“When were you born?” I asked, curious.
“Cariño, I’m over five hundred years old.”
My eyes felt like they were going to fall out of my head. “You look my age. What are you?”
Vicente grinned. “El nahual.”
My mouth dropped open. “They’re real?”
I’d grown up with stories of the nahuals. Men who had made a deal with the devil and could shift into animals. I’d been right. His cat was a jaguar.
Vicente reached out and poked my nose. “As real as you, reaper.”
“And now we’re bonded?”
Lincoln yawned and stretched before turning into a man. “We are.” He shifted his weight and looked up at me. “Your ears are gone. You’re brunette.”
Automatically, I touched my hair. Lincoln had been the first to curl up and go to sleep, so he had missed me pulling off my wig and rabbit ears. “It was part of the costume.” I wrinkled my nose. “Sorry if that was deceiving you before you bonded with me.”
“It just made you sexier,” Archer muttered, his voice rough and grumbly. “I like this better.” He twisted a lock of my hair around his finger.
“How permanent is this bond?” I asked, curious.
“You can’t break it,” Lincoln said, instantly. “We just got you. We’re not losing you.”
“I’m not about to bolt out the door.” I shuffled out of Archer’s lap so I could see all three of them. “It’s just…” I sucked in a deep breath. “I died. I became a reaper. I bonded with you. I haven’t had time to process any of this, and I’m not sure I really understand it. I was barely in your apartment for five minutes before we were having sex.”
“That’s a good thing,” Vicente told me. “If there wasn’t an attraction, the bond wouldn’t have formed.”
Attraction didn’t equate to compatibility. I’d had some ex-boyfriends who I’d lusted after and then discovered that our personalities were like gasoline and fire—in the completely destructive kind of way.
“What happens if you decide you don’t like me?”
“Why would you say something like that?” Lincoln demanded, rising onto his knees as he scowled at me.
“Never going to happen, cariño,” Vicente said, more calmly. “You’ll see.”
Archer jabbed Vicente in the side, shooting him a dark look I couldn’t miss.
“What was that?” I demanded.
“We’re your companions, and we’ve bonded. The longer we spend together, the stronger that bond will become,” Lincoln said. “And if anyone tries to hurt you, I will give them a reason to need a reaper visiting them.”
The look in his eyes told me he would rip the throat out of anyone who crossed me. I frowned. “Who would try to hurt me?”
Lincoln sank back down, looking away. “Does it matter?”
“We’re just demons. We’re not reapers.” Archer jumped in. “We were wandering purgatory for so long before we arrived back here, and then we were… waiting.”
“For you,” Vicente added. “And you were worth the wait.”
“How did you end up here?”
Vicente sat up and ran a hand through his curls. “We don’t remember. I have a faint memory of wanting to go back and kill, but instead of walking through a door that the Grims guard, I tried to find the way I had come in. I wandered purgatory for…” he shrugged. “Not as long as Lincoln. Maybe 2001 as Bill Clinton was my last memory of being alive.”
If Bill Clinton was somehow the last thing he remembered, I really wanted to know how and why he had died…
“Do any of you remember how you died?”
Archer and Lincoln shook their heads.
There was a loud banging that echoed around the room. Scowling, Lincoln slid off the bed and, still butt naked, strode out of the room. Moments later, I heard Tanner’s voice.
“You know you have a closet of clothing, right?”
“What do you want, reaper?”
“My apprentice.”
The door slammed, and I expected Lincoln to return to the bedroom, but instead, Tanner appeared in the doorway.
I, like the others, hadn’t bothered dressing. Tanner stared at me.
All of a sudden, he fell to the floor, and it took me a moment to figure out that Lincoln had tackled him. “Do not stare at her like that,” Lincoln yelled.
Tanner rolled over, kicking Lincoln in the side of the head. As the mountain lion shifter recoiled, Tanner pinned him up against the wall, his scythe at Lincoln’s throat. “Do not mess with me, mate. I’m a reaper. You are a demon.”
“Stare at my woman like that, and I’ll rip your throat out,” Lincoln told him, despite the weapon cutting into his skin.
I jumped off the bed, pulling the sheets off and wrapping it loosely around me as I hurried over and pulled Tanner’s arm back. “Leave him alone.”
Tanner stood, turning. “Either get him trained, or I’ll get him fixed.”
Keeping the sheets wrapped tightly around me, I stared up at Tanner, incredulous. “I don’t particularly approve of violence, but you were staring at my tits.”
Leaning forward, Tanner brought his face so close, his nose was almost touching mine. “Don’t get too excited, love. I’m a reaper. Thousands have died and not been wearing clothes. Yours aren’t the first tits I’ve seen, and I’m sure as hell not jizzing in my trousers over them.”
“Well, you’re an idiot because I would be,” Vicente muttered. “They’re exquisite.”
Tanner’s eyes narrowed, but they were still locked on mine. “Get dressed and get outside. You’ve got a shit-ton of stuff to learn, and while you’re my apprentice, you are not going to embarrass me.”
Without waiting for a response, he marched out of the room.
