Bear Reign (Alpha Guardians Book 7) Read Online Free Page A

that he was handsome. Something else, too, in his expression. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
    Not that it mattered…
    Sophie realized that her mind was drifting, and wondered when the last time she’d slept was. Not in days, at least. She was burning her magic at both ends, all in pursuit of this…
    Dropping her binoculars, she reached in her left pocket and pulled out the object that had taken her over a month to procure. A beautiful set of three keys on a ring, all made of the most finely wrought gold Sophie had ever laid eyes on. The gold seemed to warm to her touch, almost comforting, glowing softly from within somehow.
    She turned over her left hand, palm up, and saw the light gray lines of enchanted ink that lay there in delicate swirls. The only tattoo she had, the one she’d shared with Lily. An early birthday present on her sister’s eighteenth birthday.
    never lost , it read in feminine script.
    always found , Lily’s had said.
    If only that were remotely true, if only the giddy dreams they’d shared had been more than a foolish fantasy…
    Closing her fingers tight around the keys, she tried not to remember just the way it felt when her tattoo pulsed that night, the night Lily died. The thick, dark lines of ink faded to the softest gray, just as Lily faded from the human realm. A distress signal, from beyond the Veil…
    Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself and resisted the urge to rub her fingers over the tattoo. If Lily could feel her now, somehow, Sophie was dead sure her sister wouldn’t approve.
    But Lily wasn’t here. Lily was dead, and Sophie would have her vengeance if it was the last thing she ever did, if it stole away her very last breath.
    “You’re going to have to be a lot more beguiling than this,” she told herself aloud.
    If she was ever going to cozy up to the djinn and gain access to the places only he could take her, she would need to at least pretend not to be dead inside. She tried for a smile, and though she couldn’t see it, she knew it was gruesome.
    No matter. She had time to practice. She’d do anything she needed to do to carry out the rest of her mission.
    Tomorrow , she thought. Tomorrow, it begins .
    Tucking the keys in her pocket, she turned and sauntered back into the moonless New Orleans night.

Chapter Two
    E phraim paced the floor in the rooms he’d been assigned in the Manor, unable to rest. After a day’s sleep and a long state-of-affairs meeting with the Guardians, he learned about Papa Aguiel and what Mere Marie believed to be the coming war to save the city and possibly all of mankind. Now, though, his thoughts returned to his new master.
    Sophie.
    The moment that his ownership transferred from one person to another, Ephraim always became aware of his new master. He got a few glimpses of the person, usually, just enough to get a sense of them and what they looked like. A cosmic heads up to let him know what to look for, what to expect.
    He’d felt the pull thousands of times. At worse, the knowledge provoked a sort of teeth-grinding anxiety in him, knowing he needed to fulfill a fresh set of hopes and dreams. At best, a dull sort boredom, a sense of having served that sort of person before.
    This time felt different, though he couldn’t say why. Sophie was beautiful, with long blonde hair, a heart-shaped face set with full pink lips, and a curvy-yet-petite figure that Ephraim found appealing.
    That in itself wasn’t remarkable, though. Ephraim had served hundreds of beautiful people, women and men alike, and he knew that one’s looks were no indicator of what lay beneath. He’d learned that lesson early on in his life, and had been reminded time and again.
    No, this was something… else. He felt foreboding, but not in the way that he’d felt with some of his crueler masters. Like the Grecian brothel owner who’d pimped him out to leagues of customers, anyone with enough coin and an eye for tall, dark, and handsome men with Ephraim’s