The Protector Read online

  Evernight Publishing ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2015 Sara Anderson

  ISBN: 978-1-77233-435-7

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To Gayle, Michelle, Cynthia and Suzette—thank you! We truly are Lascivious and our late night conversations are entertaining as well as helpful. To Kytyn and Lee, thank you so much for the friendship and encouragement.

  To my loving husband, I love you to the moon and back. You are so full of love and encouragement. I would not be here if it weren't for you. You really are my everything.

  THE PROTECTOR

  Wild Mountain Shifters, 2

  Sara Anderson

  Copyright © 2015

  Chapter One

  Five years ago

  Cole pushed his SUV as hard as he dared in the dark, blizzard conditions. The wolf in him snarled viciously with impatience. “Come on, you piece of shit truck! What the hell is four-wheel drive good for if it can’t tolerate a bit of snow?”

  His friends and teammates depended on him to get to the mountain hiking trail. Hunting was illegal here, but a couple of humans had arrived with guns.

  The back end of his SUV slid out of control, spinning on the narrow, gravel, mountain road. The vehicle came to an abrupt stop, as the headlights lit up a heart pounding view of the drop-off. The forecast did not predict the blizzard conditions to last long, but it made driving difficult.

  “Son of a fucking bitch.”

  Cole took a deep breath to calm himself. The forecast had not predicted the blizzard conditions to last long, but it made driving difficult. He had to stop driving so recklessly. The mountain road was narrow and slick with a cliff on one side of it, and he had just narrowly missed driving over the edge and ending up in the canyon.

  Brian and Nathan were in danger from men who Cole believed had heard rumors of shifters in the mountains, and they were now being shot at. They were only out there helping search and rescue, so they had little ammunition with them. They had been out looking for a couple of young teenagers who had not returned home on time. The kids had been located an hour ago, just before the snow hit, and had made it back home safely.

  Human hunters were one of their worst fears, the men who believed the stories of animals that turned into humans. Most of the time the human hunters gave up when they failed to find shifters, but this time Nathan had shifted, before he realized the humans were close.

  Nathan’s youth and the blizzard had given him a false sense of security, and minutes after Nathan shifted into his mountain lion form, the hunters had opened fire on him. Brian heard the gunshots and ran over to investigate who was shooting.

  Brian was a cholan in the Colorado mountain territory. The cholan were the protectors of the shifter territory, much like human law enforcement. They protected the area from anything that meant to harm them. They dealt with the threat of humans, other shifters, and the magical creatures that lived within their boundaries.

  The cholan were also the sheriff’s department, so there was never a question about their actions being legal in human courts. Shifter justice was far different from human, but shifters did try to turn humans over for human justice where possible. The less attention they attracted the better.

  Brian’s panicked voice came over the radio once more. “They are right on my ass. Nathan and I were separated, and I shifted to draw their attention. I don’t know if he made it out of here or not. I am out of ammo.” Brian’s voice had a slight tremor to it.

  Brian was an experienced officer, usually so calm and controlled. Cole could hear the fear in Brian’s voice.

  Cole pressed the talk key on his radio. “I am almost to you, and I have backup ammunition.” Anger burned inside him, making his wolf want to rip apart the fucking hunters. How dare they come onto our territory and hunt us like animals? We never go and hunt them. We leave them in peace. Why must we live in fear of assholes like this? And they call us animals!

  Cole resisted the urge to slam on his brakes, and forced himself to pump the brakes on the icy mountain road. He slowed down enough to stop behind Brian’s search and rescue pickup truck. He reached over to grab his 12 gauge shotgun, and he was out of his car, slamming the door shut and running up the hill faster than he had thought possible, especially in the snow.

  He heard five gunshots echoing through the snowy woods. His heart pounded painfully in his chest with dread, but he pushed himself harder as Nathan was not a full deputy yet. Brian, Aaron, Travis, Mark, and he were all more highly trained to handle dangerous situations. Cole was dubious that Nathan would cope under the pressure.

