Kallen:Ranger King in Training

CHAPTER 1

Kallen was in shock. A girlfriend he never met was hurt, and he was trying to think how he should react. Obviously, he was concerned but without knowing her, he could only be worried on a superficial level. This whole arranged marriage thing was gonna suck, he thought, as he paced back and forth across the room of his office. This was the 21 Century for goodness sake; they didn’t do that type of thing anymore.

He threw his hands up and said out loud to the walls, I am only eighteen, what the hell have I gotten myself into? Kallen was working himself into frenzy. He was good at that, since he rarely expressed his emotions aloud. He had Cassidy, his best friend, for that. She was a regular drama queen. Kallen smiled to himself and thought of his closest friend.

Kallen had never been the type of person who was shallow or fake; he hated when people smiled to your face and talked behind your back. He wore his feelings on his sleeve, for that reason, if he was pissed, people knew it. Right now, he was pissed, worried, and terrified; Wow, he said out loud again talking to himself, I will make a terrific leader.

Cassidy was impulsive, whereas he would take his time making decisions so he wouldn’t make a mistake. That was his problem, in crisis, he was never sure what to do. What if he made matters worse, that was his biggest fear. Cassidy always jumped in feet first and sorted stuff out afterwards; he needed to be more like her or he would lose his Guild quickly. ‘His Guild’ that still sounded strange to say. They learned that the ‘Guild’ they were referring to all the time was their own society of people who possessed certain powers that had been given to them by the angels for their ancestors’ faithfulness. That history lesson was too long to think about right now. Kallen and his friends each belonged to a different Guild, and when they travel to their family’s Stronghold, they would all possess the gifts that will allow them to claim the throne of each of these Guilds.

They were ancestors to the original members of the Guild, which gave them each the power and the right to lead the Guilds as they saw fit. In the past, their ancestors used their special powers to help the human race. Kallen and his friends agreed they wanted to carry on this tradition, but they also found out there were those who wanted the powers to be used to control the human race. These people had attacked their parents and held them prisoner for the last 15 years in order to get the thrones so they could take over. These rebels just found out that Cassidy and the rest were alive, and now they wanted them dead, and not just them, but their chosen mates too. This all led them back to where they were right now.

Cassidy claimed her Stronghold a few months ago, and so far, she had been kidnapped, tortured, and left for dead. Now it was Kallen’s turn; fun times, he thought, and turned in circles.

Ahhhhhhh, Kallen yelled to the walls closing in on him.

Kallen finally went into the room which held all of his friends. They were in Loveland, Colorado at Cassidy’s castle. Cassidy was the leader of their group and now was the Queen of the Warriors, and thus, their leader of the Guilds. Kallen and Cassidy were best friends and had been since they were toddlers. Kallen recently understood why they were pushed together as children. His job in the Council and the Guilds was to be the confidant and protector of the Warrior Queen. Long ago, this bond was established between Guilds and the tradition never changed as the years went by, so the bond became even stronger. Bea, his Guardian, and Kallen discussed this when Cassidy had found her mate, Justice. Kallen had been happy for his friend, but he had also felt a little jealousy about their relationship and the speed with which they became a couple. Kallen had never had a girlfriend for longer than two weeks, so he couldn’t understand the pull that Cassidy and Justice both felt when they fell for each other. Kallen was hoping he would be able to have those feelings with his mate, but without seeing her, he felt like he may be destined to be the odd man out.

Cassidy and his other friends had just learned a few months ago that they weren’t the orphans they thought they were. Kallen had been raised by his Guardian, Bea, as had the rest of his friends by their Guardians. Looking back, he now figured he should have questioned why five children and their Guardians had amazingly lived in the same building. Then one crazy day, his best friend sprouted jewelry out of her wrist and hand, and everything changed. They found out they were royalty and had cool powers, all on the same day. As if that weren’t enough, someone also wants to kill them and take their role as the leaders of the Guild over so they can rule the world, and they have to stop them.

