Filed to story: Cara Nelson The Guardian: Werewolf Book PDF Free
“If it looks like I’ll be caught, if it looks like they are going to take me, I want you to mark me.”
I jerk back as if she’s struck me. “I won’t let it come to that.” I say, my mind. reeling.
Of course, I want to mark her, she’s my mate. But I don’t want to mark her under those conditions. I want her to accept me, to want the bond. I want what Rik and Liam have with their mates. I want the love and respect that I see between them. Forcing my mark, even if she’s asking me to, will not give us the start to a relationship where that type of love and respect comes easily.
“Please.” Her voice sounds broken, like she’s on the verge of tears. “Please promise me. I’d rather be forced into a bond with my mate then with a complete stranger. So please, promise me.”
I clench my teeth. Can I promise this? I made this mistake once. I learned my lesson. A forced mate bond is the start of a fractured mate bond.
1 look at her, her eyes glistening in the dark. “I promise that if I cannot keep you safe, or get you away, I will mark you before I allow another wolf to mark you.”
She nods and lays her head back down. I can feel the wetness of her tears on my chest. I kiss the top of her head, rubbing my fingers in her hair, massaging her scalp. Eventually, I feel her body relax and her breathing even out.
I don’t know when I fell asleep or how long I’ve been sleeping when the sound of shuffling at the door wakes me up. When you’ve been on the run as long as I have, your subconscious becomes hyper aware of every sound you hear in your sleep. I gently pull myself out of Grace’s embrace and silently go to the door. I look out through the peep hole and see two people making out against the wall by our door. They are either really drunk and at the wrong door, or they are shifters. and pretending to be distracted to try to get closer to us.
I take a deep breath. I can smell the alcohol on one, but the other is definitely a shifter. I can’t tell if it’s a werewolf or some other kind of shifter. I growl low and quiet, so only the shifter can hear me and I can see his or her reaction. I immediately know it’s the male. His head jerks to my door and I see him take in a deep breath before turning to the drunk woman.
“Come on Cher, we’re at the wrong door. We don’t want to wake anyone up.” He says with a Cajun accent before pulling her down the hallway. I listen until I hear a door open and sounds of their little make out session quiet down.
I spent some time in Louisiana, and while there are wolf packs there, it’s more. likely that he was a fox or maybe even a coyote shifter. Either way, I wait until I hear the sounds of the woman screaming her pleasure before I crawl back into bed with Grace. Her warm body immediately curls up next to mine. She throws her leg across my body, and I can’t help the instant reaction. I’m rock hard, my dick pinned against my stomach by her leg. Every time she shifts, it adds to the discomfort and the need for my mate that has been building inside me since I found her. I won’t be getting any sleep like this, but I’d rather be uncomfortable with her laying against me, than alone without her.
I gently rub her back and grit my teeth until she settles against me and I’m finally able to fall asleep again.
The next morning, I wake her early. “Grace, wake up baby. We need to go.”
She groans before opening her eyes and realizes that she’s practically laying across me. “Oh my goddess, I’m sorry.” She says, leaping from the bed.
“It’s fine. But there is a shifter here that is staying a few rooms down the hall. I’m not comfortable staying here, just in case. Let’s leave and we can stop and get breakfast on our way to the bus station.
She grabs her bag and heads to the bathroom to change. I grab mine, trying to hide my morning wood. When she comes out of the bathroom, I go in, quickly taking care of my growing erection, which doesn’t take long since I’m surrounded by her scent. After I get dressed, and we’ve both gotten ready, we head out. I make sure to check the area before letting Grace out and then quietly close our door, just in case the shifter was supposed to be keeping an eye on us.
We stop on the way to the bus station and grab some breakfast. I make sure we are sitting at a table where we can’t easily be seen from outside, but I can watch anyone walking by the diner. We order coffee and breakfast. As we’re eating, I see the shifter from last night walking by, looking around. He looks in the diner but doesn’t see us. Shit, he is working for the wolves. on the
“Change of plans. Time for us to go.” I say to Grace. I drop some money table and we walk out the door of the diner, turning in a different direction than the shifter. I take a deep breath, trying to catch his scent.
“Do you smell that?” I ask Grace. She takes a deep breath and nods her head.
“That’s who is following us. If you smell it again, even faintly, let me know.”
