Guardians Of The Shifters by Shannon Schoolcraft Page B

at all). Without thinking I started running my fingertips up and down his arm and even in sleep the powerful muscles under his skin bunched and quivered under my touch. His arm automatically tightened around me and he snuggled closer. By now it was already difficult to breath, not because he was somewhat cutting off my circulation but because he looked at piece.
    A bunch of different emotions rushed to the surface but I quickly squished it down when his eyes started to flutter open. When his eyes opened completely they locked with mine and a smile started to form on his lips. “Good morning beautiful.” Holy Christ, his voice sounded even sexier laced with sleep. I mean, a British accent was sexy as hell but even more so laced with sleep. I think I stopped breathing for a couple seconds. Eventually I was able to find my own voice.
    “Morning.”
    He moved his arm to sit up on one elbow. “How did you sleep?”
    “Good…you?”
    “Perfectly.
    I smiled at him as I threw back the covers to get out of bed although the bed was one place I’d rather be, just as long as he was in it. Him and all his sexy, groggy glorieness. My muscles felt tense and sore from all the fighting from yesterday. Hopefully once I get used to the whole guardian roll and train my muscles they won’t make my body ache.
    Caden smoothly rolled out of bed, stretched like a cat and sauntered his way over to me and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. Not sure why he did that. When he left the room I stood there unable to move and a bit confused. The smell of coffee wafered to my nose and that was what got me putting one foot in front of the other. At least we didn’t have to go to the dining hall to get a hot beverage. Caden was standing at the stove with a spatula in hand and he looked at me over his shoulder.
    “Breakfast?”
    “Sure.” A man that could cook was a big turn on.
    “Hope scrambled eggs and toast is okay, it’s the only thing I know how to make.”
    And there goes the turn on thought. “It’s fine.”
    I sat down at the table with my coffee in hand and watched him move around the kitchen, he moved around like a cat, quiet and graceful. That had to be the panther that lived inside of him. Shortly he set two plates filled with scrambled eggs and toast down in front of us. I wasn’t really one for eggs but ate them anyway.
    Half way through our breakfast a knock sounded on the door, Caden groaned and got up to answer it. A kid in his twenties (possibly older) stumbled through the door, he didn’t even wait for an invite…how rude. He looked horrified and kept glancing at me and that made me a little nervous. His voice was high pitched and filled with anxiety.
    “Is it true Caden?”
    “Is what true?”
    “About Cora, that she’s more than just a guardian…that she’s something that’s not supposed to be?”
    I could see Caden’s back stiffen from where I was sitting, even if a shirt did cover his body. It felt like my blood stopped moving through my veins and I held my breath waiting for his answer. When it looked like he wasn’t going to say anything I got up from the table and slowly walked towards them. I put my hand on his arm to get his attention and when he looked at me I spoke.
    “Is it true?”
    “No.” He spoke the word way to fast like his brain was on auto pilot mode. The kid let out a breath.
    “You better hope she’s not man because if she is Cole will kill her.”
    That got my attention and I jerked my head in his direction. “What!?”
    “Rex, there is nothing--.”
    “No Caden, you don’t understand.” He cut him off. “Cole has been watching her since before you two even came here. He has been noticing things about her…” He looked out the window. “Last night when the assassins came, Cole said that he saw a faint light, almost like fire surrounding her.”
    Caden crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you know this?”
    Rex looked away embarrassed. “I was out doing my rounds and I heard