Protector: A Young Adult / New Adult Fantasy Novel

by Joanne Wadsworth

  Protector: A Young Adult / New Adult Fantasy Novel

  Title Page

  Cover Copy

  Also by Joanne Wadsworth

  PROTECTOR

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Warrior, Book 2 - Next in This Series

  Hunter , Book #2.5

  Enchanter , Book 3

  Healer , Book 4

  Chaser , Book 5

  Cover Copy

  To love and protect…across worlds.

  Eighteen-year-old Faith Stryker is prepared to leap out into the unknown world beyond her home shores of New Zealand to experience life. Only she never expected to encounter Magio, a planet with two warring countries, where its people reach adulthood at eighteen by coming into their strength and prophetic abilities. Only after Faith discovers she’s a Halfling—thanks to her warrior father she’s never met—does her own skill of forethought develop.

  Peacio’s Prince Davio Loveria is sent to the young Faith Stryker by his grandfather, but not all goes as planned. Davio discovers Faith isn’t just a Halfling, she’s also his soul-bound mate—an intense relationship he cannot, nor will not, give up.

  With two wars now waging…one of land and the other of the heart…can the young couple find their place in the world?

  Also by Joanne Wadsworth

  The Matheson Brothers Series

  Highlander’s Desire, (Book 1)

  Highlander’s Passion, (Book 2)

  Highlander’s Seduction, (Book 3)

  Highlander’s Kiss, (Book 4)

  Highlander’s Heart, (Book 5)

  Highlander’s Sword, (Book 6)

  Highlander’s Bride, (Book 7)

  Highlander’s Caress, (Book 8)

  Highlander’s Touch, (Book 9)

  Highlander’s Shifter, (Book 10)

  Highlander’s Claim, (Book 11)

  Highlander’s Courage, (Book 12)

  Highlander’s Craving, (Book 13)

  Highlander Heat Series

  Highlander’s Castle, (Book 1)

  Highlander’s Magic, (Book 2)

  Highlander’s Charm, (Book 3)

  Highlander’s Guardian, (Book 4)

  Highlander’s Faerie, (Book 5)

  Highlander’s Champion, (Book 6)

  Highlander’s Captive, (Short Story Book 7)

  Regency Brides Series

  The Duke’s Bride, (Book 1)

  The Earl’s Bride, (Book 2)

  The Wartime Bride, (Book 3)

  The Earl’s Secret Bride, (Book 4)

  The Prince’s Bride, (Book 5)

  Princesses of Myth Series

  Protector, (Book 1)

  Warrior, (Book 2)

  Hunter #2.5, (Short Story)

  Enchanter, (Book 3)

  Healer, (Book 4)

  Chaser, (Book 5)

  Pirate Princess, (Book 6)

  Billionaire Bodyguards Series

  Billionaire Bodyguard Attraction, (Book 1)

  Billionaire Bodyguard Boss, (Book 2)

  Billionaire Bodyguard Fling, (Short Story Book 3)

  PROTECTOR

  by Joanne Wadsworth

  Princesses of Myth, Book One

  Cover Copy

  Also by Joanne Wadsworth

  PROTECTOR

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Warrior, Book 2 - Next in This Series

  Hunter, Book #2.5

  Enchanter, Book 3

  Healer, Book 4

  Chaser, Book 5

  Pirate Princess, Book 6

  Joanne Wadsworth

  Newsletter Signup

  Other Series by Joanne Wadsworth

  Copyright: Protector

  Dedication

  For my hubby, who cooks dinner while I write and brings home my favorite chocolate.

  Acknowledgements

  Huge thanks to my hubby, Jason, and kiddies, Marisa, Caleb, Cruise and Rocco. You allow me so much time to write, and I love you for it. With each book I publish, another dream becomes fulfilled. Your incredible support means the world to me.

  For my readers, from the depths of my heart, I thank you for joining me, where imagination and magic soar.

  Hugs to you all.

  Chapter 1

  “Faith. Hey, Earth to Faith Stryker.” Silvie Carver snapped her fingers and bobbed her head of fiery red-gold hair in front of me.

  “Don’t you dare say it, Silvie.” Her thoughts bombarded me, dropped right into my mind as if I’d conjured them up myself. I shook my head forcefully. “We’re in class and there are other students around.” Except no one could halt my best friend when she had to get something off her mind, not even me.

  “Faith, it’s gotta be said.” She inhaled sharply. “You need to get laid. You need someone fun to…well, you know what.”

  Ugh. Elbows on the desk, I dropped my head into my cupped palms. Because there it was—Silvie’s answer to the fact we were both now eighteen and still completely single.

  I lifted my head, stared her down. “Did you not hear me say we were in class, Silvie? Your timing for that analysis completely sucks. Besides, we should be studying for our end of year exams. A boyfriend comes after exams, which applies to both you and me.”

  I snuck a look around the classroom, but yeah, I was now the current spectacle because unfortunately for me, Silvie’s voice could carry just as blisteringly hot as her stunning, wildfire red hair.

