The Broken Warrior's Daughter

Alessia told me that everything Liam said was truthful. He wants to make this right. He doesn’t kill just to kill. And he’s right, he is an Alpha. He’s been carrying a huge burden for so many years, it’s not fair of me to ask that he not ever kill. | know more than many how violent ours and other supernatural species can be. And | want the vampires dead too. | want to know that | am safe, after so many years of living in fear. So, how can | hold him to a standard that | am not willing to live up to.

‘Plus, we’re his Guardian.‘ ‘What? What does that mean, Alessia?‘

‘A Guardian is the protector of an Alpha. The Alpha changes with the death and rebirth of the Guardian spirit. Liam and Cyran being our mate, makes us their Guardian. We can’t walk away from them. It is our destiny to protect them.”

‘So even if | don’t want to be, I’m stuck with him?”

‘| guess you don’t have to agree to being his mate, but yes, for the entirety of our lives, we are bound to them.’

Well, that sucks. | guess | need to figure out a way to live with him.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

When I'm done showering, | change and walk to his room, knocking on the door. It opens immediately and he looks at me. “Ready?” He asks and | nod.

When we get downstairs, | see the pack members skirting around us, rather than coming up to Liam like they have the last couple of times we’ve come downstairs together.

As we walk to the car, | ask him about it. “What’s up with the pack members? Why didn’t anyone approach you?”

He opens my door, lifting me into the passenger seat. “I've asked them to give me some space. | need to focus on you and me right now. | don’t want any distractions.” He looks at me. “You are the most important thing to me. They can wait.”

| frown as he walks around the car and gets in. “But they're your pack. They need you.” | say, not really understanding how he is putting the needs of the pack on hold.

+15 BONOS

He turns and looks at me. “And | need you. | don’t think you understand just how much | need you, or how much I’m willing to do so that you will stay with me.’ He turns and starts the truck. “And Dustin is handling anything that can’t wait.” He turns back to me. “Is it okay to go shopping first or are you hungry?”

“Shopping is good.”

He pulls out of the driveway and starts down the road. He sets his phone to play music through the car speakers. The first song sounds a bit like some of the first ones that | heard, although this one doesn’t sound angry. If anything, it sounds. like liberation from guilt. Weird.

“| wasn’t going to jump.” | tell him, needing him to know. He turns and looks at me, before looking back at the road. “You were at the cliffs edge and you said you'd rather die than live with a monster.”

“| was at the edge. | was trying to find a way down. | thought | could maybe make it to Canyon Ridge before your wolves caught up to me, but Cyran is really fast.” “We had a lot of adrenaline pushing us.”

“| just didn’t want you to think that | was going to jump. | wouldn’t want to kill Alessia like that. I’m only just getting her back.”

“Can | ask how your day went with Clint? How was training?” He asks, changing the subject and I can see his hand twitching. I’m guessing he really wants to hold my hand. | told him I'd give him a chance, so | will. | reach over, and slide my hand, palm up onto his thigh where he usually holds it. His response is instantaneous. He reaches down and intertwines his fingers with mine. | watch ast some of the tension around his eyes and mouth eases.

‘He really does care for us.‘ Alessia says in my head. And she’s right. | can see how much today has impacted him, caused him more stress that he didn’t need.