Kent’s eyes followed Adrian’s car as she rolled on down the road. He shifted into his bear form and waited for a moment until she was out of sight before beginning the real task he had been assigned with.
Kent stalked the car, following it to the small convenience store located about ten miles away from Adrian’s place all the way down the mountain, toward the Valley. What the hell was she doing out there?
Maybe it had been Coty’s mention of the place that had sparked her curiosity, or maybe she really hadn’t known where she was going or why, but whatever the reason for her jaunt, one thing was certain. She had chosen a trail rife with dangers.
The reason Coty had been appointed the guardian of the valley and keeper of the mountain was that he had been one of the most skilled bears in combat against the dragon-shifters. Although there had been peace on the mountain between the dragons and the bears for quite some time, there had been a time when that peace was not so rampant. When he was a boy, Coty had been involved in a very bloody war between the dragon-shifters and the bear-shifters, and he had become a decorated war hero at the time. It was a position of honor that all the men in Blaine’s family had chosen to acknowledge, giving Coty free reign over his own section of the mountain, but most importantly, the Valley, where the dragon-shifters were currently attempting to close in.
For some reason, Adrian had decided the most violently disputed area on Oak Mountain was the first place she wanted to do some sight-seeing. It was just his luck.
Kent hung back, watching closely as Adrian parked her car and stepped out, stretching comfortably and taking in a deep breath of fresh air. She probably loved it, considering the state of Stonybrooke. The bears felt a small sense of disdain toward the wolf-shifters, who had been far too quick to adapt to a human way of living and had gone so far as to create their own humanoid city. As far as the bears were concerned, they were turning their backs on their natural state of being. Then again, wolves and bears thought differently about such matters, and perhaps aligned with a more humanoid approach to life in general. It was hard to say.
Either way, all Kent knew was the air on Oak Mountain was fresher and cleaner than the air in Stonybrooke where most of the population drove around in cars, despite having several footpaths for shifters and humans alike to travel upon.
He pushed the thought aside and continued to follow Adrian with his eyes. When she finally began to move, she grabbed her handbag from the car and began walking at a leisurely pace through the Valley.
A deep rumble began in the back of Kent’s throat, but he quieted it down and continued to follow Adrian. The whole place reeked of dragon shifters. He couldn’t help but become on the defensive immediately. He was just glad she hadn’t seen him hiding in the brush and watching her as if he were stalking his prey. His orders had been clear, and if he let her out of his sight, he was bound to regret it for the rest of his life, whether she survived the attack or not.
Adrian was oblivious to the danger, and Kent crept closer as she walked deeper into the valley, ultimately finding a nice, quiet place to sit down and open her handbag. Inside, she pulled out a sandwich and a bottle of iced tea she had apparently bought at the convenience store, and began to have a quiet, lonely picnic in the Valley.
Kent couldn’t help but admire the way this human sought out the comfort of solitude. She didn’t have to go to a restaurant to be around the hustle and bustle of other people who were going about their lives. She chose instead to enjoy the great outdoors, all on her own, even if it was the most dangerous place possible for her to be.
This fact was reinforced when a sharp snapping of a twig made Kent hyperaware of their surroundings. Somebody was there… and it wasn’t a bear shifter. It was something else. Someone with malicious intent.
Kent kept his eye on the girl, all the while feeling out his surroundings. It was lucky he had become so adept at martial arts. He was able to get a good idea of where the enemy was located without even moving a muscle. But then, that wasn’t really luck, was it? That was why he had been hired for this job. He had to stop selling himself short.
There was no time to worry about that now. There was someone creeping up on Adrian, someone who knew something about her that even Kent wasn’t aware of. Only Adrian’s stepfather would have the answers as to why the dragon-shifters were after Adrian. It wasn’t his business. All he had to do was keep her safe.
Once he had the enemy in his sights, Kent started after it. It was a young dragon-shifter, one that seemed inexperienced and under-practiced. However, seeing Adrian right where they wanted her, he didn’t seem likely to let the opportunity slide.
Kent supposed he would’ve done the same thing if the roles were reversed, so he headed toward the dragon. It hadn’t shifted yet, so he managed to keep himself concealed until he saw the enemy in question.
Just as he had intuited, it was a young man, probably only about twenty years old. He was eyeing Adrian greedily, creeping forward. The energy between them began to change as the boy prepared himself to shapeshift, but before he had the chance, that was when Kent struck.
The dragon shifter’s human form was small and relatively powerless, so when Kent leapt out at him in bear form, the fight was nearly over before it had even begun. It was too late for the boy to complete his transformation so he attempted to utter a spell that would freeze Kent in place.
Kent charged at the boy, attacking before he could finish his incantation. Kent swept a heavy paw at him, striking him down. He dealt another devastating blow to the kid, but felt a little bit of pity. He fixed a warning look on the boy, who was still somehow uttering his spell beneath his breath. However, they were too far away from the Mount Argon, where the dragons made their home so his magic was ineffective.
Kent sneered at him and growled viciously, sending the boy running on his way, struggling to stay upright due to the injuries he had sustained. Kent had gotten out of the fight unscathed and was about to make a quick exit out of the brush when he found himself captivated once again by the compelling sight of Adrian. She had finished enjoying her meal and was now getting herself situated to read a book. Kent couldn’t tell from where he was sitting what book it was, and in his bear form found it difficult to focus on tasks like reading, anyway.
He subtly shifted back into his human form and peered out from the reeds, attempting to get a hint about the title of the book. Maybe it would help him to understand her better if he knew what kinds of things she liked to use to occupy her mind with.
“You think you’re so tough!”
Kent whirled around just in time to receive a painful blow to the face. The boy had come back for a sneak attack, but before Kent could regroup, the kid had already disappeared off into the wilderness.
“What the hell?!”
Kent groaned and covered his groin with one hand, squinting up from the ground at Adrian who had scrambled to her feet and rushed over to glare down at him, her face red with steaming hot embarrassment and indignation.
“Did you follow me here? What is the meaning of this? Do I need to call Coty? And why are you naked?!”
Kent pursed his lips and slowly stood up from the ground, taking his time to attempt to avoid revealing any more of his body to Adrian than he had to. He could sense Adrian was still just as impressed by his body as she had been from the start, but frankly they were both too angry and startled by the situation to allow the sneaking tendrils of desire to amount to anything.
“You don’t need to call anyone,” Kent managed in a reedy voice, looking up at the sky with a pained expression on his face. “Just let it go.”
And with that he shapeshifted back into his bear form and took of down the mountain.