  Cole felt the awful guilt crushing him. He should have gone with them, or sent more cholan. His uncle Warren was training him to take over the cholan as their Kelach. The Kelach led the cholan, and was the sheriff. When Warren retired as the Kelach, Cole would take his uncles place as leader of the cholan.

  Learning to take command of the specialized fighters was more than a knowledge of fighting. He needed to know how to defuse dangerous situations, and how to deal with human as well as shifter conflicts, also knowing both human and shifter laws inside out.

  His Uncle Warren had given Cole more responsibility than the other cholan, but now Warren would be disappointed in him. He counted on Cole to be a leader, and he had failed not just his uncle, but his two fellow cholan.

  More gunshots, and Cole stopped dead. His enhanced shifter hearing strained to find the direction the shots had come from. Cole changed direction towards a hiking trail that had closed for the winter. He ran to the clearing and heard another shot shatter the cold night. Cole burst through the tree line just as he saw Brian collapse in a heap in the snow.

  “No!” Cole screamed, horrified at the sight.

  There were two hunters, and one, wearing green camo overalls and an orange ball cap, pointed his gun and fired once again at Brian. “Yeah, motherfucker! I got the bastard.” The two hunters high fived each other and took a long drink from their cans of beer, oblivious to Cole's entrance into the clearing.

  “Get your fucking hands up, now!” Cole yelled. Rage had his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He pointed the shotgun at the asshole who’d shot Brian, willing the hunter to give him a reason to shoot him. He was tempted to anyway, but his honor would not allow it.

  These hunters were just drunk humans, and because Cole was not blood related to Nathan or Brian, he had no right to claim vengeance. Human justice would have to deal with the hunters, but Cole desperately wanted to hand down some shifter justice to them. Human justice was far more lenient than shifter justice, which was swift and brutal by human standards. Cole could kill the hunters only if he had been related to either Brian or Nathan, by blood or mating, but, as he was only their good friend, he could do nothing to these men.

  If he were a guardian, who had the hand of their Goddess Ilithyia, he could hand down judgments. But the guardian position was Michael’s job, and he was not here. Cole would have to hand them over to the human courts to deal with, although he was thankful that there were harsh penalties for shooting law enforcement officers, even in human courts.

  His radio crackled to life. “We found Nathan. I’m afraid he took a shot to the heart. He was killed inst
antly.”

  Cole staggered under the weight of the shock. Nathan was his childhood friend. He wanted to let out a long mournful howl, but Warren would be disappointed in him if he collapsed here, in front of the humans, and let his grief take over. Cole knew he had a job to do.

  Cole put his gun to the hunter’s head. “You like killing my friends? How about I blow your worthless fucking brains out right here, asshole,” Cole said with a cold and threatening tone to his voice.

  “What the fuck, officer? I just shot a wild kitty.” The man pointed his gun at Brian and swayed drunkenly, turning towards his friend. “Unless the deputy here thinks he's Dr. Dolittle and he talks to the fucking animals.”

  “Hunting is strictly forbidden here. It’s posted everywhere, and I know damn well you know this.” Cole was hoping Michael would decide this was a crime against shifters and they could fry their asses. Perhaps a quick bullet to the fucker’s head? That would avenge Nathan. His finger pressed on the trigger. Yes, he could do it, right now, self-defense. Cole suddenly heard the voices of his fellow cholan officers arriving, and he released the pressure on the trigger, breathing through his anger.

  Cole looked around for someone to finish arresting the hunters as his colleagues joined him in the clearing. He knew he needed to check on Brian. Aaron’s voice came through the murmur of background voices, drawing Cole’s attention. “Aaron, finish handcuffing them, please. Travis, help him.”

