Free The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) by T. A. Grey Page B

from her, away from the temptation. She wouldn’t
welcome him. He could make her but the thought of that didn’t sit well in his
gut. If he touched her, something terrible might happen—he might begin to care.
No, he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk gaining any feelings towards her lest
he be unable to go through with his plans. He needed her to die to save him. He
finally had a chance to become the man he’d once been and he wouldn’t lose that
chance no matter what.
    He’d already lost one woman he
cared about, he wouldn’t put himself in the same situation twice. No matter how
the light glinted off her body. She cupped handfuls of water and scrubbed her
face. She turned just enough so that he caught a glimpse of the side of her
breast. He groaned low in his throat. He ached to know how she’d feel in his
hand—heavy and full or light and firm? His cock became a heavy, throbbing mass.
    He couldn’t do this. Not for him
and not for Arianna.
    Alrik made one of the hardest
decisions of his life then and turned around. Back at the camp, he sat next to
the fire. Air filled his head making him feel light and dizzy.
    The human Abbigail was proving to
be trouble. How could he ever look at her again and not see her naked in his
eyes? He must harden his mind to her and hurry her spell casting lessons. The
sooner she became strong enough to defeat his mother, the quicker he could be
rid of her and live some semblance of his old life. He craved that relationship
with his brother that they’d once had. Now that his mother’s cursed potions
weren’t in his body and overriding his thoughts, he felt for the first time in
a long time some of his own emotions. Not everything had come back with the curse
still overriding him, but now he could feel something. These feelings seemed
foreign to him, like someone else’s emotions, but they were his. And what he
wanted more than anything was to be back at his brother’s side. He’d do
anything to have that, even if that meant using and sacrificing Abbigail in the
process.
    A far off cry caught his ears.
Alrik turned his head to the sky and his body tensed. Far off in the distance,
coming from the south at a quick pace flew a flock of birds. Not just any birds
but kolans , a large black bird known for eating anything found dead
along the way. That wasn’t what sent Alrik to his feet and running down the
path to Abbigail.
    A dark foggy cloud surrounded the
black-winged creatures and in that fog flew evil. The
birds moved at incredible speed and as they neared a roar became louder and
louder. The sounds reminded him of battle, where men yelled and screamed only
the sounds of the birds was much higher.
    “Abbigail!” Alrik roared.
    She came up from the water and
hearing the bird’s cries, turned to see the dark mass charging at them from
high in the sky. She turned quickly and started for him. Smart witch. He
thanked the seer once again that his savior was a smart witch.
    She met him at the beach just as
he reached it. Without hesitating, he grabbed her clothes in one arm then
latched onto her hand with the other. He dragged her to the rocky slope that
led down to their hidden cove.
    The roar became deafening. He
didn’t know what magic was at play, but he had an idea and it wasn’t good. The
bright sky darkened to a murky grey. He had a moment’s hesitation that he
hadn’t put out the fire at the camp, but as he looked up at the sky with the
dark birds nearly upon them he knew he was out of time.
    Swirling black masses formed
around the birds. The trees shook and whipped with fierce winds. The bird’s beady
eyes narrowed on them, their yellow, beaked mouths open. More cries screeched
through the air.
    Alrik pulled Abbigail to the
bottom of the slope just as the birds ducked low and flew over them. Adrenaline
rushed through his blood making him faster and stronger.
    Turning quickly, he snatched
Abbigail into his arms and pushed her into the rocks to shield her. Sharp