Free Guardians Of The Shifters by Shannon Schoolcraft

surroundings. There were bodies littered all over the ground, some were assassins, others were guardians and shifters. I guess when a shifter dies they don’t turn back into their human forms, so I don’t know which ones were no longer with us. I looked around and saw guardians kneeling down over their charges with their heads bent and their arms crossed over their chest as if they were at rest themselves.
    From the corner of my eye I saw Jamie laying on his stomach lifeless on the ground with his arm stretched out next to him holding onto a wolfs paw. I bowed my head in sadness, he and his charge were no longer with us. Caden wrapped his arms around me and stirred me away from the carnage. “There is nothing you can do.”
    I looked up at him. “Can’t we help?”
    He shook his head. “The guardians of the fallen take care of their own as do the shifters caring for their guardians. It’s the way it’s always been.”
    Shaking my head. “But some of the guardians and their charges have both fallen…what about them?”
    “They will be taken care of properly…but right now we must attend to each other’s wounds. We take care of each other.”
    I kept my mouth closed to keep from arguing with him because nobody should argue at a time like this. With his arm still protectively around me he led me further from the massacre and farther away from my room. We stopped in front of an actual looking house long enough for Caden to pull out a key and unlock the door. A light came on as soon as his door opened, of course he gets an automatic light. I shook my head with that thought, not even sure why it crossed my mind. He led me through the door and straight to the kitchen. My mind was racing with so many questions that I couldn’t concentrate on what his place looked like.
    I’m sure after the shock from the events are over I’ll focus on my surroundings but right now I was numb. He gently pushed me onto a chair. “I’ll be right back.” I nodded my head as he swiftly left the kitchen. I could hear blood splash to the floor as it dripped from my contusions. Caden was back in front of me within five minutes dropping cleaning supplies and bandages on the table. My shirt clung to my skin just below my collarbone and I knew it stuck there because of the rivulet of blood that ran down the cut. I heard Caden’s soft voice. “I’m going to need you to take off your shirt so I can get a good look at your wound.” I hesitated for a minute before grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head.
    I looked up at the sound of his sharp inhale. For the way he was looking at me I thought I forgot to put on a bra this morning. Quickly looking down I found that I was in fact wearing a bra, it was a sports bra but in technical terms still a bra. Caden’s hands shook slightly as he grabbed the small brown bottle of peroxide and poured some onto a white washcloth. After setting the bottle back down he gently placed the damp cloth onto my wound. I inhaled sharply through clenched teeth at the unexpected sting. Once it was clean he pinched the skin together and proceeded to put a butterfly Band-Aid on it to keep it closed and put a rectangular piece of gauze over it to keep it there. After all my contusions were cleaned out and covered, Caden took off his blood spattered shirt.
    Taking a chair from the table he turned it around and sat down bracing his arms on the back of the chair. At first I couldn’t move because I was too busy looking at his strong muscular back and occasionally glancing at his panther tattoo. I understood why he had it now. Bringing my hand up, I lightly traced the outline of the tattoo with my fingertips. His back muscles bunched under my feather light touch and a small smile spread across my lips. After tracing the outline a couple more times I picked up a clean washcloth and doused it with the clear liquid in the brown bottle.
    As carefully as I could I cleaned out the gash just below the back side of