Guardians Of The Shifters (15 page)

He dropped another kiss on my still swollen lips and shimmied his way out of the bathroom. I quickly dried off and got dressed in my black jeans and blue t-shirt. Caden was sitting on the couch with his arm draped along the back of the couch talking to Kevin. Both of them looked up as I walked around the couch to sit next to Caden. I was ready to get down to business.

“So…when do we head out?”

“Tomorrow at dusk, it will probably take us a couple hours to get there.” Kevin spoke casually. “But before we go, we’ll have to stock up on weapons.”

“I have the weapons part covered.”

Kevin looked at me. “Yeah, for you guys.” He stood from the chair. “I’ll be back before midnight. There are a few things I need to grab. I’ll come back, crash on the couch and we’ll leave at first light.”

Caden and I didn’t say anything as we watched him walk out the door. “Can we trust him?”

I turned my attention back to him. “I’m sure he wouldn’t think to cross us or lead us into a trap.” But even as I said it I couldn’t help but to wonder myself. Caden stood from the couch and held out his hand.

“Come on.”

Sliding my hand in his. “Where are we going?”

“Out to dinner.”

“Shirt first.”

He looked down at himself. “Oh…right.”

My stomach growled with my forgotten hunger. Caden chuckled as he pulled a shirt on as we walked out the door. The sun was just beginning to set when we walked out of the hotel into a warm cool evening. There was a small out door restaurant a couple blocks from the hotel. We each took a seat and looked at the paper menus that were already placed on the glass table top. Caden asked for ice water while I opted for coffee.

It seemed like I haven’t had coffee for a year and smiled sweetly as the waitress set my cup down. A few minutes later she came back for our orders. Caden ordered spaghetti and meat balls with garlic bread and shredded cheese sprinkled on top. I ordered a chicken sandwich with mayo, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes with a side of French fries and cottage cheese.

We talked and laughed as we waited for our food to arrive. One would think we were on a date. Maybe one of these days we would actually be able to go on one. I smiled to myself with that thought. When our food arrived and the waitress left, all conversation stopped as we dug into our food. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until that moment.

The first bite exploded on my taste buds and made it feel like there was a party in my mouth. The chicken was divine with the perfect amount of spices. My sandwich was gone before Caden was half way through his spaghetti. After we finished our meal, we paid and headed back to my hotel room. We didn’t wait for Kevin to get back. With our stomachs full and after lots of kissing and touching (among other things) we fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

                                           Chapter 11

A couple hours before the sun rose, I was being woken up by kisses and whispered promises. A smile was on my lips when I opened my eyes to see Caden’s green ones staring at me. The lamp on the bedside table cast a soft glow across the room. Caden’s hair was rumbled from sleep and stuck out in all different directions. I could see that he was still shirtless. When he moved his arm to brush my hair back, his bicep muscles bulged out and flexed. When he spoke his voice was laced with sleep and it sounded sexy.

“Time to wake up love.”

I groaned. “A few more minutes.”

“We have to get a move on.”

Groaning again. “Okay.”

With a little more coaxing on his part, I finally got out of bed, grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. After drying off I pulled on faded blue jeans and a white tank top. The tips of my hair touched my shoulders…there wasn’t much I could do with it when wet so I just brushed it out. Before heading out to the sitting room, I grabbed a stack of cash from my bedside table shoving it in my pants pocket and grabbed my trusty light blue jacket from the closet.

The boys already had on their dusters, Caden’s was a deep faded brown, whereas Kevin’s was a deep dark blue which brought out the color of his eyes. After putting on my socks and shoes I slipped on my jacket. By Caden’s feet was one of my duffel bags and Kevin had a black backpack slung over his right shoulder. I still didn’t know which part of Florida we were headed to, just that it was a part that had a swamp. I’ve never seen a swamp before so I wasn’t sure how to dress or what to expect. Caden picked up the bag at his feet.

“Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” We walked out the door. “Where are we going anyway?”

Kevin looked at me over his shoulder. “Daytona Beach.”

Oh yippy, Daytona Beach was three hours and fifty seven minutes from Miami, so pretty much four hours. Probably longer depending on how heavy traffic was. As we walked out the doors of the hotel lobby into a cool morning, I wondered just how we were getting there. My question was soon answered when I saw Caden’s motorcycle and a dirt bike sitting on the road by the sidewalk. Oh great.

Caden strapped the duffel bag on the back of the bike and slung a leg over the seat. Kevin put his left arm through the other strap on the backpack before sitting astride his dirt bike. I shook my head and grumbled to myself as I climbed up behind Caden. Kevin reeved up his bike and it kind of sounded like a dyeing chainsaw. Whereas Caden’s metal on wheels wasn’t as loud. Kevin pulled out in front of us since he knew where we were going.

This was going to be a long and uncomfortable ride, we better take breaks to stretch our legs and get some food. An hour into our trip, the sky started to brighten up with the oncoming sun. Too late now to take off my jacket. We stopped once for a bathroom break and raid an outside vending machine.

After three more hours of being on the road a sign loomed in front of us saying WELCOME TO DAYTONA BEACH. We pulled into the closest gas station to fill up on gas and get some drinks. No matter where you looked people were walking around in bikinis and shorts. I suppressed an eye roll, go figure. When I came back out from the gas station it took everything in me not to slap the boys on the back of their heads whenever they saw a model type girl in a bikini that looked way too small to cover their bodies. But instead I just grabbed their chins and yanked their heads forward.

