Kevin: Always And Forever (The Guardian Shifters Book 3) Read online

  Author History

  My name is Kelly McMullen Lowe and I was born on March 19, 1986 to the proud parents of Christine Greenlees Beaumont Steedman and Hugh Patrick McMullen. My parents taught me the value of life and they showed me how to succeed. I married David Lowe, on December 30, 2006 and we have two wonderful children named Dylan and Tianna. Over the last couple of years, I was unwell and I put all of my time into my family and reading. In 2012 I wanted to commit myself to writing my own novel. I have put a lot of time and effort into all of my books. I hope that you all enjoy them, as much I did writing them.

  Acknowledgments

  First of all, I would like to thank Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design for helping me to create a beautiful cover for my tenth novel. You have helped me through a difficult time when I couldn't find what I was looking for. I will always be grateful to you for your help with picking my cover photo.

  Second, I would like to thank Karen Sanders for editing my book. This process has been so much easier with you on my side. You answered all of my questions and I hope to have you as my editor for a long time to come. You keep pushing me to be the best I can be, and for that I am truly grateful.

  Also, I would like to thank my family and friends for putting up with me over the last couple of years. My husband will get some sense out of me for a couple of weeks, until I start writing again. This book would not have been possible if it wasn't for the support of my husband. I love you to the moon and back.

  Next, I would like to thank my children for being my little angels. I love you dearly and you mean the world to me. I hope that one day you will be able to read Mummy's work. In the meantime, Dylan, you can read the blurb. My son is my little bookworm. I hope, when he gets older, he will still enjoy reading just as much.

  Finally, to my readers. Thank you all for purchasing my books. It means a lot to see so many of you reading what I write. All of your lovely reviews and comments make everything worthwhile. Your willingness to buy The Beautiful Life Trilogy gave me the nudge I needed when I was at a low point in my life. I have made lots of new friends from all over the world. That wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn't for my writing. I would like to thank everyone on my street team. Without Suzie and the other ladies, I would be snowed under with promoting books. You ladies take a lot of the pressure off and I thank you for that.

  Special Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank the ladies of my street team for everything they do for me. There’s so many of them that I want to thank individually, but I don’t want to miss anyone out. Each day, the tags and shares touch my heart, and I love you all dearly. I’m so blessed to have you all in my life. <3

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493820667568743/?ref=br_rs

  Dedications

  I would like to dedicate this novel to a couple of ladies who make me laugh daily. The conversations are never dull and they just say whatever comes to their heads. My readers group is kept going with the talk about sausages and fruit. I’m not crazy, honestly. This is the type of fun and frolics they get me into, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Maybe. One day. We’ll tell you all about the sausage conversation, and the sausage and egg facts of life tutorial, and not to forget the fruity talk. It’ll probably have you heehawing with laughter. Isn’t that right, Toya Richardson, Beverley Ann Hopper, and Stracey Charran?

  If you would like to join in with my crazy readers group, here is the link - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1493820667568743/?ref=br_tf

  Author Note

  There are a couple of dark issues in this book that may upset sensitive readers. Please be aware of that when you start reading.

  Prologue

  August 10th 2010

  Kevin

  I’m ten years old, and when I look around the camp I call home, I don’t see love. I don’t even see a home. I cringe whenever my father is near, because usually it means trouble’s lurking.

  Ten years old, and already, I’ve been taught to kill. According to my father, we fight to win. Anything else and we’re weak. He hasn’t got a place in his pack for weak links. Not that it matters what I do for my father. He’ll never see me as his son. I’m one of those weak links, but out of responsibility, he puts up with me. I’m here to take his place when he dies. With a bit of luck, that won’t be very far down the line. I’d be safer on my own as a ten-year-old than I ever would be with my father and his pack of mutts.

  Not a day goes by that I don’t keep my head down. I try to stay out of my father’s way, because if he doesn’t see or hear me, he can’t beat me, or make my life a living hell. It doesn’t take much to set him off; for instance, if my shirt is untucked, which is bullshit, because he never looks clean and tidy. Or if I don’t do chores, which again, is bullshit, because he leaves everything out and I have to run around after him and clean up. I might only be ten years old, but I’ve witnessed more than some sixty-year olds have in their whole lives.

  “Kevin!”

  I hear the yell from the distance and my body jumps into protective mode, tensing. My face changes from one of pity to one of an able wolf shifter. Even though I haven’t shifted yet, and I’m just a boy, my father still treats me like one of his shifters. I still have to show bravery and determination. I can’t show weakness. I can’t show emotion. I’ve got to appear unaffected by anything I see. My father doesn’t care if you’re male or female. If you did wrong by him, he makes you pay. I’ve watched people be beaten into submission. Tortured until they can’t even speak their own names.

  I don’t want to be like him when I grow up, but I don’t see any way out of this life. It isn’t like I have family that can support me. My father made sure my mother would never be around to raise a great young man. The first chance he got, he watched her die from a fatal wound. He promised me that he didn’t cause that wound to her chest, but his promises mean nothing to me. I don’t trust him. I never have, and I never will. He gives parenting a new meaning.

