Guarded Hearts Ch 03

Author's note:

All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone;

Here it is, chapter 3. I got a LOT of angry comments for ending the chapter where I did, but I do love a good cliff-hanger. Some of you pointed out an inconsistency in the previous chapter... well... technically there is no inconsistency but I don't want to give anything away.

So... here it is, I hope you enjoy. As always a big thanks goes out to my editor, she rocks. All feedback is welcome.

Have fun

Chapter 3

Maria felt a body slam into her as she braced herself for the impact of bullets. The air was slammed from her lungs as she struck the ground, rocks and dirt dug into her skin and grazed against her left cheek. She heard a curse as she tried desperately to draw air back into her lungs. She felt herself being rolled beneath the car she had been standing next to and the ping of bullets thudding into the side of the car where she had been only moments before.

She opened her eyes and blinked in surprise, Eric was above her, his arms wrapped protectively around her. His long black hair had fallen from its tie and brushed against her skin as he turned. They were close together, his body protecting hers in the cramped gap between his truck and the ground as return shots were fired.

He didn't move, he held her and waited for the fire fight to stop. She quivered beneath him in fear and confusion, fear because she was being shot at and confusion because Eric had risked his life to save hers. He leant closer to her to try to glance out from under the car; her warm breath brushed his cheek. He could see nothing but as the guns kept firing, he stayed close to Maria to keep her safe.

She took a deep breath and frowned as something tickled her nose, something delicious, woodsy and definitely male. She leant forward her nose almost touching the skin of his cheek. She took a deep breath letting his scent dance around her nose. She felt her wolf tilt her head as she studied his scent for all of a nano second before urging her human side to grab him and not let go.

They heard a car roar off and the gunfire stopped almost instantly. Electra dropped to her belly, "Maria?" She reached in and helped to get the two out from under the car. "Are you okay?" Electra asked as she pried a stunned Maria from Eric's arms.

Electra brushed dirt from Maria's face carefully and saw blood from gravel grazes.

"I'm okay..." She brushed off Electra's caring hands and turned to Eric. "Thankyou Eric." She said, her wolf growled in approval, as she looked her mate over, he would be everything they needed.

He brushed his hair out of his face and smiled with a shrug. "Just doing my job." He told her but that was far from the truth, the moment he saw the barrel of the gun his only thought was to keep her safe, he had ignored everything he had been trained to do in such a situation, his men, his own safety, to get her safe.

Electra had her phone out and was talking quickly into the mouthpiece. She was warning Nathanael, one of Eric's men was getting back up to Katie's.

Eric was scratching his head, wondering at the motive behind the attack. No one was hurt although the shooters did their best to try. But what was the motive?

"What the fuck?" Electra said as she dusted herself firmly.

"Think that was a warning to back off?" One of the other officers asked.

"Warning or not I'm going to get the fuckers taking pot shots at me, those things sting." Electra said as she glanced down at the bullet hole in her arm. "Man it struck bone, Nathanael's going to have to dig it out... arsehole won't even use sedatives when he does."

Maria chuckled. "Of course not, he needs all the sedatives he's got to keep Ghost under." Her beast was growling in her mind, wanting her to get closer to Eric, needing her to. Maria forced her wolf back and locked it up; she would look at this later when she was away from him and could think coherently.

Electra rolled her eyes. "Will your car run?" She asked Eric.

He shrugged and went to turn the engine over; he hopped into the front seat and turned the key. The engine purred into life. Electra and Maria jumped into the car ignoring the fact that it was riddled with holes and technically a crime scene. They just had an overwhelming need to get to Nathanael, Katie and Ghost.

He turned on the sirens and gunned the motor; they took off down the road like a bat out of hell, Eric took turns as safely as he could and in no more than ten minutes they were screeching to a halt outside Katie's small ranch. Maria hopped out once the car had stopped moving, Electra copied as did Eric, they were met with Nathanael was holding a rifle, in sure hands, that he had borrowed from Katie.

He gave Maria a quick glance then skipped over to Electra, he shook his head, "Can't you go a day without needing my attention?" He complained.

