Rise

RISEAN M/M MPREG SHIFTER ROMANCETHE PHOENIX OMEGA TRILOGYBOOK 2 LORELEI M. HARTCOLBIE DUNBAR SURRENDERED PRESS CONTENTS 1. Cyrus2. Bas3. Cyrus4. Bas5. Cyrus6. Bas7. Cyrus8. Bas9. Cyrus10. Bas11. Cyrus12. Bas13. Cyrus14. Bas15. Cyrus16. Bas17. Cyrus18. Bas19. Cyrus20. BasAlso by Lorelei M. HartKeep In Touch Surrendered Press Rise 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. 1CYRUS “Something’s different,” Azar grumbled as the car crunched down the gravel driveway toward our home, a converted church. I glanced at the old cemetery, but nothing was different from when we left. If Azar wandered over, the ghosts would fill him in on any uninvited visitors before forcing him to listen to their tales of woe. The church and attached bell tower peeking over the slanted roof were still there. And while I couldn’t see the orchards or the chicken coop, the ramshackle outbuildings to the right were still standing. Maybe the chickens had escaped. The one major difference in the past year was that our adopted son, Egan—or Eggy, as we called him—had mated a warlock and was living five minutes away. I missed him, but we saw each other most days. “Scratch that. I mean something’s wrong,” Azar muttered to himself as we pulled in. “It feels…the magic is off.” We’d just left Eggy and his hatchlings, the most adorable four babies I ever did see. They were cuteness personified, and everything about them filled my heart with joy. I was still riding that wave and hadn’t picked up on anything. But I trusted Azar’s instincts. If he said something was wrong, it was—and we had to figure out what to do next. “Is something wrong with your protection around the town, or do you feel new magic?” I slowed the vehicle to a near stop. It wouldn’t be shocking if someone came to fetch Lucius, the warlock who decided it was a good idea to mess with my family—and learned the hard way it was not. He was still magically sound asleep in our home. In theory, we were able to keep his clan from knowing he was here. Tamon, Eggy’s mate and a powerful warlock, had put the guy into an almost death-like coma. Afterward, Tamon and Azar had combined forces to put a protection around the town. As clever as we’d been, it just took one member of Tamon’s clan to piece things together or break the spell, and we’d have his family at our doorstep. The magic of an entire clan would be stronger than that of Tamon and Azar, who had limited powers. And that was a family of bad dudes. But that was a whole lot of ifs, and it was best to stay calm until we discovered what was different. A not-so-small part of me wanted Lucius to wake up from the all-sleeping, not-knowing curse already. Something told me that maybe he was the one for Azar or me, as messed up as that was. Azar and Eggy suspected I thought he was mine. Or maybe not so much thought he was as much as hoped he’d be. My time in this life was nearly over; regeneration was looming, unless I found my warlock mate to tether me. Lucius was not a good guy, and yet, I longed for him to be one of our mates. Maybe it was out of selfishness that our time in this life cycle was coming to an end, or maybe it was seeing the joy that was Eggy and his mate. Whatever it was, I told Lucius as he slept that I wanted him to wake up so I could know for sure. It was all kinds of messed up. “No, the protection is fine.” Azar rolled down the window. “Not new magic, but not right, either. I think we need to check on Lucius,” he barked. I was close behind him, but I sensed before I reached the main room, which used to be where a church congregation would sit, that Lucius was gone. Azar was right. Even I could feel the magic had changed, and I had no so-called magical ability. Where did the warlock go? Away, apparently. Azar had his hand on Lucius’s bed, his eyes closed. He was trying to scent him. I joined him and did the same. Nothing. Lucius hadn’t been there for a while. If I were to guess, he left not long after I arrived at Eggy’s for the hatching of his young. My thoughts wandered to Eggy’s babies. While we left them as tiny newborns, they wouldn’t stay that way long. Phoenix babies grew much quicker than humans, especially with an alpha warlock father as strong as Tamon. They wouldn’t have human DNA slowing them down and were going to be strong phoenixes when they grew up. The hatchlings would be toddling around in no time. Humans had sayings about not blinking or their kids would be all grown up. With us that wasn’t far from reality. In retrospect, it was funny how phoenix young hurried up in childhood and slowed down in adulthood. Azar was sure it had to do with our fire. After all, newborns couldn’t handle their flame for long. But that was all still conjecture. The goddess designed us the way she did, and that was all we knew for sure. What shit luck that Lucius had managed to wake up during their hatching. Had he been stronger than we thought? Could he have planned that? I didn’t think so, but then again, I didn’t think he could even roll on his side, much less leave his bed and then our property. All that we knew was that he was gone. “He left on his own,” Azar noted. “This wasn’t a