Alpha Guardians Series - The Complete Collection: 650+ Pages Of Sizzling, Fast-Paced Bear and Dragon Shifter Romance

by Vivian Wood

  His lips and tongue explored Kira’s in urgent strokes. She melted against him, snaking an arm around his neck, her breasts crushing against his chest. She wore a thin t-shirt and cotton sleep pants, same as Asher, and the barrier between them enraged him.

  Pulling back to strip off her clothes and then his own, Asher rolled with Kira until his big body covered her smaller one. His hand palmed one lush breast as he nipped at her lower lip, his cock thick and insistent against her belly.

  He trailed kisses along her jaw to her earlobe, nibbling and teasing until Kira’s breathy sighs of desire filled the air, until her hips rolled against him, seeking. He paused for the barest moment, recalling a moment at the lake.

  The only good thing that had happened there.

  “You love me,” Asher gritted out, lowering his mouth until his lips found the claiming mark on her neck. His mark. His mate.

  “Ash—” Kira groaned, her voice rough and hungry.

  “Tell me again, Kira.”

  Ash ran his hand down her body, over her thigh. He pushed her knee wide, then grasped his cock and pressed the throbbing head to her entrance, holding in a fierce growl when he found her slick and ready.

  “Asher!” Kira said, one hand clutching at his shoulder, trying to pull him closer.

  “I love you, Kira,” Asher rumbled, claiming her lips once more.

  “Asher, please!” Kira said when he pulled back again, searching her face intently.

  “Tell me, Kira. Say the words.” He thrust the barest inch, knowing he tormented her, but needing her to give him the words first.

  “I— I love you, Ash,” she said, crying out on the last syllable when Asher thrust deep, filling her with a single hard stroke.

  She loved him.

  Asher rose and gripped her hips, responding to Kira’s words by giving her the rough, fast, hard connection they both desperately needed. He held himself in check, watching Kira blossom under his attentions, her gorgeous breasts bouncing, her face flushing with passion. She met his every thrust, taking it all and giving him everything she had, open and needing and fucking beautiful.

  No one could ever be as beautiful as Kira was in this moment.

  Her body grew taut as her pleasure rocketed sky-high. Asher could feel the tension building in her muscles, feel her hot, tight sheath gripping his cock harder and harder until he thought he might die from the perfection of it.

  He slid his hand between their bodies, using the pad of his thumb to brush her clit as he fucked her, working small circles against her sensitive flesh. In moments Kira was clenching and crying out his name, her nails scoring his back and hip where she clutched his body.

  As she spiraled, Asher let himself go. His mind went dark, the particular explosion of overwhelming ecstasy he only ever felt with his mate. He released into his mate, his last few thrusts hot and heavy with seed, burning him from the inside out until he thought he would die from it.

  Only then did Asher collapse, careful to roll to the side, taking Kira with him. Now that she was in his arms, he would never be so foolish as to let her go again.

  Nothing in the world would ever stand between Asher and his mate. Never.

  Burying his face against Kira’s neck, Asher took a deep breath of her sweet scent, reveling in her presence. They lay like that for the longest time, and Asher couldn’t remember ever feeling so content.

  Secure, for the first time in his whole damned life.

  After what felt like a lifetime, Kira was the one to break the silence.

  “You died.”

  Just like that, a point-blank statement. No inflection, just… truth.

  Asher pressed a kiss against her neck, then raised his head to see her properly.

  “Where did you… go?” Kira asked, her eyes wide. She looked so fragile, though Asher had seen her slay the biggest of foes. Soft and hard, gentle and brutal. That was his mate, full of contradictions.

  God, she was perfect.

  “I think… I didn’t know where I was,” he said, trying to explain. “I didn’t know who I was. I was just… cold.”

  “I thought you were gone,” Kira said, her voice wavering on the last note.

  Asher took a deep breath before he replied.

  “I was. I think I was. But… I heard your voice, and I couldn’t leave. I wanted to go on to… the next world, whatever that is. But I couldn’t leave you,” he said. His hands were trembling against Kira’s waist, but he just held her a little tighter.