"I think I did that last week." Electra said laying the sarcasm on thick.

Maria rolled her eyes and walked into the house. Nathanael handed her a small kit to clean her grazes at the sink. Eric snatched the kit out of her hands and pushed her to the bench. She cast him a puzzled look as he put the case down and lifted her easily onto the bench making her more equal to his height. He put on a kettle to boil then he looked through the case.

"I can do that." She told him reaching for the case.

He pulled it away from her grab. "You can't even see where you're hurt." He argued back.

Nathanael watched them in amusement for a moment before he pointed to a chair for Electra to sit in. He cut her sleeve open.

"Not fair I liked this shirt." Electra complained.

Nathanael chuckled. "That'll teach you."

"I was

not

expecting to be shot at." She argued back.

So... how's Maria?

He asked silently as he flushed the wound.

She hasn't freaked yet if that's what you mean. Eric was just getting her to warm to him and wham... we're being shot at, he saved her from being riddled with bullets, knocked her to the ground and under the car out of the way.

She answered giving him a little run down of what had happened.

He pulled out a pair of forceps and started to dig around in the wound. She gritted her teeth and glared at him but he ignored her. "I thought you weren't meant to hurt people that it was against some oath you made?" Electra asked angrily as he accidentally pinched a nerve.

"You spend too much time with humans. Human doctors take an oath... and since I am not a human doctor sorry... no oath." He smiled when he finally located the bullet. He carefully removed it and put it in a bowl; he then flushed the wound to see if there were any fragments. When he was happy the wound was clean, he stitched it together.

Eric by this stage had finished cleaning and tending Maria's wounds, she hopped off the bench and noticed his torn shirt. "You're bleeding." She said as she grabbed his arm and turned it over.

"It's nothing." He told her. She glared at him for a moment, before she tore his sleeve open with her free hand, keeping a firm grip on his wrist. He watched the graze on her face heal over leaving nothing but a red mark. "Wow." He reached up with his free hand to stroke the now unmarred skin. She pulled away from his fingers. "Sorry." He said and let his hand drop.

She quickly cleaned and dressed his wound, and then she backed away from him. "I'm going to shower and change." She told the room before she quickly left.

"Wow... she likes you." Nathanael told him.

"Could have fooled me." Eric said as he packed up the case.

Nathanael smiled as he finished bandaging Electra's arm. "She let you tend her cuts without chucking a mental, she then tended your cuts without being ordered to... ergo she likes you." He finished with a smile.

"What happened to her?" Eric asked.

Nathanael and Electra glanced to each other then back to Eric. Electra stood, "Sadly that is her story to tell and no one else's." She told him.

"I asked her... she wouldn't tell me." He told them.

"And more than likely she won't." Nathanael said, "I think there are only two people who know exactly what happened to her, well two alive that is." He finished aside to Electra who chuckled.

"I don't understand." Eric said.

Electra sighed, "Think about everything you've seen and compare it to cases you've already seen in your day to day work. That's all I'll give you."

Eric thought for long minutes, trying to remember where he had seen the characteristics he had seen Maria show. Defensiveness, she didn't like to be touched or have people behind her, her eyes were always darting the room making note of who was where at all times. She trusted almost no one and those few she did trust she trusted barely. "She was abused." He concluded. "and raped... by more than one man?"

Electra and Nathanael nodded once then went about cleaning up. "I'm going to change my shirt." Electra said and left. Katie just stood still; she was mortified by what Eric had said.

Nathanael approached her and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Don't treat her any differently, she hasn't changed, just your knowledge of her past has." He gripped her shoulders, "Just pretend that I didn't tell you, she just wants to get on with her life."

Katie nodded thinking that she could at least try. Nathanael went to return his bag back to the order it normally was. He ducked out of the room just as Electra returned and went to the fridge.

"You ate barely an hour ago," Katie exclaimed.

"Hello... Were... we eat a lot." Electra answered as she grabbed an apple and shut the fridge.

Nathanael walked back into the room flustered.

"What's wrong with you?" Electra asked.

"What time is it?" Nathanael asked as he looked at his watch which had seemed to stand still.

