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  Max saw her turn toward the stone, both hands cupped above it. Within seconds the stone began to glow, vibrating in Shalem’s statue-like hold. Whatever she was doing, it seemed to be working.

  He whirled at the sound of movement behind him like smal pebbles tossed on the cave floor. The rock wals shaking. A far off hissing noise growing progressively louder. Turning into agonized shrieking. The Rabasa had folowed them.

  Movement on the ground had Max narrowing his gaze. Had the shadows cast by the stil bodies just moved? It was no trick of the light—the light was frozen, as was everything else.

  Max lifted his sword. “You know, I always was a little envious that Kit got to fight the Agrabuamelu. He told everyone stories about how he had to slay the children of the dragon alone while I stood by and watched. Think of the stories I’l have for him once I’m done kicking your asses.”

  The shadows were definitely moving now, coming together in swirling snake-like braids on the ground before rising up. Higher.

  Darker. Multiplying. Forming into the shapes of men. No. Not just men. Igigi.

  Armed Igigi. They definitely had more power here.

  “Damned if you don’t al look like me. Not to be egotistical, but I think my enemies are a hel of a lot more attractive than Kit’s.” His sword made a clean arc through the closest target, slicing the dark figure in half with an ease that surprised him. “Come on, make me work for it, guys. I have a reputation to maintain.” The two pieces of his first victory mutated, turning into two more warriors, both armed with sharp swords and enigmatic expressions. “That’s more like it.”

  He felt the jab of an elbow in his ribs and the slice of a blade along his upper thigh. Steeling himself against the soul-deep pain that felt as if they were trying to erase his spirit from existence, he laid low two more, but four took their place.

  “How’s it coming, Phoebe?” he caled to the focused woman behind him. He glanced at her over his shoulder as he stabbed one of his copies in the stomach in an effort to maim instead of regenerate, and saw her surrounded by the light of the stone. “So, a little while longer then?”

  He whirled, using the hilt of his sword to punch two identical faces while dodging to avoid another’s blade. Again and again he knocked them down. He’d been right—if you didn’t kil them they didn’t replicate. On the other hand, if you didn’t kil them they just kept coming.

  He focused on deflecting their blows with his fists and the flat of his sword, keeping them away from Phoebe and the rippling wal that would take them back to Jude and safety. It was a harder task than he’d imagined.

  One of them sliced a clean line down his left forearm and he growled, feeling the power inside him—the power he’d gone so long without—wel up with his rage. “Nice trick. Remember this one?”

  He felt it spread throughout his body. The power of a true Igigi. His vision darkened and he looked down on the attacking shadows, growing until his head touched the high ceiling of the cave.

  Sword tips pricked like paper cuts as he gathered several struggling fighters in each hand, bashing them together and dropping them, unconscious, to the ground. His hands burned with their power but he didn’t care. He barely felt it. He had a job to do.

  And they were scared. Good. A flaw in their grand design.

  Max lifted one large foot and brought it down hard, resulting in a satisfying crunch. It no longer mattered to him that more would come. In fact, he hoped they would. There was nothing he wanted more than a good fight.

  The shrieking had grown louder, the Universal equalizer obviously seeking a way to fight this enemy. Max smiled, knowing he would welcome whatever it sent his way.

  Then he heard it. “Maximus.”

  Phoebe. The thought of her broke through the thick fog of anger and adrenaline. The one thing he wanted more than he wanted this fight.

  He turned, focusing on bringing himself back down to size while reaching for her. She was leaning weakly against Shalem, a smaler prism-like replica of the stone in her hand.

  Time to go.

  Max held her up above the mass of attacking warriors, al too aware of his increased strength, and her fragility. He had to keep hold of her as they got through that damned window. And there was no time for him to get back to his normal size.

  She stirred against him, looking over his thick arm and crying out in shock just before he stepped into the rippling wal.

  Pain again. But more than it had been before. Was it his size that made this that much more unbearable?

  He could stil hear Phoebe’s scream—it echoed around him as the red haze descended. What if he lost himself to the pain and hurt her?

  He loosened his grip. He recaled what she’d said about not letting her go, about losing his way, but that didn’t matter now. She would be safe.

  He closed his eyes and let it take him. Let it claw at the wounds he’d already received, feeling as though his skin were being flayed from his body. He puled up an image of Phoebe in his arms.

  His angel. For the first time in his life, something that was meant for him. Someone. Goddess, he loved her. She was more important than being a warrior. He should have told her.

  He let the blackness take him, praying to the Mother that she knew.

  ***

  “You are one lucky giant. We almost lost you that time.

  When you’re finaly up and about, you can see how bad you’re looking and you’l know why we hesitate to mess with the balance.” Max felt like he’d been whacked across the temple with a sledgehammer. Jude’s incessant conversation wasn’t helping. He’d been listening to him talk non-stop for the last ten minutes. “I think I liked you better when you weren’t so friendly.” He heard the male’s soft laughter. “That can be arranged.” He hesitated. “Phoebe wil be glad you’re awake. She’s been worried.”

  Only her? Max grimaced, pushing himself up to a sitting position. He was on a bed in the temple, Jude sitting in a chair beside him. How long had he been there?

  “I’m here whenever she or Silas isn’t. We’ve been working on the stone. Shaping it, you might say, for Alexei. We stil have to find a way to get it to him, of course, but I actualy think this might work. Or end the Universe as we know it. I’m stil not entirely convinced.”

