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  Heart’s Sentinel

  Copyright 2010 by PJ Schnyder

  ISBN: 978-1-936394-11-1

  Cover art by Dara England

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

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  Heart’s Sentinel

  Book One of Terra’s Guardians

  by PJ Schnyder

  DEDICATION

  “for Ariya, Helen and Julie”

  Chapter 1

  Adam knew every jaguar in River Gap Pride, and the woman who walked through the door wasn't one of them. He'd have remembered her sweet face framed in shoulder length hair, so dark a brown it shone black indoors. She must be new in town, come to stay in pride territory.

  Pausing in the entryway to the dojo, her dark chocolate eyes scanned the foyer. When he approached, she tensed as if poised to bolt, but squared her shoulders and faced him anyway. Used to taming wild things, her response didn't bother him.

  He gave her his friendliest smile. “Hi there, here for classes?”

  People didn't get wilder than shapeshifters, and a fellow shifter stood before him. His inner beast growled, her scent exciting things deep inside his core. And yet, she had a newness about her, an awkwardness he associated with teens growing into their maturing bodies, even though she moved with more grace than any human.

  “Yes.” Her answer came in a quiet, wary voice. “I was interested in beginner martial arts classes.” The melodic timbre sent shivers down his spine. “I spoke to Jacob. He told me my father and I would be expected.”

  With those words, Adam knew her. His beast surged inside his skin, drowning him in the need to protect.

  And, she needed protection. It was why she’d come to River Gap Pride.

  An older man stepped in behind her, bearing a strong family resemblance, his dark skin weathered brown as opposed to her golden tan. His hand, worn with honest work and slightly wrinkled with age, came to rest on her shoulder. He looked around the school, nodding to himself in response to some inner dialogue. The girl remained motionless under the man's touch, watching Adam, and it seemed her dark gaze saw right through to the violence just under his surface.

  Adam struggled to control it, knowing she had every right to caution. “Is this your father?”

  She gave a slow nod. Adam focused on the way the silken ends of her hair brushed against the corner of her mouth. His beast, redirected, wondered if her hair felt as soft as it looked. He clamped down on his reactions, wondering why meeting one girl could throw his control off so badly. He didn't have time for it. She needed his protection from the bastard who had put the bruised look in her eyes, the reason she’d come here in the first place.

  “Nick Sunton.” Her father held out a hand, shifting Adam's attention to him, and Adam shook it without hesitation. For a human, the older man gripped not only firmly, but strong.

  He nodded. “I'm Adam, an instructor here at the school.”

  "You look young to be an instructor." Not a challenge but a straightforward statement of fact.

  Adam grinned. He already liked the old man. Nick approached with no nonsense and got direct to the point, dominant for a human. "I grew up in town, taking classes here. It was a natural progression, becoming an instructor. I'm the youngest, but I know everything we have to teach."

  Nick grunted. Whether in acceptance or a dismissal, Adam couldn't be sure.

  The young woman glanced at her father for a long moment and then introduced herself, her voice still full of caution. “I'm Mackenzie.”

  She gave him an equally firm handshake, but he couldn't ignore the fine tremor running through her arm as she forced herself to grasp his hand. He released her as soon as she began to withdraw. His inner cat raged, wanting to find the person who'd brutalized her and do the monster mortal damage.

  Instead, he forced a cheerful smile, tucking away his ferocity with the ease of long practice. “Why don't we step into the office for more privacy?”

  Wariness never left her eyes, but she followed her father into the office at Adam's direction. Adam gave her space as he followed them in, not wanting to make her fight the natural reluctance to let another predator behind her. If she had been born a shapeshifter, and not made, she might not have let him behind her at all.

  Mackenzie told herself a fully grown, adult woman shouldn't have problems simply walking into an office. But then, most women she knew wouldn't have a natural-born predator walking in behind them. Hell, most women she knew wouldn't have minded this particular man walking behind them, in front of them or anywhere nearby. He looked absolutely delicious in all sorts of ways.

  Problem, right there. Mackenzie had been one of those women in the past—someone incredibly attracted to the dangerous charisma of a male shapeshifter. She'd fallen for it, head over heels, and drank in the wonderful sensuality one shifter in particular exuded like cologne. She'd reveled in the intensity of his attention until it burned her—nearly to death. Dangerous sensuality had turned to obsessive intensity back then, terrorizing her days and nights. Mackenzie remembered moving through every day, constantly aware she could turn any moment, anywhere, and her stalker would be there, without a sound or warning of any kind.

  As Adam stepped in behind her, she balled her hands into fists to prevent herself from bolting back out the door, while her heart rate sped up with building anxiety. She blinked away the darkness closing over her eyes and forced her frozen lungs to take one slow breath at a time.

  No.

  Mackenzie forced herself to breathe past the panic attack.

