Palm Haven Shifters: Complete Five-Part Series Page 12

  Nearly.

  “There is a Guardian. I’m in contact with her. She still needs training, but I’m helping her control her magic.”

  Sage was definitely looking at her now. Ashley’s skin felt like it was covered in fire ants, suddenly itchy and uncomfortable. She squirmed under the ancient witch’s scrutiny.

  “What makes you think you’re qualified to train the Guardian of such powerful ground? Are you willing to take responsibility for her?”

  Sage drawled the second question, but even Ashley couldn’t miss the steel edge of the words. She nibbled on her bottom lip, uncomfortable with the dozen-plus pairs of eyes all trained on her. Across the house, a power saw whirred to life and Ashley had to force herself to look at Sage instead of past her.

  Sage had always been mysterious and — in Ashley’s humble opinion — intimidating. The old witch liked to make people uncomfortable. That’s how she maintained the upper hand. For a moment, it worked and Ashley was flustered.

  Her gaze flicked to Monica. She should’ve told her about Sarah. They were best friends and Ashley had a sneaking suspicion that Monica was going to be pissed about this little secret. Her friend’s sculpted ginger eyebrows were raised ever-so-slightly in anticipation.

  Ashley steeled her spine and took a deep breath, turning back to the Sage.

  “Sarah does not trust the Coven, witches, or even her own powers, yet. She trusts me.”

  Esther sucked her teeth, “Responsibility, Ashley,” she said simply.

  Ashley’s magic bubbled just beneath the surface. If she took responsibility for Sarah, she’d be putting her place in the Coven — and her magic — at risk.

  “I think with time and training she’ll be just fine. She’s mated with a member of the Tigris Clan and —”

  Nearly twenty women erupted in shock and horror all at once.

  “A shifter?”

  “A tiger?”

  “So close to the Ley Lines?”

  “...can’t trust…”

  “Monsters!”

  Ashley winced at the response. Maybe she should have left that bit out. Witches and shifters were not supposed to mix. Any good Coven witch knew that, but then again, Sarah wasn’t Coven. She didn’t have the deep-seated prejudices like Ashley and the other witches. Sarah would never understand the rift between the two supernatural entities like Ashley did, either.

  Many years ago, Ashley had been friends with a tiger shifter — Dana. Ashley never cared then that Dana was a shifter, but Dana’s clan had certainly cared that Ashley was a witch. Her friend paid the ultimate price for their prejudices and Ashley didn’t think she’d ever be able to forgive shifters for that.

  Sage clapped her withered gnarled hands and the sound of thunder boomed through the room, rattling the solarium windows.

  “Enough,” she said, her voice stern despite sounding paper-thin.

  “I know that the arrangement isn’t ideal, but the tiger has helped her focus her untrained powers. We all know how important sex is with taming a wild witch. She has more power than she knows and the tiger channels it for her,” Ashley explained.

  The Coven witches murmured to one another again, but this time their murmurs were more of interest than disgust. Like Callie, many witches had been experiencing a “magic shortage” in the wake of Sarah’s coming to power and the opening of the Ley Lines. Some were understandably intrigued by the prospect of shifters helping their predicament, though the older witches remained appalled.

  Sage clapped her hands once more. “Sister Ashley, do you accept responsibility of the new Guardian Sarah and agree to train her to the best of your abilities?”

  Ashley swallowed a lump in her throat — they weren’t going to let her out of this.

  She nodded slowly. “I do and I will.”

  Instantly her body felt like it was plunged in cold water as the magic of her verbal agreement took hold. She was unequivocally tied to her word now.

  “Very well,” Sage said. “Bring the Guardian back tomorrow night for the Coven to decide if she is fit for the position.”

  Ice gripped her chest and Ashley found it hard to breathe. “Tomorrow? That’s not nearly enough time to train her properly.”

  Beneath Sage’s hood, Ashley saw the ghost of a smile and wondered if this was her way of ousting Ashley. A shiver ran up her spine. She couldn’t lose her magic. Why would Sage want to take it from her?

