Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
He’s right. Better to get this over with.
I look him in the eye. “If you hadn’t sent me on errant missions to fill my time, I would have made it to the Beyond far sooner to look for her there. So, th…” I trail off and sigh, trying again. “You have my th…”
Frost rolls his eyes. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
“Let’s just call it even,” I finally decide.
“Even?”
“You once broke Maven’s heart in a woefully misguided attempt to protect her. However, you’re also the reason I get a bit more time with her. So we’ll call things even, and I’ll retire the idea of slowly driving you mad in your dreams for the next few decades.”
He stares at me. “You were planning on driving me insane?”
“Of course. You hurt her,” I shrug.
Next thing I know, I’ve been kicked out of Frost’s subconscious as he finally rouses himself back into the mortal realm, looking around frantically. When he sees Maven now cuddled up against Decimus, he exhales with relief.
“Fucking incubus,” he mutters, glaring at the exact spot where I’m sitting on the bed in Limbo.
How annoying that the others can tell precisely where I am now.
Crane slips into the room, his attention also going to where I sit in Limbo. “I have something for your curse that may help temporarily.”
Curious, I appear back in the mortal realm. Immediately, pain rips through my body. I choke, swallowing blood back down as my markings light up, searing my skin. When it finally stops, I can feel the familiar, strange coldness on my right arm as I’ve felt other places. One quick glance confirms that another one of my markings has vanished entirely.
Ignoring the lingering pain, I look at Crane. “Only reverium soothes it.”
Crane nods, stepping forward to hold out a syringe full of strange gray liquid. “I know. I took what you had left in your jacket. Just trust me and inject this intravenously.”
“A Crane, helping me freely?” I scoff. “When has that ever happened before?”
His expression turns almost sad before he shakes his head. “Never, but I can’t excuse my family. Just take the damn injection, Crypt. It will help.”
“Yes or no. Is this about appeasing your misplaced guilt after whatever you saw in my past?”
The fae who cannot fib easily deflects. “This will give Maven peace of mind. If you won’t take it as my apology for blaming you for my family’s demise all my life, then take it for the woman we’re eternally bound to, you prick.”
I glance at Maven, who looks as fucking amazing as ever as she rests peacefully.
She hates seeing me in pain.
With a sigh, I take the syringe from Crane and jam the damn thing into my arm.
BAELFIRE
What’s more embarrassing than turning into a stupid, mindless beast for six months and roasting countless people for no good fucking reason?
The fact that my family witnessed all of it.
Everett gave me the rundown on how my dragon spent the last six months. Eating, burning shit, sleeping in caves, burning shit, killing people and—big surprise, setting fire to more shit. I was out of hand. Feral. I must have driven my entire family up the wall, since they took it upon themselves to try and protect me from hunters and anyone else trying to exterminate the threat I became.
Having my curse broken is fantastic. It means I’m in perfect harmony with my inner dragon again, but a part of me still wants to wring his scaly neck for everything he did over the last six months.
I can already picture how my mom will look at me when they arrive. She’ll be happy to see me back in my own head, but there’s no fucking way my stalwart commander mother won’t also get overwhelmed by her shifter emotions and cry a bit. My dads or brothers might crack a joke about something to try to make me feel like things are back to normal, but with how bad I was for the last six months…
There’s not really a normal for me to go back to.
As relieved as I am that they’ve all been okay during the Upheaval, I can’t lie. I’m dreading seeing them again—especially because I’m not the same nice, happy Baelfire they’re used to.
I can be nice, sure. I can still be charming, if necessary.
But mostly, I’m over being a people person. Pretty sure none of my many “friends” from the good old days did anything but gawk at me with the rest of the world when I went feral and wound up in headlines all over the world. My family would never say it to me, but I did a number on our family name—and still, only they and my quintet members tried to help me when I was barely surviving in my own head.
So fuck being nice to everyone just for the sake of it. I’m much more interested in burning anyone who gets close to Maven without her permission.
I guess being trapped inside a monster for six fucking months changes a guy.
This morning is the war meeting Maven called for before the temple celebration shit tonight—but my family will get here before the meeting, which feels really fucking soon.
I’m pacing inside my old room in the quintet apartment when Maven knocks gently on the door, like she’s not sure if she’s allowed in. Which is fucking insane. It’s like she hasn’t fully realized that I’d gladly spend the rest of my life with her wrapped around me like a koala with absolutely no space between us ever again, if I could.
I pull her into the room, wrap her in my arms, and kiss her forehead. “Hey there, Mayflower. I like this,” I add, flicking her ponytail. “And I love this,” I add with a grin, squeezing her perfect ass.
“You mean all those times I’ve caught you staring at my ass like you wanted to take a bite out of it wasn’t because you were completely indifferent? I’m shocked.” She stands on her tiptoes to kiss my chin. Then she examines my eyes with a knowing look. “You’re nervous about seeing your family.”
“I’m just in my head about it. I know they still love me and shit, but…” I grimace. “I can only remember blips over the last six months, and in most of those memories, I was roasting people. Not a great look for the Decimus family.”
“They care more about you than the family image.”
I know that. Still…
“This is going to be rough,” I sigh, burying my nose in the side of her neck to inhale her scent. How it’s so fucking soothing and yet so arousing at once is beyond me.
But if I thought that was arousing, it’s nothing compared to the moment Maven tugs playfully on my leash.
Holy shit.
Does she have any idea how hot that is? Is she trying to drive me insane?
When I pull away, the breath whooshes out of my lungs when I see the mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
Oh, fuck. She is absolutely aware of what she’s doing to me.
But when her fingers trace the edge of my collar and she fidgets with the latch, my heart sinks so fast I can barely keep up. I swallow hard and try to play it cool—which is not my strong suit. I’m pretty sure no shifter in the world can play things cool, let alone godsdamned dragon shifters. We’re too fucking hot-blooded and emotional.
“Did you just come in here to take this off of me?” I check, trying not to sound brutally disappointed.
“Yes,” she murmurs, trailing her fingers lightly down my bare chest before she smirks wickedly up at me. “But not until I’m done with you. You once offered to be my free use fuck toy. If that still stands?—“
“It does,” I blurt, heat crawling over my skin as my breathing picks up. “Always. Literally anytime. You can use me any way you want or just?—“
Maven pulls on my leash again, much rougher this time, so I’m forced to lean down to her eye level. My heart pounds painfully as the delicious rush of her taking charge sets in.
“You interrupted me,” she warns, still playful.
“Sorry,” I breathe, but I’m really not sorry because fuck, I love her pulling my leash.
“Show me how sorry. Get on your knees, pet.”
Pet.
Oh, hell fucking yes. I love it when she calls me that.
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.