Everything changed when a woman showed up on their doorsteps and told them this fantastic story about Kallen and his friends being a Warrior, Ranger/Solaris, Gnome, Fairy, Wizard, or Elf Guilds long lost royal members. They all received tattoos and jewelry around their wrists, out of the blue, proving they were royal descendants of the Seven, who were the first to ever be given gifts by the angels for their devotion.

Kallen had been floored when Bea told him he was a Ranger/Solaris royal heir to the throne. She explained how he was a combination of two Guilds, they combined to enhance the powers of both Guilds. Both powers were centered on animals and communication with them. Kallen had truthfully not heard the original explanation because he was shocked Bea had hidden the truth from him. They had never had secrets, or so he thought. His best friend was Cassidy, the Warrior Queen, who was the leader of the Guilds. She was not thrilled at first, but she had come around since and she was growing into her position. Cami and Celli were twins who shared the Fairy and Gnome Guilds.

Next door to them above the grocery lived Charlie and Kristen, who were Guardians, and they had two boys named Dyl, who was a Wizard and Eli, who was an Elf. Kristen had been killed two months ago, and they were all still mourning her loss.

At the same time, Cassidy met the mate chosen by her parents. Kallen had connected with Justice, Cassidy’s mate, when they first met and welcomed him into the fold. That was the other thing they were told, their birth parents were captured by rebels who were holding them prisoner, trying to take over the Guilds. Their job was to train in their Guilds, find and claim their castles that held their soul’s gift that gave them power. Cassidy had been first and she was on her way to being the leader of the Guilds, Kallen and the rest were all appointed as her Council. They made decisions for all of the Guilds to follow and helped the real world maintain balance.

Kallen wasn’t happy when he heard his mate for life had already been chosen. He had a little experience with girls and was hoping she wasn’t a whiny, clingy girl who was high maintenance. He had dated a few and didn’t want to be stuck with one for the rest of his life. Once they found all of the soul’s gifts, they could claim the crowns and rescue all of their parents.

Kallen remembered a little about his parents, who had been with Cassidy’s parents when they were captured. Kallen’s soul’s gift was an amulet of an animal that would come to life, protect him, and communicate with other animals using influence to allow Kallen to control any in his vicinity.

Bea explained that his parent’s Guardian, who lives in the Stronghold that was built for him by his parents many years ago, would give him the amulet. Kallen knew he was to receive a Black Panther amulet, and the panther would be a cub. He would train with the cub as it grew, learning to trust each other, and communicating with Kallen. Bea told him his animal gift because since he was little, the black panther had been his favorite animal. Kallen was intending to go to college to be a vet prior to being told he was an animal whisperer.

Kallen was very quiet as a child. He never argued about the rules. Bea always called him the perfect child because he never gave her a bit of worry, got straight A’s all through school, and was an athlete.

Kallen had checked out book after book on animals when he was young, he read about most of them by the time he was 10; from then on it was only the Black Panther. He had chosen his favorite and there was no changing as far as he was concerned. Bea used to try to get him different animal books, but he always put them on the shelf and told her he had already read about all the animals, and he chose the panther.

His friends teased him until they saw him in gymnastics or karate classes Bea put him in when he was young. He resembled the panther with grace and speed combined into one person. He could have chosen any sport in high school, but he tried out for football when he was a freshman. Bea had been making dinner when the coach called her into the school for a meeting. He wanted permission to play Kallen on Varsity his freshman year because he was so good. The coach told Bea that Kallen could write his own ticket to any college because of his talent.

Cassidy didn’t allow him to get a big head because of his instant popularity. She told the whole school he peed his bed until he was 8 years old. It took months for him to live that down and when all became quiet, Cassidy would tell some other lie to keep him grounded. She didn’t want him to turn into one of those asshole jocks whose head was bigger than a doorway. ‘No one is that all important,’ she would tell him. Football was a team sport, not individual.

