Free Kisri: ... and the Beast, Book 2 by Moira Rogers Page A

of worry and longing. If missing her family had been heartache, missing the man whose magic had twined with hers was a pain that grew day by day until every sleepless night was an agony of loneliness.
    “He’ll be here, Kisri.” All traces of teasing humor had faded from his voice. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He would let nothing stop him.”
    “Because we’re mated,” she whispered. “I didn’t know it would hurt so much, to be apart. How do people tolerate this, over months and years? All of your soldiers who went to war and left mates behind…”
    “Everyone sacrifices in times of war,” Mal said matter-of-factly. “You were lucky, yes? To discover your mate in a time of newly minted peace?”
    She had been lucky, fortunate in ways that she unspooled in her mind a hundred times. If she hadn’t escaped their uncle… If her charm hadn’t broken in Ennon’s camp, with one of his trustworthy soldiers close enough to summon him quickly. If she hadn’t found the courage to ask him for something insane at a time when sanity was returning to their people.
    So many if s, and the biggest one of all stood before her. “Thank you. Thank you for forcing the family to give me freedoms, and for letting me choose the man I’ll spend my life with. Thank you for everything.”
    Mal’s eyes went suspiciously bright. “You’re welcome.”
    Her resolve broke, and she threw her arms around her cousin and hugged him. “And promise me that you’ll spoil your own daughters just as much. I want unmanageable nieces.”
    “That will be a long time yet.” But his arms came around her, and he hugged her tightly.
    “Looks like I missed sword-fighting practice.”
    Kisri jumped so quickly she knocked her forehead into Mal’s chin. A curse spilled from her lips as she whirled and found Ennon standing there, a growth of beard on his jaw and his pack on the ground.
    She was in her worst leathers, covered in sweat and dust. Her hair was no doubt frightful, with flyaway strands stuck to her face. All her careful plans crumbled into ash. No soaking in her tub tonight, no dressing herself in silks and satins and pretending, if only for a few hours’ time, that she had it in her to be a great lady.
    No, Ennon had come home to find her every bit as grubby and uncivilized as she’d been in the midst of an army camp, and now there would be no pretending. Her feet carried her two steps forward before she checked herself, unaccountably shy. She had to wet her lips twice to speak. “Ennon.”
    “Come here,” he rasped, moments before sweeping her off her feet. His smile turned to a laugh, and he pressed his lips to her ear. “I missed you.”
    Nervousness broke in a rush of relief as he silently filled all the aching, empty places inside her. Warm magic, twisting and beautiful, until she wanted to laugh at how glorious it was to be a lioness in the arms of her mate. “I missed you too.”

About the Author
    How do you make a Moira Rogers? Take a former forensic science and nursing student obsessed with paranormal romance and add a computer programmer with a passion for gritty urban fantasy. To learn more about this romance-writing, crime-fighting duo, visit their webpage at www.moirarogers.com , or drop them an email at [email protected] . (Disclaimer: crime-fighting abilities may appear only in the aforementioned fevered imaginations.)

Look for these titles by Moira Rogers
    Now Available:
     
    Red Rock Pass
    Cry Sanctuary
    Sanctuary Lost
    Sanctuary’s Price
    Sanctuary Unbound
     
    Southern Arcana
    Crux
    Crossroads
    Deadlock
     
    Building Sanctuary
    A Safe Harbor
    Undertow
     
    Wilder’s Mate
    Sabine
     
    Coming Soon:
     
    Cipher
    Hammer Down

A curse can erase her from his mind, but never from his heart.
     
    Sabine
    © 2011 Moira Rogers
     
    … and the Beast, Book 1
    After three years at war, the High Lord of the Forest returns to his lands, a victorious wolf leader intent on claiming his mate. Instead Ciar finds