Guardians Of The Shifters by Shannon Schoolcraft Read Free Book Online Page A

to speak. “They were in the duffel bags.” It didn’t look like he was going to say anything so I continued. “I need to know why I’m your guardian.”
    “Cora-.”
    “No Caden…I want to know now.”
    He looked at me for a bit longer. “Fine.” He slowly let his jacket slide from his shoulders and down his arms before throwing it onto the bed. He turned to fully face me. First his eyes started to glow before a soft light shimmered around his body. Everything seemed to go in slow motion at this point and I was frozen in place with my eyes wide as I watched his form start to fade. Black hair sprouted all over him as he shrank towards the floor. After a few minutes of watching Caden disappear, and where he stood not too long ago was a black panther with yellow eyes.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
                              Chapter 8
     
     
     
    The panther sat back on its hunches and stared at me, its fur shined glossy in the lamps lights. I couldn’t move, all I could do was stand there and stare at this beautiful but lethal animal and did my best not to breathe. I could feel the panic start to set in. Before I could fully grasp what just happened, Caden was standing in his human form watching my reaction. How was I supposed to react? I couldn’t just run out screaming like I really wanted to do. This was just so unreal, people couldn’t just morph or whatever into animals. I jumped at the sound of Caden’s voice.
    “Cora?”
    I tied to form words. “Wh…what…what just-.” I tried again. “What the hell was that?”
    “I’m a shifter.”
    Confused. “Shifter?”
    “Yes…I can shift into a panther as you have just seen.” He let out a breath. “That’s why we have guardians assigned to us.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
    “Cora, those assassins are trained to track and kill us, we are endangered.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “They think we are an abomination and that’s one thing we aren’t. We deserve to live as much as anyone else does, just because we aren’t completely human doesn’t mean we don’t have the right to live.” He paused for a minute. “Guardians help protect us, they are excellent fighters. You were born from a long line of guardians, the strongest really. When you were born you were fated to be my guardian.” He stood from the bed and stepped closer. “We are better together, stronger even….just don’t give up on something that hasn’t started yet.” He paused again. “I’ll even train you.” His fingers brushed against my cheek and I suppressed a shiver. “You need to eat.”
    How could someone possibly be able to stomach anything after seeing and hearing what I just did? I needed time to process it all but something tells me that he won’t give me the space I need to do so. When I look at him now, I don’t see a panther, I see a man with green eyes and a body like a god. I’ve been with this man for two and a half days now but it seems like I’ve known him longer than that. Bending down I grabbed my jacket and slipped it on and Caden did the same. I slipped the rope around my neck and the key rested at the hallow of my throat.
    We walked out of the room and Caden slid his arm around my shoulders and brought me closer so that I was tucked at his side and under his arm. My heart sped up with the contact. People watched as we walked by and some even shook their head like it was a bad idea for Caden to have his arm around me. I knew that he noticed them to but unlike me, he ignored it. Up ahead was the biggest building in this place. The structure of the building looked like a medieval church with stained glass windows, high arched doors and it even had animal statues on the ledges above us. We walked up the steps and they felt smooth under the soles of my shoes.
    The doors opened with a creaking sound as Caden