He was still sorting out his feelings when Cassidy jumped up. Change of plans, we’re flying not riding, and we need to leave right now. I’m going to find Tina and Sam and get them working on transportation. The rest of you get the bags from the bikes so we can leave for the airport soon. Charlie, can you get transportation to the airport, and Bernie, take care of Bea, she’s a little upset. Kallen, let's go. You need to call your Stronghold and let them know you’re coming.

Kallen snapped out of his thoughts, he got the number to call and went to his office. Kallen was nervous, but he knew he would have to be confident when he spoke to the council. He sat at his desk and stared at the phone, thinking of what to say.

Kallen had never been in this situation before, he was the leader of a Guild, and he was scared to say the wrong thing. He chuckled to himself and thought who had been in this situation?

Kallen dialed the number Bea gave him earlier and waited for an answer. Josh, his secretary, came into the room as an older woman answered, Hello?

Kallen held up a finger to his secretary and spoke into the phone, Hello. This is Kallen uh… the King? He rolled his eyes as he heard how he sounded. Josh stepped forward and took the phone for him.

Sorry, what I meant to say was King Kallen will be with you shortly, with whom am I speaking to? Josh wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to Kallen.

It said, Pull your head out and it had a woman’s name on it. Kallen laughed and shook his head hard trying to clear it so he could sound a little more intelligent than what he did before.

He cleared his voice, held out his hand for the phone and nodded to Josh, indicating he was prepared.

Madame, this is King Kallen, and I am calling to see what the worst damage is and what you need before I will arrive. I am scheduled to arrive later today on a plane to Sacramento and then drive to the castle. Until I arrive, what necessities do you need? Kallen spoke firmly and he knew the woman had no clue it had been him who called because of the change in the strength in the voice.

He nodded and wrote notes as the old woman explained the status of his Stronghold. Kallen closed his eyes when he heard about all the casualties. There were at least 5 dead and more than 30 injured. There was no hospital in range, and all of the injured were in the castle being tended to as well as could be expected. They couldn’t bring a doctor in unless he was a member of a Guild because the injuries were mostly made with magic. Kallen knew they needed professional care and wrote Josh a note asking him to go to the medical wing and see who would be available to come to the castle after Kallen opened the door from the other side.

Cassidy had explained to them a few months ago that they each had a Stronghold with a castle and members; someone was currently running them, their parents appointed them before the rebels captured them all. It was bad enough to learn his parents were still alive, but to find out they were being held captive was just crazy. He was having a hard time filtering all of the information and his way of dealing with things were to compartmentalize them. He tucked the knowledge of his parents away to deal with another time. Bea had always been there for him, and he couldn’t imagine feeling anything different for her. She had been with him since he was an infant.

The rebels were a group of Guild members who wanted to be in charge and use their powers to take control of the world because they felt it was owed to them. Cassidy’s parents and Council, which were all of his best friend’s birth parents, all thought they should use their powers to help the world, not take it over. They were supposed to protect people and help keep the order of the world so no one had complete control. Kallen had thought their role was more of a Guardian to the human race than a King or Queen, but in their Guilds, there also needed to be a hierarchy of power, so there would be order there too.

Once they found their Strongholds and castles, there was a door that could be opened that connected all of the castles together. It would cut down on travel of the royals, and provided a useful portal with which to communicate and still live in their Guilds. The Wizard Guild had thought of this arrangement, and Kallen thought it was great, but they had to get to their destination for it to work.

Kallen knew he just needed to make it to the castle to open the door and Chase and the others would be able to help set up things on that side. It would be useless for all of them to travel there first, but all of his friends would go with him because that was their destiny, to find all of the Strongholds, complete the council and the training they all needed. This needed to be done in a year to claim their rightful places and then save their parents. Kallen had no memory whatsoever of his parents, and up until now, he hadn’t even asked Bea about them. She had told him very little about how he had come to live with her.

