The Guardian by Sara Anderson

gasped and opened her legs
even further, shocking herself with her brazenness. She pulled her legs
together and squirmed away from him in a sudden wave of embarrassment. She
looked at him stunned when she realized that the pain had eased. “I feel better
now.” He had been right.
    He pulled his body away from her, letting her think
clearly again. “It is because I am a guardian, and I can calm the essence in
you. The faster the essence moves and changes you, the more ill you will
become.”
    “I have what? Essence? I don’t
understand?” She was going to ask more questions when he placed his hand over
the bite on her shoulder. It grew hot where he was holding his hand. Cassie
squirmed trying to escape the uncomfortable heat, but Michael held her firmly
to him.
    “Hold still,” he commanded her.
    She looked over where his hand rested and saw it was
glowing slightly like she had seen in the woods. “What is that? What are you
doing?”   Now that she was thinking
clearly she was a little frightened by her reaction to him. This was not
natural. He was doing something to her. She could not help but think of what he
had done to that man in the woods. She tried to wiggle away, but he only held
her tighter to him.
    “ It’s okay, Cassandra. I am
helping your body to adapt to the essence.” Michael spoke softly to her. She
looked into his face and calmed down. That feeling of being safe with him
returned as he simply held her.
    The doctor came over with a glass of brown liquid. “Drink
this.”
    Cassie eyed the glass dubiously. “What is it?”
    “It is to help you feel better so you can think
clearly. There are some important decisions you need to make. It isn’t fair to
make you decide when you are feeling so sick and willing to do anything to make
the pain go away.”
    Cassie took the glass and sniffed it. It did not smell
terrible. She stuck her tongue out to take a little taste.
    “Drink it, Cassandra,” Michael ordered her.
    “Cassie. Everyone calls me Cassie,” she said quietly
while slowly moving her tongue towards the brown liquid.
    “Cassie, it does not taste good. Just drink it
quickly.” Michael raised his eyebrows at her expectantly when she looked up at
his face.
    “Here goes.” She tipped the glass so she could drink
it quickly. Michael was right. It tasted bad. She shuddered at the bitter
flavor, but she kept drinking instead of stopping. Despite that she just met
this man in the worst moment of her life, she trusted him. Something in her
heart told her that he was a good man and he wouldn’t hurt her.
    “Good girl.” He smiled at her once the glass was
empty.
    The doctor came closer to her. “The effects should
happen fairly soon.”
    The three men in the room stared at her as if they
expected her to sprout wings at any moment. Instead her stomach calmed, and the
bone breaking pain ended. She looked up and noticed the room did not spin at
all and her vision had cleared. “I feel better.” She grinned at Michael. “Thank
you so much. I feel normal again.”
    “Don’t thank me yet. The things you will learn will
probably make you want to do anything but thank me,” Michael said ominously.
His hand rested against the side of her head. Cassie felt too tired to hold her
eyes open. “Sleep.” She heard the command come from
everywhere. She couldn’t resist and closed her eyes.
    ****
    Michael kept one hand on the bite on her side, and the
other moved slowly over her head and down her back. She needed to sleep, but
she had too much adrenaline pumping around her system to fall into slumber on
her own. He used just enough of his gift to pull her down into sleep. Now that
her pain was gone, she would have a restorative, natural sleep.   What she was going to go through shortly
would be exhausting, and she needed to be as rested as possible. He watched
Cassie as she closed her eyes and rested her head against him. He did not need
his shifter senses or Ilithyia’s gift to sense