Electra checked her watch and rattled off the time.

Nathanael started to swear in every single language he knew.

"What has your panties in a knot?" Electra asked cutting through his rant.

"Your mother..." He began then stopped, he started to pace in agitation.

"Did she call?" Electra asked before she bit into her apple.

"No... she's fucking with my head." He ranted.

"What has she done now?" Electra asked resigned.

"Jeff and Haley got to the manor last night..." he began his pacing getting faster. "Anyway your mother just grabbed me, sent me back in time to earlier this morning to look at Haley, I spent two..." he held up two fingers, "hours there talking to Haley starting her treatment and when I told her I had to come back do you know what she did..." He asked.

"She sent you back to the moment you left," Electra surmised before taking another bite of her apple.

"She sent me back to the moment I left." He said oblivious to Electra. "Do you know what it is like... living extra hours... all that time only to release you are back where you started and technically no time has elapsed."

Electra stuck her apple in her mouth, opened the fridge and grabbed a banana, she closed the fridge and waited for Nathanael to finish.

"It fucks with your head and I swear if she does it again I'll... I'll..." he said fighting for the right words.

"Have a banana..." Electra said and tossed the piece of fruit at him, although technically banana was a herb.

Nathanael caught it and lost focus on his rant.

"Ma doesn't normally fiddle with time Nathanael... I'm sure she did it for a good reason and she couldn't play with your memories because when you get back you need to know what you've done to Haley." Electra said trying to defend her mother's actions.

"She has still fucked with my head and I resent it." He said as he forcefully peeled his banana.

Electra chuckled, "Come on... you time travelled... tell me you don't think that was awesome... besides... I can smell Claire..."

Nathanael huffed and stormed from the room; Electra chuckled and turned to Katie and Eric who stood in stunned silence throughout the whole rant. "So... what now?" Electra asked. "Guys?" She added then shrugged and left the room already picking at the stitches Nathanael had put in.

"ELECTRA IF I CATCH YOU SCRATCHING I'LL CUFF YOUR HANDS TOGETHER." Nathanael yelled.

She jerked her hand away from the stitches and glanced back to see if Nathanael had see or if he was just bluffing.

"AND NO I'M NOT BLUFFING."

*

Maria stood under the shower letting the hot water beat against her skin, her wolf was anxious in her mind, urging her back to Eric, back to his arms and his scent. She shivered in trepidation, she didn't want to fight her wolf but she didn't want to surrender her life to another either. She rested her head against the cool tiles and tried to make sense of her troubled thoughts. She sighed and turned the water off, she reached out to grab the big fluffy towel that was hung on a hook and started to dry her body as she left the stall. Recessed scars covered her back and most parts of her body which were easily hidden by her clothes that was what Nicolai had wanted, that his dark side was never seen by the world out side the pack.

"ELECTRA IF I CATCH YOU SCRATCHING I'LL CUFF YOUR HANDS TOGETHER." Nathanael yelled although the walls and water muffled it a little.

She chuckled as she wrapped the towel around her body and scooped up her dirty clothes;

just like home,

she mused to herself as she walked to the door.

"AND NO I'M NOT BLUFFING."

She snorted as she turned the handle; she glanced out of the bathroom and went to race down the hall to her room.

Eric walked out of the toilet just as she started her dash and they collided. Eric's arms went around her as they both crashed to the ground.

He glanced down at the woman in his arms again once he got his breath back. He gently rolled her off him and hopped to his feet then gently picked her up. "Sorry Maria I didn't mean to..." He let her go when her feet were back beneath her and stepped back.

She just stared at him as her body burned in need and want. She was stunned with her body's reaction to his and didn't know what she was meant to do.

He watched her, "I'm... going..." he told her gently then turned down the hall and left.

She shook her head to clear it and went to her room to dress and think.

****

Thais walked into the entrance hall, his black hair was arranged in its normal array of spikes. He wore his favourite pair of yellow sneakers, a pair of shorts, which were a size too big in anticipation of his next growth spurt, and a simple grey t-shirt which he'd changed into after his battle class. He sat down in the middle of the entrance hall facing the door, his legs crossed, and his elbows on his knees and propped his chin on his hands.

