Time moves differently in this place. At first, it moved slowly. I spent a lot of time with Cara and Clint as they were hurting so much. Most nights, I would sleep beside Clint. But if I heard Cara crying, I’d go lay down with her. Sometimes I would spend time with Calista who holds a lot of guilt for my death. No matter how many times Anders tells her it wasn’t her fault, she still blames herself. I listen to my daughter when she calls Liam, crying on the phone, or telling him something funny that happened at school. She’s afraid to tell her father, although he usually already knows. But she doesn’t want to upset him because she is finding small moments of happiness. Liam is always a good friend to her, supporting her and validating her feelings. I’m not sure I realized how important it was for him to have me, until I watch how valuable having him is to Cara. I watch as Clint slowly begins to live again. I like sitting with him at my memorial. It’s like he’s really talking to me. An

For the next few years, I get into a pattern of training Cara. We train early in the morning, then while she is at school, I work on my upper body strength by building and testing the training facilities I’m building for her. It’s a work in progress, but I feel closer to Lily while I build this for our daughter. In the afternoons, I train Cara again, sometimes joining her, and then it’s dinner, homework and bed before we turn around and do it again. Cara is the absolute best daughter a parent could ever want. I don’t know if it’s because we had those years after Lily’s death where I struggled to be present, but she never tests me. She is smart, and we talk about her schoolwork, her studies, and I give her extra Guardian studies during the weekends when she’s training her endurance in the pool. The older Cara gets, the more she looks like Lily. She’s gorgeous and I’m thankful that she has listened to everything I’ve told her about the mate bond and that she’s waiting for her mate. I t

At first, when the vampire sank his teeth into my neck, I fought. I probably could have defeated him, even in my disadvantaged state. But then, I realized if I died, I’d be with my Lily bud. I feel my tether to everyone in my life break and I tell Lily I’m coming as everything goes dark. When I open my eyes, I’m back in the meadow that I found myself in right after Lily died. I sit up and look around. All I care about is finding my Lily bud. I’m going to hold her and kiss her and remind her of what being my mate means. I’m happy when I realize I can stand. It takes me a moment to readjust to being able to walk again. “Look at this Donovan!” I say, wanting to share my excitement with my wolf. I’m met with silence. “Donovan?” I say, looking around like I’m going to find him in the meadow. What I find instead is my heart, my soul, the love of my life. “Mate.” She says and it makes my heart sing again. It’s just like it was that day beside the lake and I have to let her know that I st

Hello everyone, Thank you for taking this journey with me. As many of you may have read, Lily was adamant that I tell her story. And while it took longer in the beginning than I expected, I hope you got to see what a great person she is. Many of you have asked for a continuation of the series and your wish is granted! My first book about the Guardian's children, Shattered Bonds, is out now. This is Richie and Emlyn's story but will touch on many of the Guardian children as they have all grown up together. You will also get glimpses of Lily's story, which is scheduled to be the second book in the series and Alexander's, or Xander as he's called by his friends and family. Xander's book is scheduled to be third and Leana's book is scheduled to be fourth. I'm trying not to get far ahead of myself, my brain starts writing books long before I'm ready to put them on paper. But, I do have a tentative story line for Xander and Leana and Lily's book has already start writing itself in my head.