Chapter 2

Lucius

My eyes drifted from the dancing numbers on my screen to the window. Darkness had fallen a while ago, but I was still working; these days, that seemed to be the only thing I ever did: work. “Hey, are you listening to me, Luce?” demanded my assistant over the phone. I wasn’t in the mood for this tonight. Something was bothering me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Yes, Aries, I’m listening,” I deadpanned, though we both knew I hadn’t been. “Can we pick this up tomorrow? Something’s come up.” Aries was quiet for a few long, drawn-out seconds, and I could almost hear his disbelief. Nothing ever came up. All I did was work, work out, and sleep. He knew it, I knew it—so this was obviously a lie.

“Alright,” he said in a neutral tone. “Sure, tomorrow works for me. Are you okay, Boss?” I didn’t know, but I wouldn’t tell him anyway. That wasn’t how our relationship worked. He stayed out of my private life, I didn’t ask about his, and work got done. Then my eye caught movement on one of the many security monitors that lined the wall on my right. I froze, my laser-sharp eyes zeroing in on that movement like a predator.

A girl. It was a girl. How was that possible? I owned a large stretch of land, much of which was surrounded by a security fence, with a second inner perimeter of defenses before anyone could even reach my house. It was an hour from the nearest town, and only vetted delivery drivers brought in my supplies... And yet, there she was, running along my outer fence line like she was being chased.

She was being chased, that thought resonated through my brain. I didn’t even hear Aries’ questions, his demand to know if I was still there. Rising from my seat, I hung up on my assistant and planted my fists on my desk. My eyes flicked from screen to screen to locate who was hunting the small human, and I winced. A bear shifter and a coyote? I shouldn’t get involved… It was dangerous, and given my situation, possibly deadly.

Then she tripped, and I jerked away from the desk to pace across the room to the monitors. Come on, get up! I was more invested than I should be, especially since that tiny human was up against impossible odds. She wasn’t going to survive an encounter with two angry shifters. Whatever she’d done to piss them off, it was going to prove fatal.

She raised her chin, her entire posture defiant. It tugged at my chest to see a creature with such devastating odds display such bravery. Bravery was hard to find around these parts. I was certain it had abandoned me long ago. I didn’t realize I was going to do it until I was yanking open the French doors to my balcony.

I was up on the ledge, my wings spread, before I’d even formed a full thought. This was crazy. I had fought hard and long to ensure my safety and my life after the curse. I couldn’t risk it all for a silly human girl. Then her face flashed before my eyes, that brave tilt of her chin, the defiant look in her eyes.

My wings beat hard as I flung myself into the sky and then my full transformation shivered through me. With fire trailing beneath my wings, I jetted from my home to the border of my land in a flash. A phoenix in full flight was unstoppable, the fastest being in the skies. Even so, I was only just in time.

The girl had collapsed on the ground, but she was still fighting, waving a branch in front of her to ward off the prowling coyote. I arrowed myself into a free fall, my claws extending at the last moment as I raked the beast’s rump. It howled and squealed, terrified, then darted off into the woods without a fight.

“Aaah,” the girl’s scream echoed through the woods as I pulled up and located the other target: the bear. It had charged from beneath the trees and was now looming over her, beneath his massive paws, she was out cold. My light, bird-shaped body was no match for a six-hundred-pound bear, but as I made a pass over him, my fire scorched and seared.

He backed up, and I landed, shifting so I could stand protectively in front of the girl. He reared up on his hind legs, spreading his front paws, and roared. The sound thundered over me, ruffling my feathers. “Leave,” I said when silence fell, and I slashed a hand through the air. “This is my land. You are trespassing.” I prayed that he knew what I was, but not who I was. A phoenix was the truest kind of immortal in existence, and if I weren’t cursed, I’d be invincible.

The bear shifter bared his fangs, but he lowered himself to the ground and, with a huff, turned and started off into the woods. His rump was seared with black scorch marks, but those were already rapidly healing. Then he was gone, and I was left standing in the woods, outside my fence for the first time in years, with a girl.

I turned to look at her with a shuddering sigh, wondering what I was supposed to do with her now. I couldn’t leave her outside, that would defeat the purpose of rescuing her from the shifters. But she was human…

Delightfully human—the first female I’d been up close to in possibly even longer than I’d left my home. I took in the pale oval of her face, the dark bruises beneath her eyes, the glasses that sat crookedly on her dainty nose, and the red scratches along her left cheek. Her hair was a sleek sable, fanned out over the mossy ground, and her curves… My cock stirred in my pants so suddenly that it caught me by surprise. Almost, it made me turn around and fly away, but I couldn’t.

Bending down, I carefully gathered her in my arms. I tried to ignore how soft she was, how right she felt as I lifted her slight weight against my chest. My heart ached when her scent swirled into my nose and filled my mind. No, I was saving her, but she was leaving in the morning. This meant nothing; I was being a good Samaritan, that was all. She wouldn’t even know I was there.

I didn’t believe my vows as I winged into the sky with my precious burden, but I had to attempt to stick to them, it was the only way.