Release Blitz: Shifting Shadows By Barb Shuler




Title: Shifting Shadows 
Author: Barb Shuler 
 Genre: Paranormal Romantic Thriller; Urban Fantasy









Even the shadows hold secrets

You would think shifting into a creature of the night would garner some respect, right? Wrong! At least not for these Guardians.

Guardians are Shifters that live within the shadows of the human world. Humans have no knowledge of their existence. Contact between Guardians and Humans is forbidden. It is their most sacred law. However, when a human is attacked, things change for both worlds.

Ancient prophecies speak of a union that will regenerate life from the past – a past some in the supernatural world wish would remain buried.

But, buried secrets have a way of coming back to haunt us when we least expect it.



Prologue

“Fight it! You fucking fight it, Ty!”
Horacio’s words ring out across the clearing like a stereo. The changes inside me have brought me down to my knees. The bonds that tie us to the clans were breaking. Each one a sharp cut into my soul causing black spots to flip through my vision.
“Trying…” I growl out my reply. It takes all I have in me to get that out.
I try to move over to where he is knelt - no more than fifty paces from me but I can’t move with the pain consuming me. He too is fighting to stay conscience with the pain drilling through him. Each twinge is multiplied by the others pain. The ties that hold us together as not only pack or as mates but as guardians to the ones that stand on the outline of the trees snap with more ferocity than the last.
They’ve done this to us. They are stripping us of our pack for simply being mates. The reality is worse than one could imagine. A pack should embrace the love between two shifters. What did they expect? The fates like to mix things up sometimes. We never expected to find love with each other, nor had we expected a mating bond to surge through us under the full moon.
The Mother Goddess saw fit to make us one. A pack in our own rights. Why can’t they see it? Small minded asshats. If that isn’t bad enough, we have found a human woman that calls to our animals. Yes, she calls to both of us. It’s a strange relationship but one we need. She is ours, even if it isn’t always in an intimate way. She is a part of us, a part that keeps us grounded and our animals in line, if that’s even possible. The cub she will bear will make us inseparable. It will be a bond stronger than anyone has seen in centuries.
Now though, it is all falling apart.
I fall over onto my knees, my bear fighting to get free. Each time his mate gasps or cries out in pain he roars and claws at me to be set free. My head falls forward once more. I pant through each tear of my soul. My fingers slowly turn to claws and my jaw ticks as the crunching of sticks and leaves ring out through the clearing. The scent that fills my senses has my head jerking up.
My gaze meets Jasmine’s panic filled eyes. My bear lets out a roar at the sight before us. They - the men who drug her forward - shove her to the ground where she collapses into a sobbing heap, her arms protectively cradling her belly and the cub that is growing there. I can smell her blood, her fear, her shame - it’s too much.
I can hear Horacio’s Jaguar roar before my own roar fills the air. My bear springs forth and with a shake of my massive body the bonds that once were my lifeline, are gone. That’s okay. We - Horacio and I - have each other and Jasmine. There is no need to be bonded to a clan that refuses to accept us as we are. We may no longer be clan, but we are still Guardians. Only way to no longer bare the mark of a guardian, is to be killed. The Guardian spirit chooses who to mark . It is an honor bestowed upon shifters found to be worthy.
Today however, I’d happily forget I am a Guardian and tear them all into very tiny pieces.
My massive body blocks both my mates, Horacio and Jasmine, from the men before us as the saliva drops from my muzzle. I’m fighting - only slightly now - to stay under control. If I let loose at this moment - many would perish.
I will protect what is mine, with my life if I have to.

