m right here.”

“Yes you are.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then let’s stop this yammering and get on with it.”

I didn’t really want to hit her, so I stood there with my hands balled into fists at my sides. One side of her mouth quirked up.

“If it makes you feel any better, he didn’t scream.”

I could feel the color drain from my face and I know that she was taunting me. But I still didn’t want to hit her. She took a step closer.

“I can tell you how I did it.”

I knew what she was trying to do, she was goading me into making the first move.

“I stepped over him, placed my hands on his chest and watched the fire consume him. It didn’t take long for him to burn to a cinder.”

I clenched my teeth tightly. Every muscle in my body screamed at me to attack. That half, cocky smile she had plastered on her face was what did me in. I swung at her and she easily danced away from it. Of course she did, I didn’t put all I had into it because I didn’t want to hurt her. But I knew, deep down, that she would be the one to hurt me, possibly even kill me.

I originally came here looking for a way out, but seeing her now, I just couldn’t. I noticed with each and every hit or kick I delivered, she would protect her stomach. Could she possibly be pregnant? Fury burned its way through my veins and each of my hits and kicks became harder, connecting with her body more. But all the while, that damned smile was still plastered on her face. I edged off on my attack because I wasn’t one to hurt a soon to be mother, so you could imagine my surprise when she ran at me. She jumped on me, wrapping her legs around my waist and bending backwards and throwing me to the ground. She sat astride me and that’s when I saw it.

I saw the fire dancing in her eyes. I could feel the heat starting to surround her body and I knew that her hybrid side was close to the surface. She looked down at me with her hands inches away from my chest

All the fight within me dissipated as I stared up into her abnormally, beautiful amethyst eyes. My voice came out as a whisper.

“If you do this now, you’ll be following in the footsteps of Levi.”

To get my point across, I looked at her stomach and back up to her eyes.

“Is that what you want for your unborn child?”

Something flashed in her eyes before she slowly rose off of me and standing to her feet.

                                      Chapter 15: CORA

Ash’s words stopped me from killing him and I slowly rose up to my feet, never taking my eyes off of him. I could still hear pounding on the wooden doors of the dining hall. The fire within me receded back to its place just below my rib cage.

The dining hall doors burst open and everyone filed out. Caden found me and wrapped his arms around me tightly. I could feel him shaking. I wondered how close he was to shifting.

From the corner of my eye, I could see other guardians surround Ash with their swords pointed at him. I was able to find my voice.

“Don’t!”

They all looked at me.

“Let him up.”

They all backed away from him slowly, but they still had their weapons by their sides, ready for another attack if need be. Ash climbed to his feet and dusted the dirt off his clothes and skin. I unwrapped myself from Caden and stood next to Ash, looking at everyone.

“It’s time we had a truce with Ash and his people. It’s time we put the fighting behind us. I understand that it may be hard for some of you to do because this is all you’ve ever known. It’s finally time to be safe at last. We all deserve it and so do Ash and his people. I think that if we try to get along and hang out and get to know each other, we’ll see that they aren’t that bad. We are pretty much the same, the only difference between us is that some of us can shift. Other than that, we are all human.”

I heard murmured voices among my people. I caught Caden’s gaze and he stood there smiling at me. I looked at Kevin to see a wide smile on his face. One by one, the people around us nodded their heads in agreement.

After all the excitement dwindled down, we explained to them that we’d take baby steps and see where it goes from here. Ash had his own input and to my surprise, the other guardians and shifters listened.

We spent weeks with the Swiftstrikers. Ash’s friend Caleb took one of the guardians as a girlfriend and I’ll admit, they did pretty well together. At first it was kind of iffy. A few fights broke out but they all ended in laughter and a handshake. I honestly think that this will all turn out great in the end.

                                             EPILOUGE

                                          May 5
th
, Two years later.

Everyone moved out of the safe haven to move on with their new lives, all except Caden, Kevin, Kevin’s wife Joann and I. We took most of the units out, cleared some of the trees and built bigger houses.

Every once in a while, Ash, his wife Carol and their three kids would come over to visit. Caden and I had offered for them to stay here but Ash insisted that living in his mansion was fine.

It has been two years since the truce between our people, everything was perfect for the time being.

I was sitting on the bench by the small pond, watching Caden and our two children play. They were twins so we named the Jacqueline and Jack, after my parents. I loved the three of them to pieces.

Caden swaggered his way over to me and sat down, taking my hand in his as we watched our children play.

“They are perfect, just like their momma.”

I smiled. “No, just like their father.”

Caden captured my mouth with his before he went back to chasing the kids around. His laughter echoed around me, tugging at my heart strings. We have never been happier.

I stood from the bench and caught my son around his middle, lifting him up into the air and spun around. He erupted in a fit of giggles, making me laugh along with him. I smiled upon my family. I’m not sure how long this truce will last but for now, we were all safe at last.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shannon Schoolcraft lives in Northern Michigan with her three children and long term boyfriend. She enjoys reading, long walks, writing stories, imagining life as a vampire and stalking wolves. If you would like to learn more about her books, please visit her here.

Https://www.facebook.com/pages/ShannonSchoolcraft/

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You can find her other books here.

Https://wwww.amazon.com/author/shannonschoolcraft

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