  Kira brushed her lips over his. The trembling eased.

  “We don’t have to talk about it anymore,” she promised, her voice still gravelly. “You came back to me. That’s all I care about.”

  “Damn it, Kira. You’re getting me all emotional,” Asher griped, feeling his heart squeeze.

  “It’s not my fault. You men are like turtles,” Kira cracked. “The harder the shell, the softer the underbelly.”

  “Mmm,” Asher said, not dignifying that with an actual answer. Kira went quiet for a long time, and Asher could practically hear the gears turning in her head. “What is it?”

  “Well… I was just wondering…” Kira took a deep breath. “How long does Mere Marie have you for, exactly? In her service, I mean.”

  Asher blinked, surprised.

  “Uh… not sure. I mean, technically… I think once her spell broke, our deal is at an end. Why?”

  “I was just thinking about before, when we talked about starting over somewhere new,” she said.

  “Somewhere near the sea, but not too hot,” Asher said, giving a slow nod.

  “Yeah,” Kira said, nibbling her lower lip.

  “I may not be indebted to Mere Marie anymore, but we can’t leave yet. Your father is gone, but the man who summoned him is still alive and kicking somewhere. Unfortunately,” Asher grumbled.

  “Pere Mal, you mean.”

  Asher nodded.

  “I can’t leave the Guardians yet. Soon, yes. But for now… I think they need me.” Asher paused. “Actually, you’re about a thousand times more powerful than I am. The Guardians need you more than me, I suspect.”

  Kira chuckled, shaking her head.

  “I can barely use my powers.”

  “I have to disagree. I think I saw you banish an angel of death,” Asher pointed out.

  “Okay, I can barely control them, then. I’m a walking liability.”

  “You? Never,” Asher said, burying his head against her neck again. They were quiet for a bit, a comfortable kind of silence, when Asher realized he hadn’t really answered her underlying question. “Kira?”

  “Yeah?” Her voice was drowsy, her body soft as butter against his.

  “Soon, baby. I promise that when this is over, we’ll go anywhere you want. Never have to see Louisiana again if you don’t want.”

  Kira gave a contented sigh.

  “I don’t know, New Orleans is alright,” she said. “Too many bad guys, but damn is it pretty. Union City can go stuff itself, though.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Asher chuckled and held her tight, listening as she drifted off to sleep. For the first time since he could remember, all was right in his world. There was nothing lurking around the corner, nothing keeping him from his mate, nothing to keep him from a deep and dreamless sleep.

  A smile on his lips, Asher fell asleep, his last thought the fact that Kira had finally set him free, forever.

  Bear Risen

  Prologue

  “Mother, I cannot kill an innocent,” Allisandre said, tossing her curtain of silky black hair over her shoulder. She paced to the edge of their cave like chamber in Erebus, deep in the belly of the earth. The home of the Greek Furies, infernal goddesses who existed only to avenge and punish and rain death on wrongdoers.

  Allise’s mother Tisiphone stood, waves of crisp silver-white hair bursting forth from the hood of her tattered black cloak. Tisiphone clutched a cane in her gnarled hand, leaning heavily on it as she moved toward her daug
hter. Allise saw the determination on her mother’s heavily wrinkled and age-spotted face; at the moment, her mother looked every bit the crone, fitting in perfectly with her sisters Alekto and Megaera. Three ancient witches with the power to control life, death, and fate.

  “We are The Erinyes, daughter. We bow to no man,” Tisiphone informed Allise for perhaps the thousandth time. The Greek Furies were Allise’s birthright, though she was also half mortal. Since Allise could remember, her mother had told her over and over again the steps to take in order to come fully into her power.

  “I’ve forsaken the mortal world, mother,” Allise said, beginning the list of requirements before her mother could. “I’ve forsaken men—”

  “Forsaking men will not bring you into your power and make you one of the Erinyes, Allisandre,” her mother corrected. This, too, was part of their age-old song and dance, and it made Allise sigh. “You must give up your mate, the one man with the power to bring you to your knees and summon your death. Then, and only then will you become godlike. Only then are you truly immortal, only then will you begin to age like a Fury.”

