Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Lillian studies me for a moment before sighing sadly. “Maybe visiting Syntyche’s makeshift temple to mourn would help you rest better at night.”
Damn it. Is it that obvious that I haven’t been sleeping again?
“There’s no shot in hell of that happening,” I mutter, turning toward the exit that will take me to the greenhouse. Back to the sweet oblivion of mourning the only woman I’ve ever loved, before I go out to see if I’ve lost another piece of my broken quintet. “Enjoy the soup.”
cRB
MAVEN
The car took me two and a half hours closer to Halfton before it ran out of fuel. Since all the gas stations I passed were out of service and abandoned, I got out to hike the rest of the way.
That was ten minutes ago, and I’m already freezing my ass off again.
Not to mention, everything fucking hurts.
Especially my injured ankle.
I limp through the snow as quietly as possible, my lungs burning from the sharp cold as I try to make decent time. If I don’t get to Halfton or find somewhere relatively safe before nightfall, I’ll be a demigoddess Popsicle.
That first aid kit was mostly empty, with only enough bandages for my shoulder. It still stings like hell from where the vampire bit me, and I can’t put weight on my bitten ankle for longer than a second before it tries to buckle with each step.
The thin road I’m following is surrounded by wintry, frost-glazed trees whose barren branches reach for the hazy white afternoon sky like millions of skeletal fingers. Wind picks up occasionally, whistling softly before it fades to a heavy, foreboding silence. The increased tension in my nerves ever since I got out of the car tells me that shadow fiends and other dangers lurk out here, even if none have ventured close to me in this beautifully haunting white wilderness.
Ravens flutter nearby, their throaty calls disrupting the silence for a moment. Now and then, my chest warms to an alarming extent before it fades again.
Walking gives me time to think.
I remember almost nothing about Paradise, but apparently, I did something drastic to return. Something Galene thought would kill me. Whatever I did, I’m not a revenant anymore, but I still have no heartbeat.
My hand slips to my pocket where my new weapon is stored, along with my memories of the last six months. Right now, figuring out how I returned isn’t important. My priority is tracking down my quintet. They’re suffering from their vengeful curses while the rest of the world has gone to shit thanks to me.
Now that I’m back, my first order of business is checking on everyone I left behind.
The Nether humans. Kenzie. Lillian.
My guys.
I try not to think about what six months might’ve done to them. By now, maybe they’ve come to their senses and decided to despise me for not fighting them harder and preventing all of this. I chose to be selfish with them, and now they’re far worse off.
But they can hate me as much as they want as long as they’re still alive.
You’d all better be alive, or I’m destroying what’s left of this godsdamned world.
I pause, tipping my head when the faintest sound catches my attention. It sounded like a nearly imperceptible voice, calling someone’s name in a whisper. I move away from the road as quietly as possible, limping into a thicker section of frost-
encrusted trees for cover—until I hear the hissed voice even closer.
“Randy!”
Oh, my gods.
Kenzie?
Shock and relief flood me. I keep still, listening until I can make out the faintest crunching of someone walking through the snow. As soon as I can tell she’s still moving in my direction, I step out of the cluster of trees, ready to greet her.
But Kenzie’s bright blue gaze flashes to me for barely a second before a vicious snarl rips from her. Before I can react, she launches toward me, shifting midair.
Winter clothes rip as golden fur sprouts all over, her bones snapping and reshaping in the blink of an eye. All at once, the air is crushed from my lungs as I’m pinned to the snowy ground by a lithe, majestic lioness, her sharp teeth bared in my face and animalistic, feline glare fixed on me.
Holy shit.
She can shift, which must mean that she’s fully bonded now. Her curse is broken. It’s the happily ever after she’s wanted since the moment I met her.
I immediately have questions, but my innate reflexes kick in when her teeth go straight for my jugular. Magic explodes outward from me—only, this isn’t what I’m used to. It’s not fueled by death.
Instead, it’s the same burning, powerful sensation I felt when I fought Gideon in Alaska.
Holy magic. The kind I have no fucking idea how to fuel or control.
The lioness yelps in pain and jolts away from me, writhing in the snow. I sit up, alarmed when her animal cry transforms into Kenzie’s voice. Her shift back is obviously forced and painful, but finally, she’s left naked and shaking in the snow, glaring murderously at me.
This isn’t how I pictured our reunion.
“I didn’t mean to—” I start.
“Shut the fuck up!” she snaps with impressive vitriol.
I’ve never seen her so pissed off as she gets back to her feet, wiping sweat off her brow and baring her teeth as a shifter warning. My attention slips down to one of her bare arms, which is marked with all four quintet emblems running down her tricep. There’s also a faint bite mark on one side of her neck.
I open my mouth to congratulate her, but she cuts me off. “It’s bad enough that you look like her, but I swear on the fucking gods, if you even dare use her voice”
Kenzie’s own voice breaks before she’s on me again, pinning my arms to the snow, pure hatred on her face as her wild blonde curls curtain around my head. If looks could kill, I’d be dead again.
“Haven’t you monsters taken enough from me already?” Kenzie growls. “Stop fucking mimicking her or I’m going to?—“
Mimicking?
Oh. That explains her fury.
“Changelings have square pupils,” I remind her.
She freezes mid-threat, staring at my eyes. I stare back. I can see the wind leaving her sails as confusion floods her chill-pinkened face.
“Y—you’re not…who the hell are you, then?” she manages. “Because I know you’re not my best friend. She died.”
“Often,” I nod. “Probably will again once this hypothermia sets in.”
Kenzie’s breath catches, and she stops clenching my arms so tightly. To my extreme horror, her eyes fill with moisture.
“M…May?”
Yikes. “If you’re going to cry, do hypothermia a favor and just kill me now.”
Kenzie’s watery eyes get wide. “Oh, my gods.
Ohmygods, ohmygods, ohmygods, it’s actually you!”
I’m abruptly wrapped in a tight hug. Kenzie squeals and cries at once, a feat I’ve never witnessed before, but quickly decide is completely horrifying.
I’m elated to see my bubbly lion shifter alive and well, but when she sobs into my neck, cold panic sweeps throughout my body as I realize her touch is all over me. My nerves pinch as bile rises up my throat, all the old repulsion flooding my system until I can’t breathe.
Unable to muster words, I gently push Kenzie off me and scoot away.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.