The basics were Kallen and his parents were traveling to Colorado when they were attacked by the rebels. Bea hid in a ditch with Kallen until they were gone and then called for help, only to discover all of the members of the Council had been attacked and captured. Bea had met up with Bernie and Kristen, then Charlie and Liam followed.

They hid in Denver together until a few months ago, when Kallen and the others discovered the truth, and since have been training and studying to become who they were meant to be.

Cassidy, his best friend, was the Warrior Princess, now Queen, and the leader of the group. She was amazing and had met her mate, Justice, and developed into a real leader. She was determined they were going to fulfill their destiny without fail, and Kallen was ready to help her make it happen. Growing up, they had been inseparable and Kallen had never been able to say no to her. She was the single most important thing to him besides Bea, and he would follow her into battle without fail.

Kallen had been struggling since he found out he had a mate waiting for him. Would he be able to separate his feelings for Jade from his feelings for Cassidy? He didn’t think he was in love with Cassidy, but for some reason, he couldn’t think of another woman in that context. Kallen shifted his attention back to the phone and grabbed a pen, avoiding thinking about the subject.

Kallen really liked Justice. Justice and Kallen both took care of Cassidy when she had been attacked last month. Kallen knew Justice loved Cassidy, but he still wondered if he was the best thing for her. They often fought like cats and dogs. Kallen was the referee usually, not that it bothered him, but he wondered if that was why he felt like he would always think he was a little in love with her. Kallen finally was able to push the thought aside and get down to business.

He began listing things that needed to be gathered for the trip, plus things they needed to try and get delivered as soon as possible for the Guild members. Supplies were needed quickly and Kallen looked on the internet for the closest town who could deliver things. He found what he needed and began ordering before he even completed the list.

Finally, after assuring the woman he would be there soon, he put the phone back in its cradle and lowered his head. It was worse than he thought. There was a lot of damage to the buildings and his people had scattered into the woods to hide. So far, none had returned.

Kallen called his friends into his office and asked for help. Eli was assigned security, and with the help of Dyl, they would have someone there today giving a bid on a high tech alert system.

The twins were in charge of getting food into the area for the people who were left. There was a small café there, but it had been looted and there wasn’t another delivery coming to them for a week. The grocery store was burned to the ground, and supplies were getting low even a day after the attack.

Cassidy and Justice were making the reservations for their travel and had announced they would be leaving in three hours for the airport. They would fly during the night and then would have a three or four hour drive to reach the castle. They should be there by morning. Kallen took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds to try and calm himself down.

Cassidy waited until they were alone before she asked about his mate. Jade? she said.

It’s bad, Cass, I don’t know what to do. The house manager told me Jade has burns on her eyes from a spell. She saved the castle, fought at the front door until there was only one person left, and she was injured when she was keeping him out of the castle, he said and rubbed his hand over his eyes.

Cassidy came around the desk, put her arm around his neck in a half hug and said, We will be there soon and deal with it then. No reason to feel guilty yet, besides, there is plenty to go around.

Cassidy left and Kallen made notes for Josh to follow when the secretary came into the room. They talked about what still needed to be done. Just as Kallen was leaving to repack his bag, Josh said, I’m coming with you.

Kallen turned with a surprised look on his face and said, Why?

Josh blushed; since he was hired, he had been quiet and unassuming and never talked about himself much at all. Kallen knew he was part of the Ranger Guild but had little other information other than the basics.

I need to be there to help, is what I meant. When you get there, when you open the door, I will be waiting to help, Josh said and Kallen had the feeling there was more to it, but he didn’t have the time to think about it. Kallen nodded to him and went to complete his packing.

Kallen was a little reluctant to leave Loveland where they were all safe. He thought he should have gone alone and found his castle, but the others were adamant about none of them being alone.

