Chapter One

Chapter One

Dahvid

Taking a long sip of the mocha latte adorned with both soft-top and chocolate drizzle, Dahvid forced himself to relax. He'd visited this particular coffee shop every day for a week. Long enough to discover what he liked to drink.

Business at Grounds for Coffee was mostly drive-through or takeout. The area for actually sitting down to enjoy your beverage of choice was small. There were a handful of little tables, a few overstuffed chairs in the bay window, and a tiny couch. Dahvid decided the décor reflected the owner's personality. Bright, eclectic, and kitschy. Nothing matched. There was no dominant color scheme… but the rainbow mix worked. Every time he walked in the door, he smiled at the chaos.

He'd seen his Keeper do the same. Dahvid had been smart this time. Choosing different body styles and clothing choices to follow his mate. Kimberly Jensen was naturally observant and alert. She was a television reporter, trained to watch people and remember where she'd seen them before. But he was a Guardian and one of the first things they learned was how to morph their naturally long silver body into other worldly forms. On Earth—he looked human.

Guardians were humanoid creatures with two arms and legs, one head, and two eyes… it wasn't difficult to mimic the Earth form. Humanoids were one of the dominant forms throughout all the universes and realms. In several worlds, the humanoid form was covered in fur and had a tail and claws of some type—however, most humanoids were covered in varying thicknesses of bare skin.

There were even some humanoid species who could breathe underwater—yet most didn't.

There were other forms throughout the worlds that were not humanoid in the slightest. The Ahnoks had a halo of eyes surrounding their skulls. These beings were in constant demand as bodyguards. They were impossible to sneak up on. To rest, they only had to close half their eyelids. Or the relatively peaceful Octapids who scrambled about on eight legs. There were dragon-type creatures, complete with wings… and a great many other creatures roaming the galaxy.

Many were upstanding beings who wanted to live and love on their own planet or realm and never caused trouble. But some beings were the stuff of nightmares and wanted to traipse all over the damn place without permission. It was the Guardians' job to keep them contained. To retrieve them if necessary and use force if they caused harm.

But today, Dahvid wasn't chasing anything but his Keeper. And it was also the first time he would approach his Keeper in his chosen form. He spent hours in front of the mirror tweaking his looks. Changing his hair color, eye color, the size of his muscles… his height. He added tattoos to his arms and chest, then changed them. The tattoos he'd chosen were a mixture of ones he'd seen in Earth's database and ones he'd designed himself. Like the heart on this left shoulder with the words Always… for my Keeper , written in his birth language. It looked a little like Mandarin Chinese characters.

Happy with his choices, Dahvid finally went to a tattoo parlor and made a few of them permanent. Not realizing that his Guardian body wouldn't incorporate the heart on his shoulder or the tribal tats he'd added to his chest. The tattoos faded when he changed forms. That was something he'd need to deal with later.

Dahvid was nervous. With his mind racing, and his body trembling, he used the last few minutes to go over his plane before Kimberly walked through the door.

For the last time, he wondered if it had been a mistake not to take Grace's advice when it came to his looks. For that, he'd relied on his brothers. Not like brothers from the same mother… that would be impossible because there were so many of them. But brothers—as in shared circumstances, shared memories, brothers-in-arms.

Frowning, he tried to put a number to how many brothers he had. Hundreds? Thousands? As he studied his six-foot frame in the mirror, he started counting. Wanting to put a number to the masses. Dahvid loved numbers. Loved spreadsheets and calculations and… he couldn't do it. He knew them all by sight and through their shared consciousness. He knew where they were at any given time. As he thought of them individually, he knew their circumstances—if they were in stasis or awake, or if they remained single or were mated to their Keeper.

That statistic was the easiest to update.

In the last hundred years, he knew there had only been four Guardians who claimed their Keepers—Talon, Hawke, Falcon, and Raptor. Three hundred and twenty-two other brothers had been thrust awake, taken out of stasis, and given the location of their Keeper… and failed to convince her to accept them. A few hundred had retired with their Keepers to raise their families. More remained in stasis, their Keeper's souls not yet reborn.

The grim statistics of single versus mated Guardians was why Dahvid ignored Raptor's Keeper. Grace told him that the biker dude look was over the top and would scare the woman away. But Talon, Hawke, Falcon, and Raptor had all used the approach and claimed their mates, while three hundred and twenty-two other brothers hadn't tried the approach and they remained Keeperless. He had followed the guidelines from the mated Guardians on what Earth women liked in their men. Well, not all women. But it seemed those who became Keepers had a type—hot biker dude.

It seemed like a no-brainer to him.

Dahvid smiled. A no-brainer was one of Grace's favored idioms. This month was the first time he'd ever spent any time with one of the Guardian's Keepers, and she wasn't at all what he'd expected.

There was only one Keeper created for each Guardian. A Keeper was the custodian of the Guardian's soul, bringing light to all the days to come in their exceedingly long lives. A Keeper kept the Guardian sane. Without one, a Guardian could lose their way with no anchor to their physical bodies. A Keeper held the best half of a Guardian's heart and was the willing and honored vessel for their future.

Dahvid didn't slide into stasis whenever his Keeper refused him—as all but one of the other Guardians did—time and time again. Raptor had run from his responsibilities as a Guardian, hating the revolving door of stasis and rejection by his Keeper. Yet, he'd recently found Grace. His success in finding his mate without divine guidance and stasis… allowed others to choose.

Yet, the Interstellar Gods worried that not all Guardians could handle being awake that long. Raptor and Dahvid were two out of hundreds to spend their exceedingly long lifetimes roaming the galaxies. Helping out when they could, continuing to protect all the worlds and universes from the forces of evil. Dahvid definitely felt the pull, needing to find his Keeper. But he'd never felt his mind begin to fade, nor did his essence refuse to do anything but hibernate. And that happened to many of his brothers. Without a Keeper most of his Guardian brothers couldn't keep their physical body intact, so they went into stasis. After Raptor and Dahvid avoided stasis, it was being debated if that need to hibernate was more of a want .

