Page 37 of The Hidden Guardian

As I think on that, I realize that it’s not like they have much of a choice, they said their numbers are dwindling.

“Warrior Clan can trace their ancestry back to the original wolves made by the Sun God. Born and bred to be the fiercest warriors. Renall is one of the few who can trace his direct lineage to them. He’s been alive long enough to train with his ancestors. Hunter Clan is the most recent relative from the Warrior Clan, but it’s been bred with the other clans, making its lineage what some consider tainted. Most are bred with Breeder Clan. You can guess what they are known for?”

“No. They don’t–”

“Yup, hearty and healthy offspring. Their Guardians run their clan and are treated like royalty. Then there’s Tracker Clan—best trackers. Each clan adopts one pup from Tracker Clan right after training. They are invaluable as a resource. Ice Clan lives in the Arctic and are hardly ever seen. Their Guardians are the only ones we’ve ever known to manipulate water into ice. They have a whole network of underground ice caverns. Then there’s Shadow Clan—the nomads who burst into shadow, and Blood Clan, the blood thirsty, as rumor has it, cannibals.”

“Wow. That’s a lot to take in.”

“With the breeding and nomads mixing with other packs, and even humans sometimes, there is no telling how many others there are out there, or determining what their powers are.”

“So if I decided to join the pack and mate with Renall.” My cheeks flush just thinking about it. “Would I be Warrior Clan or Protector Clan?”

“Since you don’t have the blood of the Sun God, you would be Protector Clan. But your pups carrying Renall’s blood would be considered Warrior Clan.”

“Wow.” Children. I swallow. “Even more to unpack. I’m just going to log that away somewhere, um … So the different clans span all over the continent?”

“Try all over the world.”

“There are wolves all over the world? How does no one know about them?”

“That’s where Guardians come in. We protect the wolves from being their normal, aggressive selves and keep them hidden and secret. We remain in caves and mountains and ice to protect ourselves from the outside world while we do what the Goddess gifted us to do—help the Earth thrive.”

“But the Earth is failing, global warming and pollution is at an all-time high.”

“That’s because there are a lot more polluters than there are Guardians, we are simply outnumbered. And there’s the fact that at least a few people know our secret now because we are being hunted. The human devils are a problem, but it is unknown whether they think they are tracking wolves, or if they indeed know they are killing humans.”

I pause, thinking back to the interactions I’ve had with the men who always gave me the creeps at the Gun Lot. Could that have been my Guardian senses recognizing them as dangerous? What more could my body be telling me that my mind has not understood?

“I think … I think they might know. One of them commented on my tattoo.”

“Tattoo?”

“Well, it’s not a tattoo—it’s a birthmark.” I shift, lowering my sleeve to show her my birthmark.

“The Guardian mark,” she gasps. “They knew what that was?”

I nod. “They seemed to, he called his friend over to look at it as well. They have a lot of ammo, special-order silver-tipped ammo. Oh Gods.” I rub at my chest. “They definitely know they are killing werewolves.”

“Good Gods, no, that changes things. We have to tell this to Renall and my father.”

* * *

Lupe rolls her eyes sitting on the arm of Zev’s chair at the head of the table. The green and red banner hanging high above her head. Can she ever get a chair of her own? There has to be at least fifty alongside this enormous table. The fruit and vegetables that usually decorate the length of the table is picked over as dinner was hours ago.

It wasn’t long after my conversation with Onai that Renall escorted us to the same room I met Lupe and Zev a few weeks back. So much has changed since then, no longer is Lupe a friendly face I’m excited to speak English to. She sits there beside her Alpha mate rolling her eyes with every response to my question.

Zev growls and then sighs.

“Tell us again,” Lupe translates. “How did they see your Guardian mark?”

“It’s just on my arm here, in the right shirt it would be visible.”

A growl.

“And they recognized it?” Lupe asks.

It’s my turn to sigh. “Yes, how many times …” Renall grips my shoulders. Tension coiling through the bond. We’re already on thin ice, one wrong move and this conversation could be the tipping point in our time here. I cough. “Yes, they knew what it was. He even called over a friend to look at it. They were pressing further when my coworker interjected, and I was sent to the back of the store. But it looked like they were waiting for me in the parking lot all day until my shift was over.”

---