  “If she’s meant to be a Guardian of the Ley Lines, her instincts should be sufficient.” The malice in Sage’s voice was unmistakable that time.

  What had Ashley gotten herself into?

  Chapter 2

  CALLAN

  After saving his damsel-in-distress, Callan’s day seemed to crawl forward at a glacial pace. He’d only gotten a brief moment with her, but that was enough time for her to make an impact on him.

  And a hell of an impact it was.

  The moment he’d seen her, his bear sprang to life, roaring with excitement at having found her. The one he was meant to be with. The next moment, his entire world stopped as he realized the danger she was in, standing directly under Ramos while he cut boards to fit one of the upper balconies. Ramos had a tendency of ending every streak of accident-free days their crew had. He was a walking disaster, but he showed up for work on time and did what he was told, so no one ever got rid of him.

  Surely she wasn’t thick enough to stand under an active construction site. But then her head was tilted back and she squinted into the sun, unable to see the danger looming just above her head. Without thinking, Callan tackled her to the ground, ready and willing to do anything to keep her out of harm’s way.

  That was crazy, though. He didn’t even know her. He didn’t even know her name. But he didn’t need to. His bear recognized her on sight. She was his other half and he’d do anything to be with her.

  He’d spent the rest of the day hovering around the door, waiting for the honey-haired beauty to re-emerge, but she never did.

  Now, at home, he could only bring her image up in his memory and fantasize about her leaf green eyes, the confused furrow of her brow, the feel of her curves molding to his body like a perfect fit. Like they were made for one another.

  Of course, they were made for one another. But how would he ever find her again?

  In the background, a spray-tanned newscaster talked on TV about the increase in violence lately.

  He dragged the knife in his hand over the scrap of wood in the other, slowly helping the little creature inside come to life with his carving. Normally, carving steadied his nerves. The intense focus it required helped clear his mind of worries. The steady scraping of his blade against the wood grain soothed him. His bear also accepted the hobby as an alternative to carving full-sized trees with his claws — something his instincts drove him to do nearly constantly.

  Normally, this would help him relax. But there was nothing normal lately. Callan was tense. The air was tense. The whole town seemed to be holding their breath waiting for… something.

  Something that had his bear on edge.

  Only a few days earlier he’d been out with a few shifter friends when they all felt the same hair-raising sensation simultaneously. None of them had known what it meant and more than a few of them nearly shifted because of it. Shifting in the middle of a bar — even a shifter bar — was not okay. Feeling something that powerful ripple through all of them put everyone on alert.

  Though nothing had come of it. Yet.

  That wasn’t to say that nothing would come of it and Callan intended to keep vigilant watch over his territory.

  His little house faced the street and from his seat by the window he could see all the way to the next intersection in each direction. He’d stayed in this spot every moment he’d been home since that night, explaining why his window sill was littered with wood shavings.

  He looked down at the little scrap of wood in his massive hand — this one was a raccoon. When he picked up a piece of wood, he never knew what
it was going to be, but it spoke to him somehow, telling him what it wanted to be.

  Maybe that was crazy. He’d certainly never said it out loud to anyone before.

  Glancing over his shoulder, Callan saw that the newscaster was onto the next story — one about a local library doing good deeds in the community.

  He set the would-be raccoon on the sill and stood, giving his cramped muscles a long stretch. With a groan he criss-crossed his arms, his shoulders snapping and popping. Years of hard manual labor made his bones and joints older than their years, but at least he was a shifter. He healed fast and didn’t retain too many permanent injuries.

  As he stretched, his fingertips brushed the popcorn ceiling above. His house made him feel claustrophobic lately — trapped. That was saying something; bears were normally just fine sleeping nestled in little caves or in the crook of a tree. He didn’t understand it, and couldn’t explain the feeling.

  His bear itched to be free. He’d been so near the surface ever since that spine-tingling brush of power and meeting his mate today had only made it harder to keep the beast at bay.