  Allise pressed her lips together to keep the retort on the tip of her tongue from slipping free. I don’t want to become a hag, she thought. I like myself the way I am.

  But the way she was would never be enough. She was too young, too weak, too mortal. Her aunts Alekto and Megaera were always very loving, but Allise knew that they thought the same. Until she killed her fated mate and gained her full powers as a Fury, became an avenging angel brought to life, she would never be accepted. Only then would she belong here in Erebus, alongside her mother and aunts.

  “You won’t even miss him if you never know him,” Tisiphone said, pulling Allise from her thoughts.

  “Sorry?” Allise asked, settling onto an overstuffed chaise and watching her mother closely.

  “Your mate. Your sire certainly wasn’t my fated mate. He was a handsome mortal man. A vintner, I think. Carrying wine to the market, I think. I disguised myself as a beautiful mortal woman, took what I wanted from him, and now I have you.”

  The arch of Tisiphone’s brow intimated that perhaps she hadn’t gotten exactly what she’d expected in Allise.

  “I know, but…” Allise tried to find the words to explain.

  “Allisandre, you understand how the Erinyes work. Our worshippers pray to us, ask us to avenge their injustices small and large. We choose the most worthy causes and assign them amongst ourselves. To date, you have only struck down eight transgressors. Two others you have excused, leaving me to clean up your messes. I understand that you are half mortal, but you cannot let your compassion turn into a fatal flaw.”

  “What if the compassion is more just than the revenge?” Allise snapped, scowling at her mother.

  “How can that be, daughter? Revenge is all that we are.”

  Allise opened her mouth to disagree, then hesitated, trying to find the right words. Perhaps it would be better to explain the story than to blatantly argue with her mother.

  “My assignment, the man who is meant to be my fated mate…”

  “Yes, yes,” her mother said, waving a hand. “It is how all Erinyes find their men, how they make the choice to come into their powers fully.”

  “Well, the worshipper who prayed for vengeance against him is a former lover. When she prayed to us, I heard her voice clear as a bell, her story striking straight into my heart. She said that he broke her heart, that he’s an unfeeling bastard, all the usual things. But…”

  Tisiphone huffed a laugh.

  “You got nosy,” her mother surmised. “You wanted to know about this man, this human.”

  Allise could feel her cheeks grow hot.

  “I wanted to know if he was as terrible as she made him sound. After all, how could the fates pair me with such a monster?”

  “And what did you find, daughter?” Tisiphone canted her head, a wicked note of amusement in her voice.

  “The girl lied. She tried to trick him, lay with him and told him she carried his child when she did not. He rejected her, and she called to us with a false story. How can that be just, mother?”

  Tisiphone pursed her lips and stalked across the room, her reliance on her cane seemingly forgotten. The old woman act was just that, an act; Tisiphone was far stronger than she liked to let on.

  “The justice in our world flows only one direction, Allisandre. Our worshippers cry out to us, and we avenge them. There is no more to it than that, no balancing of scales or judgements of who is right and who is wrong. How many times must I explain this?” Her mother paused. “You saw the man, your mate. You found him comely, did you not?”

  Allise flushed even more deeply. She’d followed him, it was true. She’d hidden in the trees and watched him bathe in a spring, admired the naked glory of the strange Viking man. He was tall and muscular and had an intelligent look about him, and something about him called to her.

  “Yes,” she admitted.

  “Do not feel shame for such, Allisandre. He is meant to tempt you. That is part of the ritual, the sacrifice of something you truly want. You are an innocent, beguiled by a handsome mortal. It is the beginning of your creation, your rise to goddesshood.”

  Allise opened her mouth, but her mother stopped her words with a gesture.

  “There is no choice here, Allisandre. Kill him and rise to your full potential, or leave Erebus behind forever. If you do not become a full Erinye, as long as the man is alive, you will always be weak and flawed.” She paused. “Come with me.”

