“I’m not meant to have attention in the shadows,” he breathed in my ear. My pulse increased at his sudden nearness. Without realizing it, I had leaned back against him. He shifted my hair to the side, exposing my neck. “But I need yours.” He placed one small kiss at the top of my shoulder before running his fingers toward my jaw. His gentle touch prickled my skin. “Reese.” His cheek grazed mine. I purred, becoming a puddle of vulnerability. Responding instinctively, my desire to have this stranger closer to me both consumed me and scared me. I spun on my heels and came face to face with the hooded figure. With shaky hands, I reached up and touched the hem of the thing covering his face. Before I could push it away, his mouth crashed into mine. Shock was quickly replaced with heated urgency. My eyes closed as I allowed him to move his hands over my body while our tongues teased each other. It was so familiar, yet new all at once.
Footsteps pounded from outside and pants from the wolves became more pronounced as they neared. All too quickly, he pulled away. I turned to find Harley entering the shop, sweaty and gasping for breath.
“I didn’t find anyone out there. Only some horse tracks, which blows my mind. The wolves would’ve caught up to a horse if there was one out there.” He stopped and his eyes slid over me. “Something wrong?”
I glanced back, knowing he wouldn’t be there. “No. Nothing wrong,” I answered in a low voice. Everything was wrong. The guilt festered within me. One second I wanted no one else but Harley, a man that had proved himself to be one hell of a guy time and time again, and the next I was letting a person whose face I had yet to see roam my body with his hands. I felt like shit. “So about the gift.” I motioned toward the lumpy blanket.
“Oh yeah.” He pushed his hair back, and the wolves jumped back onto his skin before he closed the gap between us. “I think you’re going to love it.” He winked at me.
My heartstrings yanked tight. I didn’t deserve whatever he had for me. This gift was meant for the girl of his dreams, not me. In one fluid motion, he pulled the cover free, revealing a slick blue sports bike.
“I started to build you a cruiser, but you seemed like you’d fit with this better.” He turned to me with a look of uncertainty. “Do you like it?”
I blinked, struggling to find the words. Words. Damn, those would be good about right now. “Um, I love it.” Warm tears blurred my vision. He was too good for me.
“Sweet. How about a ride?” He paused for a moment. “You do know how to drive one of these, right?”
I shrugged. “I was briefly trained a few years ago.”
He tossed me a shiny helmet that matched the color of the bike. “We’ll take it slow until you get used to it.”
I threw my leg over the machine and started the ignition. The engine purred with such underlying power it made my adrenaline rush. In front of me Harley, climbed onto the familiar bike that he had taken me home on. After looking back to make sure I was ready, he gave it some gas and rolled out of the damaged part of the garage.
We hit the asphalt in a blur. Taking it slow was apparently an afterthought once the wind beat at our flesh. It was exhilarating. The scenery flashed by in a tangle of colors. I leaned forward, darting past Harley. In and out of the traffic, I merged. Part of me never wanted to stop. I could just keep going. Go to a place where no one knew who I was and start a completely new normal life.
I sighed and decreased my speed. That wasn’t in the cards for me. I could never leave this behind. It would drive me crazy every day. With a flick of my wrist, I flipped the blinker on and cut across the median to head back in the direction of the shop.
A while later, our starting point came into view. The trip was over way too soon. I came to an abrupt halt, sending dust everywhere. My fingers curled under the bottom of the helmet and pulled upward as Harley parked next to me.
“Got used to that real quick, huh?” he teased with a wink.
“What can I say? Guess I’m a natural.”
“The Jeep has a hitch. I’m going to load them up on a trailer so we can take them to the training facility. Don’t really want to leave them here with all this damage. It won’t take Fuzz long to get people up here to repair it, but still…”
I nodded and causally followed him to the back of the shop. He went to work on a trailer. I shifted from foot to foot staring at the broken building. My gaze landed on the torn ground. Horse tracks. They were the same as the ones I had found in the woods after the Valks had attacked me. I rubbed my arms as goose bumps speckled my skin. Realization struck me all at once. I had the same gut feeling every time this guy appeared. That included going into Nekroun Earth. Slowly the pieces clicked. The horse tracks, the reaper, my mystery man; they were one in the same. I had a fucking reaper following me!
Harley parked the Jeep outside of the facility and went in to find a place to store the bikes. I opted to stay outside as I was still in shock from what I had learned. Why would a reaper want to save me? There had been so many times I had escaped death, surely he was here to collect. I had run my course, and my time here was past expiration.
The door slammed behind me, and I jumped. “That was quick,” I called out without turning around as I stared up at the moon. When he didn’t answer, I turned to find myself face to face with my once best friend. “What do you want?”
She looked toward the ground. “Reese. I don’t want to fight with you anymore. While you were gone, I thought about a lot of things. Of course, everyone had to eat shit because I was still in a bad mood. Mostly, because I was hating myself for the way things went down. I should’ve never made you pick between me and Jace. It wasn’t fair to you or him.”
