by Zoey Woods
Inside the bathroom, I smiled sweetly, then closed the door, locking it. When I spun to face the room, a gasp escaped my lips. It was the biggest bathroom I’d ever seen. Like the shower itself could fit the size of half my apartment. Several heads were mounted to the inner walls. A bathtub looked like it would take half a day to fill.
As much as I’d love to soak in it, I’d told Finn I would be ready in less than half an hour. And I didn’t think David would be okay with waiting after being summoned.
Shower it was then.
I spun the faucet to hot and dozens of soft jets sprang to life. Steam rose, inviting me in. After I undressed, I stepped into the massive stone enclosure. Warmth enveloped me. Each shower head massaged a different part of me. I lathered up, not wanting to have this end. All my tension and sore muscles soothed to compliance like I’d finished a two-hour massage in a matter of seconds.
The water cascaded down my body, washing away the filth and grime that I had since waking up in the underworld. I almost felt human again.
I spent an extra minute to ensure I had all the shampoo out of my hair when the shower door squeaked open. Everything in my tensed. The scythe on my left arm twitched, but didn’t materialize.
Instead, Finn entered wearing nothing except a sexy smirk that had my middle tightening in anticipation. His erection thick and at attention. Begging to be stroked.
He pushed me up against the back shower wall, heat hotter than the water around us billowing off him as he crushed his lips to mine. The hard muscles of his body pressing into mine. His kisses tasting spicy and sweet and addictive like a drug. I couldn’t get enough.
I deepened our kiss. His hands roving over my body, making my breaths quicken. I reached down, curling my fingers around his cock and squeezing hard. God he was big, thicker than any guy I’d ever had. He would stuff me and then some.
He grunted in pleasure against my mouth and I wanted, needed him inside me. His body pinned me to the wall while a spray of water pulsed against my back. Slowly, as though he had all the time in the world, he traced his hands up and down my body. Like he was memorizing every curve, every surface of my skin.
His mouth moved to my neck, brushing away the wet strands that clung to me, before nipping and sucking as he worked his way down to my breast.
Lust exploded in a blaze deep in my core. I wanted him now. Hard and fast. With my mind unable to firm words of what I wanted, I stroked him from tip to base, harder and firmer. He swelled in my hand. Somehow his cock even bigger than before. My gasps echoing in the shower as he sucked my breast, his finger stroking my clit. Arousal zapped through me and I ground my hips forward. Trying to lead him into me. To ease this ache inside me that only he, right now, could fill.
“Is this what you want?” he asked, slipping a finger in and out of me.
I moaned. While his fingers worked magic, bringing me so close to orgasm I wanted to whimper, it wasn’t enough. I wanted so much more. I opened my mouth to answer, to demand what I wanted, when he suckled my other breast and dipped two fingers into me.
Involuntary, my back arched, giving him better access to my body. My hands slipped from his erection and I thrust my fingers into his dark hair. Holding on as his thumb grazing against my clit while three fingers now pumped in and out of me.
A strangled cry erupted from my lips as I rocked my hips back and forth. As good as he was making me feel, I had to have him inside me, filling me all the way.
The water sprayed across my body, turning my nipples taut as the heat built inside me to a raging volcano.
“Now, please,” I mewled, bucking against his hand.
Finn slid his fingers from me and I gasped at the loss. My body quaked with need. Wanting him back. However, I could have him. I hated being needy. Hated begging. But I was on fire. Every inch of me drawn and ready to spring into an orgasm. I was so damn close.
I moved to let the water shoot between my legs, but he pressed me back to the wall. His hands grasped my ass as he lifted me. I grasped onto his shoulders, wrapping my legs around his hips.
He plowed into me. Just like I wanted. Fast and hard. My body was so slick with desire that even the water couldn’t wash away.
My climax tripled as I orgasmed again and again and again while he pumped into me. His growl of pleasure making my body turn to Jell-O. He reached between us, stroking the fire again.
I gasped as another wave flooded me. Finn bellowed his release, then placed his forehead to mine. Our breaths mingled.
Slowly, I unwrapped my legs from his hips.
With a sigh, he let go of my ass, helping me steady myself on my wobbly feet. A look of satisfaction filled his face. And for once since meeting him, I had no desire to see it fade any time soon.
Chapter 15
“Hmm…That was better than chocolate.” Finn pulled away from me.
“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” I teased. “You’re talking about my sweet addiction.”
He growled. “Me. That’s what I want you to crave. To lust after. To cum like you did for me.”
So Mr. Bad Boy had a sensitive ego, did he? I pursed my lips. Then shook my head. “Nope, I’d say chocolate is way tastier and delicious. Guess you’ll have to try harder next time.”