  Before Allise could blink, her mother snapped her fingers and transported them from their home at the gates of the underworld into the human realm, to a place Allise was embarrassed to know all too well.

  His home. It was a simple one-room thatched cottage, bright green moss on the roof and a roaring fire in the hearth. He stood before the fire, her Viking, staring into the flames as if they might reveal the world’s secrets to him. Zeus’s breath, but he was handsome; his rugged frame and chiseled features took her breath away, though they’d not spoken a single word.

  Just gazing upon him like this, her heart began to pound. Allise panicked, unprepared to meet him for the first time, in such circumstances. But he didn’t seem to notice them, sipping from a mug of mead and ruminating as he studied the fire.

  “I have made it very simple, daughter. He cannot see us, cannot hear us. Take this,” her mother said, holding out a cruel-looking iron knife. “Finish the task, right now. He’ll never be the wiser. He’s mortal, a handful of years will make no difference to him.”

  “No!” Allise said, her stomach churning. She glanced back to him, heart in her throat. “I cannot.”

  “You must. If not to become a goddess, then to save your own life. You know the rule. If you do not kill him, he will bring about your death. It is unavoidable. Now kill him,” her mother hissed, thrusting the knife at Allise. “Use the knife, use a curse, whatever you will. Sing to him if you must.”

  She referred to Allise’s special talent, a voice within her that, unleashed upon the mortal world, brought enchantment or death or anything else she wished. She’d razed a city to the ground as a child, the first time she sang her deadly song. Allise gritted her teeth, trying to do what she ought. She raised her left hand, pulling a dark blue orb of power into existence, drawing the will to snuff out his life.

  At the last moment, just as she hurled it toward him, she relented. The orb flew, turning into a blinding flash of golden light, illuminating everything in the darkened cottage. As the orb hit him, it consumed him like flames touching dry straw. He screamed, his skin catching, but he did not burn…

  He changed.

  “Fool!” Tisiphone hissed, grabbing Allise’s arm and drawing her away. They fled to the doorway, unable to do anything but watch.

  The man fell to his knees, writhing, as his body stretched and shifted and doubled, tripled, quadrupled in size. As he cried out, brilliant gold scales burst to cover his skin, his face sh
ifting into something cold and reptilian, his arms lengthening until they became great wings. Allise and Tisiphone staggered back as he became larger and larger, bursting the seams of the cottage.

  Allise blinked as his form settled once more, leaving in his place a massive dragon the color of hot, molten gold.

  Her curse had landed, but her uncertainty had changed it. Changed him. Given him an entirely new form…

  The dragon released a startled roar, fire pouring from his mouth, his distress clear. As townspeople began to pour into the streets of the little village, Allise’s mother raised her hand and fired off a spell, lifting the roof away and vanishing the dragon with a flare of blue light. When it abated, the man lay on the ground, curled on his side, naked and shivering.

  “Look upon him, daughter. This is what you have given your life away for. This is the last time I will ask. Kill him now, before he gathers his strength.” At Allise’s desperate expression, her mother grabbed her arm and gave her a hard shake. “Save yourself! This form you’ve cursed him with, it is truly a curse. His kind are hunted to the ends of the earth, they cannot live among mortals. And you cannot risk removing the curse, lest you lose yourself. Every memory, everything you love, will be gone from your mind.”

  Allise shook her head, her mind whirling. She pulled from her mother’s grip and backed away, not knowing where to turn, what to do.

  “He’ll never want you now, Allisandre. Finish the task and return to Erebus. Take your rightful place,” her mother said, baring her teeth.

  “I cannot.” Allise’s words fell like stones, burning the delicate bridge between them. “You must go without me. I will find another way.”

  “You are no daughter of mine,” her mother swore, vanishing with a swirl of her cloak. She took with her the spell of invisibility, a talent Allise had not yet acquired. Curious townspeople stared at Allise, at the finery of her silver gown and the subtle silver glow of her moon-goddess skin. They looked at the ruined cottage, and back to Allise.