Maybe the older Guardians could avoid stasis, keeping their mind and body relevant enough that they might be more successful in claiming their reincarnated Keeper. It was a thought, and because everyone wondered… they were watching him extremely closely on this mission.

Dahvid had never been in stasis. Mostly because his mother and father hadn't been Keeper and Guardian… His parents served the Interstellar gods. His father was head of security and his mother was a Dimension Ambassador for the immortal beings. When Dahvid decided he wanted to become a Guardian, one of the beings who served as the universe's police force, he'd been approved for the job. His parents requested that he be kept out of stasis, giving him the role of support for any Guardians who were awake.

It made sense at the time.

Being awake for a thousand years hadn't helped him with his Keeper. Dahvid hoped the biker dude method tipped the scales in his favor. Talon had connected through dreams with his Keeper. In those dreams, he'd seen Raine's fantasy man. So, when he knocked on her door this last time, Talon made sure he looked exactly like she imagined her ideal mate. His Keeper had claimed him almost immediately.

But none of the other Guardians could dream-walk. They couldn't pluck the fantasy information out of their Keeper's mind. Then Hawke was reunited with Tawny. In earlier incarnations, his Keeper had nearly killed him, sent a mob chasing after him, and scared the man for all eternity. This time Hawke took it slow. The Guardian made sure to maintain his distance, only approach his mate in public places, and explain everything he could think of to his mate to ensure she made the best decision for herself. Tawny had been open and willing to proceed, yet Hawke kept his distance and continued to educate the human female about the more complicated world around her.

Tawny got fed up with him, and told him to leave, yelling, "There must have been some kind of cosmic screw-up because if you really were my Guardian and the other half of my soul, you would be dressed in jeans and leather and riding a motorcycle."

Hawke did exactly that, claimed his Keeper, and created the bad boy tutorial for all Guardians. That guide helped Falcon claim Makayla, then helped Raptor claim Grace. There had been other problems, but the bad boy, biker dude image, helped each man convince his Keeper to accept their Guardian.

So, he hadn't listened to Grace when he picked his human form. Grace gave him a lot of advice while she explained she planned to write a book for the Guardians on How to Romance An Earth Woman . Dahvid felt it would have more traction if successfully mated Guardians wrote the tip book. More along the lines of How to Impress your Keeper . But since his brothers insisted that it worked for them, Dahvid stuck with their advice when it came to appearance. He should have listened to Grace.

But Dahvid wasn't a total idiot. He listened to Grace's advice on how to manage the first meeting. She'd cautioned him to approach his Keeper in a public place. A coffee shop, somewhere quiet and "safe" where she might speak to him. To not push, to let her see him, and get used to running into him a few times before he tried to have a meaningful discussion with her.

It made sense. Dahvid had popped in on her before. Showed up in her bedroom in the walled keep of her father's castle, and once… when she'd been bathing in a stream. Before he could say a word, she started screaming… and didn't stop. Dahvid ran for his life and never looked back. Grace explained that this type of introduction would startle the woman and make her believe she was in danger of rape or losing her life. He'd been lucky his woman hadn't been the type to keep a weapon for her own protection.

Dahvid had followed Kimberly for days. Watching her habits, seeing where she went and who she talked to. His mate worked, went home, and went to this little coffee shop. His options were limited when it came to arranging an accidental public meeting. At work, she wouldn't give him the time he needed. Unless he just handed her a story.

He was prepared to do that. Had one readied for her. But part of the plan was for them to work together. Dahvid couldn't just hand it over to her. Too many lives were at stake.

Wiping a sweaty palm on his jeans, Dahvid kept his gaze on the window. It was easy to admit he was nervous. His Keeper had turned him down so many times before. In each and every reincarnation of her life, she'd screamed at him. She wouldn't remember those times, but he did.

Dahvid couldn't screw this up.

The tiny bell above the entrance tinkled merrily when it opened. Glancing up, Dahvid's heart skipped more than one beat when his Keeper walked in. Heading straight for the counter, she didn't look right or left. Didn't see him sitting by the window, next to her favorite seat.

She was so beautiful. Even as distracted as she appeared right now, she managed to smile at the owner of the coffee shop. Pulling her hand through her short, black hair, her dark green eyes narrowed in concentration as she gave her order. She was wearing dark pants tucked into pretty black ankle boots, and a long black coat over a pale pink sweater. She had a purse on a chain slung over her shoulder.

He could tell something was wrong. His Keeper was upset. Worried. There was nothing he could do to help her right at that moment. She didn't know him. Wouldn't trust him. Not yet.

Drink in hand, his Keeper turned. She headed directly back to the door, evidently not planning to sit in the sun this morning. He shifted in the seat, drawing her eye. Kimberly stopped immediately, as if he'd prodded her with a hot stick. Her spine straightened, and she eyed him with both fear and disdain. Changing direction, his Keeper headed straight for Dahvid.

His heart pounded in anticipation… this was it. Dahvid sucked in a breath.

Kimberly marched up to him, stopping only a foot away. She hissed, "I am not going back. I am not sending him money. If you touch me, I'll scream. As far as I'm concerned, I'm an orphan. My family died when my mother did. Tell the man claiming to be my father…, " she spit the word out. Years of hatred and loathing in her voice. "I don't want anything to do with him!" She poked her finger toward him and then spun on her heels and left. Short hair bouncing and every muscle tense—her steps clipped.

In mere seconds, Dahvid's Keeper had disappeared from view.