King of Prey: (A Bird Shifter Novel) Read Free Page B

look. “And if I am?”  
    “I shall mock you without mercy for centuries for being a coward.”  
    “A what?”  
    “One without honor or bravery,” returned Sachin. He looked very smug.
    “I am dangerously close to killing you.” Kabril touched his side, where he normally kept a sword.
    “I know,” said Sachin, setting down the box. “Why do you think I disarmed you upon our arrival?”
    He opened it and withdrew something Kabril had learned was called a photograph. It was of an older human woman with a young one. The young one had long dark hair and huge wide eyes, a sharp contrast against her alabaster skin. She was stunning. Unlike any woman he’d ever seen before. Though, she was far too young for his tastes.  
    He looked upon the older woman more, soaking in the sight of what humans called aging. His kind did not age in a manner similar. It took them centuries before others stopped seeing them as too young, a mere fledgling. Human lives were but a blink of an eye.
    “Sachin,” he said, a serious tone to his voice. “When I meet this human who is to be my queen, I will not love her.”  
    “Because you are incapable of such a thing or because you fear she will age and die?” asked his old friend.  
    Anyone else and Kabril would have leveled them for daring to question him on such a thing. But Sachin was different. And he was correct. Kabril touched the photograph, his hand running over the older woman. “They are fragile, are they not?”  
    “Yes, but the Oracle would not speak of a human as your mate if the woman was not as our woman are.”  
    “Humans are not immortal.”  
    “No,” responded Sachin. “But stories of old tell of joinings between our kind and humans. Of how, once the claim was staked and the act followed through, that the human’s life essence was then tied to the shifter’s.”  
    “Those are old tales told around campfires,” Kabril said, worry lacing his heart. He did not want to love a woman only to lose her.
    “There must be some truth in them, for long ago our ancestors did mate with humans.” Sachin took the photograph from Kabril. “The young woman here is pleasing to the eye.”  
    “Do not look upon her,” snapped Kabril, taking it from Sachin and tucking it away beneath his arm. “Have you not something else to do? Perhaps more cleaning, as you have reduced us to the same rank as kitchen maids and serving staff.”  
    “Oh, how the high born whine when they are forced to do something more than sit upon a throne.”  
    Kabril pushed Sachin and hid his laughter as he walked away, keeping the photograph close to him as he headed up the stairs to the room he had claimed for himself. The young woman in it appealed to him greatly, though she should not. She was too young for him. Still, he would keep the photograph. It was the first thing since their arrival to earth that he found value in.

Chapter Five

    Rayna Vogel stared at the old home, reminiscent of baroque styling, and smiled. It had been a long time since she’d seen the sculptures adorning the corners. Layers of dirt and webs had blanketed them to the point she’d long since forgotten how beautiful they were. Rayna had lived with her grandmother until it had been time for Rayna to go off to college. Even then, she’d returned and bought the home that had a backyard touching this one’s. She had wanted to be close to her grandmother and still feel like an adult. Now that years had passed and so had her grandmother, Rayna realized how foolish she’d been. She should have just moved back home with the woman and been there in her final years.
    Grandmother, I miss you.
    She held the dish full of chicken divan and prepared to head up the steps to meet her newest neighbors. Never a social butterfly, Rayna had to force herself to get out, stay in contact with people and avoid spending time with only the animals she photographed. Animals were so much easier to deal with than people. They