Heart of the Guardians: Adoring Destiny by Adrianna Adore (best big ereader .TXT) 📗

after him so I sold his car and took the money and now we’re here so you might as well make the best of it and see him because I think he would be soooo happy to see you.”

She took a breath, threw back the rest of her drink and poured herself another.

“I think that’s everything,” she said to Claire’s wide eyes and mouth in a perfect O, “I’m sorry for lying, Claire but I know you. You wouldn’t have come over here if I hadn’t tricked you, you would have waited for him to make the first move. But he’ll be a king in a few days and running a country. He could never come back to pretend he was a teacher. You would both be miserable for the rest of your lives if you didn’t at least try. You would always look back and wonder.”

“He doesn’t have a wife?”

“No.” Dana said. “He has duties and they came to get him so he could do those duties. This is his city, his people, his country. A king is forever, he’ll never be out of office.”

“He could have told me.” Claire said, still trying to wrap her head around everything.

“Men are dumb.” Dana said. “He probably thought he was protecting you or some other chivalrous nonsense.”

Claire touched the pendant around her neck and her eyes got big.

“He’s taking us to the palace! They think I’m part of the family!” she exclaimed and held up the emerald bear head. “James gave me this, he said it had been in the family forever. I thought he meant it was his grandma’s or something, not a royal heirloom.”

“Well, that’s not so bad.” Dana said. “We’ll be able to find him easily enough.”

“NO!” Claire said, aghast. “There will be questions. Gossip. What will people say if they find out that he… that we…”

She broke off, scooted to the front of the limo and rapped on the divider separating them from the driver.

“We can’t go to the palace,” she said. “Can you take us to a hotel?”

There were no rooms available anywhere in the city but the driver knew of a bed and breakfast at the edge of the black forest an hour out of town.

“An old gypsy woman runs a rambling lodge out there,” he said, “she usually caters to the hikers and climbers but there was a decree issued by the government, no one is allowed in the woods until they find and eliminate some rabid animals. It seems they’ve killed some people but don’t you worry. The hostel will be safe enough.”

6

Fight

The guard stopped the Jeep at the foot of the trail that wound up through the black forest to the base of the mountain. They climbed out and set a steady pace, jogging up the path towards the rest of the guards and guardians that had an unnaturally cornered in a cave.

“The deaths of my people fall on you.” James said “There will be a reckoning when this is over.”

“No. It falls on your King and the Council.” Dimitri said. “They wouldn’t see reason, they forced us into desperate measures.”

“You wolves can’t just do what you want! People died. People got hurt!” James replied, his anger growing at the insolence.

“My people are dying every day because of your council’s incompetence.” Dimitri shot back. “You know nothing. You’re not even a member, when was the last time you even sat in on a Guardians meeting?”

“I don’t have to.” James said. “They have everything under control.”

“No, they don’t.” Dimitri replied. “They are old, weak and useless. They are set in their ways and refuse to acknowledge the danger of an open portal in my country because they are too tired to fight and don’t care if my people die. What have you done to help? What have you done with your life? I see you in the papers, I see you going to parties on yachts, dancing at star studded galas, posing with your Ferrari. You’re a rich, spoiled brat who has never suffered a day of hardship.”

“We don’t shift into bloodthirsty savages who kill for sport.” James shot back. “We can control our changes. We’ve worked hard over the centuries and built a society, not remained as monsters so we’re allowed a little luxury.”

“You think we chose to be wolves?” Dimitri asked. “Do you know how many centuries it’s been since werewolves roamed the forests searching for prey? Your kind have shunned us since the beginning and hunted us since the middle ages, nearly into extinction. Your kind hasn’t allowed us a seat at the council even though it’s been three hundred years since a wilding.”

James grew up hearing the stories of the wolves from his Uncle Karsten, of how they were mindless killing machines that couldn’t control themselves, especially when the moon was full. He hadn’t thought much of them, had accepted the tales as truth. Everyone believed them.

“You know why there has been only a rare few werewolf attacks in hundreds of years?” Dimitri continued as they wound their way up the path. “Because we had to implement a method of control before you hunted us down and killed us all. You glorify yourselves in books and stories and movies. Vampire hunters. Werewolf killers. Always you hide your animal side and pretend the cunning human part of you is the righteous hunter, the mighty warrior. Becoming a werewolf isn’t a choice, it’s who we are. It’s how we’re born. Unlike the witches and warlocks, the far seers or fortune tellers or even you lions and bears, our change can bring madness. Our change can get us killed by the ones we love. It is the way we have chosen and it is the way things must be. Do you know anything at all about us?”

James didn’t answer as they hurried up the trail and Dimitri took it as a no.

“Puberty brings about the first shift into our animal form and we don’t know what it will be until