Free Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) by Nancy Straight Page A

prefer for you to create your own strategy to best handle the situation.”
    Max was annoyed with her evasiveness. It made me want to laugh because I was finally used to it. There was no sense getting irate about anything. It didn’t do any good, and she rarely gave me a straight answer to any question.
    For the first time I chimed in, “I think I should be watching the Beast, waiting until he is most vulnerable and we should attack him.”
    Max scowled at me and Rewsna nodded her agreement with my assessment. Max all but shouted, “You must have lost your mind! That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. This thing almost killed Lauren once. I don’t want it within ten miles of her.”
    I shook my head, “No Max, I don’t want to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life, and I don’t want him to be able to do this to anyone else. We need to find him and destroy him. He took more than two years away from us. I don’t want to give him one more second. I don’t ever want him to have another chance. We take the fight to him this time.”
    Max’s disapproval was as transparent as a window. He refused even to talk about my idea and went storming off into the barn. Rewsna began talking to me telepathically.
    “ Do not be offended by his actions, Lauren. It is not that he does not believe in your talent; it is that he cannot risk losing you again. You will find a way to convince him that this is the correct approach. His devotion to you never waivers, his emotions just get in the way. The Beast can be killed in any form, but when he shifts his shape to a beast, it is more difficult. Do your best to trap him as a human. Do not let him come between you and Max. If divided you can be conquered; together your advantage is absolute .”
    As I walked Rewsna to her car, she suggested I try practicing my skill. She warned me not to look for the Beast, I wasn’t ready to see him yet, but to practice by looking for family and friends at different times during the day. I told her I would try and would check back with her soon.
    When Max heard Rewsna’s engine turn over, he nearly sprinted out of the barn. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I saw his relief when he saw me standing in the yard. He started in immediately with, “I don’t want you looking for that thing. We’ll figure something out, but don’t look for it, okay?”
    “Okay - I’m going to see if I can find Rachael.” I sat at the picnic table with Max right beside me and didn’t have any luck. I concentrated on a conversation she and I had had about her boss and some problems she was having at work. I looked at my watch – it was still working hours for her, so I could peek in on her and see how everything turned out.
    I could feel Max watching me, and for whatever reason, I couldn’t concentrate on Rachael. When I asked Max to go back into the barn, his response was instantaneous, “You will not ever be out of my sight until this Beast thing is dead, so just get used to it.”
    I was a little taken back that he had decided I needed his protection. But Rewsna had been crystal about that, he wasn’t necessarily protecting me but together we were a dynamic duo. I couldn’t help but throw in, “You remember how I feel about controlling men, right?”
    Max walked over to me in three easy strides, holding out his hand in some chivalrous gesture. I stood up; he led me on the sidewalk as if our conversation had ended, and we were going into the house. A tree was on my right hand side as we walked. With no warning at all, Max shoved me up against the tree with both of my hands pinned above my head.
    My eyes were wide with shock and fear, my mind unable to process what was happening. Then his lips were on my neck. A few seconds later his hands released mine and his began gliding all over me. Max smiled a little mischievously, and said, “Sometimes, controlling men are sexy.”
    As I stepped away from him, I was able to get my breath back, and