The Spirit Guardians Book 3: Fated

Chapter 1

Two Years Later

The world felt at rest. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon, casting pale gleams of sunlight into the nearest bedroom window. Two breaths echoed together as a new spring day fell upon the earth.

The young woman with light brown hair was too deep in sleep to notice the sound of the door opening or tiny footsteps echoing across the carpeted floor. It was only when a gentle tug came at her sheets that she slowly found herself beginning to wake.

"Mommy," a quiet whisper came near her bedside

Cassie's eyes finally opened to find morning light beginning to stretch across her bedroom. She slowly spun around, her gaze falling on the toddler standing by her bedside. The individual sleeping to the right of her shifted his body as their sleep became disrupted.

"Elijah, you know it's still too early to get up yet," she said quietly. She'd told him to stop calling him "Mommy" months prior, but he was too young to understand why his real mother wasn't with him. Though she made sure to repeat to him again and again that she wasn't his real mother, he kept using the term nonetheless.

"He'll grow out of it," Cherie had told Cassie when he first began saying it. Cassie knew she'd raised him longer than Irene had, but a part of her still felt guilty, not only for ripping Irene's child away from her, but also for now practically becoming a replacement mother. She knew it was healthy for Elijah to have a motherly figure, but she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with when he called her his mother deep down.

"I want to sleep in big bed," Elijah said, reaching his arms forward.

Marc was beginning to stir next to her. "No, don't bring him in bed. He's already got his own bedroom, and he should learn to—"

Cassie was already lifting him up and setting him down between the two of them. Marc grunted in defeat and draped an arm over the both of them as Cassie held Elijah close to her body. Marc shot her a glare, but she only shrugged while silently mouthing, "Sorry."

"What woke you up?" she asked the child quietly, running her fingers through his air.

"The sun was up," he reasoned.

Cassie chuckled quietly to herself. "You know it's still too early to get up. We told you that you have to wait until someone comes and gets you in the morning, right?"

"But this bed warmer and bigger. I want to be close to you, Mommy," Elijah complained, curling closer to her.

She sighed and gently rubbed his back as he played with the edge of their sheets.

"What we doing today?" he asked curiously.

"Mommy and I are training so Auntie Lillian and Auntie Cherie are going to watch you," Marc explained to the child.

"How about me, Mommy, and Marc stay in bed?" the toddler proposed.

Unlike Cassie, Marc was still known as just "Marc" to Elijah. Cassie told Marc she didn't expect him to take on any sort of fatherly role, but he'd aided in caring for Elijah more than she had asked him, and for that, she was grateful.

"I wish, but we have a lot of work to do. We can sleep for a little bit more," Cassie told him.

"Okay. I close my eyes, but just for a second," Elijah warned.

Cassie grinned as she watched him begin to drift off almost immediately with the gentle closing of his eyes. She felt his warm breaths against her chest as she continued to gently stroke his back, hoping to get him to nap for a bit more.