He was seen by people who passed but was ignored as he was so often doing things people didn't understand. He didn't consider anything that he did was weird; he had good reasons for everything he did, if most people didn't understand that. He was still a little in the 'doghouse' as his father put it for not telling his parents about the attack, he had tried to explain that he couldn't have stopped it, that in the great scheme of things it

had

to happen. Their anger had only worsened after what happened to Keira, he could have stopped it, prevented her injury, her forced turning but had chosen not to, he had given up trying to explain that some things just

couldn't

be changed, they had to happen for reasons that at the moment made no sense, but he

knew

it would... eventually.

He knew that soon his mother would come to understand everything, that he saw things for a reason, that some times he couldn't stop what he saw, even if he was still trying to figure it out for himself why he saw things. He saw but didn't see a ginger moggy trot pass him, his head followed the almost see through moggy's movements, he blinked and the cat was gone. He frowned wondering when that was going to happen, the moggy reappeared sitting next to him grooming its self, then butted its head against his body before it again vanished.

He focused his mind back on the present, the cat would come when it came and was not a concern of his. He waited patiently wanting to be the first to greet the person who would walk through that door. He started to get excited when he heard the approaching motorcycle. He got to his feet as he heard the bike come to a stop and a person dismounted. He started to bounce a little in his excitement.

He then heard the approach of footsteps; he smiled as he saw the doorknob turn and in walked a woman who dumped a stuffed duffle bag and bike helmet. "Aunty Susan." He said as he ran at her.

Susan hadn't changed much in the years since meeting Amy, she was a little leaner, a testament to her now Were race, her blond hair was still shoulder length and her blue eyes sparkled with joy. She was dressed simply in a pair of faded jeans, tight black spaghetti tank top and an open leather bike jacket.

Susan smiled and scooped the little boy up giving him a big hug; she pressed her face to his body and took a deep breath as he tightened his grip. His sisters suddenly appeared and attacked Susan. Susan laughed as each girl took a leg, wrapping herself around her tightly. Susan shuffled further into the hall, the girls on her legs hampering her movements.

Amy walked into the room and grinned. "How long are you home for?" Amy asked as she plucked Thais out of Susan's arm.

"For good." Susan said as she hugged her friend. The military had paid for her education, all five years of it and for that; she had to serve five years to fulfil her end of the agreement. Although they had given her the time to come to terms with her Were nature they hadn't forgotten her debt to them. "I was honourably discharged, two days ago." She answered with a smile.

"Ah... you've finally finished your time." Amy replied pleased to have her friend back for good.

"Yep, they were disappointed when I handed in my discharge papers but they know my heart lies here." Susan released Amy and started to tug on Serenity to get her to release her leg as Amy worked on Temperance.

"They were probably pissed to lose a healer with your skills." Wolfgang said as he joined them giving Susan a big hug the moment she got her legs free. She hugged him back glad to be home for good, visiting when she was on leave had only left her longing for more time with her pack, with her friends. It was beginning to make her resent the military for keeping her from those she loved but she had signed an agreement and stuck with it, which would be a good example for the older cubs.

"Yeah that too." Susan answered, "Nathanael said I have more to learn." She added as she released Wolfgang and went to grab her duffle bag but it and her helmet had vanished and Thais stood where her things had been his hands behind his back and swaying with a shy smile.

"When did you become so powerful?" Susan asked surprised.

Thais shrugged.

Susan rested her hands on her hips, "So still not talking much?" She asked.

He nodded and Susan rolled her eyes.

"Welcome home Aunt Susan." Serenity and Temperance said together, Susan didn't bother trying to figure out which was which; she never could tell them apart even though Amy tried to dress them differently.

Susan smiled, "It's good to be home... now... I have to congratulate Alanna, meet her mate and apologise for not making it to her binding ceremony." She said listing what she wanted to do. "Then I want to raid the fridge... if there is any tuna mornay in there I have dibs." She turned to the triplets. "Which of you is going to take me to your sister and her mate?"