  I’ve not been around a happy family, but some of the elders of the pack treat me well. They knew my mother, her family, and they take me under their wing, tell me stories, and let me read their books. If it wasn’t for their kindness, I don’t know what I’d do. All I know is that I’m scared of what my future holds if I don’t get away from this place.

  “Kevin! Get your arse out here. Now!”

  I climb off the dirty mattress I call a bed, open the door to the living room, and walk out to my father. “What’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong? You’re weak, boy. You’ll never amount to anything. When I tell you to do something, you do it!”

  The back of his hand strikes my cheek, making my body hit the ground. I want to cry out in pain, but I know that will only make his anger stronger. I’m as well locking my tears away and facing him head on.

  “You were supposed to stay in this fucking cabin! But, oh no, you want to act like Mother fucking Teresa. Those cretins are in my barn because they can’t do as they’re told. They can’t follow the rules, and neither can you.”

  He picks me up by the scruff of the neck and drags me through his cabin, out into the camp. I lose my footing on more than one occasion, but his grip keeps me up, my knees scraping across the dirt. When we reach his barn, I’m flung across the ground and I land in front of the two women he has tied up. I don’t know who the women are, but this is going to be my punishment for giving them water and bread I found in our cabin this morning. My good deed is going to see me battered and bruised for days.

  “You want to help the damsels in distress, well, now you can join them, you ungrateful little bastard. I bring you up
. I give you a bed to sleep in. I feed you. I teach you all you know, but this is the way you repay me.”

  “I’m ungrateful? No, I’m human. I have a conscience. I have emotions and I can’t stand by and let you do this to innocent people!” I yell back at him.

  I don’t know where my confidence came from, but I had to speak up for what I believe in.

  “No! You’re a fucking wolf! You’d better start acting like one, because there’s no room in this pack for lightweights.”

  I get a swift kick to my ribs and fall flat to the ground. I find it hard to breathe, and a part of me hopes this is the last breath I take, because I can’t take this abuse anymore.

  I won’t take anymore.

  “Tie him up. I don’t want to see his face,” my father spits.

  At least in this barn I won’t have to see him. I can shut him out for the time being and try to think of a way to get out of this life.

  I somehow think it will be easier said than done.

  Chapter 1

  Present Day

  Kevin

  When I was growing up with my father, I gave up the hope that I’d ever get away from him and his pack. That all changed when I stumbled across my stepsister locked up in my father’s basement. She was beautiful, even battered and bruised. Her long brown hair was all matted, but her eyes told her story. She had the upbringing I desired. You could see the love and kindness shining through her eyes, even when she thought I was her kidnapper. She showed me kindness when I least deserved it. Now, here I am, standing on the porch of our Alpha’s cabin. My new Alpha, Carlos, has showed me how a pack should be run in the short time I’ve been here. Everything about my father and his pack of rogues was against the council’s rules. I sometimes wonder when it went so bad for him, but I can’t imagine him ever being like Carlos or Jasper. He didn’t have it in him to raise a family, or a pack, for that matter.

  It has been a crazy couple of weeks, fitting into a proper pack life. I’ve realised that my father never loved me. He never once cared for me the way Jasper and Carlos have. Jasper is now my mentor, and I can’t ask for a better person to keep me on the straight and narrow. He’s been nicknamed the guardian shifter, because between me, Lisa, her mate, Markus, and a few other shifters, he’s been our saviour when no one else cared. When no one else noticed that we needed a guardian angel.

  “You okay, son?” asks Carlos.

  I nod in his direction. “I’m good. I just wish we’d hear something from Jasper. He’s been gone a few hours.”

  “Jasper will be fine, son.”

  I want to trust Carlos, but Jasper is up against the council on the pack’s behalf. He’s agreed to take the punishment for the pack, and to be honest, he’s everyone’s knight in shining armour, because the council wouldn’t have been lenient on the pack. God only knows what will happen to Jasper. I feel kind of guilty, because it should be me facing punishment. I was the one that didn’t let Lisa leave my father’s cabin, even after I found out who she was. Yes, I did the right thing when the time came to fight for her, but I still did wrong. A big part of me thinks that I don’t deserve a second chance at life, but I’m mighty glad that I have this chance now. It’s just going to take me a while to fit in and find my place.

  Jasper’s Jeep pulls up outside the cabin, and Lisa and Markus stand to attention. Other pack members are gathering to see what Jasper’s fate is. I’ve never felt as nervous in my life. My heart is beating so fast in my chest, and my body is sweating in places I didn’t know was possible.

  Jasper makes his way up the steps and leans against the wooden railing for support. I don’t think any of us is going to like what he’s going to say. He looks defeated.

  “Well, you look okay. They haven’t beaten the crap out of you.” Carlos steps forward and holds out his hand for Jasper to shake.

  “A beating would’ve been better.” Jasper looks around his loved ones until he stops at Lisa. He moves towards her and takes her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’ll take care of him.”

