The Broken Warrior's Daughter

Did he get this for me? Why? He doesn’t even know who | am. Does he? Could this be a way for him to stake a claim because Liam did? It could explain his response to Liam yesterday if he felt the need to claim what another Alpha wants.

The gift today is different from the others. It wasn’t brought by a delivery person, but the fae that owed the favor. That, in and of itself, means my gift giver is special. And there is no card, so perhaps this gift is not from the original gift. giver, but a new suitor.

As | watch, Rik inclines his head slightly in my direction, as if to say ‘You're welcome.”

| don’t know what to do with that, so | collect my things, holding the tome close to my chest. | let Jason know that | have to leave and he can come with me now or catch a ride later. He opts to catch a ride later, and | head home to show dad this amazing gift.

It's so much more than | ever expected. Someone has shown me that they see me for who | am. A Guardian, who wants to know my history and roots, to understand who | am and where | come from. To be the best that | can be. | feel as if my soul has been made bare to this person, and | don’t even know who it is.

Could it really be Alpha Rik? And if so, when and how did he realize who | am?

When | arrive home, Dad isn’t in the house. | listen in and hear him in the indoor training facility. After dropping my bag in the kitchen, | follow the sounds that he is making, still clutching my book to my chest.

When | walk in, | nearly forget why | came out here. Dad is blasting the stereo while he is creating something that looks like it came off the set of American Ninja Warriors. | have no idea how he has even put this together, but apparently dad is taking the whole ‘training an Alpha‘ to a new level. It looks like, not only will | be competing against Liam, but we'll be on the clock to see who the ultimate winner will be. | can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. Tonight is going to be fun.

I'm still looking around when the music cuts out. “Cara? What are you doing home so early?”Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

| turn to look at my dad, “What is all this?”

He smiles a smug smile. “If I’m going to be training an Alpha and a Guardian, | figured I'd better up my game.” +15 BONOS

He turns his gaze back to me. “Now, why are you home?”

| don’t say anything, | just walk over to him and hand him the tome of our history. He looks down and goes completely still when he sees the title on the cover. In a whisper, he asks, “Where did you get this?”

| tell him of the fae man who brought it to me, the statement of the debt repayment, the lack of adornment in decoration and that there was no card.

My father still looks dumbstruck as he reverently slides his hand over the leather book cover. He then looks up at me. “Do you know what this means?”

It means that we can find out if there are secret powers known only to the Guardians that dad and | possess. It means we can finally learn how the Guardians came about and if we are the last two alive in the world. It means, we will finally have answers to all of our questions.

I smile, “I do. But dad?” | pause until he looks at me. “Now | have a serious. problem, because whoever did this for me is very serious about wanting Artemis and me and now, I’m not sure | can or want to resist.”

Cooper

Author

Nice job Rik! That was an amazing gift. | wonder how ninja warrior training will go 24

+15 BONOS