  It didn’t help that one of our fellow male students now appeared riveted on our conversation, and giving me the worst slumberous wink I’d ever seen. “She wasn’t meaning I should have sex with you, Caleb Stiles. Look the other way.” I turned my hostile stare back on Silvie since she was the one who deserved it. “You, Silvie Carver, better sit down before I knock you down. I can’t believe you just said that, or why I always put up with you and your big mouth.”

  She only laughed as she shamelessly scraped one of the blue-gray metal school chairs around next to mine. She plopped herself down on it, dropping her English books, refill pad and pen in front of her onto the desk. Next, she stretched her legs out as far as she could and crossed them idly at her ankles. “Well, this conversation isn’t over. I’m sure Belle would agree.”

  “Don’t you dare bring Belle into this.” Somehow I’d managed to lower my voice and inflict some kind of control into it.

  Silvie scooped her blue pen back up, casually twirled it in mid-air around her first three fingers. This aeronautical pen trick of hers always captivated me, but not right now. Because right now, I was more than peeved. I’d had the worst week ever since my eighteenth birthday, and I mean the— Worst. Week. Ever. No one should have to live through the tribulations I’d just experienced, and was still experiencing, no thanks to Belle Benner still being in town.

  Silvie wagged one brow as her gaze rose over my shoulder. “T
oo late, Faith. Belle’s here. She and I have also been talking.”

  Great. Just grrreat.

  Belle pulled out the school chair on the other side of me, her dark locks settling with stunning abandon about her tiny waist as she twirled around and sat. She did everything with such finesse. Even the simple act of her sitting was like watching a moving piece of art. So moving, I had quizzed her about being a ballerina. She just had this way about every precise movement she made. Dainty and delicate.

  “So what were you two talking about? I didn’t have my ears tuned precisely in,” Belle said as she tossed her pad and pen with an artful glide onto her desk. Her slim fingers came around and smoothed her silky mass of dark hair behind one ear.

  I snapped my fingers, finally pinpointing exactly who Belle looked like. It was that young star female lead off High School Musical. The one who got the basketball guy and sang and danced with him.

  “Focus, Faith. I asked what you two were talking about. I didn’t have my hearing turned up.”

  There Belle went again with that telepathic skill of hers, speaking mind to mind, always trying to draw me into her mysterious world. I sighed and gave in since she knew I would’ve heard her. “Silvie thinks I should get laid.” I pushed the words along our newly formed telepathic link, the crazy link we’d created on the night of my eighteenth birthday. We’d been speaking privately like this for the past few days, something Belle called a strength skill, but something I called plain crazy.

  Beyond crazy.

  Only she seemed to have more insight than me into this odd, spinning frenzy that had become my life these past seven mind-boggling days. She insisted my skills came from the same place as hers, and that place was another planet in this universe—one named after their timeless skills—one she referred to as Magio.

  “I can feel your resistance. We are from Magio. I’ve told you this over and over since we first connected last week. I’m an empath and can feel your emotions.”

  “I heard you say so the last one-hundred times. It doesn’t mean I have to believe you.” I sent her a very long eye roll. “My mother doesn’t have any of the skills I’ve been developing since my birthday. So there simply can’t be an alternate planet called Magio. Believe me, I’ve been scouring the NASA website for any link on this mysterious planet you’ve been spouting nonsense about. There’s nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nilch. Got that or do we speak a separate language as well?”

  She gave me her own dark eye roll back. “Obviously, you won’t find anything about Magio on the NASA website. Get real. If such a thing happened, the powers that be on Earth would no doubt try to bomb us to smithereens. We live a simple existence, like that of your people hundreds of years ago. We don’t harbor advanced technology as you do.”

  Quite frankly, I’d had enough of her talk about this other planet and this other country called Peacio. My mother was human. I was human. In fact, for eighteen years I’d been just a regular—or as regular as I could get—New Zealand girl. It was Belle who was the problem. I’d only known her for three short, unnerving months. I couldn’t shake her, and on top of that, I had no answer for this telepathy, thought-reading, and other unmentionables.

  “Right, let’s agree to disagree on this subject.” I was getting a headache, just as I always did around her.

  Silvie nudged my arm from the other side, winking while a sassy grin tugged at her lips. “Are you two talking privately again? That mind thingy-majigimy you two do?”

  “Yes, and it’s about Peacio again.” Frowning, I pursed my lips. “You’ve seen those paranormal programs, haven’t you? It’s not uncommon for some of those weird beasties to speak mind to mind. That’s all this is about. I don’t believe there’s another planet like Earth out there.” And I didn’t believe I was a weird beastie either, just a weird human being it seemed.

  Silvie chuckled and sighed almost dreamily. “You two are so funny. I only wish I could do what you do.”

  Sheesh. I slapped my forehead, dropping my chin. My best friend needed a mind transplant. No one I knew would want to be this different this early on in life. I sat between two crazy people. I tapped my scratched up desktop, having no idea where to go from here.

  “Talk to me.” Belle squeezed my shoulder. “What’s bothering you the most?”

  “Everything, but most of all, I’d really like to know why I put up with either of you.” I couldn’t shake them if I tried.