  The walls felt stifling. His t-shirt seemed to be choking the air from his lungs and all he could think about was ripping through the fabric, shifting into his bear and running off into the forest. Hunting, fishing, clawing at trees… his bear goaded him, trying to lower his resistance.

  Shifting in the middle of town wasn’t an option, though. Bears running through city streets weren’t generally greeted with milk and cookies. More like guns and traps. The last thing he needed was to be mistaken for a threat by some trigger-happy wannabe hunter. The entire state was lousy with those types and he had to be extra careful. Bears were in the news more and more and a state-wide hunt in recent months left hundreds of his kind dead. He shuddered.

  “Fine, you win,” he grumbled to the bear.

  Shifting wasn’t an option. Not now. Not here. But he could at least get out of the house, he thought, trying to compromise with his restless bear. Maybe have a beer or two, throw some darts, try to be a normal person instead of letting his bear lead.

  Throwing on his best ‘going-out’ duds — a plaid shirt and only moderately paint-splattered jeans — Callan locked the door behind him and decided to go to the nearby human bar that graced the corner two blocks away. He wouldn’t be recognized and there shouldn’t be any other shifters there. Hopefully, he’d have a quiet night out.

  He pushed open the door and was greeted by a cloud of smoke and the thumping of a jukebox playing old hair metal hits. In no time at all, he’d found a seat at the nearly-empty bar, ordered a draught and tried his very best to just blend in.

  And stop drumming his fingers.

  And stop thinking about splashing in the woods.

  Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

  He took another long pull of his beer and set it on a coaster resolutely, not wanting to damage the surprisingly-nice mahogany bar. He could do this. He could have a simple night out.

  The door opened again and Callan knew that any hope of a quiet night was out of the question.

  Chapter 3

  ASHLEY

  Ashley left the sprawling Coven mansion through the garden after the meeting. Her magic still fizzed just below the surface, just thinking about that hunky construction worker and she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Or nearly crushed again.

  Instead, Ashley strolled through the lush tropical garden full of hibiscus, birds of paradise, and lilies in vibrant hues ranging from the barest pink to full-on magenta and red. In the trees, squirrels chittered and barked above the drone of insects buzzing in the air.

  Eventually, she’d have to suck it up and go to the library. She’d have to give Sarah one last lesson in the hopes that it would be enough. She’d have to put everything on the line for this unproven witch, all as a favor for a shifter that she didn’t even particularly like.

  Sloan wasn’t a bad guy; not really. He was a tiger, which was one strike against him immediately. He didn’t save Dana when he had the chance: strike two. But there was no strike three. No deal-breaker that would steer Ashley far far away from ever helping him.

  Besides, she wasn’t helping Sloan as much as she was helping his mate. She cringed inwardly for even using that word. Shifters were so barbaric about those things. That whole belonging to someone like their significant other was just an object.

  Ashley shook her head. She couldn’t understand why any woman would want to be treated like a possession rather than a person. Regardless of her prejudices about shifters, her loyalty to other witches was even stronger and Ashley knew that she’d do whatever necessary to prepare Sarah and give her her best shot.

  Not that she had much of a choice after agreeing to take responsibility for her.

  Ashley sighed and looked up into the trees, spotting a sparrow nestled in the branches. No use in delaying the inevitable. The sooner she got to the library, the more time they’d have to practice.

  “Fine,” she grumbled, heading towards her car with an uneasy sense of apprehension. Could Sarah succeed? Sage certainly didn’t think so. That much was clear as day. But Ashley was determined to prove Sage — and her sniveling sneering cohort Esther — wrong.

  The Kerris Memorial Library had been a part of Palm Haven for as long as Ashley could remember. The small red brick building didn’t look like much from the outside, but on the inside, it was clear that this was a place well cared for. Big windows let in a flood of Floridian sunshine and though there were less books than there once were, there was still a nice secluded sitting area in the back where Ashley and Sarah often met.

  Ashley sauntered to the front desk where she was greeted by a handsome older woman surrounded in a cloud of perfume.