  He's not here.

  Forcing her hands open at her sides, she turned with slow deliberation and settled in one of the chairs facing the desk. Willing her tensed muscles to relax one at a time, she leaned into the comfortable softness of the leather.

  This is safe territory and he is not the man who attacked me.

  Mackenzie set her jaw and looked directly into Adam's face, forcing herself to see him, see the differences between his face and the face taking center stage in her nightmares. Light eyes the color of honey, an open expression, and a strong jaw line shaded by a hint of stubble saved him from boyish abandon. When he smiled, a lopsided grin made her want to smile in return. The hint of wildness in his eyes, and the way he held himself spoke of the predator within, but somehow he'd taken most of the ferocity she'd felt from him earlier and hidden it away somewhere.

  He did a good job with the reassuring, cheerful act. Mackenzie knew better. She'd seen the predator rise up in his eyes when he'd realized her identity. Between one breath and the next, he'd been bigger than life, filling the foyer with the promise of violence.

  The only reason she hadn't retreated, right then and there, was because somehow she'd known his rage had been directed someplace else
. And when he'd focused on her, instead of being further incited to violence, he'd calmed.

  Everything is different.

  She had to believe. She had to know, not only hope, shapeshifters differed from each other every bit as much as humans. Not every shapeshifter twisted lives like the monster who haunted her.

  She'd come looking for a new life and a new start. She would not let the nightmare hold her back.

  Adam paused in the doorway, giving her time to decide to sit. When he stepped inside, he left plenty of room to get back out the door if she decided she couldn't handle the enclosed space.

  Her fear hung in the room, a sharp scent making his inner beast buck at the reins of his control. Her heart raced, a staccato beat to his shifter hearing, and he wanted to find and annihilate the cause of her terror. But he couldn't, because the most direct source of her fear at the moment was himself.

  And, looking away from her wasn’t an option, even if it helped. Something within him needed to watch, be aware of every nuance of her body language.

  The bulky sweatshirt she wore couldn't hide her generous curves. She had the face of an innocent, delicately sculpted and youthful, but her eyes were old, shadowed though her age seemed fluid, shifting with every expression until he couldn't pin it down.

  When she sat, obviously making an effort to relax into one of the chairs, he rounded the desk, keeping his movements clear so she could read his intent. Her father settled into a second chair. Giving them both another smile, he called up the files his boss, Jacob, had left behind on the slim comp-screen.

  “We were told a new shapeshifter would be arriving.” He mentally kicked himself for not having recognized her immediately. Her eyes, haunted as they were, should have told him before she ever had to mention Jacob. The owner of the martial arts school would've cuffed Adam upside the head had he been around to see Adam drop the ball. But Jacob was away on a remote mission for the pride. Adam had been left in charge of the school, so he'd make it up to her. “We didn't know your age or gender. Our liaison from the human police didn't give us much in the way of detail, only a summary stating you were systematically stalked and then Changed against your will.”

  “Privacy is a big thing in the city.” She almost sounded casual, but not quite. Those deep brown eyes remained dilated and a muscle tensed along the fine line of her jaw. “Most of u..most humans would press charges for a breach in privacy.”

  “And, most humans don't live outside the cities.” Adam knew part of the answer to his next question, but there seemed to be more than the obvious need for protection from her stalker. “Why did you choose to come here?”

  She hesitated. “Nothing moves right anymore.”

  “Okay.” He watched her patiently. His inner cat knew how to wait.

  “I'm not safe around humans,” said Mackenzie finally, her voice flat, “but I need to learn to move again.” Once she started, the words tumbled out and her pitch wavered. “I need to figure out all these sights and sounds and smells, the rush of feelings and the press of something new inside my head. I need to figure out my body again.” Her voice broke as she came to a rushing finish. "I need to be me again, but I can't, so I need to learn to be something, somebody, else." She paused, took another measured breath as she reached for control. Her face turned cold and blank with her next words. “I need to learn to protect other people from me. I also need to learn to protect myself.”

  Adam nodded, growing more impressed by the minute with the sheer will contained in her petite body. Afraid of what she'd become, of what she could do to those around her. He knew what it felt like. Resolve solidified in his mind as he committed himself to help her move forward. She'd been given sanctuary by the pride, and the pride took care of those they made their own.

  “The blended classes will give you an introduction to mixed martial arts. We cover several basic styles. The classes are a good introduction and they'll help you achieve your goals." He kept his words in a matter-of-fact tone to ease away the stillness lingering after what she had said.

  Mackenzie nodded. Relief eased her expression, a minute relaxation of tiny muscles at her brows and around her mouth.

  “It is important you understand,” he said with a quiet intensity. It meant a great deal that she believe him, but he didn't want to take the time to figure out why. “No one here will force you to do anything against your will.”

