Read Guardian for Free Online

assigned.
    Following her steps, he tracked her scent to the far edge of the village. Her smell mixed with someone with large boots, according to the prints in the snow, and looked to be forcing said large boots ahead of her. A sigh of relief slipped out of him; she was alive and likely very, very irritated. “She’s got a prisoner,” he said to Peter as his mentor stepped up beside him.
    “Why would she do that?” Peter seemed genuinely curious.
    “To get information, to stop this from happening again. Or they just pissed her off.” Liam looked at Peter, and then waved at the village. “This isn’t the first time a raid has happened, is it?”
    Peter shook his head as they began to track what was left of the village. It took them three hours of hard running to catch up to Peter’s wolves and Rylee. They were hidden in the crook of a river, their backs to a steep rock wall where ice had formed and slid down in five-foot long icicles. Temporary shelters had been propped against the rock; lean-to’s made of tree branches and dead fall. The steady rush of the river hid the noise of their approaching footsteps. Not exactly a place where you would see your enemies coming. At least, not without a sentry or two. Of which there were none.
    He struggled to understand what he was seeing. Why wouldn’t they fight back? It wasn’t like the wolves had started the fight. And surely if a few fought back, the hunters would give up on attacking them. The wolves weren’t even setting up any defensive measures. None of it made sense.
    Worse, though, was when he got a good look at the wolves that were left. Half of them were in wolf form, their fur singed in places all the way down to the raw skin, which had been blistered and oozing down their hides. The other half still in human form were beaten and bloody, chunks of skin missing and bruises covering any visible skin. They were healing, but slowly, far slower than he would have. Maybe it was because they were on the move, unable to rest and recuperate—the reason didn’t really matter. The brutality of their wounds was hard to stomach.
    Their eyes darted away from his, lowered to the ground as they all dropped their bodies to the snow, even those still in human form, and they weren’t in much better shape to be moving around. Broken bones, cuts, and gaping wounds littered all who had escaped the hunters.
    Peter let out a shuddering sigh. “They have only taken six lives this time. That is a miracle.”
    Wrong thing to say. Behind the remainder of the pack, Rylee stepped out in all her furious glory. Her auburn hair was in tangles, twigs twisted into the snarls and soot covered her right cheek, but she was far from looking defeated. She strode toward them, saw Liam, softened a little and then saw Peter. All the softness faded.
    “Only six? What the fuck is wrong with you? Your wolves are spineless. They let those hunters kill them! They didn’t even try to fight back!” Her tricolored eyes flashed and sparkled, and she didn’t stop until she was right in Peter’s face. “What the hell is going on, old man? You can’t tell me you let this shit slide?”
    Liam literally sided with her so he could face Peter. “Tell me she’s wrong.”
    Peter shook his head. “Peace. That is what we seek.”
    “Peace will get your asses handed to you, and your children slaughtered,” Rylee snapped, going so far as to push Peter in the chest, her eyes glittering with what Liam knew were tears, but she kept them in check. Peter stepped back with her shove, but nothing else.
    Liam saw she was trying to provoke the old man. “It won’t work, Rylee. He won’t get riled up.”
    She snorted, but there was a glimmer in her eyes that spoke of some serious hurt; something had happened, something bad besides the obvious slaughter of the wolves. “I watched one of your children mowed down by these assholes, killed before she saw her third birthday, and you’re not going to do anything?”
    Ah,