  “Can I help you?” the woman asked, not recognizing Ashley.

  “I hope so,” Ashley replied brightly, trying to hide her apprehension — there were a million worries flitting through her mind incessantly, but no one else needed to know that. “Is Sarah around?”

  The older woman paused, looked up from her computer screen, her steely eyes narrowing above the rim of her glasses, “Sarah? Is she expecting you?”

  Ashley shuffled from one foot to the other, who was this woman? The gatekeeper?

  “Not exactly, but I do need to see her. It’s quite urgent. I’m a friend of Sloan’s.” ‘Friend’ maybe wasn’t the right term for their relationship, but Ashley certainly wasn’t going to get into the gritty details with this stranger.

  The woman’s gaze softened a bit and she gave Ashley a conspiratorial smile. “Sarah and the Director are in his office…” she said with a hint of suggestion in her voice.

  Ashley’s brows raised; at their workplace? Really? She shook her head. Shifters had no self-control.

  “It can’t really wait,” Ashley said.

  The other woman nodded, “Alright, I’ll let her know you’re here.”

  Ashley thanked her and wandered to the back of the library where the small grouping of old armchairs sat. She took a seat and absently picked at the frayed threads of the upholstery. It certainly seemed to her that the Sage was setting her up for failure here, but why? Ashley had never caused any real trouble in the Coven. Certainly not anything egregious enough to warrant Sage plotting her demise.

  She spotted Sarah’s auburn hair coming around the corner of a bookshelf and shoved all those mysteries away for the moment. Sarah deserved her full attention — she had a lot at stake, too. Even more than Ashley did.

  “What’s up?” Sarah asked, sliding into the armchair across from Ashley before carefully pinning her hair back into its signature bun. Ashley hid the little smirk that said she knew exactly why Sarah’s hair was disheveled.

  A tiny pang of jealousy rattled her. She didn’t envy Sarah mating with a shifter, but finding someone to channel and focus her magic was something priceless that all witches longed for.

  Ashley nibbled her bottom lip, wondering how best to explain the situation. Final
ly, she decided to just tell her the truth.

  “The Coven held a meeting this morning about the Ley Lines. They’re very concerned about having such an inexperienced Guardian.”

  The color drained from Sarah’s face, “What does that mean? The Kerris is mine.”

  Ashley nodded, “I know. Right now, it’s nothing to worry about. They just want to meet you and make sure you’re not totally out of control. I wanted to check in and see how your practice is coming.”

  Sarah didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue, “Um… good, I guess?”

  “Are you able to draw from the lines at will?”

  Sarah mumbled something under her breath, but Ashley didn’t quite catch it.

  “What was that?”

  Sarah sighed, pulling her cardigan around her frame. Ashley didn’t think it was cold in the library, maybe it was more for her nerves.

  “When I’m with Sloan I can,” she admitted, fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist.

  Ashley pulled a face and nodded, “Well, that’s a start. The Coven doesn’t need to hear about that, though. They’re already unhappy enough that you’re with a shifter. They might lose their minds if you can only control the lines with his presence.”

  Sarah’s eyes went wide and Ashley was struck again by how odd it was to have a witch that didn’t know the prejudices between them.

  “Why?”

  Ashley mulled over how to best explain the situation, “All shifters are bound to their clan and must obey their leader. If Sloan has access to the Ley Lines that means the other tigers do, too. And his Elder. Other shifters might think that the Coven has allied with the tigers and… well, the clans aren’t exactly peaceful towards one another. They could see that kind of an alliance as an act of war.”

  “War?” Sarah gasped, “No, no. You’ve got it all wrong. Sloan told his clan that the lines aren’t here.”

  That surprised Ashley, “Did they believe him?”

  Sarah’s uncertain expression was answer enough.

  Ashley waved a hand in dismissal. “Well, that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is making a good impression on the Coven. Their biggest concern is the free flow of magic you’ve unleashed by opening the Ley Lines. They’re supposed to be more of a steady trickle of energy and you opened the floodgates. It’s time to close them again.”