I should have been upset with Caden looking at them but I wasn’t. I was doing the same thing whenever I saw a guy with surfer abs, bleached blonde hair and incredibly tanned skin. So no complaints there. Although Caden did have to snap his fingers in my face to get my attention whenever one of those guys walking by claimed my attention. He gave me a scolding look and I couldn’t help but to blush.

Hey, if it’s okay for them to look at other women then it’s okay for me to look at other men. There is a saying if you’re with someone, you can look but you can’t touch. Even with the inviting beaches and tall buildings, I prefer the rural area of Miami Florida where things were more run down and actually looked like places have been lived in. Everything here looked shiny and new. After a few more minutes of ogling the residents, we hopped back on the bikes and headed out.

Almost another hour later we followed a winding dirt road that lead away from Daytona Beach leaving all the beautiful buildings, trees and inviting sandy beaches behind. Even though this wasn’t my kind of place, I still would have given anything to sit on the beach in a lawn chair soaking up the sun, but we had more pressing issues at hand.

A mile or so back I saw a wooden sign that said marsh lands. At the end of the dirt road we stopped and got off the bikes. My ass felt numb from sitting so long. I had a hard time peeling off my jacket because the sweat made it cling to me. Before draping it over the back of Caden’s bike, I patted the pockets looking for a hair tie. Of course, I can remember daggers and swords but not a freaking hair tie. I blew out a breath in frustration and Caden arched a brow at me

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Good…let’s get moving.” Kevin said as he took the lead.

Gee, who died and made him boss? He’s fifteen for Christ sake. I brought my hands up in a gestor to choke him, earning a low throaty chuckle from Caden. On and on we walked with sweat running down our faces. Caden handed me a bottle of water from the duffel bag that I didn’t see him grab from the bike. I smiled my thanks and took a big swallow.

Caden and I were talking in hushed tones about what we would do when we were finally in the clear. We didn’t know that Kevin stopped until we ran into him, he would have fallen over if Caden wouldn’t have grabbed his arm to steady him. I was about to ask why he stopped until I looked up. In front of us was a path surrounded by a thick cluster of trees. The sun was barely able to get through, but there was enough light to see where you were walking. Kevin shrugged off his backpack and opened it as he sank to his hunches.

“Time to strap on weapons.”

I snorted. “Really? What are we going to run into, defenseless animals?”

He looked up at me from the ground. “Better safe than sorry.” He shrugged. “Besides, you’ll never know what will be waiting.”

Caden and I gave each other amused looks and shrugged. Once we were all loaded down with weapons, Caden and Kevin stashed the bags in some tall weeds a few feet from the mouth of the path. Standing side by side we gave each other one small glance before stepping into the shaded foliage.

                                 
 
Chapter 12

Since the trees blocked out most of the sun it was kind of chilly. Goosebumps peppered my exposed flesh and I rubbed my hands over my arms to try and chase them away. It didn’t work. Damn, I should have kept my jacket on.

There was fog that was low to the ground, birds chirped and other animals scurried across the ground and weeds. There were trees clustered together with winding roots that stuck up from the water on either side of us and on the sodden path. Every time we took a step it felt like our feet would sink in and made a sloshing, sucking sound.

The farther in we walked the colder it got. Everywhere you looked there was green, green, brown, water, oh hey look, more green. I guess they don’t call it a swamp for nothing. I don’t see how a person could live in nothing but vegetation and I’m almost afraid to know what they eat or drink. My only guess would be they catch and cook the animals (gross) and that they are advanced enough in science to turn swamp water into drinking water (double gross). A loud sound to my left made me jump and bump into Caden.

“What the hell was that?”

“Probably a gator.” Came Kevin’s reply.

“A gator.” I squeaked.

“Yes.” Kevin said. “It’s not too uncommon, almost every swamp has them.”

I stayed practically glued to Caden’s side after that and paid more attention to my surroundings. I wasn’t going to let a gator sneak up on me and take a bite out of my ass…fuck that. Up ahead was a patch of sunlight and when we reached it I couldn’t help but to step into it. It warmed up my skin a little.

Looking down I noticed a white flower. I was kind of surprised to see another color besides green and brown so I stood there looking at it. Kevin must have noticed what I was looking at because I heard his voice close to my ear.

“That’s a swamp lily.”

“It’s pretty.”

It was a white flower that grew close to the ground with long petals, it’s a pretty flower considering that it grows in a swamp. It almost looked like the petals could grab a hold of you and never let you go. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a man eating plant out here. I wanted to reach down and stroke the petals with my fingertips and see if they were soft like other flowers.

I shook my head as we moved on. After another half hour-forty five minutes of walking there was another clearing. This one was wide open with a lot more water. Kevin stopped and pointed in the distance. I wasn’t at all surprised to see yet another cluster of trees.

“That’s called a cypress dome…the trees at the center of the swamp grow higher than the trees at the edge, which forms a dome-like shape of trees when viewed from a distance.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “We don’t need a history lesson in swamp.”

He looked at me. “It’s not, I’m just letting you know that swamps can form many beautiful things.”

“How is a bunch of green trees beautiful?” I questioned.

He chuckled. “It’s not what you see…but how you look at it.”

Okay…that made absolutely no freaking sense. I looked at Caden and all he did was shrug his shoulders and continued walking. I narrowed my eyes at their backs, men are such confusing bastards. I huffed out a breath as I followed slowly behind them. They were a few feet in front of me talking amongst themselves while I was lost in my own thoughts.