  Belle smiled, ignoring my rude comment as she had a terrible tendency to do whenever I slung one at her. “You put up with me because you and I share a common trait. Our home planet—whether you believe it or not.” She paused to peer past me at Silvie. “And you put up with Silvie because she’s like a sister to you. You know I can feel that.”

  “Oh, would you just quit with the whole empath thing.” I threw my arms in the air. “I wasn’t exactly asking why I put up with you. I was letting off some steam. I mean really.” Still flinging my arms about. “You don’t have to over-analyze every single little word I say.”

  I fell back into my chair, beginning to count, enforcing more than a little necessary timeout to calm down.

  “What are you doing now?” Belle nibbled on her lower lip. “I’m getting such a strange reversal of feelings from you.”

  “That’s because I’m trying to ignore your presence. For a blessed moment it worked.”

  Leaning into me, Silvie chuckled. “Faith’s regrouping, Belle. It’s her calming thing. Give her a minute to wind down after all your talk of Peacio. You’ve been infuriating her with it for far too long. Particularly when she’s used to only me infuriating her, so getting a double dose lately hasn’t been easy for her.”

  I rolled my shoulders in an effort to release the tension, hating how Silvie was so accepting of Belle’s talk of all things Peacio and I was not. But then I was the one hearing Belle’s voice in my head along with everyone’s random thoughts when they spewed forth. Yeah, that was lucky old me.

  I squirmed in my chair and let out a haggard breath. “Let’s talk about Peacio later, guys.” As Belle would no doubt want to do since she was like a dog with a bone on that subject. “Mrs. Gray’s on her way, and I need to focus one-hundred percent on English and not some mystical otherworld.”

  Belle gave me a strange look with her exotic eyes. “You can still sense when someone is coming? You’re picking up their thoughts?”

  Great. She was back to speaking privately. It seemed like it was her job to constantly remind me of exactly how odd I now was. I moaned with great exaggeration.

  “Only if they’re broadcasting strongly. Mrs. Gray is crossing the quad, examining how to prepare us for finals.” I’d latched onto that. “So, are you still insisting this grows into forethought, the same thing your supposed King Carlisio has?” That was like the proverbial nail in the coffin, for Belle mentioning a fictional king had made me completely desert her farfetched notions.

  “Don’t flick me off again,” she growled. “King Carlisio Loveria is a wise ruler and it’s because of his rare skill of forethought. As one of his Peacio protectors, I won’t abide my ruler’s name being disparaged.”

  Excellent. Now we were back to the whole Peacio protector thing again. I needed to do more than just flick Belle off—I needed to have her locked up in the insane ward. This time I chose to ignore all the impulses to respond, instead busying myself with my workbook. Now was not the time or place for this argument, not when—whoa.

  Someone walking with Mrs. Gray released a bombardment of thoughts. They soared right at me. Thoughts belonging to a new student.

  A male by the tone in his mind.

  Yep, definitely a male. He questioned Mrs. Gray about me, said he knew me.

  Mrs. Gray rounded the corner, her salt-and-pepper hair short, straight and styled up higher over her forehead to add volume to the thinning mass. She spoke, although she dimmed into the background as the male stepped forward, his gaze cutting straight to me.

  The entire room quietened
.

  I’d never seen him before, couldn’t lower my gaze and break the intense eye contact between us. Such raw power emanated from him, along with a seductive aura that completely fuzzed my mind. My traitorous thoughts spun. He must be at least six foot four, far taller than any of the other boys in our class. His hair held a slight wave and was that teasing shade in between dark blond and brown, the longer length just sweeping his shoulders. His eyes were to die for, their liquid brown speckled with gold, the darker color the same exact shade as his hair.

  Oh, yum, yum, yum.

  He rolled his shoulders and the white t-shirt he wore stretched tight over rippling muscles. Blue jeans sat low on his hips, the bottoms tucked carelessly into a pair of black ankle-high boots with thick silver buckles.

  My mouth dried out and I licked my lips.

  His gaze zoomed in on them, and my cheeks heated. Oh heck, maybe Silvie was right, maybe I did need to get laid. Mmm, and he’d surely make the perfect candidate.

  Oh, and the way he stared at me in return just melted me. The fire in his eyes set a glow to the golden flecks and lit them brilliantly. In the mere few seconds that had passed, this stranger had disarmed me, his hot gaze running up and down my body.

  Hold on. I jerked my head back. Was he really checking me out?

  I turned to check who sat behind me, because I was surely wrong, except the last desk in the room remained clear of any student. “Who’s he looking at?” I whispered to Belle.

  “That’s Davio Loveria, the king’s grandson, and he’s looking at you.”

  What? Did Belle just say that man, that new male student was the king’s grandson?

  The fictional king?

  From the fictional country of Peacio?

  Surely Belle hadn’t gone quite so far as to acquire a co-conspirator.

  “Jeez, Belle, and if I ask that new student if he’s a prince of Peacio, will he actually confirm it?” I reverted to our telepathic connection since I didn’t need anyone else hearing what I now had to say. “I mean, do you really think for one second I don’t believe you are completely and utterly nuts?”