Protector of the Flame (50 page)

“What would you have me do? Let some other pack have her?”

“No, just don’t be so…intimidating.” He pointed to his exposed teeth with his claws. “Try not thinking she’s prey.”

“Go get the fucking flowers, Peder. I promise not to eat her.” He leapt from the stone steps and skirted brush too dense for him to enter. The sly female wedged easily into the smaller spaces where he couldn’t pursue with his bulk, but the brush didn’t lead anywhere. It only surrounded the Temple foundation. She was trapped.

Crouching low to the ground, he moved along the thick wall of plants. His little prey made enough noise that even the youngest of pups could track her. With ears fanned open, he followed her progress. The birds started their songs again as he got to the far end of the area.

By the Dark Moon, she moved slowly. He could have taken a nap while waiting. He watched Peder head toward their home with a small sack of flowers. The rustling in the bushes drew closer, and Sorin gathered his energy to pounce.

From out of the brush snapped a young sapling, which whipped the sensitive tip of his nose. With a yelp, Sorin fell back, clamping his hands over his muzzle. Through pain-filled eyes, he watched the female tear across the open ground.

Sorin blinked to clear his vision and bounded after his suddenly fast quarry. Her white coat fluttered behind her like a treaty flag, but this female didn’t show any signs of surrender.

She ran full-tilt up the hill toward its summit.

Trailing closer, he could smell the trace of border markings on the wind. If he didn’t hurry, she’d run off the neutral ground of Temple lands and onto some other pack’s territory. He couldn’t follow if she did. “Stop! There’s danger that way.”

She twisted and glanced at him, not watching her step. Something caught her foot at the top of the hill and she fell.

Sorin leaped, reaching with clawed fingers. They pierced the hem of her white jacket. The delicate material tore along the sharp edges of his claws, and the shreds slipped through his fingers. Relief mixed with triumph, pumping through his veins, gave way to dread. He scrambled to grab the tatters and not lose the female, but the momentum of her flight downhill sent her tumbling head-over-heels out of his grasp.

Protector of the Flame

Isis Rushdan

In their bleakest hour, the price of redemption could be the death of their love.

Kindred Chronicles, Book 2

Before Serenity and Cyrus can embark on a romantic honeymoon, one of their gifts from an immortal comes to life and unleashes a devastating series of events that forces them to make an unthinkable sacrifice. To undo the evil of dark magic, Serenity must travel to the immortals’ hold in Iceland. Alone.

Her journey leads to an island shrouded in mystery, where secrets from her past come to light…and she forms an inexplicable connection with a handsome, tempting healer who may pose the greatest risk of all.
 

Cyrus comes close to unraveling without his mate, but refuses to let honor or duty keep them apart, even if it means the bloodshed of his own kinsmen.
 

As the Great Council prepares to convene to determine their fate, friends become enemies, enemies become allies, and soul mates are pushed right to the edge—where love and faith is their only hope of survival.

Warning:
 
Contains soul mates put through the grinder, dark magic drama that will leave you reeling, angry sex that crumbles concrete, an alpha hero pushed over the edge, and a roller coaster full of twists.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Protector of the Flame

Copyright © 2013 by Isis Rushdan

ISBN: 978-1-61921-820-8

Edited by Christa Soule

Cover by Kanaxa

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: October 2013

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