Page 65 of The Hidden Guardian

The glowing green eyes of Renall meet mine and he releases the deepest, sharpest growl that makes me cringe. The growl he emits seems to radiate from his entire body, not just his throat. It’s threatening; even I understand it means ‘run for your life’. The body on top of me scrambles to get off. Footsteps dash away. My vision is still swimming from that hit on the head, but I can make out the voices.

“You are weak, Renall. I deserve her and we both know it,” Leland’s voice says in perfect English. He wants me to hear. “You don’t even know what you have, do you?”

Renall, still in wolf form, growls in response.

The air shifts and two growls echo in my mind. Snarls, claws, and teeth are all I can hear from my place face down on the floor. The pain in my leg is preventing me from moving, and the blurry vision stops me from seeing clearly. My mind grows weak as I lie there trying to focus on what is happening.

Warm hands flip me over and wrap around my face.“Awe-tum? Okay?”

“I found you,” I whisper. “I was worried about you.”

“It’s okay, love, you are okay.”He coddles me as he rips off the bottom portion of my pants and ties it around my upper thigh before pulling me into his arms. He smells of freshly mowed grass and mint. I was right, he was outside.

My eyes blink open and my senses are coming back to me as he carries me through the cave. Blood is dripping from his chin. As much as I hate the fact that he killed wolves tonight, I find some twisted validation in knowing that I don’t have to worry about them anymore. This place has changed me. Gasps and whispers drag my attention to the faces around me. Guardians and men look on and whisper as we pass. Others sniff the air, sniff me.

Once we are on the second floor, I can see the limp, bleeding carcass of the second attacker on the cavern below that’s still in wolf form.

I place a hand on Renall’s chest, it’s slick with blood. “Why are they staring, isn’t carnage what you wolves eat for breakfast?”

There’s a pause before we reach our door. He pushes it open.“I don’t think they expected us to not be Joined by now. It’s more from shock.”

My cheeks flush with heat, slipping inside our cave. Renall places me on the couch and sits beside me holding my hand. “They all know?” I wrap my arms around myself.

“Why do you think they dared attack you, to them it was worth the risk for a Guardian.”

“But I accepted the bond, you marked me …” The bitemark on my neck itches at the thought.

“That’s not all the Joining requires. Our bond is not complete without the Joining.”

The Joining … there it is again. Onai had told me the same thing. The Joining, sex, and we have done everything but that.

“Did you know? Did you know they would try this?” My hands still shake. “Is that why I have been secluded here like a prisoner and given a babysitter while you’re away?”

“I am always precautious, I never thought they would get close enough to smell it, or that anyone would have the balls to come after my mate.”

“Why?” I ask angrily, “Why now?”

He sighs, avoiding my eyes.“They see me as weak,”he states before his hand slips from mine and he shifts on the couch.

I process this for a moment before placing my hand on his arm. “Weak? After I witnessed you tear apart four wolves now, disobeyed an Alpha order—how could anyone see you as weak?”

He glances over at me, conflict and sorrow hidden in the depths of his glistening eyes.“They see me as weak because we haven’t mated yet, because I haven’t forced myself on you. I haven’t forced the Joining on you.”

“Oh …” My mouth snaps shut. “I … I didn’t …” I don’t have the words. How could that possibly be a weakness? How could human decency be a weakness? But then again, these wolves are barely human at all.

“They are still young; they don’t understand I’m not looking for any Guardian. I want a True Guardian, a mate, someone I’ve been waiting centuries to find, to feel. I want her to feel the same way.”He turns to me, then green eyes open and are raw like I’ve never seen them before.

I nod to his expectant eyes. “I need a minute to process and get these filthy paw marks and blood off me.”

He nods, helping me up. Watching me carefully as I make my way across the room. I slip behind the curtain to the bathroom and start the water in the tub. My shaky fingers pry off my shredded and bloody clothes. They attacked me. They were about to penetrate me. If Renall hadn’t come, I would belong to someone else like a piece of furniture. I let the tears escape as I slip into the steaming bath.

I scrub all the disgusting rapist blood from my hands and legs and underneath my fingernails, silently crying and trembling the entire time.

As much hatred as I’m feeling toward the wolves responsible, I realize looking at the gashes in my legs that they were pushed toward this. Renall said Leland felt a Guardian, but he couldn’t leave to retrieve her. He felt her grow old and die. Felt it. Like I feel Renall. But he wasn’t allowed to leave. The only reason I’m here is because Renall disobeyed that order, and now his life is on trial. Something must change. The laws, the leadership—these wolves are savages, and it doesn’t have to be that way. Look at Renall … he never forced himself on me, he waited. Wolves can be gentle, patient, and … kind. I’ve seen it. Renall could have violated me and formed an undeniable bond. Make our bond known, and yet he waited for my heart to grieve, for my heart to be open and allow him in. Renall is not weak—quite the opposite—Renall is my mate. The only one I will ever take. I don’t know what he had with his old Guardian or his reasons for doing what he did. But I know in my bones he wouldn’t do that to me. He’s never shown me anything but fierce protection over my life. I can’t believe I doubted him. I will face the music with him just as he risked it all for me—we are together or we are nothing.

I contemplate this until the water grows cold and my fingers turn to prunes. I slip from the bath and wrap a cloth around me before heading into the main room to ask Renall his thoughts … only he is no longer there.

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