She nods and we begin walking around the diner. I had checked out a map, so I’m familiar with the grid-like layout of this town. I take us to a back road and begin making our way toward the bus station. Once we get there, I slowly make my way up to the buses, keeping my eye out for him. I finally spot him, waiting in the center of the bus station, sitting like he’s waiting for a bus. If I hadn’t seen him earlier, I might believe that’s what he was doing, but not now.
I point him out to Grace, then begin sneaking around the buses, trying to find ours. When I do, I breath a sigh of relief that the door isn’t facing the area where the shifter is sitting. I check the time and realize our bus will pull out in under 15 minutes. I push Grace on ahead of me and then follow her, keeping an eye on the shifter. My size makes me impossible to miss, so if he’s been given any information about me, he’ll know it’s me on this bus.
I send Grace to the back of the bus. It isn’t full, so I grab a seat closer to the front, in case the shifter decides to come looking for me. As I watch, he continues to scan the bus station, not looking inside the buses at all.
When our bus finally pulls out of the station, I see two more men running up to the shifter. Fucking red wolves. This is going to make our travels more difficult. There are red wolves in Texas and in Louisiana. We need a Plan B.
Once we pull out of the station, I move to sit next to Grace. She looks at me and I see the fear in her eyes. “It’s okay. I don’t think they realized we were on the bus. But we do need to think of another plan. The red wolves are hunting you now.
I put my arm around her. “Do you have a driver’s license?” I ask her.
“No, I never learned to drive.”
Shit. Neither did I. Even if we could rent a car, neither of us could drive it. I pull out my phone to call Rik. I need a new plan.
What do you think about Eli’s promise to Grace? Do you think he should force his mark on her if she’s at risk of being marked by others?
I was serious last night when I asked Eli to mark me rather than let some stranger mark me. Better the devil you know, right? At least I hope so. I may not believe in the mate bond, but I have a better chance with someone who might actually care about me than with someone who only wants me for the strength I can bring to their pack, someone who will treat me like a commodity and a breeding machine.
I know I’m a Guardian, and I’m supposed to be this strong wolf that all the Alphas want, but I’m terrified. I don’t know how to fight. Up until a couple weeks. ago, I thought I was a human. A human that was doing everything I could just to survive, much less learn how to fight or defend myself.
So, as much as I hate this feeling of dependence, I’m thankful that Eli is here with me. He makes me feel safe, or at least safer than I would feel if I was running alone. I wasn’t expecting to get any sleep last night, but after laying on his chest, smelling his intoxicating scent and listening to the steady beat of his heart, I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke, I had slept more soundly than I can remember sleeping in years. If I hadn’t woken up practically on top of him, it would have been great. As it was, I could tell he was not immune to our close proximity. His hard length had been pressing against my thigh.
I listen as Eli talks to Alpha Rik on the phone. I can hear another male voice in the background but can’t decipher what he is saying. It sounds like the red wolves. know we are on the run and since they have territory in Texas and Louisiana, we need to divert from our course quickly and head north again. I listen as they talk through our trek north to Oklahoma, then turning east and working our way to North Georgia.
I miss the question that is asked, but Eli turns to look at me. “No, we’re not at that point yet.” He says and I can guess the question. Can’t he just mark me? Then there would be no need for this running.
Part of me is ready to agree, but then I remember my father, and I would rather run forever than live like that again.
I turn and look out the window at the miles and miles of flat nothingness. I hear Eli disconnect the phone. “We have a plan. I’m not sure how good it is. If the red wolves are watching the bus stations, we’re screwed. At the next station, if it looks safe, we’re taking off in our wolf form. I need to get a map so we can skirt the pack territories, but it may be safest.
I just nod. “I’m sorry you’re being dragged into this. I know this would be easier if I would just let you mark me.”
He puts is fingers against my lips. “You have your reasons to not trust the mater bond. I can respect that, and I can wait. As long as it doesn’t mean that you end up mated to someone else.”
I turn to look back outside. We sit in silence for a while.
“That car should have passed us a long time ago.’ Maia says in my head.
I look and there is a car keeping pace with the bus. She’s right, it seems like it’s going very slow considering we’re in the middle of nowhere.
“Eli. Maia says this car is keeping pace with the bus. Do you think it’s the red wolves?”
He leans past me, looking out the window. I hear him curse under his breath before he grabs his phone and hits speed dial.
“They’re following the bus.” He says as soon as Alpha Rik picks up.
“How far are you from the bus station?” The voice asks but it doesn’t sound like Alpha Rik.
“Thirty minutes. We’re just coming up on the town.”
“Give the phone to Grace.”