The Protector’s Keeper
By
Bonnie Rose Leigh
Prologue
The thirteen-year-old girl huddled on one end
of the couch, distraught, traumatized and
lonelier than she’d ever been before.
It took her nearly a week of riding the bus to
reach this hiding spot in New Jersey. A week of
mind-numbing pain, exhaustion and despair. She
couldn’t leave the room she was hiding in because
the killers who’d taken her family away could find
her. But if she listened real hard, she could hear
the ocean waves as they hit the shoreline.
Her brother loved to play at the beach
whenever they stayed at the California compound.
He’d missed all the fun this summer because he’d
reached puberty and had to learn how to change
into his wolf form and how to wield his powers.
Her mother and father would have sent her for
training once she started going through puberty,
too, but now they were gone and she didn’t even
have her brother Sam either. What would she do
without him? He’d always been with her. He was
her twin, a part of her, and now there was only a
hole where his voice and laughter used to be.
Samantha looked down at the journal she was
clutching in her hands. They said she could leave a
note for her brother in case he ever learned that
she still lived. She wished she could just talk to
him using her mind like she normally did, but the
evil ones could find her that way. That was the
last thing her mama had said before her death and
she didn’t want them to find her brother or her
either. Leaving a note for him, hoping that one
day he’d read it was the only thing she could do.
She stared at the paper, trying to think of the
right words, but thinking only made it harder to
fight the tears. So she’d write whatever came to
mind.
The tears began to flow anyway as she wrote
her heartfelt words to her only living relative.
July th,
Dear Sammy,
I hope one day you’re reading this and aren’t
dead. Mom and Pops were driven off the road, but
they were already dead. Vampires got them. A
whole bunch. Mom and Pops thought that they
were being followed during our trip back from the
California house to our home in New Orleans.
We stayed at a motel one night and they left
me there with food and supplies and enough
money to get me here if something happened to
them.
They said they’d come back in two days and
not to leave the room. Sammy, I knew when they
died. Mama was talking to me. She told me where
to go, how to get help. She said to run away as
fast as I could. To get on a bus and not to talk to
you. It’s been a week, Sammy, and I miss you. I
know when you try to talk and it’s so hard not to
answer you. To keep my mind empty like Mama
said. They can find me that way. She said so.
The old people here are changing my name to
Erica Samuels. That way you’re always with me.
I hope you find this and come find me when it’s
safe. They are sending me to Spain somewhere,
where there is a family with a little girl. She’s
only , a baby still.
Come find me, Sam, please. If I don’t see you
in a couple of years, I guess maybe you might be
dead, but I will keep hoping. I love you, Sammy.
Love, Sammie
Very gently, Samantha Woods closed the
journal and placed it on the shelf where she’d
found it. As she returned to the plush overstuffed
couch to mourn, she kept repeating her new name
to herself. “I’m Erica Samuels. I’m Erica Samuels.
I’m Erica Samuels.” She might have believed it if it
weren’t for her twin constantly calling to her
through their familial telepathic link.
She continued to block him, staying silent
despite her desire to reach out to him. It was the
only way to save him. He had to grow up to be the
man she knew he was going to be. For amongst
the usual gifts of one of her kind, she was also
clairvoyant. It was just beginning to emerge, but
she knew that one day Sam would be a very
powerful man and that he’d help unite the Loupgarou
again.
Hopefully, when it was safe again, he’d come
and find her. Until that day, she’d be Erica
Samuels and she’d protect her new little sister,
Catalina. She’d keep her safe from the monsters,
too.
Chapter One
Twenty-three years later, Spain…
You’re dead.
That’s all the message written in blood said,
but it struck a chord of fear in Catalina’s heart.
Who was the message meant for? Her or her sister,
Erica? And why?
Streaks of blood dripped down her front door,
pooling on the ground at her feet. Catalina Gasalla
stared in horror at the crudely written words. Who
would do such a thing? The blood was fresh.
Whoever had done this must have left only
moments before her arrival.
Where was Erica? She should have been at the
airport to pick her up, but she’d never shown. This
wasn’t her sister’s blood. She’d have recognized
the scent if it was. Erica must have had a damn
good reason to ditch her at the airport. Perhaps it
was staring her right in the face.
Her thoughts jumped to Lobothe wolf that
had adopted her several years back. He was her
companion and usually traveled with her.
However, it had been a last minute job offer and
she hadn’t had time to get the permits to bring
him along. Was he all right? Catalina prayed it
wasn’t his blood. She’d have known if it was,
wouldn’t she? But Lobo wasn’t here to greet her
and that wasn’t a good sign.
Why hadn’t he put up a ruckus when she’d
come home? After a three-month absence, he
should have been waiting for her at the driveway,
yipping in excitement while running in excited
circles around her legs.
She wasn’t about to open the door until she’d
made sure Lobo and the rest of their livestock
were alive and unharmed. She’d worry about the
message after she’d checked the area to make sure
no one was hiding nearby.
With her enhanced sense of hearing and smell
she was certain no one was in the house, but the
stables and training ring for the horses was a good
five-minute hike. Owning several thousand acres
could be a blessing, but in this case, it was more of
a curse. Perhaps her sister was waiting for her
there. She’d figure out what was going on and if
her sister was missing, she’d find her. There were
no two ways about it.
Her thoughts were muddled, her mind
sluggish. She’d been traveling to reach home for
the last thirty-six hours, hadn’t had a wink of
sleep in her excitement to see her sister. She’d had
to hop on a stranger’s motorbike to get home and
now this. God, was Erica all right? All her
thoughts centered on her only family and her
companion. They had to be okay. And if they
weren’t, by God, someone was going to pay.
The stables were empty, every horse stall bare.
Except for one. In it, she discovered the remains of
an old mare named Dolly, her sister’s first horse
and the one she valued most. Having seen
seventeen seasons, she was just a pasture horse
now. The sickly sweet smell of blood hung heavily
in the air. If she hadn’t been used to seeing a wolf
bring down his prey, seen the devastation as they
ate, she might have lost the contents of her
stomach.
Claw marks scored the mare’s belly, opening
her for the world to see. Now Catalina knew
where the blood had come from. Did they target
this horse because it was her sister’s or was it just
a coincidence? It didn’t matter really. She couldn’t
leave this for her sister to find. Catalina quickly
went to work. Though a messy job, she could at
least be thankful that using her Were strength she
didn’t need to ask for help from strangers when
she buried the beloved animal under the shelter of
a beech tree.
After a quick prayer that Dolly’s spirit would
race to the heavens, Catalina turned and loped
back to the house, careful to use the rear entrance
so the evidence wouldn’t be disturbed. She’d
notify the police eventually, but she would hunt
down the responsible creature and see he paid
dearly for his actions.
Catalina knew the moment she entered her
house that someone had thoroughly searched the
place. It wasn’t anything obvious, just that things
were slightly off kilter, out of place, like the bowl
of fruit pushed to the edge of the counter instead
of centered.
His scent was everywhere. Cigarette smoke,
sweat and Listerine. She’d be able to track him.
More than likely, he’d had a car waiting and was
long gone. In the living room, her Zoology books
were out of order and the cushions from the sofa
were all tossed in one corner of the couch instead
of one at each end. It was just little things, but
enough to tell her that someone had been in the
house. And that really pissed her off.
Catalina went to her room first so she could
drop off her backpack. She hadn’t noticed
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