I held my breath until I heard the door slam behind him. Dropping to my knees, I gently turned Lincoln’s head to examine the cut.
“Don’t worry about it,” Archer called over. “We heal quickly. That will be gone by the time you’re dressed.”
“Are you okay?” I asked Lincoln.
“I’m going to rip his throat out. He can threaten me all he wants, but I won’t let anyone other than us look at you like that.” His words came out as a growl as he got to his feet.
“Linc, she’s his apprentice. You screw with him, and he will screw with her. You know what he’s like.”
I slowly turned to Vicente. “What does that mean?”
Vicente’s eyes widened. “Uh, Tanner’s not a people person. Or a reaper person. He likes being alone.”
“You don’t need to worry about Tanner,” Lincoln told me. He reached over and stroked my hair. “You’ll have something the other reapers didn’t: us.”
Other reapers?
What the fuck had I gotten myself into?
I shook it off.
It didn’t matter.
There wasn’t another option. Besides, as Lincoln said, I had him, Archer and Vicente. No matter what Tanner said, I’d arrived in heaven.
I had no idea what this afterlife held for me or how long it would last, but with these three, I was going to make sure it was the best afterlife I could have.
Being a reaper was a weird second chance, but I was taking it.
I might currently be Tanner’s apprentice, but give it time…
He must have been an apprentice at one point, and if he could do it, so could I.
The End
Thank you for reading Reaper Reborn by Serenity Ackles. This book is a standalone, but if you want to join Serenity’s Facebook group and tell her to turn this into a full series, You can find Serenity on Facebook in her group, Serenity’s Rebels.
Serenity’s next release will be Grounded, which you can pre-order here.
About the Author
Serenity Ackles is a self-diagnosed story addict. She loves creating new worlds and characters to fall head first into, often forgetting they're not real, and hopes readers will too.
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Stealing Magic
Maggie Alabaster
Stealing Magic
Marion has a mission—rob from the rich, to give to the poor. Sound familiar? Just like Robin Hood, she has enemies who will stop at nothing to get their way. With the help of two wizards, a dragon shifter and a hot Robin, she'll have to stop them before she loses everything, including her life.
One
The vase was ugly as shit.
All right, I'm exaggerating. This thing was as gaudy as a real housewife of…wherever and worth at least as much. It's funny how something that looked like it had been chewed by a pack of dogs was still valuable. Enough that stealing it would set me up for life—if I could sell it.
Truth is, it was too unique, too traceable to bother. Even on the black market it would be hard to shift. With my luck, I would have it sitting on a shelf at home until I was dust. Since I had no intention of dying any time soon, that would be a while. Much longer than I wanted to spend looking at it.
I slipped past the table and over to a dresser. Predictably, it was covered in bottles of makeup, brushes, and a large box full of gaudy jewellery. Gaudy, but valuable.
I grabbed up a pile of rings. I held out my palm, covered in a black glove, of course; I'm a thief, not silly. I had two or three million dollars worth in my hand, easily.
I chose three: a gold band with a princess cut diamond, one with a huge sapphire, and another with a yellow diamond surrounded by pink ones. The stones alone would feed a family for the rest of their lives. And their children's lives.
If I sold them and kept the money, they'd keep me in a manner I could become accustomed to. But I wouldn't keep it. I never did. Well, maybe a little bit of it. A girl's got to eat, after all. Most of it, well, I'll get to that later.
I tucked the rings into a pouch and shoved it into my pocket. I sent silent thanks to whoever made such wonderfully deep pockets. No fake stitching to look like a pocket, no way. These were the real deal. Deep enough to put my hands inside.
A creak of floorboards sounded from outside the room.
I froze and listened, my weight carefully balanced to sprint to the window if need be.
A shape slunk into the room and I let out a soft sigh. It was far too small for a person.
"Hey kitty," I whispered.
The cat meowed and stepped closer to sniff me. She seemed confused, but rubbed herself against my leg before she slunk away, into the shadows.
"I know, I'm weird," I told her.
A flash of light made my eyes snap toward the window.
Headlights.
"Shit." On silent feet, I stepped toward the window and sat on the sill. My legs dangled out over a drop too long for a normal person.
No one ever said I was normal.
I drew the window shut behind me as far as I could and tried not to get tangled in lilac curtains that smelled of perfume and opulence.
The car stopped somewhere out of the sight. The doors opened and slammed shut. Two voices, in a heated exchange, moved closer to the house.
"Trouble in paradise," I muttered. The therapy the tabloids mentioned must not be working. That wasn't my problem. I needed to get out of here. Not that I was worried I'd get caught.
I took a breath and focused. My body began to shrink. My arms and legs grew shorter and became covered in a layer of black fur. Whiskers grew out of my face and ears popped out the top. Last, as always, was a tail which popped out above my ass.
Balanced precariously on the sill, I leapt toward the ground. I landed on soft paws; my strong legs absorbed most of the impact.
I darted across the fancy gardens in front of the house and leapt to the top of the fence.