  “Yes, Cole.” Aaron ran over, knocked the hunter to the ground, and pinned him with his knee, grabbing his handcuffs from their holder on his utility belt. Travis cuffed the other with ease, despite their drunken yelling and resisting.

  Cole ran over to Brian’s body. He had shifted back to his human form. Blood ran from his mouth, and he was gasping for air, his breath visible in the icy night air.

  Fuck, this is bad, really fucking bad. “Come on, Brian, don’t do this.” Cole knelt in the snow and pulled him into his lap. He could not leave him here, injured and without clothing. He took off his coat and wrapped it around Brian. “Come on, fight, damn you. Think of Myra, and your boys. Don’t leave them.” Cole looked around in the darkness for any sign of help. Brian could not die out here in the cold and snow.

  Brian coughed, and blood sprayed out of his mouth from his lungs. “I can’t.”

  “Don’t you fucking give up,” Cole said in a pleading tone.

  Aaron joined him with several thick, wool blankets, and they carefully wrapped Brian up in them. “We’ve got the perps cuffed, and Travis is guarding them.”

  Cole looked up from his position on the ground where he still held Brian in his arms. “Thank you, Aaron, good job.”

  Both Cole and Aaron looked up as they heard Warren’s voice. The snow let up enough, so they could see him questioning Travis. Travis pointed over to where Cole knelt in the snow.

  “We’re over here, Warren,” Cole called out to him.

  Cole sensed Warren next to him. Warren stripped off his heavy coat, exposing his shoulder holster and his gun. Good, Warren and Brian have been best friends for years. He will get Brian to hold on. Warren fell to his knees in the snow next to them and took Brian’s hand in his own. Brian looked over at Warren, and another coughing spasm gripped him.

  “Warren,” he rasped, gasping for air. His eyes looked panicked, as if he was running out of time and knew it.

  “I’m here.” Warren leaned in and took his other hand. Cole could see how much Warren cared for Brian.

  “Take care of Myra, and our boys. I love her, and I know you do, too.” Brian gasped for air, his breath coming in noisy rasps. “I know you worried about my parents’ opinion of our relationship, Warren, but we all love each other. I need you to be the alpha of our triad now.”

  “I do, I love her, and you.” Warren looked into Brian’s eyes. “But don’t take that as an excuse to leave us.”

  “Stay with her,” Brian whispered. Then his hand went slack, and he stared sightlessly up into the winter night sky.

  Warren checked for a pulse, then shook his head sadly.

  “Son of a mother fucking bitch,” Cole said staring down at his dead friend.

  Warren leaned over Brian’s lifeless body, and his shoulders shook as he cried. The woods around were still and silent, except for the sound of Warren’s broken weeping.

  Cole knew his uncle would not want him to try to comfort him, so he let him grieve alone. He made sure the rest of the cholan gave Warren the time and space he needed to mourn Brian’s death.

  Warren raised his face to the sky, and Cole saw tears falling down his cheeks. When Warren looked back down, he gently put Brian’s hands on his chest and carefully closed Brian’s eyes. Slowly Warren got to his feet and stormed over to where the hunters were kneeling in the snow. They knelt in the snow with their hands cuffed behind their backs.

  “These are the fuckers shot my cholan?”

  Travis pointed at the hunter in camo coveralls and the orange hat. “This guy here, he’s the one that shot Brian. He says his name is Levi Clemmons. We don't know, but we think the other one shot Nathan."

  Warren stared at Levi for a moment. “You killed a good husband and father.”

  “I killed a wild animal." He grinned. "So at the most, I will get a ticket for illegal poaching.”

  Warren pulled out his gun and pointed it at Levi’s head.

  “No!” Travis yelled, shoving Warren hard. His gun fired as Travis took Warren to the ground, the bullet barely missing the hunter's head.

  Travis put his hands in the air to placate Warren. “I do not want to see you lose everything you worked for, Warren.”

