He puffed out his cheeks. “Maybe.” He twisted his neck to look at her and arched a brow. “You know what? I’m feeling magnanimous today. Your passion, your connection has touched me. I’m intrigued. You gate-crashed into my domain, after all. That in itself deserves a prize.”
“Oh, goody,” Cora said. “I’m so glad; now give her back to me.”
She kept looking at me, and her expression told me what she was seeing wasn’t encouraging.
My skin was paler now, and my body felt lighter as if it was shedding a weight. Losing a connection. It was over. I was dead. The knowledge was a dark pit in my stomach. All the things left undone…All the people left behind. I looked at my best friend. The woman who’d stood by me time after time. Who’d somehow jumped into this prelude to death to drag me out, and pure love filled my chest. My throat pinched with an excess of emotion.
“It’s okay.” I smiled at her. “You can go now.”
She gave me a shut-the-fuck-up look and focused on the young man. “What do you want in exchange for her?”
I couldn’t have her making deals with this creature parading as a man. “Cora. You need to leave. Now.”
Her head snapped my way. “Like fuck am I leaving you. He can give you back to me.” She strode up to the guy. “What. Do. You. Want?”
He tipped his head back slightly and sucked on his lips, looking her up and down. “One kiss.”
Cora’s head jerked back. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You have an energy, an aura…I want to taste it.”
My stomach quivered in foreboding. “Cora, don’t.”
The man smirked. “Don’t worry, Seraphina Dawn. I won’t hurt her.”
“Fine,” Cora said. “One kiss, and then you let her leave with me, alive. Deal.”
“Deal.”
She grabbed his lapels and yanked him to her, crushing her mouth to his in a long, tongue-sucking lip lock that, frankly, was kind of unnerving.
It ended just as abruptly when she shoved him away and backed up, her step a little unsteady.
He reached up to touch his mouth, and his eyes, which had been as dark as twilight, lit up like the sunrise.
What had just happened? What had my friend given and what had this creature taken?
“So, we can go now?” Cora asked. Her tone was shaky.
He climbed onto his bike and revved the engine.
“Hey! Are we done?”
His lips curved in a smirk. “For now.”
This time when Cora reached for me, our hands connected. Her fingers wrapped around mine and she tugged me to her, hugging me close.
I shut my eyes and allowed the world to fracture.
I may be going back, but I’d died. I’d fucking died, and that would have consequences.
Chapter Forty
“Fee, fucking hell. Fee.”
I came to slowly, enveloped in heat and bound in an embrace. Not one embrace but three. Grayson’s husky eyes seared my soul, while Azazel’s powerful chest pressed to my back and Mal’s forehead touched my cheek. They cradled me between them, arms locked around me, uncaring that holding me like this meant holding onto each other. It was intimate and safe and warm, and in their arms, I was home. I was with my guys.
A choked sob rose up between us.
Mal.
He rolled his forehead against my cheek, and hot tears splashed my collarbone. “We lost you.” His voice was a ragged sigh. “Fuck. We lost you.”
“I felt it.” Azazel gripped me tighter. “The wrenching in my soul. I felt you die.”
“We all did.” Grayson scanned my face as if he couldn’t believe he was seeing it again.
I’d died?
A memory stirred at the back of my mind. I’d died and…Cora…Cora had held me together and brought me back.
Panic flared in my chest. Something had happened. Something to Cora. “Cora! Where’s Cora?”
“I’m here, babe,” Cora said from beyond the wall of muscle that surrounded me. “Alive and kicking. Just letting the guys do their thing.”
Yeah, the guys weren’t letting me go anytime soon, and I wasn’t complaining. My feet didn’t touch the ground, and my chest was kinda aching a little from Azazel’s epic grip, but I didn’t care. Their scent, their heat was like a balm to a soul that felt frazzled and fractured.
I closed my eyes and reveled in the contact, and slowly, increment by increment, Azazel’s grip eased. Mal kissed my cheek and stepped back, and Grayson did the same. But they didn’t go far.
Uri slipped past Grayson and pulled me into a tight hug. His body trembled against mine.
I stroked his back. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”
I was back from…wherever I’d gone. Somewhere…
Uri released me and Azazel to scoop me up and sat on the single-seater with me. Mal and Grayson gravitated toward us, crouching either side of the sofa as if they couldn’t bear to be too far.
“I died…” I said the words out loud to test them, then looked up at Cora, who was leaning against the mantelpiece. “You…came for me?”
“Damn straight I did,” Cora said. “Like fuck was I letting you ride that stinky bus or the over-the-top bike.”
What? My mind was fuzzy. “Bus?”
Cora frowned. “You don’t remember any of it?”