So here they were, finally getting to the airport and ready to get on their plane. They would find his castle in a town called Shelter Cove, California. During the afternoon when Kallen had some down time, he researched a little about the place. Shelter Cove was a relatively small little town with an old Victorian feel to it. It had an old lighthouse on the tip of the cove, and Kallen was excited to see inside a real lighthouse.

It had only a small diner and grocery store and a few stores scattered on the small downtown area. It seemed to be a close community because everything he found on the community all had the same population since its inception. Never growing or shrinking like most small towns.

It was also a tourist attraction because of the rich culture of the surrounding area. Shelter Cove, in addition to being a beautiful place to visit, was also a great place to hide from the world. It had no cell phone contact. Kallen knew the girls were going to freak out about that, since they lived to text and twitter so many times daily, they may go through withdrawal.

Shelter Cove is included in a bigger community named Pacifica and is located in the Northern Coastal Community. In this area, there are several things of interest, including the railroad, the redwood forest, and of course, the ocean. Kallen was very interested in the wildlife surrounding the area also. He laughed aloud when he saw that there had been many sightings of Bigfoot in the area.

Cassidy had been obsessed when they were younger with proving the existence of something supernatural. Thinking back, it was kind of ironic she was doing that since she only needed to look at herself and her best friends for the proof. He made a mental note to talk to her about that when they had a chance. Cassidy often liked to challenge him with history, and he was one-step ahead of her this time.

During the research of the area, he also found some close towns that had many things they may need over the next few months, and was looking to find some way to use them to help the small community he had just inherited.

Kallen and his friends had been in training for the last few months. They studied history of the Guilds, being a royal member, how to use the soul’s gifts they will receive, and physical training for self-defense until they received their gifts, and lessons on how to drive the motorcycles. Looking at the papers in front of him, he knew that there was going to be a lot more studying he was going to have to do before he could feel comfortable in the California area. Kallen and his friends had rarely been out of Denver when they were small, and he was sure they had never been out of the state.

Kallen understood now why they had never traveled when they were young. It was for safety, obviously. Their guardians had kept them under lock and key so no one would know they were alive and try to hurt them. Still, in some ways, Kallen thought they were so far behind on what they should know about their real lives, could they really learn enough in the next few months to help them when they have to find their parents?

Kallen stood up and shook off the thoughts he was having. He knew they had a huge task ahead of them, and he needed to be positive. He then began to think about the things they had learned already. Kallen looked at his friends sitting at the airport around him and smiled.

They learned about the Warrior Guild first, since Cassidy found her soul’s gift that’s an amazing gold sword. She had learned, with their help, the secrets of the sword, and how to wield it. Next, they found out about Kallen’s Guild's history.

Originally, there were two separate Guilds, the Rangers and the Solaris Guilds. The Ranger Guild was given the ability to speak to animals. The Solaris Guild was given the ability to influence animals and control them. When they combined, with the permission of The Seven, they could use animals to communicate, and if needed, raise an army to help their leader. There were many tales of wars the humans fought being helped by the Guilds without their knowledge.

Kallen was most fascinated with some of the other tales of unusual animals arriving at the castles to help; he was hoping that Bigfoot, if it was real, would come to his Stronghold. He did research and most sightings were by his castle. Kallen knew Cassidy wanted to prove the supernatural and was hoping to help her, if only for her own enjoyment.

Before they got on the plane, Kallen figured he had better get something to chew on. He heard that when the plane takes off it plugged your ears and they needed to pop, so he wandered to the small shop next to the place his friends were sitting to find some gum. He laughed when he saw they had a place for snack cakes.

Of course, they had all of his friend’s favorites, and so he bought them all treats for the trip. He was laughing to himself when he walked out of the shop because he figured, in the last 18 years, he and his friends had to have kept the company which made the little treats in business for all they had eaten. He wasn’t sure what it was about any of these cakes, but each of them was addicted to a different one, and when they were younger, their guardians had bribed them with the cakes to do homework.

Once they were on the plane, they all went through the anxiety of being on a ‘small tube