**This is Book 4 of the Guardians Next Generation series and Book 8 of the overall Guardian series. References will be made to events in other books and may not be fully explained in this novel.My phone rings unusually early in the morning.“Hello.”“Hey, Leana. Want to go on a road trip to Araphyra with me?” Lily, my best friend for my entire life, asks through the phone.Lily is the oldest child of Rik and Cara Forte, the Alpha and Luna of Canyon Ridge Pack. I am the oldest daughter and second child of Liam and Angel Holstin, the previous Alpha and Luna of my pack, Shadow Falls. The third pack in our alliance, Safe Haven Pack, is run by Alpha Eli and Luna Grace, that is, until their oldest son, Emerson, takes over in a few months.Lily and I were born about six months apart and we are both Guardians. My mother and our Aunt Grace have wolves that were blessed by the Moon Goddess with a Guardian spirit. The Guardian spirits had been transferred from generation to generation, creating

Our trip to the council has been weird. First, we were made to wait for nearly an hour, then Alpha Wyatt, the only councilmember in attendance basically dismissed our concern that vampires and werewolves were working together. If anything, he looked excited about the thought that someone was going against the Guardians.I put in my notice to take over for my mother, knowing it will take a couple of months for the paperwork to process. This gives me time to get to Araphyra with Lily, make sure all is well before returning back here and taking my mother’s place on the council.I call Rich that night and fill him in on the weird interaction with Alpha Wyatt.“Do you need any help?” he asks me.“No. Lily and I are leaving tomorrow, but we have to pass through King Urien’s lands.”“King Urien has always been a friend to the Guardians, and he used to sit on the council. Now it’s his son until he grandson takes over,” he says.“Yes, Councilman Lance is his name. I believe the son’s name is D

The moment Drake walked into that hideous feeding room, I knew I’d found my mate. Of all the places, in all the world, I found him here. When our eyes locked, I realized that my mate is the worst possible option of a mate for me, a vampire. The Moon Goddess must have a sick sense of humor.However, as the night went on, I realized that Drake is more like his grandfather, not his father. And while I’m not thrilled that my mate is a vampire, Lily encouraged me not to make the same mistakes that she’s made with hers.“Give him a chance, Lea. Don’t judge him too quickly,” she had said as we got ready for bed. I had pulled his sweatshirt over my head and nearly moaned out loud at his scent. I never gave much thought to the scent of ice, but it is interesting to me that Lily is mated to a Prince that smells like snow and now I find that I’m mated to a Prince that smells like ice. Maybe it's some kind of royalty thing.I’m sure Lily has noticed all of my not-so-casual glances at Drake tonigh

We begin running again. Kella runs beside me and we begin to make a game of who can more easily navigate the land in the forest. I’m impressed over and over again at her grace and strength as she leaps as easily over fallen trees as I do. Even when I playfully push her to try to get ahead of her, she’s right back, catching me quickly and nipping at my heels. Our afternoon run is the most fun I ever remember having in my life. It’s sundown when we stop for the night. I can see Lily wants to push on, but they both need to eat and get some sleep. I, myself, haven’t slept in over 48 hours and I desperately need some rest. We find a place, up on a hill, where we can keep watch overnight. Kella and Hera catch a couple of rabbits to eat and even from here, the scent of the blood makes my mouth water. I don’t even like the taste of rabbit blood, but I’ve waited too long to feed. If I wasn’t so exhausted, I’d go find a large animal that I could drink from, but right now, I’m not sure I could

We push hard all day the next day, only stopping for food, and it isn’t until well into the night that we stop to rest. I’m tired again, but since Drake and Lily let me sleep last night, I agree to take the first shift. Drake lays next to where I’m sitting by the fire. He lays beside me, holding my hand and putting it up against his face, so he can smell my scent. I’m looking down, watching him sleep when I hear a twig snap. I jerk my head up, lifting my nose into the air. I can’t smell anything, but the wind is at my back. I disengage my hand from Drake’s and stand. Besides my mother’s Guardian gift of being able to tell when someone is lying, my strongest Guardian gift is being able to sense auras. I push out and suddenly, I can see the auras of a pack of wolves that have surrounded us and are closing in. I howl a warning as I leap and shift, jumping at the first wolf that breaks through the trees around us. Another comes up behind him and then several others come running out fro