Heart of the Guardians
Meeting Destiny
Adrianna Adore
Contents
Prologue
1. James
2. Claire
3. James
4. Claire
5. The House
6. Laundry
7. The Office
8. Regrets
9. The Office
10. The Message
11. Endings
Final Thoughts
Prologue
The Traveler
The forest in the Pacific Northwest was glorious. One last run, one last sense of power and freedom, one last chance to smell all the things his human nose couldn’t register. He ran through the woods, following the scent of water and splashed into the stream. He spotted a quickly swimming trout, swatted it to the bank then lay down to eat. He wasn’t particularly hungry; he’d stopped at a truck stop a few hours before when he was wearing clothes and driving a car. He ate slowly, relishing the flavor of fresh fish, pure and untainted with the taste of metal or plastic that store bought had.
His thoughts were slow and unencumbered when he was in the bear form, the matters of the human world seemed less important. The wind in his fur, good food in his belly, his enemies crushed before him were the only things that mattered. The longer he stayed a thousand-pound Grizzly, the harder it was to shift back into the world of endless stress and complicated matters.
He walked the woods, the undisputed alpha, and all creatures great and small shrank away, quieted their chirpings or altered their path to avoid him. He didn’t bellow his dominance, didn’t have to mark trees with his sign. He merely walked the game trails, his half ton of muscle and bone sent tremors through the ground for all to feel. The coyotes and wolves caught his scent from miles away and quieted their howls. Other bears chose a different path, a different place to hunt for the night. He didn’t look for a fight, he had no interest in the creatures of the forest. He only wanted to breath in the crisp mountain air, feel the power and take pleasure in the simplicity of life. He ambled for hours but when he sensed dawn approaching, he knew he’d delayed long enough. He still had a long way to go and reluctantly made his way back to his clothes and his car parked at a picnic pull off. He had responsibilities. Duties. He was a Guardian and soon he would have to make his choice. Turn his back and be free or return to take on the mantle of stewardship.
Chapter One
James
James was tired and mentally drained. He ran his fingers through his hair and yawned loudly as he chased his headlights through the night. There were rarely other cars on the winding two lane and he was tempted to pull over again, but this time for a nap. The change into his bear form was exhilarating but the change back was exhausting. It was like putting cotton in his ears, blurry glasses on his eyes and clogging his nose with mud. He felt weak and insignificant, unable to flip over cars or rip down trees with a swipe of his paw. But bears didn’t drink coffee and when he saw the sign for the all-night service station, he smiled. Nope. Bears didn’t drink coffee but he sure as heck did.
He blew on the hot, black elixir of life as he pumped the gas and did the math in his head. His little run in the woods had cost him a few hours but he still had plenty of time if he didn’t goof off any more. He had an eight a.m. appointment to get the keys to his apartment and a nine a.m. with the dean. If he hustled, he could grab a shower and get into a fresh set of clothes. At least he didn’t have to worry about shaving anymore. Since he’d let his beard grow in, he only had to trim it every few weeks.
James pulled back out on the winding country road as the sun was graying the horizon and picked up speed. The cashier had kept giving him sideways glances but he was fairly certain he hadn’t been recognized. His face really wasn’t known on the worlds’ stage, he was a nobody except to his own countrymen. In the off chance someone did read international news, he didn’t even look the same as he had before. His dark hair was a little long, it curled below his ears, and the beard changed his whole appearance. It also did a good job of covering up the scar on his lip.
He wanted to leave that life behind, start new. He wanted to become James Gardner, history teacher, not just pretend he was. He wanted to slip into the role and live the small town, no worries life. He could find a wife, have a couple of kids and a build a white picket fence. He could leave the troubles behind. It could never be, but that didn’t stop him from wishing it could be so.
He made good time and after winding his way through the sleepy little college town, he found the address to his new apartment. James didn’t work out, didn’t have chiseled abs but he wore his 180 pounds well. The strands of gray in his beard showed he wasn’t a youngster anymore and the laugh lines around his eyes were a little deeper and went a little farther than they used to. He had a few miles on him but he hadn’t let himself go, he was still fit and trim and could pass for a youthful forty something. He wore a pair of comfortable jeans, a long sleeve Henley and silver framed glasses. He looked the part he pretended to be. Even the car he chose was sensible, a second-hand BMW he’d bought in Seattle when he arrived. Not too plain but not too flashy either.
He had an intricate weave of tattoos that covered much of his upper body but he wasn’t planning on getting undressed in front of anyone so there would be no raised eyebrows or campus scandal. The Blake Salvatore University had a reputation for graduating well qualified students ready to take on the world. They didn’t offer arts or humanities studies and tended to attract serious students who spent more time studying than going to keggers. James had been made aware of the teaching position by his most trusted friend and advisor. At Frank’s urging, he had reluctantly agreed to take it, to get away from the problems and drama of his homeland.
“Take some time off.” he’d urged. “You owe it to yourself; you need the down time; you need to clear your head and you need to be away from here. You need to live in the shadows for a while.”