Chapter One
Tyberius

Stalking the shadows was the job that I as a Guardian, treasured. My bear and I walked the woods, stalked the streets and kept the lines between the human reality and the shifter life separate. What humans didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt us. We - shifters - were not allowed to interact with humans. We couldn’t let them discover that we were more than just the things in their nightmares, we were real. This is why Guardians were created. We were the go-between for both worlds.
With each step I made against the half frozen earth I cursed Mother Nature. It was supposed to be fall, but I think she is PMSing again. When she is cramping we are all in for it. I am a shifter, and it’s true that I am used to being in the bad weather but that didn’t mean I had to like it or even appreciate it when my balls freeze and shrivel up into my stomach. Though, I wasn’t that cold, my bear kept me warm but in my human form I wasn’t as warm as I wanted to be on this windy, rainy night.
The night was just like any other night. I walked the streets and alleyways looking and listening for trouble. My other half, Horacio was stalking through the other side of town. I hated being away from him but it was needed on nights like this. Seems humans and shifters alike acted out when the weather changed. I guess even humans have a little animal in them.
The rain started to pelt down on me harder, the wind picked up whipping the rain right into my face. The stinging of each drop across my face had my hackles up. With a growl I tugged the collar of my jacket up and ducked my head a little more. I sure as hell hoped Horacio was having a better time patrolling than I was having.
With each store back I crossed I made sure there was no one standing about that would cause trouble. I passed a few of the shop owners, one's I’d seen every day I’d been out on the town. They’d all become a familiar part of our lives. Horacio and I lived in this town after all. How else could we keep it safe. The council - as they were called - had assigned us both to this town due to its size and the closeness of the enchanted forest. Yeah, you heard that correct. The old legends, the ones our parents told us as children, started with the enchanted forest.
It was the birthplace of the first shifters. It was also home to the fae, or that’s what legend says. No one has actually seen the fae in years. We know they’re about, even though their presence is guarded, but as a guardian I can feel the slight tug of magic when it flares. That flare lets me know that the magical creatures are close, even if I can’t see them.
My boots landed quietly on the gravel in the alleyway as I moved through the streets, so I knew the noise I was hearing now wasn’t my footfalls. I moved faster to the entry of the alleyway and followed the sounds of what might have been a struggle. When I came to the back of the stores on the next street I saw three men, two holding a girl down, one had his hand over her mouth as the biggest of them moved on top of her. She had been stripped bare from what I could see from my vantage point. A roar escaped me as their scent rolled across the wind.
Shifters! I charged them, my hands changed to my Bears as he too snarled at the sight before me. My large frame slammed into the first of them to stand. He had no chance against me. He hit the ground before he could shift, his head rolling to a stop against the nearest trash can. His blood coated my hand. A snarl turned my head to the right just in time to see the other man that had been holding her down charge.
His body was half shifted as his lips pulled back to reveal his canines. Oh, so that’s how it was. Okay, I could do that. I allowed my bear to surface, my shift happening so much faster than others of my kind. Being a Guardian had its perks. His lithe body sprang at me. I got a paw up and raked it down the underside of his body as he tried to go for my neck. Fucking wolves!
The fight before me now was going to get ugly. The man - shifter - stopped his attempted assault long enough to get to his feet and snatch the woman up by her hair. Her scream filled the alleyway. My lips pulled back from my muzzle as I moved closer. He was dead.
“Stay back Guardian, or I’ll snap her neck.”
He thinks his words will stop me, really? My answering snarl was met with another’s from behind him. I shifted mid step at the sound. My backup had arrived, now I could focus on the poor human girl.
“Give the girl to me,” I bit out. Horacio, my mate and fellow Guardian, stalked closer. His black coat left him almost invisible in the night's darkness. After a glimpse of what was currently stalking him, the shifter flung the girl towards the brick walls closest to him and took off running.
I moved quickly to scoop up the woman as I watched Horacio’s dark form take off after the shifter. There was no escaping that Jaguar. I hurried to take my jacket off and wrap it around the unconscious woman in my arms. Thank God Guardians were able to shift and remain clothed, or this would be awkward. Her bruised skin was so pale. Growling, I hoisted her up into my arms and took off, running full speed through the dark alleyways. My footfalls silent as I tucked her closer to me. I had to get her back to our cabin and then we had to get a game plan together.
What had she seen or heard before she passed out? Did she know about shifters? Who were those men? So many questions ran through my mind as I ran for home. I knew Horacio would have our cleaner clear the mess I’d left in the alleyway.
Kelanie, the one who controls the cleaners, might be as nutty as a basket of badgers, but she always has our backs. All Guardians would be lost without her. There was a tinkle of laughter that flitted across the wind but quickly disappeared. I shook it off as I bounded up the cabin steps. My only thoughts right this moment have to be about the woman in my arms.








 









I’m a Carolina Girl by right and a Texan by birth... so I have a Texas-sized temper. Living and working in both states I’ve learned a lot about hard work, adapting to your surroundings and making the best of the path that you have been led down. My grandma Dollie once told me I would know what I was meant to do when it happened. She was right, as always.
As with most book lovers, I am an avid reader. Reading has always been a hobby - a passion, really. Reading helps to expand the perimeters of one's mind. That is what got me to start writing as a kid. If I had paper...or a wall... I was writing. Words are a part of us all. Why not use them, right?
During the day I work as a ‘desk jockey’ and help the residents of my county navigate themselves around our little, but not too little country town. By night I am either blogging, doing PA work for some of my favorite authors or I am fighting with the voices in my head. (They can be stubborn at times.) It’s a way to cope and make the troubles of the day disappear, if only for a few hours. It’s a blessing and I am cherishing every moment. For that which is my creation, may become someone else's treasure.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed so I want to make sure I live the day as fully as possible.




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