Page 1 of Reign of The Beast (Immortal Passions #2)

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~Mia~

Three Months Later

The flames licked the logs in the fireplace, the satisfying crackle, a soothing soundtrack to the peaceful reverie encompassing me.

Everything was perfect.

The warmth of the fire, its refreshing cedar scent.

The muted light of my bedroom suite, softly illuminated by a mere half dozen candles situated around the room.

And… him.

I sank deeper into him, as we lounged on my pastel-blue chaise, my back to his front.

“Content, sweetness?” he breathed into my hair, his arms tightening around me.

“Always, with you.” I wove my fingers in his.

“I love you,” he said, nuzzling the side of my neck.

I moaned at the delicious tingle that resonated through me, making my core clench with need.

It was always that way with him. Just the slightest brush of his mouth, his fingers, had me turning into putty in his hands .

And I loved it. I loved how he made me feel.

There was no freer feeling than surrendering to his touch, to letting myself go so completely, to allowing myself to be loved by him without reservation.

It had taken a while for me to get to this point, to divest myself from the shackles of my inhibitions. Even though I trusted him more than I had ever trusted anybody else, there had still been a part of me that had been holding back. With the volatile secret of my heritage, it had been instilled in me at a young age not to trust anyone.

But I’d come to accept that Ryker Morgan wasn’t just anyone.

He was my confidant.

My best friend.

My first love.

And he would be my last too.

The true love of my life.

I tilted my head to look deep into his mesmerizing emerald-green pools. “I love you.”

Heat flared in his eyes and the next thing I knew, he was grasping my hips and flipping our positions.

His powerful body covered mine, enclosing me with his warmth, his love surrounding me.

Safe.

I felt safe.

And wholly cherished.

“Mia,” he groaned, regarding me reverently.

His hand skated up my thigh, sliding under my lacy black chemise.

His chiseled, bare torso pressed into me and I moaned at the delectable sensation of his nipple hoops lightly abrading my breasts through the thin silk covering them, teasing them.

He chuckled. “Every time, huh?”

He shifted his weight, his fists coming down either side of my head, boxing me in .

The deliciously dominant move had my heartrate picking up, my body tingling with anticipation.

Grinding against me, his thick cock straining to escape the confines of his dark linen pants, he held my gaze while he brushed his fingers through my slick folds.

I arched my back at the delicious sensations he was invoking within me, as he teased me and his thumb flicked intermittently over my clit.

“Yes. Yes, Ry,” I breathed. I reached up and grasped his biceps, pulling him closer. “Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop touching me.”

“I never will,” he vowed.

He tore at my chemise, baring my breasts with one rough tug of strength. My gasp of surprise caught in my throat when his mouth closed over my right nipple and he began to suckle, lick and nip ravenously.

God, his mouth was glorious.

“Let go, sweetness,” he spoke, his tone soothing, almost hypnotic.

With one last lick to both of my nipples, he shifted and jerked his pants down to his thighs, just enough to free his cock.

I swallowed hard.

He was rock hard, raring to go.

My pulse picked up as I took in the two shining studs in the thick, mushroom head. Those things were heavenly.

He grinned at my reaction, then took hold of my thighs in a bruising grip, knowing how much I loved it nowadays when he got a little rough and domineering when we fucked.

The moment our gazes clashed again, I was lost to him completely.

The desperate need in his eyes, the fervor of his warm grip on my thighs, had me enveloped in a thick haze of lust.

“Take me, my love.”

He shifted his weight.

And then he abruptly stilled.

“Ryker? ”

His eyes shone with green fire.

No. No. No.

There was no magic here.

We no longer practiced. We hadn’t for years.

We didn’t belong to that life anymore.

We’d escaped all of that, left the Guardian Movement, long ago.

It was what had brought us peace.

A sudden surge of energy had me choking in the next moment, the rush something I hadn’t felt in an age.

Our surroundings shook with the fervor of a violent earthquake.

Items toppled from my dresser, my bedside table.

Furniture began to shudder and rattle.

I sat up, Ryker easing back with me.

I reached for him.

But I never made contact.

I screamed as he dematerialized before my eyes.

The candles around the room snuffed out, the fire, too, all sources of light completely extinguished.

I scrambled off the chaise, just as the bedroom door blasted open, green fire exploding forth, and tearing through the room.

“Time to go,” a voice reverberated all around me.

I felt something pulling on me, an unseen force.

Clenching my teeth with the effort and digging the heels of my bare feet into the carpet, I struggled to resist it.

A warm sensation snaked around my wrists and I looked down, horrified to see shimmering green bands encircling them.

My hands were forced forward against my will, the bands pulling me toward the door.

“No! Stop! No!”

I screamed and tugged violently at them, but it was no use.

Without my magic, they overpowered me with far too much ease, pulling me through the open doorway.

Everything fell away .

I awoke in a panic, as the world came rushing back.

Unwelcome.

Cold.

Brutal.

Slapping my hand to my chest in a futile attempt to try to calm my racing heart, I fought to get a handle on my surroundings.

The glass-topped box, a combination of a coffin and a hyperbaric chamber.

The old, abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere that I’d commandeered.

I gasped as I realized the glass lid was gone.

It, along with the farmhouse itself, had been enveloped in a powerful protection spell. One that shouldn’t have been possible to breach, given that it had been forged from pure Immortal magic. My father’s.

Oh my God.

“Father?” I called out, hesitantly, bracing myself for a hell of a reprimand for my offenses.

Stealing his magic, for one.

Then, hiding myself away, turning from the awful threat that plagued us, rather than taking up the mantle as he’d wished.

“No, sweetness.”

I stilled at the familiar voice.

Then I jolted bolt upright, searching him out.

A hand suddenly grasped mine, making me choke in surprise.

I hesitated until I traced its path up to a very familiar face.

“Ryker,” I breathed, as I instinctively took his hand and allowed him to help me out of the box.

Having not used my limbs for hell knew how long, my knees buckled as soon as my feet met the floor, my body not able to hold up its own weight.

Swiftly, Ryker’s arms wrapped around me, saving me from hitting the ground.

I felt a spark of magical energy and a robe suddenly covered me, shielding my flimsy nightgown beneath.

He swept me up in his arms and carried me out of the little barn into the dark night.

He eased me down onto a nearby log, then stepped back, eyeing me intensely.

With a weary shake of his head, he shifted his weight and folded his arms across his chest.

While my father hadn’t come, it was clear I was still in for a reprimand either way.