Guarded in Love: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance, Capricorn: Zodiac Shifters, #2

By K.C. Stewart

Dreamwalker, Sybil Murray knew what love was the moment she met Dean Williams. But being the self-controlled, stubborn, Capricorn that she is, she let him walk away and didn't chase after him. If the sexy and rugged bear shifter wanted to keep his distance, then she wasn't about to beg for a second chance.

And when visions of Dean begin to plague her dreams, Sybil knows that danger is closing in on him. Determined to warn Dean without falling prey to his charms, she sets out to protect the only man she's ever loved. But suddenly, Dean isn't the only one in danger. Escaping her dreams is beginning to be harder than ever. Will Dean and Sybil find a way to rekindle what they once had or will they become nothing more than a faded memory?

• Language: English
• Publisher: K.C. Stewart
• Release date: Jan 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386312529

K.C. Stewart

K.C. Stewart is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Hailey Holloway series and most recently, the Adirondack Pack series. All her life she had fantasized and day-dreamed on a regular basis but it wasn’t until she began writing short stories that she made those fantasies a reality. She has graduated to novels but still dabbles in the occasional flash fiction and short story. Because of her love for reading and the written word, K.C. is currently working towards her Masters in Library Science. When she isn’t taking photographs, studying or writing, she is supporting a very real gummy bear habit. Currently, she lives with her husband and pack of german sheperds.

Book preview

One

Capricorn’s live inside of their own head more than they do in the outside world.

WTFZodiacSigns

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She'd been a rabbi, a librarian, a professional dog walker, a lawyer, movie star, porn star and too many others to count. She knew the secrets of people past, present and future. She'd been a witness to murder, to birth, to sickness and to love. Sybil Murray was a dreamwalker, an elusive and tiny subset of the supernatural world.

Many believed her kind had gone extinct. A myth or legend of those considered to be myths and legends. They weren't wrong, per se, if the supernatural had an endangered species list, she'd be on it.

Today she was a bear, or rather, a bear shifter. It was a person she knew well and had the unfortunate luck of dreaming of often. Of all the people alive, dead or not yet born she could dream of, Sybil was stuck with her ex-boyfriend. As hard as she tried, she just couldn't stay away from Dean Williams.

Some might say she was pining for a lost love but that wasn't it. Well, that wasn't entirely it. Their breakup wasn't conventional. It wasn't mutual or messy. He had broken up with her but she had let him. Short story, there was a misunderstanding that needed to happen and when it did, Sybil did nothing to clear it up. Hurt wasn't a strong enough word for what it felt like to let him go. Crushed, grieved, miserable, inconsolable, desolate--all words seemed meaningless in comparison. By letting him go, letting him think it was his choice, she was saving him those same feelings later. Because the truth was, Sybil was dying. It was either break up now on his terms or later, on death’s.

Still, she shouldn't be here, with him, like this.

It's not like she tried to get into his head. Causing herself pain on a daily basis wasn't something she purposefully did. Lately, though, as her control began to slip more and more, she found herself drawn to Dean, drawn to the known, the love, the safety.

Did he know?

It was a question she always asked when she found herself with Dean in her dreams. Could he feel her presence? Sometimes she thought that he could see her. It wasn't anything definite. Just the way he would stop and look around. Searching but not conscious of doing so. Sybil always wondered what it felt like on his end. Was she a chill on the nape of his neck, a shadow in the corner of his eye, or maybe just a warm feeling in his chest?

This was a bittersweet torment that she really should try harder to avoid. As a dreamwalker, she should have been able to leave this world, Dean's world and go somewhere else. Past, present, future, wherever the spirits guided her. It wasn't dreams she was traveling into but time. These were real events having either happened, happening or would happen. She could only do it in sleep or a deep meditation, hence, dreamwalking.

At one point, she was strong enough that she could have turned it all off if she wanted to. Sleep for the sake of sleep. Rest, as some people called it. But that was then. Sybil hadn't had that kind of control in years. It was sliding through her fingers like the sandman's dust.

Sometimes she wondered if she had it backward. That this place was reality and the other was a dream. It was hard to tell these days. The dream world used to have a glow about it. Everything felt lighter, looked brighter and had a metallic taste to it. Lately, the dreams were becoming crisper and more solid.

Sybil reached out and touched the knobby bark of a tree. The roughness scratched at her skin and she watched the fine white lines fade from her flesh.

It was beginning to feel more real too.

Where was he right now?

Sybil knew this was Dean's territory. She'd been here before. Many, many times before. Though, never in the physical world. He lived in Westlin, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains. She lived across the country in Oregon. They had once lived together. Although, that too was beginning to feel like a dream.

How many years had it been? Two? Three?

Sometimes it didn't feel like any time had passed. She was here, after all, with him even though she was not. Then sometimes she'd visit him and it felt like lifetimes had passed. He'd changed so much and not at all. Dean had gotten older, scruffier, harder, but he hadn't lost his spark, even if it had dimmed some.

This was the life of a dreamwalker. Sybil had lived a thousand lives, saw the world through a million eyes. And today, apparently, she'd be living through Dean's. Sybil began to walk but with no knowledge or power of doing so. These were her least favorite dreams. The ones where she had no control. It usually meant that it was happening in the present or very near future.

She looked down and saw two large brown paws with giant claws that sunk into the dirt as they went. He was out wandering as his bear. That made her smile. Dean was a bear shifter. Something she wasn't supposed to know but had since before they even met. She and his bear had never been formally introduced but he knew when she was there. When the bear was out and she was around, a gentle warmth surrounded her. Just a small acknowledgment of her presence.

It was that imaginary warm hug that made these dreams worth it.

They walked for a little while. He held something in his mouth but she couldn't see what it was. Nothing dead, he hadn't just killed anything. The last time she had been around when he was in his bearskin, he had been on a hunting expedition. Sybil had been sick most the next day after waking.

This, though, wasn't anything from nature. It was hard, plastic if she had to guess. It swung from his mouth in rhythmic arcs as his heavy footfalls propelled them on.

Dean must have been deep in his own head to not have heard the faint whispers behind them that even she took notice to.

Dean, she said, knowing he wouldn't hear her. She couldn't interact with anything, only witness. Come on, Dean. Pay attention. She wasn't that worried, though. Not many people sought out a bear, but he should be more cautious, especially if people were nearby.

Behind them, there was a crunch of a twig, a metallic ping of metal and then a crack of a rifle being fired, Dean's back legs gave out instantly in pain. A roar of surprise wretched from his mouth as the thing he had been holding fell to the ground beside him. Cheering sounded in the distance. Dead pushed past the pain and began to get to his feet, looking wildly around for the shooter. Sybil saw them just as he did. A violent flash of orange aiming up another shot.

NO! she screamed, into her empty room. A tangle of damp sheets clung to her body as she sucked in air as rapidly as her lungs could fill. Sybil shook with fear. Her eyes darting around the bedroom, mind and body not fully united yet. There was a phantom pain in her side. She pressed her trembling fingers to the spot where there should have been a wound but found none.

Her abdomen seared with the memory of what happened, but there was no mark, no entry. Sybil had not been shot. Dean had.

Oh god, she needed to go back.

No no no no no no no, she muttered, as she swung her legs out of bed and immediately collapsed to the floor. How long had it been this time? Twelve hours? Fifteen?

Dammit! For once can you just be normal? she yelled at herself. Sybil wasn't bouncing back as she used to after a dream. Her body was weak, shaky with fatigue, hours of no nourishment and no water. There wasn’t time, though. No time to hydrate and center herself to give herself the hours it would take to recover. She pushed herself off the floor and stumbled