“Take one year.” His uncle had said in his rough way, then gave him his blessing to leave. “I’ll want your answer then.”
Frank had set everything up, including the forged papers, the fake name, his teaching credentials, the job and the apartment. It had happened in a flurry, only weeks before he’d been caught up in scandal, humiliation and shame, he’d been imploding like a house of cards. Now, he sat in his newly purchased car in his newly purchased clothes in a brand-new town half a world away. He flipped down the visor to check the mirror, it had been a hectic 48 hours since he last slept if dozing on the plane didn’t count. His eyes looked tired but another cup of coffee would fix that. He wiped away a crumb from the breakfast donut and touched the scar on his lip. It was barely visible under the beard unless you knew where to look and didn’t hurt anymore. Not physically anyway.
He closed his eyes and didn’t remember much of the savage battle, the life and death struggle he’d been in when he got it. He remembered her finger softly tracing it in the warm afterglow of passion, the sheets tangled around them. He remembered her whispers of undying love, her joy of planning the wedding that would be the event of the decade. He remembered resisting when she wanted to be married within a month. Disagreement turned to arguing then fighting. She revealed a side of her she’d kept hidden and he hadn’t liked what he saw.
The next day his world fell apart, her vindictive betrayal cut him to his very core. Isabella’s tawdry stories circulated quickly though the castle and he fell into despair. How could he have misjudged her so completely? How could she say those things she said? He’d been setup and used every step of the way and his Uncle’s disfavor wasn’t directed at her, the blame was placed squa
rely on his shoulders. He had exercised poor judgement. A leader wasn’t allowed the luxury of those mistakes.
Every eye glanced away from him, every smile from the staff seemed forced. She had woven an intricate tale of depravity and abuse with enough truth sprinkled in to be believable. No one seemed notice that her tears were forced and fake. James touched the scar on his wrist in order to pull himself out of the painful memories. He had been in a dark place and this job in America was a fresh, new start. No one knew him here, he could take the time that he needed to regroup and recover. A year to forget the bad, remember the good and consider all his options. A year before he had to stand before his uncle and give his answer with conviction, not out of a sense of duty or remorse or self-punishment.
Chapter Two
Claire
Claire woke up with a sugar hangover and felt instant guilt. She was supposed to be on a diet. She pulled the covers over her mane of unruly hair and curled up. She hated her lack of will power. Her late-night trip to the corner convenience store had been for a power drink. A little pick-me-up to help her finish the paper due that morning. It turned into a mad shopping spree that included two Snickers, raspberry Zingers and a whole bag of potato chips. Not to mention the two power drinks to wash it down. It must have been about a billion calories and made her want to hide under the blankets and eat the other Snickers bar. So much for three months of exercise and being pretty good about her eating habits.
She kicked off the covers and sat up. The assignment was neatly printed out and ready to be turned it so at least it had been worth it. The stress eating had gotten the job done. Maybe she should reward herself with the other candy bar, the paper was good. She’d get an A most likely, at the worst a high B. She looked down at her belly and the rolls of fat that couldn’t be hidden like they could when she stood up straight. She grimaced and grabbed a double handful of her muffin top. She spied the offending Snickers bar next to her computer and flipped it off before tossing it into the trash.
So, you fell off the wagon, no big deal Michelin Girl. Add a few minutes to your workout for a week and it all equals out. Give a little take a little, right? She wasn’t convinced. She’d have to do a thousand crunches and run a hundred miles to make up for it. She was trying to lose twenty more pounds but it was hard. It seemed like she could just walk by a pizza shop and gain weight. She didn’t have a model’s natural build. She’d never been thin and it was a constant battle to keep off the extra pounds.
She grabbed the garbage can and took it with her to the kitchen to dump it in the trash there. Covered in coffee grounds and dirty paper plates from last night’s dinner would remove any temptation to dig the chocolate back out.
She wore her comfortable spiderman panties and an oversized T-shirt that doubled as pajamas. Her roomie had already gotten the coffee started so she checked her phone on the off chance someone had texted her. It rarely dinged since she’d deleted the dating apps Dana had convinced her to try. Dana meant well, they’d been best friends since grade school, but they weren’t tough little tomboys anymore. Dana had gone from gangly and coltish to drop dead gorgeous. Claire had gone from short and chubby to tall and chubby.
Dana didn’t have any trouble with dating, her phone dinged constantly, she could go out every night of the week if she wanted. She was invited to all the parties, all the shows and was always chosen first for a pickup basketball game. Claire was actually better, sunk more buckets than most of the other girls but no one seemed to notice. Despite her reluctance and complaints, Dana still set them up on double dates occasionally to get her away from books, research and the library. She knew Claire’s secret; she was 21 and a virgin. She wasn’t urging her to have sex with everybody she went out with but she wanted her friend to know the pleasures of a man. To know what she was missing.
Claire got breakfast started while she waited on Dana to finish her shower and they switched when she came out in her silk kimono, hair in a towel.