“She’s not supposed to,” Vi said. “No one who returns recalls anything.” Her expression was speculative. “But you do…”
Cora shrugged. “I guess I’m special.” She grinned. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Fee’s okay.”
There was a flash of movement to my left, and my head whipped around in time to watch Hunter stride from the room.
Uri locked gazes with me for a long beat, his ember eyes filled with relief and love, and then, giving me a nod, he headed after Hunter.
“Well.” Missy pressed her hands to her thighs. “That was not fun, and I will not be doing it again, so if someone could take me home, I’d be very grateful.” Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she passed out.
“Shit,” Vi said.
I’d died, which meant Eve’s curse had activated.
Shit indeed.
I was back. I was alive and my guys were ecstatic. But all I could think about was Lilith and what my dying had done to her. There was no time to revel in the victory of my survival, and not much time to connect with Azazel or Mal, because my dying had made it even more urgent that they get back and fortify Imperium. Still, the guys lingered for a day, taking every moment to touch me, to hold me, to tell me that they loved me. But even just a day was too long for them to stay away from the Underealm.
If Lilith was damaged in some way, Mammon would use that to try and wrest control of the Underealm.
But she wasn’t dead. At least that’s what Azazel said. “I’d know if she was dead. I’d feel it.”
So, that was good news.
“We’ll send word periodically with Conah,” Azazel said. “Keep you updated on the situation in the Underealm.”
I stroked his jaw. “I’m so sorry.”
He looked confused. “What for?”
“For dying,” Mal said. “She’s sorry for dying.”
“Dammit, Fee,” Azazel said. “You had no control over that. I don’t blame you. I blame the bastards who put the curse on you.”
“Thank fuck for Cora,” Mal said.
Cora had brought me back only to vanish with Jasper. She didn’t have to spell out why. It was written all over his smug face, and it made me sick. I made me sick.
“She saved me, and there was a price, but it’s fuzzy. All I know is that she’s always giving pieces of herself for me.” My stomach rolled as I accepted the truth. “She’ll always give pieces of herself for me, and one day it will get her killed.”
Azazel and Mal were silent.
My stomach churned with the revelation I’d been holding at bay. “I need to let her go. I need to make her leave me.”
“You can’t force Cora
to do anything,” Mal said. “The woman is a force of nature.”
“And I want her to stay that way.”
Azazel nodded. “We’ll figure it out.”
I smoothed back my hair and took a breath. “Go. Find Lilith.”
“She’s alive,” Azazel said. “I’d know if she wasn’t. Maybe whatever Eve did with the curse wasn’t death…It was something else? Keon is tied to her too. I’ll speak to him.”
He didn’t know what Keon was to him, and even though I ached to tell him, it wasn’t my secret to impart.
“I love you both.” I took their hands. “Be safe. Come back to me.”
“Always,” they said in unison.
“Send a phoenix if you need us,” Azazel added.
They each kissed me, and then they were gone, leaving me bereft and empty once again.
Arms wrapped around my waist, and Grayson hugged me to his chest. “It will be all right.”
I closed my eyes and reveled in the contact. “Where’s Hunter?”
“Has a meeting with Eldrick.”
“And Uri?”
“On a donut run.” He chuckled. “Having a celestial who can teleport comes in handy.”
I laughed. “And you’re okay with him staying here?”
Grayson turned me to face him. “Uri’s a good guy. I like him. But maybe you’ll want to spend a couple of nights a week at your quarters.”
I blushed. “Okay.”
I looked around the lounge, tidy now, and occupied by my pack as they watched TV together. We’d busted onto an island and saved a bunch of humans and vamps. Killed a bunch of super vamps and kidnapped a scientist who right this moment was in Magiguard custody along with Kristoff. I’d died and come back to life, and Lilith could be seriously affected by that. War loomed on the horizon in the Underealm, but right now. This moment. Life felt almost normal.
Grayson nuzzled my ear. “You want to go to bed for a bit?”
My body responded with instant eagerness. “Yes, please.”
He took my hand, and we headed toward the lift. Grayson was about to press the call button when a gust of air blew through the house—warm and floral-scented.
The hairs on my nape stood to attention. Grayson had gone very still too, his grip on my hand flexing. He released me, and we both turned to the entrance to find a woman standing there.
She was dressed for summer, hair braided with flowers, feet bare, and totally out of place against the winter backdrop behind her. But what grabbed me by the throat and shook me was her face.
She had my face.
“Hello, Seraphina Dawn,” she said. “We have a problem.”
To be continued….
Grab the thrilling finale to Fee’s adventure, Reaper Unleashed
HERE
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
Reaper Unhinged
Reaper Unleashed
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 Unhinged (Deadside Reapers Book 6) Page 23
