Seraphina,
As a Dominus, you belong to me. You are my righteous Blade, and you will do my bidding. As Conah is indisposed, you will take on his Dominus duties on top of your own. War is coming, and our reaper army must be reinforced, and it will be your job to make sure the cadets at the Academy are prepared for what’s to come. You will report to me in person monthly to report on the progress of cadet training. To aid you in your task, I will send my most trusted Blade, Keon.
Do not fail me.
Lilith
Cora pursed her lips. “Fuck, Fee, how are you going to cope?”
Azazel’s jaw was tight. “She should have given the duty to me. She’s aware I’m well equipped to train cadets.”
“I don’t get it. Surely, she wants the job done properly. There’s an actual war coming,” Cora said. “No offense, Fee, but you don’t know the first thing about training cadets.”
“The Academy in the human realm is one of three,” Mal said. “The weakest one,” he added. “Lilith isn’t counting on the reapers from there.”
“No,” Azazel said. “She simply wants a reason to punish you if you fail to deliver.”
“Great.”
“We got this,” Cora said. “Right, guys?”
Mal nodded. “I’m up for extra duties.”
Azazel slid his hand on top of my thigh. “We work as a team.”
“As a team,” Mal echoed.
I blew out a breath. “When do we start?”
“I’ll speak to the administration and set it up,” Azazel said. “We’ll need to get more training space set up and update the cadet schedules. Shouldn’t take more than a week.”
Enough time for me to meet with Grayson and ask him to mate with me. My stomach dipped, and it wasn’t due to the altitude.
I stood outside Lumiers, waiting for the line to connect. Azazel sat at his desk in Lumiers’s outlier office, sipping a mocha.
I shouldn’t be nervous. I was simply returning Grayson’s call. The call he’d made to Azazel on Petra’s urging. The call he’d made to get hold of me.
But my stomach was all over the place. Nerves, excitement. Fuck.
Answer the goddamn—
“Hello?”
His voice speared me, leaving me speechless for a moment.
Silence. “Fee?”
“Grayson…”
Why did this feel so good?
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
I caught the sound of a female voice in the background, and jealousy bit me in the ass.
“I’m sorry, is this a bad time?” My tone came out harsher than intended.
“No. It’s fine.” The sound of a door closing. “Petra said you wanted to talk?”
“Yes. I need your help. The bond between Hunter and me…it’s not a regular mate bond. It’s a fated mate bond.”
“Fucking hell. Fee…this is bad.”
“I know. And I don’t want this, Grayson. I don’t want him, but Petra said if I didn’t do something about the heat, it would kill me. She suggested…She suggested that I mate with you.” I didn’t wait for his response but forged on. “My Loup is attracted to you, and you and Hunter are fraternal twins. I know this isn’t ideal. It’s not how I wanted us to make this decision, but…I need you.” I took a deep breath. “I understand if you can’t do this.”
“Fee, get your ass over to the house. Now.” There was a growl to his voice that woke the beast inside me and shook away the primal desire that was lurking on the fringes of my consciousness.
“You’ll do it?”
“Yes, I’ll fucking do it. I’ll mate with you.”
Azazel loaded me into a taxi. “Call me…after.” He looked pained.
I reached up and stroked his jaw. “I love you.”
He covered my hand with his. “One week out of the month, Fee. We can’t afford more than that right now.”
I nodded and offered him my lips for a kiss.
I was expecting a peck, but he cupped the back of my head and deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue past my lips to claim me. My body came alive, panting for more, and I clung to him, half out of the taxi before I realized what was happening.
He broke the kiss with a chuckle, but there was no humor in his eyes. No, there was only potent desire, the kind of desire that spoke of being bent over a chair and fucked raw.
“Shit, Azazel.” I touched my mouth. “You’re bad.”
“No, Fee. I’m fucking good. Remember that.”
He closed the door and stepped back. I pressed my palm to the window and craned my neck to watch him as we pulled away from the curb.
We turned the corner, and I sat back and closed my eyes. Grayson needed to be my focus now. The heat was a tingle in my veins. It wouldn’t be long before it hit again. I needed the mating to be over before that.
We turned another corner. We were about thirty minutes from the house. The taxi’s radio crackled, then his mobile rang. He answered using his handsfree, and I fixed my gaze out the window, watching the world go by.