  No one would force her here.

  Mackenzie blinked away the memory as it washed across her sight, the intense look of love and madness in pitch black eyes before he reached out and clawed her. She tried not to hear crooned words of encouragement as he ripped her apart until her body failed, too weak to fight the Change.

  "No." She lifted her hands to clench her upper arms.

  Shapeshifters couldn't pass on their ability as easily as the ancient legends indicated. A single bite or claw wouldn't pass the magic to a human. No. Her stalker had ravaged Mackenzie to within a breath of her life to Change her from human to shapeshifter like him. And because she'd survived, he would be coming back to take what he'd created. She knew it, the certainty resonating through her bones, slightly out of tune, setting her teeth on edge.

  “Mackenzie?” Adam, his voice full of confidence, called her back from the memory. “This pride will protect you.”

  She didn't know how well the pride could protect her, but they'd offered her sanctuary. “Are you sure?” She eased the grip on her arms and clutched the armrests instead.

  “Yes.” He quickly added, “You can make friends here too. We can help you build a new life for yourself, if you want.”

  Though the fierceness in his eyes had startled her when he'd first realized who she was, studying his friendly face now, she calmed a little. Her heart eased with reassurance, instead of the ever present fear she'd thought she'd have to learn to live with for the rest of her days. If the pride had many more men like Adam, maybe they could protect her. Maybe she could make friends. She had to start there.

  His smile caught hold of her, the idea of his arms around her, strong and secure, protecting. And that took her by surprise, too. It had been some time, with the therapists helping her work through most of the trauma of her attack, but it surprised her to be so aware of a man again, at least, so soon. Instead of being afraid, she embraced it, taking it as a big step in healing the damage done to her soul.

  Her father reached out to pat her hand gently and she uncurled her fingers from the armrest.

  “You can always come home, too.” her father said. “Once you learn what you wanted to come here to learn.”

  She found a smile for him, turning her hand to carefully close around his. With her new strength, she'd almost crushed his hand the first time he'd given her the familiar comfort. Now she didn't dare squeeze his hand back at all, not until she learned to control the new and unfamiliar power in her muscles. Without doing so, she could hurt the people she loved most. And she didn't want them to suffer more pain than what it must have cost them to watch helplessly as she became something the doctors couldn't cure.

  Time to move forward and learn to be the new Mackenzie.

  “Mac,” she said, raising her chin and meeting Adam's concerned eyes. “Most people call me Mac.”

  The corner of Adam's mouth twitched and mischief twinkled in his amber eyes, “We already have a Mack in the school. It could get confusing.”

  Mackenzie started to reply but he raised a hand to stop her. “No, no. Mac's fine. We'll come up with a way to tell you apart.”

  Considering his grin, he planned to have fun with it. The mood in the room shifted and Mackenzie realized she'd relaxed again, at least a bit.

  Obviously, Adam had been watching for it. The mischief in his eyes sparked brighter as he spoke in an upbeat tone, “We'll take things a step at a time. Designing your program depends on you, Mac.” Adam smiled. “Maybe we'll call you Big Mac. Let's get you started."

  As Adam escorted Mackenzie and her father out of the office, th
ey found the other instructors playing a game with the children to close out the class.

  She stopped short in the doorway, fear rising up in a sharp spike of panic.

  Every shapeshifter in the room caught the scent and turned towards her. The children stilled and the instructors edged forward a bit. A bit pushed her over an edge and the stranger inside of her took hold to challenge them all.

  “Easy there,” Adam murmured. He stepped slowly to her side.

  Swallowing hard, she fought to pull her heartbeat under control. Darkness had fallen outside while they'd been in the office. The school's main classroom, with a wall covered in huge mirrors, reminded her of her old dance studio. With the dark outdoors and the bright light inside, the windows acted almost as another set of mirrors. The trees beyond were spectral ghosts behind the lighted reflections of the students. She kept expecting to see a face through the glass. A face always staring in at her from the night, if she ever dared to look out a window.

  A whimper clawed at her constricting throat. Every breath echoed harsh and hollow in her ears. Her attacker hadn't only savaged her, he'd stalked for a long time before he'd changed her. And for a short time before the waking nightmare, she'd dated him. Even with all the therapy, some things only faded with time.

  A small movement to her side caught her eye. Adam, she realized, gesturing to one of the other instructors. They'd subtly moved to cover the children, putting themselves in her line of sight.

  They were handling a situation, guarding against the danger she posed to the students, with her fear nearly out of control. Tears welled up, hot and stinging.

  She looked at Adam, but the instructor didn’t seem angry, his face still clear and pleasant, his gentle mouth curved in a small smile. Those kind eyes held sympathy and patience as he stood by her side.

  Her father stirred behind her, only then catching the undercurrents in the room. “What's wrong?”