Bear Reign (Alpha Guardians Book 7) Read Online Free PDF

Ephraim could tell that she was shrewd, certainly intelligent. The dark circles under her eyes and the tension in her shoulders spoke of a bone-deep exhaustion; clearly, lovely Sophie wasn’t just dabbling in dark magic, she was on the run from something.
    “Of taking down Papa Aguiel,” Mere Marie said, mirroring Sophie’s stance by crossing her arms and squaring her jaw. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
    Sophie looked surprised again, but quickly covered it with a simple nod.
    “That’s why I’m here,” she affirmed.
    Mere Marie and Sophie spent a few minutes chatting, if you could call it that. It was closer to thinly veiled accusations and barbs, but Ephraim just stayed out of it. His ultimate allegiance was to whoever held his keys, not to the Guardians. It was useless to take sides in an argument when anything he said might come back to hurt him later.
    Instead of participating, he merely studied her, tried to understand the connection he felt to her. His bear perked up, interested in Sophie, cautiously calling for Ephraim to get closer, closer.
    If only , he lamented. No, this must be some kind of cruel joke. He’d always hoped to find a mate, the way his father found his mother. Instant, consuming, destined. But he’d imagined that it would happen once he’d managed to free himself.
    He hadn’t even fantasized about being free in nearly a century, and his desire to find a mate died long before that. Ephraim squinted into the distance, trying to pinpoint the moment when he’d given up on having a family and a mate of his own, but he couldn’t begin to guess.
    The brothel in Greece, probably. Stretched out on a rack, blindfolded and bound, being ridden hard by a masochistic woman three time his age while she raked her nails up and down his body and screamed at him to make her come… Yeah, somewhere around that point, if he had to guess.
    When the meeting broke up suddenly, Ephraim realized he’d ogled her for almost ten minutes without hearing a word that was said, much less participating. Rhys clapped Ephraim on the shoulder, giving him a knowing sort of look.
    “It’s hard on everyone,” he said quietly.
    “What is?” Ephraim asked, gently shrugging off the other Guardian’s touch.
    “Meeting your fated mate. None of us has had an easy go of it,” Rhys confided in him.
    Ephraim went rigid. How could the other man possibly know about the pull Ephraim felt?
    “Your pheromones are going wild,” Rhys said, arching a brow. “Both of you.”
    “Ephraim?” Sophie called.
    Ephraim didn’t reply to Rhys, turning away in favor of attending to Sophie. Lesser of two evils, in this case.
    “Can we go somewhere… quieter?” she asked, her brow furrowing. Her cheeks heated, though Ephraim couldn’t imagine why. He glanced around and shrugged.
    “Outside?” he suggested.
    The quick flash of disappointment in her eyes could have been his imagination, but he didn’t think so.
    “Fine,” she said, leading the way out a set of French doors and into the back yard.
    When they stood in the moonlight, alone and out of sight of the others, she crossed her arms and gave him a measured glance.
    “So what is this?” She asked, pursing her lips.
    “What is what?” Ephraim asked, struggling to keep from adding the word mistress to the end. Ephraim might be a dominant, world-weary asshole, but some part of him desperately wanted to please this woman. The weakness of it made him sick to his stomach, but he just forced it down.
    “ This , this,” she said, gesturing to each of them in turn. “The… draw. Don’t you feel it?”
    Ephraim nodded, but didn’t dare add anything more.
    “Well?” Sophie asked, her voice hard. After a moment, she softened a little. “You don’t feel it, do you?”
    Ephraim huffed a sigh and shoved his fingers through his thick, dark hair.
    “Of course I do,” he snapped.
    Her brows raised in a delicate arch.
    “If you know what it means, I want you to tell