Claire was in and out fast, threw on some old jeans and a baggy Salvatore University sweatshirt then joined Dana at the breakfast bar.
They ate quickly, Claire because she had an early class and Dana because she needed to finish an assignment that was already a day late.
“I shouldn’t have gone to the movies last night.” She lamented. “It was boring anyway. He was Mr. Grabbyhands until I got very curt then he was Mr. Poutypuss for the rest of the evening.”
Claire giggled. A lot of her dates seemed to end up like that. She wasn’t against a good romp in the sack as she called it, but it had to be on her terms. She had to want it and when she said no, she had nearly fifteen years of Krav Maga training to back up her words.
Claire made sure the evidence of last night’s diet disaster was hidden in the trash before she took off. Dana would give her the evil eye if she saw an empty wrapper. If she saw all of them, she would carry on like her bestie had fallen off the diet wagon, burned it to the ground and was about to buy more chocolate with the insurance money.
Claire put her coffee in a plastic mug and left a little early. She’d take the long way around to her first class, it would add an extra half mile and if she kept up a good pace, it would burn off a few of those calories. Besides, she could flip off the store for carrying junk food and making her buy it. Yeah, they really twisted your arm she thought but it would make her feel a little better as she powered past it.
Dana had gotten her to try Weight Watchers, gym memberships and about a hundred other fad diets but what worked best was simply eating better. They didn’t keep any unhealthy food in the house, she rarely ate out and tried to play racquetball or soccer at least once a week. If she could stop the occasional binging, the pounds would slowly, oh so slowly melt away. It wasn’t a fast way to lose weight but it was steady and she’d lost quite a bit over the past few years.
Dana tried to play matchmaker. It had been her idea to make a profile on Tinder, but that didn’t last long. Clair wasn’t desperate, she was romantic. She didn’t want hurried sex in the back seat, she wanted love. She wanted butterflies and cupids, she wanted someone that made her heart do a double thump when they met, not get a feeling of boredom almost immediately. She wanted a soulmate. The one that she couldn’t live without. When she told Dana what she was looking for, her bestie said she needed to sample the merchandise before she settled down. Girl, you haven’t been laid once, you need to try at least ten different men before you even begin to know what you want.
That would have been easy, most guys her age wanted fast hookups and uncomplicated friends with benefits. They wanted booty calls but she wanted love. She wanted heart and panties melting passion, but when she daydreamed of the perfect man, she would have to look at herself. If he was out there, he would be looking for the perfect woman and she was a long way from it.
Dana would send her pictures of curvy plus sized models on Instagram but Claire couldn’t see herself the same way. Her belly was too big. Her butt was too big. Her boobs didn’t stand up like theirs did. Her legs where okay, but she didn’t like her hips. She didn’t bother with makeup, either. She didn’t see the point of spending all that time and money to look like herself, just in color.
Black is what mostly hung in her closet, she used it to hide away from the world. She checked the time on her phone as she rounded the gym on campus. She was right on schedule so she slowed, she didn’t want to show up sweaty and panting for her English class. She pulled the band from her coppery red hair and let it fly free. It was a huge mass of untamed curls that looked a bit like a flame and there wasn’t much she could do with it. Wear it up or wear it down were the only options unless she wanted to cut it short. She kept her head lowered and hurried everywhere she went so she didn’t notice that a lot of guys watched her walk. Her hair caught their attention but they didn’t look away from the rest or her.
She intimidated most of them, she had an off-putting presence. If one of them worked up the courage to talk to her, she was always busy or in
a hurry. She was tall and looked like she was well built although it was hard to tell from baggy clothes she wore.
The day passed quickly, she ate lunch under a tree with a book open on her lap and wondered about her afternoon history class. Mr. Vogt had a mild stroke a few weeks ago and had decided to retire. He’d left a lesson plan and one of the faculty had been sitting in, issuing the assignments and basically leaving them on their own. Most people had stopped coming to class or treated it like a study hall. The new hire was supposed to start today, a professor from England and she hoped he’d stick to the Professor Vogt’s plan. They were in the middle of learning Greek history and she found it fascinating. He had been her favorite teacher, an older gentleman that was always polite and seemed to come from another time. She had been helping him organize his decades of files and continued even after they’d heard he wasn’t coming back. She didn’t know what would happen to them, she supposed he would send a truck to take the dozens of cabinets to his home. The least she could do was finish the job she’d started.
Chapter Three
James
He checked his watch as he climbed out of the car with suitcase in hand. Three minutes until eight. The Victorian style building was a mile off campus in an older part of town. It had a wraparound porch and stood three stories tall. A silver haired man was waiting to greet him and after they shook hands warmly, he was led up the stairs. The stately old home had been renovated with teachers or college staff in mind. The rent was a little higher and the neighborhood a little stricter to discourage students who may be inclined to have frequent parties. Each apartment took up the whole floor but they were fully furnished, including dishes, linens and towels. The supervisor wanted to do an inventory but James flipped to the last page of the contract and signed his new name.
Heart of the Guardians: Meeting Destiny Page 1
