Phoenix (Bears of Kodiak Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

that day.
    But even if she was his mate, how would he be able to make this up to her? She’d lost years to his stupid mistake, and so had he. And though it sucked like hell not to be able to have sex, the worst part of the whole thing was knowing he’d royally jacked up her life.
    She was a species that could live thousands of years; he wouldn’t come anywhere close to that. Once he passed on, she’d still be bound to him. Not much in life had ever fazed Phoenix, he’d been reckless, wild, and stupid. But that day on the cliff had changed him forever, and for him, that’d been one sin there’d be no coming back from.
    So even if he was able to finally try to make things work with them, there was nothing saying she’d be ready to now, or even ever.
    Dragons were built different than other Breed. Just because you were mated, didn’t mean you were ever safe from their wrath.
    August gently slapped Phoenix’s cheek, jerking him out of his dark thoughts.
    “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this ritual, and I gotta believe that even if things look bleak now, they’ll get better. They have to, Phoenix, otherwise what’s the point?”
    Jackson walked by again lugging a crate full of beer bottles, pointedly ignoring the two of them, and August turned to look at her, his heart in his eyes and his face looking shattered.
    Phoenix wasn’t the only one dealing with shit right now, he knew it. And he also knew that being in this bar and drinking his problem away wasn’t helping matters either.
    “Shit,” he drawled. “I’m a damn mess.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
    Just then Urich came back in, but he didn’t bother sparing Phoenix a passing glance.
    Urich had never been his biggest fan, and was even less so now that the ritual was nearly upon them. Phoenix was almost sure that unless the ritual revealed Madison was his intended mate too, her brother would very gladly and happily eviscerate him.
    Standing, August held out his hand to Phoenix, which he took. His brother helped him to stand, and the world swam all around him.
    “Thanks, man. And I’m...” He ground his jaw.
    August clapped his shoulder and squeezed. “Go sleep it off. You’re good.”
    And just like that August gave him the absolution he’d needed to hear tonight. Giving him a tight nod, he brushed past his brother and headed for the door. He had his hands in his pockets and his head bent, looking at the floor as thoughts of Madison continued to flood his brain.
    What was he gonna do?
    Phoenix was so deep in thought that he never saw the shadow that suddenly blocked his path, and he smacked headlong into a wall.
    Or at least what’d felt like a wall.
    “Ow, shit!” he snapped, rubbing at his nose, feeling as though it’d been shoved up his nasal cavity. With teary eyes, he looked up at a very sexy, very angry Madison.
    She had her arms crossed beneath her breasts, and had them pushed up, looking like two, ripe juicy melons that immediately had his mouth watering and his cock twitching.
    Dressed as she typically was in her black tank top stenciled with the Junk Yard’s name on it, and wearing a blue jean skirt that barely covered the goods and showed off her sexy, athletic legs, Phoenix wanted to claw the eyes out of every male in the place if they even dared so much as to look for longer than a second at her.
    And though her body was rocking, her face was equally as stunning. She always wore her wild halo of dark hair down and tumbling sexily around her shoulders, so that it looked like she’d just been fucked and good. Madison wore hardly any make-up, but then she didn’t need to. The only thing she ever did was paint dark eyeliner along the tops of her eyelids, no doubt to accentuate eyes that looked like freshly melted gold, and apply a little lip-gloss so that her rosebud lips always had a wet sheen to them. Fuck me lips, he liked to call them.
    Her nostrils flared, no doubt catching the whiff of his obvious interest. And