  She pulls back and looks into his eyes. Her tears threaten to spill over, her eyes glistening, making the blue look like the sparkling ocean that has calmed me on many occasions. “Who? Markus? What’s happened?”

  Markus steps forward and wraps his arm around her, holding her tightly against his chest for comfort. “The council is taking me back to do their missions full time. That’s the easy part. I don’t mind working with them full time. It’s part of my job. The next part isn’t. They’re not allowing me to have any contact with the pack or you guys until they say so.”

  “No! They can’t do that.” Lisa sobs.

  “They can, honey. That’s not all. They’re making me take Kevin with me. They want me to train him and guide him on rules and what happens when they get broken.”

  “No! I won’t let you. We’ve just got him back. He isn’t going.”

  “Lisa-”

  Jasper and I say her name in unison, but Lisa turns to me and I wrap her in my arms. “I’ll be fine. I expected some form of punishment from the council. We’ll hardly see each other when you go to university, but we’ll see each other when I’m home. I’m not losing you again,” I tell her softly.

  “This isn’t fair, Kevin,” she cries.

  I look around the others and Jasper is consoling Joel, another shifter Jasper has saved. I give my attention back to Lisa and hold her tightly, hands running up and down her back in a soothing motion.

  “We’ll get through anything as long as we have one another. You have Markus, the pack, and your family back home. You’ll be kept so busy you won’t even know we’re gone. I promise I’ll keep in contact.”

  “You better, Kevin. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

  Markus steps up beside us and pats me on the back, taking Lisa from me. I feel empty the moment she’s out of my arms, but she’s tucked safely into Markus’s; her one true love. I smile at how amazing they look together. They have the love and support many shifters want and need. I’m glad she has someone like Markus in her life. As her brother, I only want the best for her.

  “Look after her, Markus.”

  “You don’t need to ask me twice, buddy.”

  I smile at Markus and Lisa and turn my attention to the pack around us. Jasper is having a standoff with Stracey, our pack healer. I’m not sure what’s going on with those two, but it’s clear as the nose on my face that they love one another. This has just thrown a large spanner in the works for them, and I doubt they’ll ever be okay again. Jasper sinks down onto the steps of the cabin. He looks terrible. He isn’t the usual put together guy that we’ve come to know.

  “Dad, do you fancy a run?” Markus asks Jasper, placing his hand on his shoulder.

  “Sure. That sounds good.” Jasper jumps to his feet and wipes his hands down his jeans to clear the dust off them. “Let’s go.”

  I concentrate on them both walking away into the forest, and I have to walk away on my own. I need five minutes to myself. I need to get out of my head and stop thinking, just for a little while.

  I only have one consolation at the moment, and that’s that I don’t have a loved one here that will miss me. Lisa will be kept busy with exams and Markus. Jasper will leave a huge gaping hole in everyone’s life. He’s needed in this pack.

  What happens next is anyone’s guess. I feel like I’ve taken a huge step backwards, and while it isn’t my father that has his claws in me, someone else has. I need to pay this debt to the pack. I need to stand up and be the shifter I know I can be, even if it will tear another piece out of my heart.

  ***

  Tonight’s party is in full swing, but there’s a sense of despair around camp. It seems crazy that we’d have a party when no one is actually celebrating.

  Everyone is laughing and trying to joke, but it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room. Jasper and I are going up against the council, and to say I’m nervous would be an understatement. Nothing much fazes me now, because
I’ve seen a lot in my short life, but the unknown unnerves me.

  I grab a bottle of beer from the cooler and spot Jasper sitting up against a tree. He looks deep in thought, but I need to speak with him. I need to get a little off my chest, even if it only makes me feel a tiny bit better.

  I scuff my feet across the dried-up dirt. The dust flying around catches the back of my throat, but I don’t care.

  “Jasper…”

  He lifts his head to acknowledge me. “Hey, buddy. How are you doing?”

  I shrug. “I’m okay, I guess. I know this must be a big deal to you, because you’ve been a family man for a long time. If I’m honest, I’ve never had a family to miss before, so I’ll get through it. I just…”

  He interrupts me. “You’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “Will you show me everything you know? I don’t want to make things worse for you by doing something wrong. I only have my father’s training which was lacking a lot.”

  “I will. You’re a good kid, and I wish I didn’t have to take you with me. Some of the missions we do…” He pauses and looks out into the trees. “… are testing. We get pushed to our limits, and some would think it’s a suicide mission. But, with the right training and knowledge, we’re undefeated. I know we’ll be given some shitty cases to work on, but we’ll come back undefeated. That I promise you.”

  I wish I had his confidence. I haven’t been around the council before, but I’ve heard stories about them. They’re not meant to be shy, and they take no mercy on shifters for breaking their rules. I don’t look forward to finding out my fate.

  “Jasper.” I shuffle my weight from one foot to the other. I’ve never really had anyone I can talk to before, and I sometimes get nervous and stutter. Some would say I need to work on my communication techniques. Some would say I need to get a grip and act like the shifter I am.