Panther Shield: Guardians of Chaos, #4

Panther Shield

Guardians of Chaos 4

C.D. Gorri

Panther Shield

Guardians of Chaos Book 4

by C.D. Gorri

Edited by BookNookNuts

Copyright 2021 C.D. Gorri, NJ

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, places, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either part of the author’s imagination and/or used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights are reserved. No part of this book is to be reproduced, scanned, downloaded, printed, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of any materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Contents

Blurb

Guardians of Chaos Pledge

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Epilogue

P.S

Beware… Here Be Dragons!

Have you met the Barvale Clan Bears?

Other Titles by C.D. Gorri

Excerpt from Purrfectly Mated

Excerpt from Bound by Air

Excerpt from Wolf Shield: Guardians of Chaos by C.D. Gorri

About the Author

Blurb

She’s a fierce Panther Shifter fighting to preserve the freedom of all magic. He’s a normal with a target on his back. Will she risk it all for him?

Elena Soussa is the only female Guardian of Chaos in her group. A Panther Shifter, she is a loner by nature, but ever since the members of her crew started meeting their mates and gaining new powers, her curiosity has been piqued.

When she finds a normal cornered by the enemy, she is compelled to save the ridiculously handsome man, but to do so means violating the Guardians’ code.

He is not her problem, but her inner she-Cat sure wants him to be.

Will Elena risk it all for one man's life?

Guardians of Chaos Pledge

I am the watcher in the storm.

I am the iron shield.

I protect against those who seek to control the wild nature of magic.

I am the guardian of chaos.

To thrive, we must be free.

From chaos comes creation.

Prologue

Elena grunted. She ducked the fierce blow coming from behind her.

Yes, her father was one hell of a fighter, but he’d taught his only daughter well. Too well. She’d been noticed for her antics at school, and on the varsity basketball team. One of the only females to reach six feet in height, she’d been a shoe in for the position as starting point guard since she’d been a freshman.

But this wasn’t a basketball game. This was training with her dad, and Anthony Soussa took no prisoners. He was one tough SOB, and his little girl was a chip off the old block.

Elena fell into a defensive stance, gritting her teeth with the effort it took not to shift into her stealthy and more powerful Panther counterpart. That simply was not an option out in the streets where too many normals could witness such a supernatural feat.

That was why all the hand-to-hand combat training. She had to rely on her human body to get the job done. A Shifter was faster, stronger, and deadlier than any normal. Elena knew that by heart. But relying on her animal side could prove fatal, as it had for her late mother.

A police officer stationed in the rough city of Newark, New Jersey, Jasmine Soussa had been killed when a routine traffic stop turned deadly. The normals, group of hotheaded, low level drug dealers, had panicked and gunned down the female in broad daylight when Elena had been just four years old.

Unable to shift to her sleek Panther because of the number of humans in the area, Elena’s mother had taken nine bullets to the chest and abdomen before succumbing to her injuries. It had been a horrible tragedy and had even made the papers. To this day Elena hated the sound of bagpipes and could still hear them playing in her head whenever she thought of that rainy Autumn morning when they’d buried her mother.

Jasmine’s husband and Elena’s father, Sergeant Anthony Soussa, swore from that day on he would do everything in his power to see their only daughter grow up strong and fierce. But he’d accomplished much more than an increased sense of self-preservation in his child.

By the time Elena turned seventeen, she was the deadliest Panther in the small group of like Shifters that roamed the city of Newark. They were their own task force, and it was her dealings with thugs, supernatural and not, that got her noticed by one of the most elite forces in all of the supernatural world. The Guardians of Chaos.

She’d thought the legendary group of supernaturals was nothing more than a myth. The same thing went for Dragons and Vampires. That was, until she met one of each waiting for her after the brief high school graduation ceremony that had come and gone with no notice from her dad. Anthony Soussa had too much on his plate to worry about mundane human celebrations, so she’d been alone when they’d approached.

The Vampire had looked at her with impassive eyes, and the Diamond Dragon had merely sized her up. After their introduction, they’d explained who they were and what they wanted.

You’re unique, Elena, but your antics will get you noticed by the normals, eventually. Let us put your substantial skills to better use. Help us defend magic. Help us keep it free for all beings. What do you say? Byram, the Vampire, spoke first.

Do I get to kick ass?

Fuck yeah, Kingston, the Dragon and Alpha of the group, replied.

Then I’m in.

Elena had needed no time to think it over. She’d agreed to join them on the spot. Of course, she had yet to tell her father, and that was scary enough. Anthony Soussa swore his daughter would be tough, but he didn’t want her anywhere near law enforcement, normal or not. And what were the Guardians if not supernatural cops?

He would never agree to it. Her father had already given too much to keep the people of the world safe, or so he always said. But this was her life and her choice. Elena stood up, accepting the bottle of water her father held out to her.

Good match, he said, drinking from his own bottle. But watch your reaction times, Elena. You seemed a bit off today.

Dad? I have to talk to you, she called to him just as someone knocked on the front door.

