Dark Guardian #4: Shadow of the Moon Read online

  Suddenly it whipped its head around. It was too far away for me to see its eyes clearly, but I felt them locked on me. The panther went low to the ground, growled deep in its throat, and bared its sharp incisors.

  Everything within me stilled. Crap. Where was Daniel? Would he be able to sense that I might be in danger? Strange that I didn’t doubt for one second that he could take this cat on.

  Suddenly it sprinted away, its movements lithe and smooth. It was incredibly gorgeous.

  Taking a deep breath, feeling weak in the knees, I pressed my back to a tree. Wow. That was close. He could have just as easily come in my direction. I considered yelling out for Daniel. I was fairly certain that he wouldn’t go too far from camp. Not if he was keeping watch over me. So where was he?

  It had been stupid to try to find him when there were no tracks to go by and the weather was kicking up. I shoved myself away from the tree and began retracing the path I’d taken.

  When I got back to camp, Daniel was there, crouched beside the fire that he’d obviously restarted. He snapped his head in my direction and scowled. “What are you doing out wandering around?”

  I knelt beside him, enjoying the warmth generated by the flames. “I thought I heard you howling. I went looking for you.”

  “Do you know how dangerous that is?”

  “No kidding. I ran into a panther.”

  “In these woods?”

  He seemed as surprised by the revelation as I’d been. “I know. Crazy, huh? I wonder how he came to be here.”

  “People sometimes buy wild animals as pets. Then when they discover they weren’t meant to be tamed, they set them free.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. It was so gorgeous.”

  “Were you afraid of it?”

  “Not really afraid. Wary, maybe. I mean, it was the last thing I expected to see.” I glanced around. I could see that the sky was beginning to lighten. I hadn’t realized I’d woken up so close to dawn. “When I stepped out of the tent, it was so amazing, with the snow falling and the swirling wind”—both had now died down—“that I just wanted to explore for a bit. Knowing what I’m going to face, how frightening it’s going to be…I appreciate everything else a little more.”

  I didn’t mean to be macabre or to sound as though I’d given up. I hadn’t. But the thought lingered in the corner of my mind that no matter how much I wanted to survive everything that awaited me with the next full moon, the outcome might not be anything I could control.

  “You’re not going through it alone, Hayden.”

  I wanted to hug him, snuggle up against him, but it was best if I didn’t give him any sort of encouragement. “I’ll never accept you as my mate.”

  “That won’t stop me from being there.”

  “Why? Why are you so insistent—”

  He touched his thumb to my lips, silencing me. Looking into his eyes, I imagined I could see into the depths of his soul.

  “Because I care about you,” he said quietly. Wrapping his hand around the nape of my neck, holding me steady, he leaned in and kissed me.

  I didn’t pull back. I didn’t tell him not to. I just let it happen. With his lips on mine the fears and worries were swept away. I knew they’d return, stronger and more powerful, but for this brief space of time, I relished the fact that a Shifter, a Dark Guardian, cared for me.

  I had the one thing I’d always wanted. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold on to him. That in the end I’d have to betray him and everything he felt for me.

  TEN

  I found it strange, two days later, when we crossed over into our national forest, that I recognized it. I hadn’t expected really to notice. Forests, woods, mountains—even covered in snow—had their own personalities, their own characteristics that distinguished them from others.

  I tightened my hold on Daniel. We’d been fortunate that we’d been able to travel over the snow and find the occasional gas station or small town where we could stock up on supplies. I figured he’d marked the route when he’d come after me.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to put up barriers. We’d be there soon.

  It was near nightfall the next day when Daniel gunned the throttle and swung the vehicle around, causing snow to erupt around us. I released a small squeal and clung to him more fiercely. He came to a stop and cut the engine.

  I never knew silence could be so loud. It was a strange thing to think: how could silence be anything except quiet—but the suddenness of it was almost deafening.

  “Are you sensing anyone’s emotions other than your own?” Daniel asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “We’ll be there later tonight. Are you ready for this?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  It was nearing three in the morning when we finally arrived at the wrought iron gate. A fence surrounded our hidden compound. Little sparks of emotion darted in and out of me. Nothing intense, nothing overwhelming, just the vigilance of the Dark Guardians who were patrolling the area. No outsiders ever stumbled upon us here, because the Dark Guardians were vigilant about keeping them at a distance—although I sometimes suspected that a layer of magic shielded us as well.

  The elders held a lot of secrets.

  Daniel swiped a keycard, and the gate slowly began to open, beckoning us in. We were a strange combination of magic and technology. Then we were riding toward the monstrous manor where the elders resided year-round, where I had escaped from only a few short weeks ago.

  Daniel brought the snowmobile to a halt near the building and turned it off. I was hit by the silence. I heard an owl hoot in the distance and farther off the howl of a wolf. Faint light was spilling out onto the snow through a few of the downstairs windows. It created a peaceful illusion, something an artist might capture on canvas. I wished I could believe what it was offering.

  I eased off the seat. My legs were rubbery from the long journey—or at least that’s what I blamed the sensation on as they started to buckle. Daniel’s arm whipped out and wrapped around me, drawing me in, holding me up.

  “Whoa,” he said. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you feeling—”

  “No.” I touched his roughened cheek. I liked it when he didn’t shave. It made him look menacing, tough, and sexy. “Don’t worry. I’ll be okay.”

  With his arm still around me, he led me up the steps and opened the door. As I walked through it into the foyer, I saw that a few of the Dark Guardians were waiting.

  Emotions swirled into me, intense, but soft, warm, and welcoming.

  “We heard you arrive,” Lucas, leader of the Dark Guardians, said. Like Daniel he was tall and broad. His hair was a mixture of black, brown, and gray, which made him easy to spot in wolf form when I saw him patrolling the grounds.

  “Sorry,” Daniel said. “Guess we should have walked from the gate.”

  “Probably wouldn’t have mattered,” Kayla said. She was Lucas’s mate, had joined our group last summer. Her hair was the red coloring of a fox more than a wolf, but when she shifted, she was striking. “We were sleeping light.”

  She took a step toward me and tentatively wrapped her arms around me. “Welcome home.”

  Her emotions burst into me, but it wasn’t a hard hit. It was like fireworks erupting in the sky. She’d been worried about me, and now those fears were fading away to be replaced with relief. Joy.

  They made my throat clog with my own emotions. I’d lived on the fringe, spending most of my time at the boarding school, and it had never occurred to me that they’d miss me here, that they’d worry about me. Part of me had even thought they’d be glad that the freak—the one who stopped their emotions from being private—wasn’t around.

  “My turn,” Lindsey said. Her blond hair was almost white. Last summer I’d experienced her inner turmoil as she struggled with her feelings for both Connor and Rafe. Dark, brooding Rafe stood just behind her. After she’d chosen him, they were never far apart. When she