Soar

SOAR THE PHOENIX OMEGA TRILOGY BOOK 3 LORELEI M. HART COLBIE DUNBAR SURRENDERED PRESS CONTENTS 1. Azar 2. Lucius 3. Azar 4. Lucius 5. Azar 6. Lucius 7. Azar 8. Lucius 9. Azar 10. Lucius 11. Azar 12. Lucius 13. Azar 14. Lucius 15. Azar 16. Lucius 17. Azar 18. Lucius 19. Azar 20. Lucius Epilogue Keep In Touch Surrendered Press Soar Copyright © 2023 by Lorelei M. Hart & Colbie Dunbar All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. 1 AZAR My late mate, Iwyn, had been in my thoughts lately. He’d been gone for so many years, and there had been a time when not even a second could pass without me thinking of him. Seconds became hours and eventually days. I could breathe again without the stabbing agony of loss. My life wasn’t perfect, but how could it be after losing the person who made this life cycle worth living? That was how it’d been for years, especially after Eggy arrived and Cyrus and I parented him. But now the pain that’d been in the background had returned. It wasn’t as though he’d ever been distant from me emotionally, but I’d healed and found joy. Eggy was a huge part of that. But lately, the wound that had pierced my skin the day my mate died opened and festered. And I didn’t understand. Why, after all the years of being okay, had the agony returned? Now I was avoiding anything that reminded me of him. My life cycle was ending, and in a just world, I’d be joining Iwyn in his afterlife. But this wasn’t happening, and I was going to begin a new cycle, one that wouldn’t include my late mate. The goddess was torturing me—possibly not intentionally, but that would be the end result. And even worse, once I regenerated, I’d forget Iwyn. I climbed out of bed, unable to sleep, and went to the window, looking out at the star-covered sky. It was one of the few nights I slept in my bedroom. It reminded me of Iwyn and the good times we’d had, but pointed out I’d never experience them again. I didn’t have much time left and focusing on what I’d lost and would never regain wasn’t fair to those around me. My life was filled with children and the laughter and mischief that went along with little ones. I should be providing them with happy memories of their Grandpa Azar instead of moping around and feeling sorry for myself. They deserved that much. “Oh, Iwyn, why did you have to leave me?” I touched my lips, remembering how he pressed his against my own. Our first kiss had been an accident. Not that anyone would have believed us if we told them so. Who kisses accidentally? It was the day we met, and he and I both bent down to get the book I dropped. As we both tried to dodge each other and avoid knocking heads, our lips collided. It was as though we’d slammed into each other harder than we had because the attraction was instant. One brush became two became my tongue seeking entrance, needing to taste him, and the rest was history. Maybe it was best for my time to be done. It would give me some reprieve from this sweet torture. Waking up after spending the night with my mate in my dreams had my eyes swimming with tears. Once a month, my late mate visited me briefly. He’d appear in the church, saying nothing, and disappear. I treasured them even though I was gutted when they were over. I shook my head, wanting to somehow dislodge all of the morose thoughts dwelling inside me, and grabbed my hamper. If I wasn’t going to sleep, I might as well get some shit done around the house. There weren’t enough dirty clothes to make a full load, and I took that as a sign to change my bed linens as well. Doing that led to me flipping my mattress and sweeping under the bed, which somehow morphed into rearranging the room. Each thing I did led to another project, and I didn’t mind. It distracted me from myself, and I needed that, especially today. “Are you ready?” Cyrus stood in my doorway, and I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about or when he arrived, as he now lived with his mate Bas and their kids. “For?” He was here, which meant we had plans, but I had no memory of what they were. “We’re going to the big box home store to get the new toilet for that house.” That house was code for where Lucius was staying. That was quite a pickle we’d gotten ourselves into, or rather, Tamon, Eggy’s mate and Lucius’s cousin, had. Both Tamon and Lucius were warlocks, and while the former retained his powers, Lucius had been stripped of his. I hated being Lucius’s watcher and keeper. Only I didn’t. At first, I did, but there was something about the guy that was growing on me. Sure, he had only arrived at our home attempting to harm Eggy’s mate, and he deserved wrath beyond measure. But even so… there was something about him that intrigued me. When he was unconscious after Tamon had cursed him, I thought he was Cyrus’s mate. Cyrus was super protective, which suggested they were fated. It wasn’t until Lucius left without our knowledge that the man I considered a brother confessed that he was obsessed with Lucius with the hope that he was my mate. I wasn’t sure if that was true or whether he’d been covering up his humiliation at Lucius disappearing without a trace. Turned out he was neither of those things, and Lucius became our problem