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

boyfriend’s only went through the motions of taking her out because they knew it was what they had to do to get her back to their room. They didn’t really want to eat fine food or see a movie. She was pretty sure all of them would have said hell yeah! If she asked if they wanted to skip going out and just stay home and screw. Frank wasn’t like them, he wasn’t trying to flirt or be witty. He wasn’t self-conscious about his healthy sized belly or his hair that was in disarray from the swim in the lake. He treated her like a lady and he didn’t have a ring on his finger.

“Delicious,” she said and sat back in the wicker chair. “But tell me, mysterious Frank. Will I see you again?”

“Are all American women as forward as you?” he asked, a small smile at the edge of his lips, his eyes crinkled in merriment.

“No, I’m one of a kind,” she said, “but you didn’t answer me. I have to go back to the States in a few days so I have no choice but to be forward. Will you wine me and dine me? Will you take me out for a proper Galadorian night on the town?”

“It would be my honor, milady. But must you leave so soon? We could change your return flight easily enough,” he said.

“Maybe,” she said. “But what if you take me out and you’re a big bore and I’m eager to leave?”

Frank looked at her sideways and rubbed his jaw.

“Challenge accepted,” he said, as a sleek black car pulled into the circle driveway. “Give my thanks to Mrs. Stalimanzer, if you please. I’ll call you.”

“You don’t have my number!” Dana yelled down the sidewalk as he hurried towards the car.

He waved, climbed inside and they sped away.

Dana plopped back down in the chair and sighed as the old woman joined her, puffing on her pipe to keep it going.

“Bummer,” she said. “I thought he kind of liked me.”

“Oh, he did,” the lodge keeper answered. “He’ll call. That one is full of surprises.”

Dimitri stripped out of the heavy chain mail as soon as the shadows of the woods enclosed him and shifted to a half man, half wolf form. Almost instantly his feet elongated and became padded, much more suitable for running through the underbrush. With his hands still mostly human, he could carry the ancient armor easily. It didn’t occur to him to simply leave it by the lake and let Frank or James worry about retrieving it. It had been entrusted it to him, the very same chain mail, the Lorica Hamata, which had been worn by the soldier who had pierced Christs’ side when he hung on the cross. The young roman officer had been drenched by the blood and water that poured out. Dimitri wasn’t naive enough to believe the stories, to believe that the blood of the Christ was still visible in the links after two thousand years but he held it with reverence as he ran and noted with some pride that it had been given to him, the outsider. He shifted to his full wolf form once he reached the mouth of the cave and sniffed the air, searching for sign of any more hell spawn but the smells were the same. They had gone into the cave to rest and eat and only one had come out. It was in pieces, food for the bottom feeders in the lake. He double checked the cavern but everything inside was dead. He hated losing his comrades but maybe their deaths hadn’t been in vain. Maybe Stig and the others could find the portal where the monsters were escaping into the mountains of his homeland. Maybe the new king wouldn’t be as obstinate as the old one and they could work together. If not, he was sure there was another plan in the works. He needed to check in with the other wolves. He’d caught their scent as they drove through the village. There were at least a half dozen of his kind hiding out but he’d find them, find out why they were here and what they had in mind.

He shifted back to human, gathered his jeans and boots, slipped into his black leather jacket and carefully wrapped the chainmail in James’ clothes. He fingered the breakaway seams and nodded an appreciative head. It was a good idea. More than once he’d transformed in a rush and came back to find shredded rags to try to hide his nakedness. It was almost less conspicuous to remain a wolf than slink down the streets of St. Petersburg in tattered clothes when there was two feet of snow on the ground.

Scrimson joined the other council members and broken guards in the old woodsman’s hut. They were all torn up, some worse than others, and the councilmen were exhausted. They’d fought their hardest and had lost, the best they could achieve was to keep the beast cornered. If it and its offspring would have charged out together, they would have killed him and Frank and he knew it. Frank was a fierce warrior but he wasn’t a shifter. He’d gone after the baby and he was pretty sure he’d been able to track it down and kill it. If not, James and the wolf man would. He ached all over and was bone tired. He had to rest. New, younger guardians were needed now that portals had been breached. If an earthquake opened one, who’s to say it hadn’t opened more? Or would in the near future? No one knew where they were located or how many there were. The arrogant wolf pup had been right about that.

“It is finished,” Dimitri said as he entered and his nostrils flared at the coppery stench of blood, the sour smell of fear and spent adrenaline. “The creatures are all dead. In your country, anyway. They still roam freely in mine.”

“Where are