King Of Souls (Book 2) Read Online Free

squeaking sound of a door opening came from the harbor master’s office.
    Tara’s head turned following the noise.
    General Demos’s silhouette appeared in the doorway, highlighted by soft lamplight spilling from behind. She took a long last look at the statue and hurried toward the weathered office building.
    An ashen-faced Fitzgerald Montgomery staggered through the door, followed by Tara and General Demos.
    A young close-shaven blond haired man, no older than twenty seasons, sat behind a shabby ink-stained desk. A tarnished brass oil lamp shone a soft yellow light across the cramped office.
    His eyes widened as he tracked Montgomery’s slapdash path into the office. The young man flung back a rickety wooden chair and sprang to his feet. He knocked over a half-filled ink bottle beside the desk lamp and dashed around the desk. He lunged toward the distraught harbor master almost crashing into a dented pewter spittoon. “Fitz. What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
    Tara stepped into the small office followed by General Demos, Sergeant Reed, and Corporal Oliver. “An interesting choice of words.”
    Terror shone in the blond man’s eyes as his gaze locked on General Demos. A low groan rolled from his gaping mouth, and he stumbled backward, crashing his rear end into the desk. Without taking his eyes from General Demos, he pitched to the side while the desk tipped upward teetering on two legs.
    Inkwell, pen, and paper slid along the desk’s surface and smashed against the salt-crusted floor. The desk groaned a final gasp before overturning.
    The young man’s legs wobbled, and he fell backward, crashing into the desk chair splintering it beneath his lower back. He took little notice of the wreckage beneath him and scooted toward the rear wall. His eyes, wild and desperate, scanned the cluttered office.
    “Easy Zack. Don’t do anything stupid,” Montgomery said.
    Montgomery’s assistant, Zack, snapped his neck toward the sound of his master’s voice. “Fitz, what happened to Reed and Oliver?” He looked between Montgomery and General Demos. “And, who is he Fitz?”
    General Demos remained silent and stone-faced with his arms folded.
    Tara lifted the hem of her white silk skirt easing over the spilled ink puddle spreading outward from the piled desk clutter. She stopped before Zack and soaked in the fear radiating from his body.
    Despite the man’s dim gray aura, Tara felt his life force full and vibrant, shining like a beacon in the dead of night. She took Zack’s warm, rough callused hands into her own. Her white gloves disappeared under his palms. Heat, like an inferno, boiled from his skin and sent a shiver racing along her spine. She hadn’t felt a human touch in centuries. Not since Elan.
    The tainted memory, sudden and strong, left Tara’s head reeling. She closed her eyes and forced those ancient thoughts from her head. She could feel a man’s touch without bitterness and pain. Couldn’t she? Tara opened her eyes and smiled. She ran her fingers through Zack’s tousled hair. “Now, what’s there to be afraid of?”
    Zack edged backward, pressing his back against the far wall. On trembling legs, he stood, sliding upward as his eyes flickered between Montgomery and Tara. “Fitz?”
    Montgomery’s head drooped as if unable to meet his assistant’s gaze.
    Tara eased forward until her body hovered inches from Zack’s. The heat and fear melted off his body like a baker’s oven firing at full capacity. Her stomach fluttered, and a ripple of craving flashed through her head, leaving her off-balance. She needed him and found little reason to resist her urge.
    With her heart pounding, Tara craned her neck upward and stared into Zack’s cool blue eyes while lifting her arm to meet his face. Her index finger grazed his cheek's stubble and desire tore through her body in waves leaving her near breathless. As her finger scraped along his jaw line, she touched the dark energy pulsing