  Max snorted. “Phoebe, is she al right?”

  She walked through the mist, into the room. “I’m fine, warrior. I just wish you hadn’t let go of me. Things would have gone easier for you. The journey made your injuries worse.” She was smiling at him. That was al he cared about. He held out a hand to her and she came and wrapped herself in his arms without hesitation. He’d almost lost her. “Phoebe I—”

  “I know,” she whispered so softly he had to strain to hear.

  “I love you too.”

  He frowned, recaling her screams. “What happened there at the end?”

  Phoebe glanced at Jude then looked down at Max’s chest and mumbled something uninteligible.

  “What happened?”

  Jude answered. “Our third? The one we believed had been erased from existence for disrupting the balance? Phoebe saw him.

  He appeared through a paralel window right as you were leaving.” Jude shook his head, obviously disgusted. “Now we know who stole your Legacy stone. Though I have no idea what he’s planning to do with it.”

  He could practicaly feel their shame at their felow Watcher’s actions. Max puled Phoebe closer, kissing her temple.

  “Perhaps he was simply ensuring its protection. Making amends the only way he knew how.” It was a stretch, but he was trying to make them feel better. Besides, from what he understood, the being had been on his side. On the right side. So whatever his plans were, they couldn’t be al that bad.

  Phoebe sighed against his chest. “He may have to deal with the god’s Watchers now. They wil surely know what he’s done.

  What we’ve done.”

  Jude leaned back in his chair. “We haven’t been struck by lightning yet and the Rabasa haven�
�t come pouring through our looking glasses. I have a feeling they might approve.”

  “I hope so. I would hate to start my new job off on the wrong foot.” Max grinned as the two looked toward him in confusion. “Wasn’t this my interview? My test? I passed right?” Phoebe leaned back to study him carefuly. “Are you feeling okay, Max? What do you mean, your new job?” He held out his arms, gesturing around the room. “You are missing a third. And don’t tel me its Silas. I know for a fact he’s enjoying his retirement, since he keeps disappearing. He deserves his rest. I, on the other hand, am a watcher and a guardian by nature and training. I’m more than qualified.” His dark eyes sparkled. “And there is no way I am leaving my woman alone with Jude and his newly formed desire to experiment.” Phoebe blushed and Jude coughed to hide his surprised laughter before attempting to arrange his features in that now familiar sneer. Max glared at them both mockingly. “What? Do I have to wear one of those ridiculous togas and dye my hair angel white to be taken seriously around here?”

  “First of al, you already have some white in your hair. I told you, you look like hel.” Jude smiled evily when Max bared his teeth.

  “Secondly…” Phoebe’s voice was a little shaky. With hope? “You are a warrior. You have family. You took an oath.

  How could you be happy here, watching with no ability to protect?

  To change things?”

  “I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think you two wil ever be able to go back to watching from afar again. You’l crave the action. The excitement of helping our charges in need. Who knows, maybe that’s one of the reasons you’re here. Your existence didn’t exactly come with a manual.” He cupped Phoebe’s cheek with his palm, loving the softness of her skin. “As long as you’re wiling to pump out some of this mist and do a little redecorating…and as long as I’m with you, I’l be a different kind of guardian. A different kind of man. A man I think...a man I know my father would be proud of.”

  That you will be proud of, sarasvatti.

  Her expression heated. Goddess, she was perfect for him.

  “Now before I ravage you and let Jude have his first taste of heaven, tel me something. How is this world-building, soul-creating stone supposed to help Alexei save his people?” Phoebe smiled, relief and hope and desire vying for dominance in her gaze. “The power to create is balanced with the power to destroy. With Legacy transmuted into the Dawn Stone, Alexei wil have to unmake his world if he wants to save it.”

  “Could you be more unclear?”

  Jude snorted in a very undignified manner. “We could try.” Max glared. “You’l have to live with the consequences if you do.”

  Phoebe reached out for his hand. “Alexei is one of the consequences of what came before. One of the most powerful beings on Earth, whether he knows it or not. He wil be able to wield the stone and save al of them. Regina, Sylvain…al of them.

  As long as the gods do not try and stop him.” No matter how long it took him to convince her, he silently vowed that he would find a way to help ensure Zander’s child would succeed. He would always be a Sariel guard. Would fight the Rabasa, the gods themselves, and whatever else came between him and his duty. His family. And now he made another oath he knew he would keep. The rest of eternity, the rest of his heart, belonged to this woman beside him.

  Phoebe shook her head, but her cheeks were flushed with pleasure.

  She knew.

  Look for ALEXEI’S DAWN in 2012

  Other books in series order:

  REGINA IN THE SUN

  LUX IN SHADOW

  TWILIGHT GUARDIAN

  MIDNIGHT FALLS

  Author Bio:

  R.G. Alexander (aka Rachel Grace) is a bestseling author who has written over 20+ books in the erotic paranormal, contemporary and sci-fi/fantasy genres for multiple epublishers and Berkley Heat.

  She has lived al over the United States, studied archaeology and mythology, been a nurse and a vocalist, and now?

  A writer who dreams of vampires, witches and airship battles, and feels lucky everyday that she gets to share her stories with her readers. She is happily married to a talented chef who is her best friend, her research assistant, and the love of her life.

  To Contact The Author:

  http://www.rgalexander.com

  http://www.smutketeers.com

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  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN