Page 2 of My Shifty Bodyguard

An odd tingling sensation sweeps over me as I approach the meeting room, a feeling I’ve never experienced before. A faint hint of perfume tantalizes my nostrils. It smells like roses and sunshine.

The meeting room is large, built to accommodate up to a couple of dozen of us. The walls are built from thick timber boards, polished to a mellow shine that carries the scent of pine sap and old woodsmoke. A long slab-table—more tree trunk than furniture—dominates the center of the room. You could bounce a Frostbane warrior off it and not leave a dent.

That’s the theory, anyway. Nobody will let me try.

Soft light spills from the lanterns mounted along the walls, giving everything a warm, golden glow. A few maps hang beside them—territory lines and hunting grounds.

Jesse sits at the head of the table, elbows propped wide, fingers steepled. His posture is relaxed, but his eyes sharpen the second I step in. Not tense… but definitely in “Alpha brain mode.” The kind that makes the air vibrate with quiet authority.

He nods once, in greeting. “Dax. Good. Shut the door.” I obey, and incline my head towards him.

“Alpha,” I acknowledge.

“I’ve got an assignment for you and at this point we don’t know how long it’s going to last. It involves the Everpeak pack, and the assassination attempts on the Alpha’s wife and daughter.”

I sit down, listening intently.

“In his position as emissary from the National Council of Shifters, Jasper Carmichael has made plenty of enemies. He has to make decisions about pack territory, pack wars, arranged matings where things have gone wrong, requests for pack placement of shifters with special talents, trade disputes, Alphas gone rogue. Two weeks ago, someone put poison in his daughter Violet’s oatmeal. Of course she smelled it, and didn’t eat it. Every single person who works in his kitchen was questioned by a Truth Mage. Either they fooled the Truth Mage, which is unprecedented, or none of them are guilty.”

He leans forward, tenting his fingers as he continues. “The week after that, as his wife was in the forest on a run, in her wolf form, someone shot a silver-tipped arrow at her. It missed her by inches and stuck in a tree. There was no scent on it that even their most skilled trackers could trace. Then someone mixed silver in both the stepmother and the daughter’s perfume. The stepmother smelled it before spraying the perfume, and she ran in to check the daughter’s perfume and discovered it. So no harm done. Yet.”

I scowl. “Whoever did this is both a coward, attacking women and doing it in indirect ways, and they’re also incompetent.” I shake my head. “I’m not sure which is more embarrassing.”

Jesse nods. “Yep. Thank God they’re lousy at their job.”

“I am ready for your assignment. Do you want me to go to Colorado and start investigating?”

Jesse shakes his head. “In an abundance of caution, Emissary Jasper Carmichael is sending his wife and his daughter to two separate locations where they will remain until the assassin is identified. We’re not being told where the wife is going. The daughter is coming here.”

A sudden sense of unease crackles through my veins.

“Why is she coming here?”

“So we can guard her.” Jesse heaves a sigh. He taps a fat stack of papers that sits on the table in front of him, and then slides them over towards me. “Her father sent us a list of her food preferences, and other instructions for her care.”

I stare at the papers in distaste. “Her care?” I echo. “Is she a chihuahua?”

“If this list is to be believed, yes, but slightly more fragile. Her father claims she is very accident prone and requires 24-7 supervision. Her stepmother Drusilla, however, has contacted our pack secretary and assured her that we can ignore the list, since Violet’s father tends to be a little over-protective.”

“A little?” I snort.

Then I frown at the papers. “You’re not telling me that I…”

“Yes. You are her bodyguard and protector until the assassin is caught. She can not leave pack grounds, and she can not leave your side. She will be staying in your cabin. I can’t emphasize how important it is that we keep her safe.”

“But I-” I strangle on the words. Never in my life have I voiced an objection to my Alpha’s order.

Then again, never in my life have I been ordered to be a glorified babysitter for a pampered, spoiled brat. Up until now, the Alpha has respected my talents more than that.

“Yes?” Jesse arches an eyebrow at me. “Are you up to the task?”

I nod my head dutifully. “As you command, Alpha.”

Jesse smiles sympathetically. “Listen, I know this isn’t your usual thing. The Everpeak pack requested that we have our best, fiercest, strongest, most competent fighter watching over her. He asked that I choose the person I’d have watching my own child.” He and his human wife Lane are expecting. She’s seven months along. “And that’s obviously you.”

He is attempting to soften the blow, but he’s telling me things I already know. Obviously, I am the best, fiercest, strongest, most competent fighter in our entire region. Everyone knows that.

“I don’t need to remind you of how incredibly important this is for inter-pack relations. Also, we can’t tell her why she’s here, because her father doesn’t want to upset her. She thinks that we’re just watching over her because her father has to take most of his security team with him on a diplomatic mission and he doesn’t feel she’d be safe on the pack lands without them.”