For fun, I walked across to the gate and peered into the security camera. I stuck out my tongue.
All anyone would see, if they checked the footage, would be a cheeky black cat. Slightly larger than the usual house cat, but still just a feline.
The couple approached their door, still arguing. I could have stayed in human form and they probably wouldn't have noticed. The camera and security guard would have, though. That was trouble I didn't need.
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
I startled so violently I had to extend my claws and grip on to the fence to keep from falling off.
In the glow from a streetlight, a man looked up at me.
I meowed and forced myself to relax. I was just a cat, nothing more.
He chuckled. "I don't know who you think you're fooling, but I wasn't born yesterday. Not even the day before that."
I would have flipped him the finger, but that was hard with paws.
"I've heard of the cat burglar who is terrorising the area," he went on, "but you're not quite what I was expecting."
I meowed again and flicked my tail back and forth. He was guessing, surely? No one could be that—
My thought was cut off by him shifting into a bird. No, really. One minute he stood on the grass beside the fence, and the next he had perched beside me, a small bird with a red breast.
I licked my lips to remind him cats loved to eat birds.
The chirp he gave sounded a lot like a laugh.
I sniffed and jumped down from the fence. If he followed me, he would become a snack.
I kept to the shadows as a car passed, then darted across the road.
He followed and landed in front of me. Before I could lunge at him, he shifted back to human form.
"Now who has the advantage, little pussy?" he asked.
I hissed at him. I could still scratch his eyes out.
"Oh, come now," he taunted, "I wasn't going to turn you in. They say the cat burglar is doing good work."
I sniffed. I was, but I didn't need him to tell me that. I also wasn't going to show him my human face, no matter what he said. There was no doubt in my mind I could give him the slip with little effort. Why I hadn't done that yet was a good question. Maybe because, in spite of being immediately annoying, he was pretty hot. If you're into the tall, dark, handsome type who clearly worked out. Which I was. One arm was covered in tattoos from the bottom of his short sleeve, to his wrist. I couldn't quite make out what he had on there, but I itched to find out.
I shook my head. I couldn't afford to let my guard down. The moment I did that, I would be caught.
"Scaredy cat?" he asked teasingly. He gave me a lopsided smile which was as sexy as hell. Thank goodness my cat form didn't come into heat and attract male cats. If it did, I'd be fending them off as we spoke.
I blinked at him, sat down, and licked my paw. I didn't want him to think he intimidated me in any way.
He snorted softly. "I think I've been told."
I rubbed my paw against my face. I didn't need to clean myself this way, but it would show him my indifference.
"Like that huh? Fine, have your own way." He pulled his hood over his head and gave me a nod. "I was going to offer to help you, but if you don't think you need it, I'll be on my way. If you change your mind, come to Merry's downtown and ask for Rob. They'll know where to find me."
Before I could respond, a woman's scream sounded from the house I robbed. Either they discovered the theft, or the fight escalated.
I turned toward the house and when I looked back, Rob was gone. That wasn't surprising; he wouldn't want to be blamed for anything I did.
I hesitated. If that scream had been one of distress, I couldn't leave without doing something.
I slinked into a stand of trees and looked around for a bird with a red chest, or any other animal which might not be an actual animal. All I saw was a spider web, with the spider in the top corner. No shifter I knew had the patience to disguise themselves so well.
I shifted back into human form and pulled on the clothes I stashed under a bush. I fished my phone out of my bag, pressed the number for emergencies, and put the phone to my ear.
"Hello, what is your emergency?" c
ame the concerned voice on the other end of the line.
I replied in a high tone, full of fear, some of it real. "I just heard the most horrible scream from the house next door!" I gave the operator the address and hung up before they could ask any more questions.
I tucked my phone away. It was past time for me to hightail it out of there. Literally if need be.
Still, I waited until I heard the wail of sirens before I ducked out of the trees and hurried away. Maybe sticking around was silly, but if a woman was in actual distress, I couldn't leave. I knew, given their wealth and presence in the city, that I would hear about it later if she was murdered or something equally horrible.
I slipped down the street and stopped in the shadows where I stashed my motorbike. I jammed my helmet onto my head and started the engine. I kept my speed down, low key until I hit a main road.
Then I was free to gun it and disappear into the traffic.
Two
"Hey, Tuck, do you know a guy named Rob?" I tossed my jacket on the table and put my helmet down beside it.
Tucker glanced up and frowned but said nothing. Standing over six feet tall and built like a tank, he looked like the kind of guy who would beat the crap out of someone if they looked at him the wrong way. A tattoo of a skull was inked on his chest beside a cross. He wore another cross on a silver chain around his neck.
We didn't talk much about religion, but I knew he took his pretty seriously. Even more seriously than the state of his pawn shop.
He scooped up my jacket and helmet and hung them neatly on hooks behind the counter.
I shot him a smirk and dug around in the fridge for a cola. I cracked the bottle open and took a swig. I could have downed a beer in a gulp or two, but Tucker never kept alcohol on the premises. I never saw him drink any either. That was another thing we never talked about.
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 62
