Filed to story: Cara Nelson The Guardian: Werewolf Book PDF Free
Eli looks at me, then hands me the phone.
“Hello?”
“Grace, this is Alpha Liam. Do you recognize my name?”
“I know you’ve been talking to Eli.”
“But you don’t remember who I am?” “No. Should I?”
I hear him curse under his breath. “What does your wolf remember about being a Guardian?”
‘Maia?’
‘Just that I am a Guardian and that makes me powerful.”
“She knows we’re a Guardian and that we are strong.”
“But she doesn’t know how to access her strength? She doesn’t remember anything about her past?”
“No. Nothing.”
“Okay, Grace, listen. I don’t know that we can get you out of there without a fight. If the time comes, you need to be prepared to run and possibly fight. Even if you have to leave Eli. We can go back for him but it’s you that they want. And if you are not willing to have him mark you, then you will have to run. Head east. Listen to Eli, he’s good at evasion, but if the time comes, run. And if you have to fight, don’t hesitate. Maia should get her memories if she’s put in the position of having to fight.”
“Okay.” I answer, knowing I can’t leave Eli. Maia has already told me that we’re his Guardian and we are bound to him, so leaving him isn’t an option. I hand the phone back to Eli.
He’s watching me closely. “Okay, yeah, I’ll let you know when we’re safe. If you don’t hear from me in two days, send out a search party.” He tells Alpha Liam before hanging up.
“You need to do what Liam said. You need to run, even if it means leaving me behind.”
“I can’t. Maia won’t let me. We’re your Guardian and it means we are bound to you.”
“I have a plan, but I don’t know if it will work. When we get there, we need to be ready to move fast. They will have to park and it will give us a few moments to get off the bus and run. If we’re lucky, all the scents around the bus station will confuse them. If we aren’t, they’ll follow us and call for reinforcements. Let’s hope Maia is fast.”
When we see the bus station, Eli has us move forward to seats closer to the door. As soon as we stop, he has us up and at the door. When the doors open, he steps.
#15 BONOS out, pulling me behind him and checking both ways before taking off at a jog. I follow him as we skirt around buses and the bus station. When we get to the back of the building, he looks around one more time before we race for the nearest trees. There isn’t much area to hide so we run as fast as we can.
As soon as we hit the trees, we shift and begin running in wolf form. We’ve been running for about an hour when we hear the howl go up. They are tracking us. Every time we find a stream or lake, we run in or through the water as much as we can to hide our scent. We have to be careful of alligators, so we can’t run in the water as much as we’d like.
We finally stop to take a break, catching our breath and getting a snack. Eli pulls. a map out of his bag and looks at it checking our surroundings trying to figure out where we are. “We need to keep heading north, but I think we can start veering east a bit.”
He looks at me. “How is Maia? Can she keep running?”
“Yes, we’re good.”
He nods. “Okay, we’re going to run until dusk and see if we can find a place to hole up for the night. If not, we’ll have to run through the night. There aren’t any caves around here to hide, so we may have to make due with trees.”
As the day goes on, my muscles ache, but we continue to run. I refuse to slow down. When the sun starts to set, we see a sign that lets us know we are near the Arkansas border. There is a small town and outside of the town there is an area with small hills. I follow Louis up the hill and wait while he sniffs around and finds a spot where he feels it is safe for us to rest.
When he gives me the all-clear, I collapse on the ground.
BONDA SL-
I have to hand it to my girl. Running all day is not for the weak. I pushed us hard, knowing the wolves were trailing us. I haven’t heard them howling in hours, so I’m hoping that we have some time to relax.
When we get to a small hill near the Arkansas border, I find an overhang where I can put Grace to let her rest while I keep watch. I’m used to not sleeping for days or only sleeping lightly for a couple of hours. That is how my life has been, but that is not the life that Grace has lived. She needs her rest and she will be sore after pushing so hard today. I know we’ll have to go more slowly tomorrow, but once we pass out of red wolf territory, we should be safe to slow down.
When Maia collapses, I shift and pull on some shorts before walking over and picking her up. She’s a big wolf, beautiful in her coloring, black but with streaks of different shades of brown. I’ve never seen another wolf like her.
“I’ve got you, gorgeous.” I tell her as she whimpers when I pick her up. “You did. so well today. Louis and I are very proud of you. I know that was hard.”
I find some pine needles, small branches and vines and build a make-shift bed for her, laying her on it gently. I run my fingers through her fur, massaging the muscles in her shoulders, down her back and to her flank. Maia alternates between whimpering and purring at my ministrations.
When she’s half asleep, I lean into her, running my fingers in the fur around her face. “You rest, I’ll be back shortly.”
Her eyes open in alarm, and she begins to stand. I put my hand on her chest, holding her down. “No, stay here. I’ll be back soon and I won’t go far. You’ll be safe. Don’t shift, stay in your wolf form. Promise?”
She reaches out and licks my face. “That’s my girl. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I tell her before shifting and running off to find us food.
Louis finds and kills several rabbits. When we return, he proudly lays them at Maia’s feet, laying down in front of her to see if she’ll accept his offering. I’ve become used to Louis eating animals over the years. It was the only way I could survive. But Grace hasn’t lived that life, and this may not be something that she can handle. It’s instinct for Maia but may be problematic for Grace.
Louis and I watch as Maia sits up, sniffing the rabbits. She crawls forward and pulls one closer to her before tearing into it ravenously. We sit and watch her until she finishes. When she’s done, she looks at them and then at us. Louis scoots forward, pushing another one toward her with his nose. She grabs it and
IS BONOS devours it as well.
When she finishes, she looks at us and then at the last rabbit. Louis goes to push the last one at her, when she stands and picks it up, dropping it in front of Louis before laying down next to him. He leans over and begins licking her muzzle, cleaning her. When he’s done, he grabs the remaining rabbit and eats it in two bites.
He gets up, pushing her back into the safety of the overhang with his head. Once she’s as safe as we can make her, he lays down in front of her. She curls up beside him and lays her head over his back. I can feel her deep sigh as she settles in and eventually falls asleep.
Louis and I lay awake for a while longer, keeping watch from our makeshift lair. Eventually, the warmth of my mate and the sound of her even breathing lull us to sleep.
It’s still dark and the moon is still high when I jolt awake. My ears prick and I listen to the sounds of the night to see what woke me. I can hear the sounds of creatures scurrying over the rocks, the hooting of an owl in a nearby tree, the soft sounds of small creatures running through the grass below and in the distance, the sounds of a river flowing gently in the night.
My eyes start to close when I hear it, the crunch of pine needles under a heavy paw. Louis lifts his head, taking a deep breath. I watch from our spot, listening intently, unable to smell what I am hearing.
I hear it again, but this time, I hear more than one set of paws. The wolves are close, we have to go. I turn my head to wake Maia, only to see her eyes glowing in the dark. She’s heard them too. She pokes her nose into my face, letting me know that she understands that we have to go.
We silently get to our feet, climbing over the top of the hill, making no sound. The wolves will have to either climb up or go around, which gives us time to make our escape. It’s why I chose this particular spot.
When we get far enough away, I begin to run, giving Maia a few minutes to warm up to running again, before I begin pushing us hard. We cross into Arkansas and I push us through the morning and into the early afternoon, until we get to a large river.
There are a lot of places to hide here, I just need to find a place away from human hikers. I finally find a place where we can easily access water and there are rock. formations where Maia can hide while I go get us human food. When I find the spot where I feel like she’ll be safe, I shift back, quickly grabbing my bag and putting on a pair of shorts.