The Alpha Guardian

e Sangui

didn't wait for my colleague's response, rushing into the back room and throwing open my locker. I stuff everything inside, running my fingers through my long, red curls

gularly to survive, I don't have any of their special attributes. Which is why running all the way from my apartment to the small coffee shop on Northeast 4th Avenue ha

oyfriend, Marcus, were up to last night. Jazz and Marcus have a similar style of dressing: outrageously bold hairstyles, dark leather clothes, and more often than not, spiked chokers around their n

a jiffy!" "Did you work late last night?" Jazz asks, handing me another slip and bagging a muffin. I yawn as I froth so

log you

in. "Need t

harp look as I handed her two of the la

s, Jazz." I rolled my eyes at

d in such a busy business district of Portland has its advantages. I always wondered why the previous owner sold off this place. But Jazz's father, with his magic business touch, has brought new life

y of the morning rush. At the end of it, Jazz stretches

in?" I asked her as I prepared a vanilla fra

he booths, stretching her legs over the seat. Dad

o work me to

he look of it, you still manage

isited. "Marcus had his band playing there. I swear, if it weren't for the tr

eave your old father alo

look after hi

to sound convincing, and I l

not going anywhere. He's just w

cus understands me. I don't know

," I murmured as I looked out the shop wind

zz gives me a curious look. "Sorr

und the hot cup of coffee I'd made for myself. Ye

ares about you, Jazz. I always say

t, her expre

on't help that the compound where my clan lives is on the edge of Portland. At

eyes widen fractionally. "Uh, oh, it

e sees him, the corner of her mouth tightens. "Really, Charlotte. W

starting to stand up. "I jus

styled, and he's wearing a gray suit that is covered by a long overcoat, a staple for the chilly autumn weather we're experiencing. I would put him in his mid to late thirties. But it's not his scar or his age that bothers me. Nor is he a rude person. What bothers me is what he is. A wolf shifter. Wolf shifters have always had a barely cordial relationship with vampires. But a couple of years ago, my father and my older brother, Clyde, got caught selling a drug to the shifters that had negative repercussions on the latter. The shifters were in cahoots with two Alphas, and at the end of it all, Clyde paid with his life. Ever since, Beruth Sanguinite, my father and the leader of th

a knife isn't a sufficient weapon if he decides to reach over and rip my throat out. I don't

ls me as he

ords tumble out of me so fast th

I see him take a disc

crawls into my m

cial of the day, th-the

e knife so tightly, th

now, and the Alpha studies me, frowning.

have my laundry hanging outside on the bal

us that I blink, finding some sani