One moment, he replied, and turned to see who had come visiting their small

Shit.

They were early.

Hello Mr. Soussa, we’re here to collect Elena…

And the rest was history.

Chapter One

E lena, we’ve been through this, Egros turned to her, his eyes changing from blue to green to silver as his anger flared.

I know, Eg, but there has to be something else you can give me to stop my stupid heat cycle!

You’re just delaying the inevitable. You are a Panther Shifter, big cats go into heat once they reach adulthood. As you continue to deny yours, it will only get stronger and more frequent every time it comes upon you, he added.

The male Witch closed the alchemy book he’d been reading and slammed it on his desk. He’d been working with Jessenia, Furio’s mate and a kitchen Witch, as well as Holley, another talented Witch mated to their group Alpha, on finding a way to stop the symptoms of Elena’s heat cycle. But so far, nothing. The results of their inquiries and experiments were not good.

It always amazed her the rest of the supernatural world hadn’t banded together, but most ignored the plights of their females. Pregnancy rates were notoriously low for supernaturals and there was no rush to deny what little chance they had at reproducing.

Regardless of how unfair it was to the females involved. Elena growled angrily. She was no one’s fucking handmaiden. And she would not be forced to copulate and reproduce. It was barbaric!

Holley had concocted a potion made of several wild herbs she’d found growing near the Keep, and so far, so good, but the effects were wearing off at an alarming rate. Instead of her heat hitting her once a quarter, it was more like every month for the past year. Looked like Egos’ grim predictions were right.

Fury flooded her system, threatening to force a shift, but Elena was in control. Always. She reined in her inner kitty, pushed the snarling she-Cat back, and counted to three before meeting Egros’ curious stare.

This simply was not fair. She was a warrior, a fierce Panther Shifter, a true Guardian of Chaos. They were neck deep in this war with the Loyalists, and she did not have time for this shit. Elena had been training for this her entire life.

Hadn’t she left her father and her home before she’d turned eighteen for this reason? To protect the world of magic at all costs. She was not cut out to be a mother. Hell, she didn’t even have a prospect, much less a mate. Regardless of what tradition dictated, she wasn’t getting knocked up by some stranger simply to preserve the species. Fuck that.

Elena had too much self-respect to be a damn incubator. If and when she had a cub, it would be on her terms. Not some biological imperative. Anger coursed through her, and she kicked at something on the floor, sending the box of whatever flying across the room.

Hey! Those are my files, thank you very much, grumbled Egros.

Sorry. Ugh, she moaned and sat down on a stool while he checked the data log on his computer.

While she waited, memories of her own mother crowded her brain. She recalled the sweet way she used to brush Elena’s pale blonde hair and tie the laces on her patent leather shoes. Elena had loved her strong, fierce mother, especially all the attention the female gave to her only daughter.

As a child, she had been ultrafeminine. Pink was her favorite color. She’d played dolls and pretended to be a mother with her own brood of beautiful babies. It was something she’d envisioned from a very young age, being a mother and having a mate, a family of her own.

The sudden violent death of her mother had put a stop to that kind of innocent daydreaming. Elena’s warm and once happy home had instantly turned into a training dojo, and her once carefree father had become her brutally honest instructor.

It was a difficult change for a teenage girl, but she’d learned to cope. More than that. Elena had excelled at combat. She had a real feel for it and had spent years training, perfecting the skill set coveted by organizations such as the Guardians.

She’d been approached by the usual normal agencies, CIA, FBI, and a few black ops mercenary groups. But Elena was not interested in the petty wars of humankind.

She was a Shifter, and her place was serving the supernatural world. Kingston Baldric, the Alpha of their group of Guardians, had offered her the job, and she’d never looked back.

Where else could she use all of her power, speed, and the fierceness of her Panther to get the job accomplished? The Guardians of Chaos were more than her employers, they were her family. But this business with her heat was getting in the way.

What started out as a way for her father to work out his grief and protect his daughter had turned into a way of life for the she-Cat. Elena had truly learned to love the deadly beauty and grace that accompanied her many mixed martial arts trainings.

She was an expert with several black belts in varying degrees, having studied combat with masters the world over. Neela, the late wife of their leader and Alpha, Kingston Baldric, was one of her mentors.

It had been difficult for Elena to accept Holley as his mate, but after she’d learned the circumstances of his first mating to Neela, the Panther Shifter understood and respected her Alpha even more. The complicated relationship he’d endured with the she-Dragon bespoke of a man of real honor and worth.

Holley was lucky to have him. Hell, he was lucky to have her, too. In fact, it seemed as if more and more of their group of Guardians were finding their mates these days. Pregnancies were running rampant too, with Holley nearly ready to give birth and Fergie announcing her own coming pups just the other day.

Elena was overjoyed for them, and yet, she felt sadness and grief, some guilt as well. She knew nothing like that would never happen for her. The Fates had not aligned to grant her a mate. Besides, she knew she was far from ready for cubs of her own.

Imagine finding her own Fated mate? Ha! That was only a dream for someone like her. Which is why