“It really wasn’t. I love both you.” I blinked at her. “You know you’re one of the most important people in my life, right? I only want to see you happy, and if it’s with… Hollywood, then so be it.” I struggled to get his name out. It was taking everything in me to be nice regarding the two of them, but if she was trying to right things I would too.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
I pressed my lips together and looked away. Now that we were on talking terms again, it finally felt like I had someone I could open up with and spill all this shit to. But my stubborn side didn’t want that to happen.
She stepped closer and touched my arm. “What’s up?”
I shrugged her off. “It’s getting late.”
She crossed her arms, shaking her head. “You’re not getting away that easy. I know something’s bothering you. I’ve known it since you got back. You ain’t fooling anyone.” She jabbed her thumb into her chest. “Best friend, remember? Whatever this is, it’s killing you, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let it.” She pulled my arm, towing us in the direction of the door. “We’re going to sit down, just us girls, have a few drinks, and dish everything out.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine.”
She let out a howl of glee. We went in and found Freeman. He seemed to be everyone’s go-to for booze. He handed over a bottle and cursed before stomping off. After careful deliberation, we decided to camp out in the closet she had hidden in when Jace reappeared. There, we were sure no one would find us.
She jumped up and rubbed her palms together. “Fuck yeah. You just don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve drunk anything.” The cap cracked open as she twisted. “Ahh, I forgot how much I loved the smell of Jack Daniels.” She tilted the bottle back and took a big swig before thrusting it in my direction.
The smell made my stomach churn. How did I ever drink this stuff? Scowling, I followed suit and turned it up. The liquid ran down the back of my throat and hit my stomach like fire. Coughs erupted. I leaned over, wiping drool with the back of my hand.
“Burns so good, am I right?” She laughed and patted me on the back. “Let me hit it again.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice. I was more than happy to give her the bottle. She took a quick swig and put it down on the floor in front of us. We remained silent, both staring at the amber liquid.
With her fingertips, she pushed the bottle in my direction. “Jack will loosen those lips, and you’ll feel better once you let it out.”
I grasped the bottle in the palm of my hand. Liquid courage. Maybe it was time to tell someone. It wouldn’t be the first time I told Shayla about something I didn’t want anyone else to know. She was the first one who found out I wasn’t fully human.
So, I launched into the entire grisly tale, not sparing her any of the cringe-worthy details.
“Then I was like able to blaze blue fire outta my hands.”
Her eyes widened. “Total X-Men shit. If they come to recruit you, I get first dibs at Wolverine.” She slashed the air, acting as if she had claws. “Such a hot piece.”
“Speaking of hot pieces, you’ve got two after you. Which one is it gonna be?”
She gave me a lop-sided grin. “Those two… I just don’t know. Did you see Hollywood had a manbun today? Ugh. Talk about drying up the downstairs. Total turnoff. But Jace on the other hand…” She purred and licked her lips. “That shaggy hair, I just want to wrap my hands in it while he hits it—”
I held up my hands. “Whoa. I don’t need to hear all the details.”
She zeroed in on my tattoos. “I want to see what those things can really do.” She grabbed me around the wrist and yanked me from my position.
I stumbled a few steps and finally caught my balance. “Seriously?” I slurred slightly.
Her blood shot eyes widened. “Let’s go blow some shit up with them!”
I was sure that was a horrible idea, but somehow I let her cart me back outside.
Her arm sliced the air as she pointed. “There. Those barrels. Do it!”
“Are you crazy? I haven’t learned to shot fire.”
She stilled, going serious. “Do it.”
I dramatically popped my hip out. “Sure, I’ll just do it. Throw my wrist out, and I’m sure a ball of fire will blast from it.” I flung my arm in the direction of the barrels. A second later I hit the ground and skidded back a few feet as they exploded, with blue fire eating away at the rusty metal. My mouth dropped. I brought the tattoos close to my face and studied them. “How in the hell did I do that?”
“The Jeep!” Shayla interrupted. “Do that Jeep next.”
Just as I was about to thrust my arm again, someone slapped it down. “She will do no such thing,” Fuzz hissed through clenched teeth. “You two are slobbery drunk. Time to get some coffee in you.” He didn’t leave us any room for argument. We followed him like two kids being scolded by a parent.
In the kitchen, he put two mugs of steamy black liquid in front of us and left the room.
Shayla blew a strand of pink hair from her eyes. “Was fun while it lasted.”
I smiled into the mug as I put it to my lips. Too true.
22
Reese
An hour later, the fun stage of the alcohol had made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in depression town. All I could think about was Steele and how much I missed him. I inwardly laughed, thinking back to him having to clean me up after throwing up on him due to drinking too much. A sob clawed out of my throat and without me saying the words, Shayla knew exactly what was wrong with me. “I want to go to the cremation spot.”
She nodded. “Then that’s where we’re going.” Without wasting any time, the two of us slipped out into the night and fired up the Jeep. She turned to look at me with a small smile as I backed out. “Guess it’s a good thing we didn’t blow it up.”
I shrugged. “There are more of them, losing one wouldn’t hurt anything.”