We made a sharp left, then another right.
This wasn’t the way to Grayson’s. At least I didn’t think it was? “Excuse me?”
The driver ignored me.
“Hello?”
The partition between passenger and driver went up.
“Hey!” What the fuck?
Panic flooded me. We were on unfamiliar territory now. I tried the door. Locked. Fuck. I tapped a message into my comm.
Something wrong. Driver taking odd route. Think being kidnapped.
I hit send just as the taxi came to a halt on an empty backstreet.
“Let me out now.”
If the fucking driver thought he could take advantage of a lone female passenger, he was about to get a nasty surprise. I launched myself at the partition, using my preternatural strength to put a crack in the thick Perspex.
The driver let out a girly scream and then tumbled out of the cab. I caught a flash of his face twisted in fear.
Yes, bitch, you do not mess with me. “Open the fucking door, and I’ll let you keep your balls.” He slammed his door shut and ran.
What the fuck.
I yanked at the handles, but the fucking locks were still engaged in back. The driver could be back at any moment. Maybe with reinforcements. I punched the Perspex again and again, ignoring the shockwaves of pain shooting up my arm.
Wait a fucking second.
I flicked my wrist, and my scythe bloomed to life. It sliced through the barrier like butter, and then I was tumbling out of the cab. I hit the ground on hands and knees. Free.
“Not bad.”
I froze at the sound of the familiar voice, then slowly looked up into Hunter’s dark eyes. What the fuck was he doing here?
Water stung my face, and it took a moment to register that he’d sprayed me in the face.
It was in my throat, acrid and burning.
“What?” I scrambled up and tried to step away from him, hands up to ward him off, but my limbs felt like jelly. “Wha…” My mouth refused to work.
“I can’t let you do this,” Hunter said. “I’m sorry.”
Drugged. He’d drugged. Me…How? I was a Dominus…the only drug that could take me down was in the Underealm, so how…Scythe…where was my scythe? Fuck, brain going off-line.
No.
I needed to fight. Swing, dammit. Hit him, for fucksake. I wanted to run, but instead, I stood rooted to the spot, swaying as I willed my feet to move, panic a tornado in my chest.
Hunter bridged the distance between us calmly and scooped me off my feet.
I wanted to kick, to scream, to claw at him, but my body was paralyzed, and the world was going dark at the edges. No. I had to stay awake. I had to fight this, but whatever he’d used on me was too strong, overcoming even my Dominus genes. Hot, angry tears of impotence leaked out the corners of my eyes.
Hunter looked down at me with a torn expression, and then his jaw hardened.
“Y
ou’re mine, Fee. It’s time for you to see that.”
But the only thing I was seeing was darkness.
To be continued…
Fee’s adventure continues in Reaper Undone.
Grab it HERE now!
Other books by Debbie Cassidy
Other books by Debbie Cassidy
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)
Binding Magick
Defying Magick
Embracing Magick
Unleashing Magick
The Fearless Destiny Series
Beyond Everlight
Into Evernight
Under Twilight
The Chronicles of Midnight
Protector of Midnight
Champion of Midnight
Secrets of Midnight
Shades of Midnight
Savior of Midnight
Chronicles of Arcana
City of Demons
City of the Lost
City of Everdark
City of War
For the Blood
For the Blood
For the Power
For the Reign
For the Hunt (novella)
Heart of Darkness
Captive of Darkness
Bane of Winter
Fate’s Destiny
Deadworld
Deadworld
Dead City
Dead Sea
Dead End
The Nightwatch Academy
Shadow Caster
Shadow Weaver
Shadow Warrior
Shadow Master
The Nightwatch Series
Ghost of a Chance
Give up the Ghost
Ghost at the Feast
Lay the Ghost
Deadside Reapers Series
Reaper Unexpected
Reaper Uninvited
Reaper Untamed
Reaper Unveiled
Reaper Undone
The Iron Fae Series
Taste My Wrath
Feel My Power
Dragon Guard Series
Dragon Trial
Dragon Rising
Survivor’s Heart (Planet Athion World)
Novellas
Rogue
Rebel
Survivor
Standalone Novellas
Blood Blade
About the Author
Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non-psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Space Fantasy, and Reverse Harem. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Or sign up to her Newsletter to stay in the know.
Reaper Unveiled (Deadside Reapers Book 4) Page 19