  Warren slowly got to his feet. His nostrils flared, and his breath came in pants. His eyes were bright with anger. “Travis, you ever knock my arm like that, and I will fucking rip it off, cub. I am the Kelach and sheriff here. If I want to fucking kill a murdering human, I will.”

  Levi knelt in the snow, his eyes wide in terror. “You want to kill me for illegal hunting?”

  Warren’s eyes flared with rage. “Illegal hunting? You saw that those animals you shot were more. They have families.”

  Levi shook his head. “I’m sorry. I was just having a bit of fun.”

  Cole watched Warren battle for control of his bear. He aimed his gun at Levi’s head and fired. Levi fell to the ground, his blood staining the fresh snow red.

  Cole turned to see his uncle standing over Levi’s dead body, and watched Warren aim his gun at the second hunter. Cole fought through his own fog of grief to try to take charge. Warren was in a murderous rage. If he acted without judgment, he could lose his place as Kelach and face judgment, but not only that, he could lose Myra, too.

  Time seemed to pass in slow motion as Cole walked over to his Uncle Warren, holding his hands out shouting. “No!”

  Cole watched Warren hesitate. The other man tried to roll away while screaming unintelligibly.

  “Warren!” Cole yelled, but Warren re-aimed and fired the gun once more. The human slumped over with a bullet wound in his head. Cole stood in place and watched as Warren tossed the gun aside, and then fell to his knees. His head fell forward, and his shoulders shook. Cole knew Warren was about to shift.

  Warren’s shift was not gradual, not how most of them shifted. Cole watched Warren’s whole body quiver and his bear burst out, shredding his clothes.

  Cole braced himself in case Warren had lost his sanity. It was possible that grief could drive a shifter temporarily insane, and they might have to work as a team to bring Warren and his grief under control.

  Warren raised his face to the sky and let out a roar that penetrated the whole forest. He then he collapsed to his side, breathing hard.

  Cole couldn’t move as he stood in stunned shock over the carnage. It almost felt like hours before Cole managed to move forward on numb legs. He stared down at the human hunters lying in the snow, dead. “Warren, what have you done?” Cole asked in horror.

  Warren shifted back to a human, but
stayed down on all fours, in the snow. Aaron brought over some spare clothing along with his coat. Warren took them without making eye contact. He lifted his face to the night sky, and as the snow slowed to flurries around him, it was easy to see the tears fall from Warren's eyes. “It was my right. I am now the alpha of our triad. I claimed the right of vengeance for my female’s murdered alpha mate.”

  Cole stood in the snow, feeling nothing. Thoughts whirled in his head at the possible outcomes. Cole hoped Ilithyia forgave Warren for killing the other hunter. Warren could claim vengeance for Levi, but they didn’t know which human had shot Nathan. They all assumed the other hunter shot Nathan, but the other cholan were taking forensic evidence to prove their theory.

  Cole worried about the trouble Warren faced. What if they stripped him of his position as the Kelach, and beta? Warren might be in a lot of trouble. Myra and Warren had never mated, so Nathan, although he was Myra’s brother, was not direct family to him. He should have waited for Michael’s judgment to act. If Warren had to step down, then that left Cole to take on the leadership role, and he knew he wasn’t ready yet. There were so many rules he didn’t fully understand. The laws were so complicated.

  Cole saw Michael, the Guardian of the territory, walking into the scene, and his heart filled with dread for Warren. The snowfall had decreased to flurries, making it easy to see all around now. Michael approached Warren to question him.

  “What happened here, Warren?” Michael asked looking at the dead bodies in the snow.

  Warren pointed to Travis. “Ask him. I did this.”

  Michael looked from Warren to the bodies to Travis. “Travis,” Michael said in a grave tone. “Come with me, please.”

  Travis followed Michael so they could speak freely.

  Cole’s heart pounded in his chest as he wondered what would happen to his uncle. What if Michael banishes Uncle Warren? He doubted Michael would put him to death. These humans were far from innocent.