Chapter Six

K raven had called out to Talon around nine p.m., and he’d asked his alpha to call the sheriff in for an emergency meeting concerning Rose. Talon didn’t know what to expect, but he was certain it had to do with new information Kraven might’ve gotten from the female.

The moment Garrett arrived, Talon noticed something different about the male. His scent had changed, too. Was he mated? What the hell was going on?

“Are you okay?” Talon asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I’m perfectly fine,” the sheriff hurried to answer.

Kraven interrupted his thought when he entered. The male was wise, and if Kraven had called for the meeting late the evening before, he knew the male had left his soon-to-be mate the moment she fell asleep for the night.

“There is so much to unload about Rose,” Kraven panted. His eyes were throwing amber sparks, and Talon sent out a bit of calming energy to the male. “She’s told me some things that I think both of you should know.”

The three of them sat around his old wooden desk, and Talon took note of everything Kraven had to tell him about Rose and her time at the hospital. That poor female was left for dead, and even with what she had gone through, she acted like it was no big deal. Well, it was a big deal to the three males discussing what Kraven had heard from her own lips.

“There have been mentions of war coming to our soil lately, but I haven’t had any visions of humans coming for the pride,” Garrett closed his eyes as if he was going back through his memories of past visions.

“There is always a threat to our country,” Kraven reminded them. “Rose had mentioned she was trained to be a fighter and protector to someone but she never found out who that person was.”

“That’s true, but I believe she was told that, because something else just doesn’t add up about Rose and where she came from,” Talon stated. “Did she ever give you any information that might lead us to a region of the country she came from?”

“She did mention flying downstream when she came to rivers, but I can ask her for more details on what she saw outside her window at the hospital,” Kraven suggested. “Maybe she saw a building we can identify by her description. Or even what the weather was like during the year.”

“That would be the next thing I’d ask, too,” Garrett agreed, but frowned. “It sounds like she’s training for the Secret Service or some other branch of the military.”

“Special Forces?” Talon asked.

“Hell, there are so many types of Special Forces in the military that no one has ever heard of.” Garrett stood and paced across the rug by the office door for several minutes. The angel was deep in thought again, and Talon’s brow raised in thought. Whatever he was thinking about had Talon thinking the angel wasn’t telling him everything.

“I’ve got to go, but I’ll be in touch,” Garrett rushed to say.

“Wait!” Talon snarled but it was too late. With a flash of bright, white light, the angel was gone, leaving Kraven and him with more questions than answers concerning Rose.

Diesel was in the training center attached to the old dorms when Kraven and Rose entered the next morning. He knew those two were mates, and he held down the jealousy. It seemed everyone was finding their mates, and he wondered when he would be next.

“Diesel,” Kraven said in acknowledgment.

“Kraven,” he nodded. “Rose.”

“You’re Diesel, right?” she asked. They hadn’t met yet, but Diesel knew she was different and highly intelligent. He wasn’t oblivious. As much as the pride stayed away from gossip, shifters talked.

“I am,” he replied with a slight bow. “Are y’all here to train?”

“We are,” Rose replied, casting a glance toward Kraven. Diesel could see it in their eyes, and he could scent their mating. As jealous as he was, he was actually happy for Kraven. That male had been alone way too long.

“Hope should be here any minute,” Kraven added, turning toward Diesel. “If you need a sparring partner, I can do that while the females work.”

“Sounds good to me,” Diesel replied, walking over to his gym bag. While they waited on Hope, he gathered his gloves and a clean towel to wipe his brow. It might’ve been wintertime, but the gym wouldn’t stay cold for long. And if he was being honest, he’d need the cool air after he did a few rounds with the elder Guardian. Kraven was a silent killer, and everyone knew that. He was soft and gentle most of the time, but when he was in Guardian mode, he was a force to be reckoned with.

Rose busied herself with preparing for her session with Hope. Diesel watched her and Kraven out of the corner of his eye. While he wanted to tease Kraven for staring at Rose in a daze while she pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, he wouldn’t. Getting his ass kicked by the Guardian was bad enough…teasing him in front of his potential mate was another story. Diesel valued his ability to walk and shift…and breathe without the help of machinery.

“Good morning!” Hope was extra cheerful as she entered the training facility. It was obvious the female wasn’t afraid of sparring with the super shifter, Rose. The two of them embraced, and Hope gave her brother a playful nudge.

Once they began to spar, Diesel kept his eyes on his opponent the entire time, ignoring the females, but Kraven wasn’t doing the same.

“Bro, you have to focus,” Diesel mumbled. “You can’t keep an eye on her while you’re fighting to protect her. She can hold her own.”

“Shut up, Guardian,” Kraven growled, finally taking his focus off of Rose and Hope. Diesel kicked himself for mentioning the older Guardian’s lack of focus. With a well-placed fist to his gut, Kraven was back in the game.

Kraven took his frustrations out on Diesel, and the poor Guardian took every blow and kick. It was great training for the two of them, but that was also an excuse for Kraven. He was getting more and more agitated when he was away from Rose.

Even though she was in the same room, it bothered him to no end that she was in a fight. Regardless that her fight was considered training, Kraven felt his instincts kicking in.

“Focus on me ,” Diesel panted as he put himself in Kraven’s line of sight to Rose. The male was extremely lucky Kraven wasn’t feral. “She’s fine. It’s just Hope. No one is harming her…remember that.”

“Fucking hell!” Kraven grumbled. The Guardian was right, but it still made his panther agitated.

“Focus,” Diesel reminded him. “After it’s all done, we can laugh about it and have a beer at your place.”

His younger friend’s words broke through his concentration. Kraven chuckled and relaxed, stepping back slightly so he could bounce on the tips of his toes. “You want my beer?”

“As long as I’m not paying for it?” Diesel laughed. “Of course, old man.”

“Old man, huh?” Kraven responded, knowing the kid was goading him. Just to remind Diesel to respect his elders, Kraven lashed out with one hell of a right hook, bouncing back on his toes. “How’s that for an old man?”

Diesel laughed so hard he doubled over, and that had both of the females stopping their training session. Kraven wasn’t mad at all. Neither was Diesel.

“Keep it up, son,” Kraven goaded. “Keep it up.”

Their sparring started out as a quick match, still testing Rose’s abilities, but before he knew it, they’d been there for three hours. Each one of them used their full abilities as a shifter. Rose and Hope were well focused and so were Kraven and his young friend, Diesel.

Diesel got in a right hook that would’ve brought the average human to their knees, but Kraven was honed in on his opponent. The blow only had Kraven losing focus for a fraction of a second. If he had to defend Rose, a blow like that wouldn’t stop him, but he had to remember his training. Even a fraction of a second could be the death of his female or anyone else in the pride.

He heard his name called, but he wasn’t about to take his eyes off Diesel. The kid may be younger than him by eleven years, but he was a dirty fighter, looking for an opening to disable his opponent in a millisecond.

“Kraven! I need you!” His sister’s words broke through his thoughts, and he saw Diesel turn, ripping at his gloves. When he looked up…and up…Kraven couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

His female was standing in the corner, taking deep breaths as if she were trying to calm herself, but that was it. That was the only recognizable thing about her…the MOD. The fuckers had turned her into something not of this world, and she stood slightly taller than him…her body was that of a dog, but hairless and all black. Its eyes were the color of blood, and she panted like she’d run a million miles. Deep in her gaze, he saw it…a glimmer of her human form.

It all made sense now.

“She’s a…dog? A wolf? What is going on, Kraven?” Hope whispered.