We were silent for the remaining drive. The only sound was both of our cell phones blowing up with calls from Fuzz, Harley, and Hollywood. We ignored them all.
I parked in front of the spot where the entrance used to be for the old training facility. We climbed out and walked the familiar path through the quiet woods. The last time I had been here was to watch Liam’s ceremony. That one was hard, but to know Steele’s body went through the same thing broke me. A clearing came into view.
I dropped to my knees. The marble table stood as immaculate as I remembered. It practically glowed against the moonlight. This was where his body had turned to ash. That thought was a lot to process. My fingers trembled as I reached out and touched the smooth surface.
“I should’ve been here,” I whispered. Shayla remained silent, even though I could feel her close to me. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there. Minutes? Hours? All the time and tears wouldn’t bring him back to me. He was gone. I was left here to finish what we started.
I stood with newfound determination. “Guess we should get back,” I mumbled. We turned, but stopped short at the sound of a twig snapping within the shadows of the forest. I crouched low, feeling the heat build within me as the fire craved a release. A tall, slender figure emerged, holding a gun poised against his shoulder.
“Sim? What the literal fuck are you doing out here?” Shayla asked.
I remained behind her. Sim. Was I really ready to face him? He thought I was dead. It was better for him that way. So many nights since I had returned, I wondered what he doing. I had missed him.
“What did you think I was going to do? Just sit on my ass and do nothing when I know there are monsters roaming all over the place? I don’t think so. I’ve been hunting those things.”
Shayla took a few steps toward him. “I get it. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to run into you. Right, Reese?” A chuckle escaped her lips. No one else laughed. “What?” She twisted back in my direction. “That was funny.” Her jaw went slack, as the realization must have dawned on her.
“Reese?” Sim choked. He shoved past Shayla and was in front of me a second later. He blinked rapidly, studying my face.
“Hey Sim,” I finally said.
His arms wrapped around my waist, and I was lifted into the air. “I can’t believe it. You’re here.” Before I could say another word, his hands cupped my chin, and his lips were on mine. He suddenly pulled back with wide eyes. “Sorry. It was — I shouldn’t have done that. Old habits, I guess.”
I reached out and entwined my fingers through his. My heart squeezed when he curled his digits around mine. “It’s okay.”
His shoulders dropped, as he seemed to relax.
“I’ve missed you. How have you been? Doing something other than hunting I hope?”
He nodded. “I’m actually seeing someone. I think this is it for me.”
He had made those comments to me once before. Bianca. I forced back a grimace and hoped his taste was better this time around.
As if reading my mind he continued, “She’s nothing like the last girl I was serious with. Total opposite. Actually reminds me of you a lot. Quiet. Cute. Sweet. Not the badass that you are, though.”
I giggled. “Well, not many girls can do what I do.”
My eyes locked on his. So many emotions flooded me. Things would have been so much easier if I had picked Sim over Steele. We would be together now. I wouldn’t hurt as much. But I hadn’t. I couldn’t. Sim was my past. I actually loved the fact that he had someone and wasn’t alone any more. He deserved the best girl. Someone that would love him the way he needed to be loved. That wasn’t me. And in no way would it ever be.
“What does your girlfriend think you’re out here doing?” Shayla asked as she came up beside us.
“Fiancé,” he corrected.
Shayla and I exchanged looks.
“And to answer your question, she thinks I’m hunting. I just didn’t tell her what.”
I slapped his arm with my free hand. “Sim! You idiot! You’re engaged to be married and you’re out here risking your life?”
“Fucker. That’s not the smartest thing to do. You’re not much good to her if she thinks a deer mauls you,” Shayla said.
“I’ve be
en very careful. And learned some tricks along the way. Mostly from watching you guys all that time you held me captive.” He cringed, realizing bitter memories he was dredging up for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight.
Ignoring the now awkward tension, I managed to force a smile. “Oh yeah? So, now you’re the badass, huh?”
His head cocked to the side. “Well, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but beep beep.”
The tightness in my chest abated as he launched into telling us all of his recent kills. I had to admit I was impressed. Sim hadn’t tucked tail and run from this life after all of us practically disappeared. Maybe others would be just as adamant to save this place and join the fight. We could sure use the extra numbers when it came to the fight I knew was soon coming.
As if reading my mind, he stopped and focused on me. “There are others that’ve been helping me.”
The air seized within my lungs. For so long we had fought to keep this from the people of this town, going so far as to wipe their memories, but now some knew and surely they would tell others.
“It’s not as detrimental as your facial expression is making it.” We started back walking in the direction of where our Jeep was parked. He remained quiet. I was grateful for the silence in order for me to process this new information.
“How have they reacted?” I finally asked. A breeze stirred as we reached our vehicle. I shuddered, sure that it had nothing to do with the chill that was now in the air.
“At first some were skeptical. But others were ones who had seen things already. They believed, but didn’t know what it was they were seeing exactly. Best way for me to describe them was grateful. They were grateful because the moment I explained things to them, they knew they weren’t going crazy.”
“How many are there?”
War Page 14