He placed his arm against the shower exit, blocking my path. With his free hand, he traced a lazy finger down my arm, making me shiver in want. “I’ve all the time in the world then. Ready for round two?”
As much as I did want him again, I had to find killers and I’d wasted too much time already. “Sorry, I’ve got other things to take care of.”
“Like Patrick?” He moved closer. His body crowding mine. “Guess it is his turn now.”
“Jealous?” I gazed up into his dark eyes.
“Not in the least.” But the muscle in his jaw twitched. “We share the threads…we can share women too.”
“I’m not just a woman.” I traced the muscles across his chest before shoving him away. “I’m a reaper, remember?”
Before he could stop me, I ducked out of the shower. The cool air hitting my skin and my teeth chatted. I toweled off, then put on the underwear, jeans and T-shirt that laid on the counter. Wasn’t even going to ask how Finn knew my sizes or where the clothes came from. I was thankful I was clean.
A knock sounded on the door and I jumped.
“Who is it?” I asked, strolling forward.
David pushed open the door with his face flushed and wearing a scowl. “You summoned me?”
“Yes. I have some questions.” I swallowed back the fear that tickled the back of my throat. “You’ve access to the past.”
“Yeah, so?” He leaned against the door frame.
“Then you know who my killers are.”
“No, I don’t.” His scowl deepened.
I tossed up my hands. “How can you not? You’re the fate that holds the past. How can you not know?”
In three seconds, he towered over me. “Do you think I’m hiding something from you, reaper? That I don’t want to bring those remaining eleven to justice?”
I crossed my arms, refusing to back down. “Yes, because you don’t want me to get out of this…profession. And my name is Rebecca, not reaper.”
His eyes narrowed. “I told you, I’ve been trying to stop these twelve and haven’t been able to for months. Do you think I enjoy seeing the deaths of those women and yours play over and over in my head knowing there’s not a fucking thing I can do to stop it?”
“Then explain how you know all this, but not who killed them.”
“I don’t know.” He raked a hand through his hair, backing away from me.
“Does it have something to do with demons? Like that black slime that came from Emily when she died?”
He spun, his face paling. “There is a forbidden ritual to hide identities from gods. But even Nyx would be blind.”
“Who’s Nyx?” My jealousy spiked. It shouldn’t matter to me if David or his cousins were involved with other
women. I had no hold on them even though I’d had sex with two of them.
“Our great-grandmother. The goddess of the night.”
“Wow. Okay, so how do we counter this ritual then?”
He glanced away. “I don’t know.”
“What? I know you’re lying.”
“He’s not lying, he just doesn’t want to tell you,” Finn said behind me.
I spun, my mouth going dry at seeing him standing there with a towel draped over his hips, his hair still wet from the shower and little droplets sliding down his muscles.
“The blood and life of a reaper,” Finn said.
* * *
My head swam with Finn’s words. “I’m already dead. How could the ritual we need to do take my life?”
“You’re undead. Your spirit is still very much alive,” David said. “Doing this would grant us the ability to see who has been killing these women…and you. But your soul would be gone. There would be nothing left of you here or anywhere.”
Of course. Nothing, since I’d died, had been easy. “Is there anything else we can do?”
“Not at the risk of your life.” Finn came up beside me still wearing that damn towel. The memory of our sex in the shower replayed in my mind, but I pushed my libido down.
“Fine. Let’s go over what we do know. There are eleven members left of men and women.” I counted off on my fingers as I spoke. “Emily was one of them and had some weird possession thing going. Their coven, or whoever the hell they are, preformed some fate-blocking ritual that even a goddess of the night can’t penetrate. Who is that powerful? I mean is there demon or deity that could do that?”
David frowned, rubbing his chin. “Not sure. Even Zeus was afraid of Nyx.”
“Why?” I asked, interested in learning more about their history.
“She was more powerful and older than him. Even the gods weren’t able to escape the Moirae .”
“Who?” I looked from David to Finn.
“Her children. The fates…fate.” Finn nodded. “Some people have looked at us as evil. Death incarnate ready to cut the threads of mortals and gods alike. But it’s not like that. We don’t have hatred or evil in us. Just practical mathematics. If there was no death, if everyone lived forever, there would be chaos. The earth would become overcrowded. Wars, Famine, Disease would run rampant. I hate issuing the cutting of an infant’s thread as much as I do someone who has lived over a hundred years, yet I know it is necessary. I know that those individuals if they lived a good life, will have eternity in the next one. I know that innocent babes and children will play and laugh in the Elysian Fields. That they will be reunited with their loved ones. Earth—mortal life—is a temporary shell.”
“It’s still horribly hard on the loved ones who remain. The ones who grieve.” Like my own family. I took a shuddering breath. “Alright, so who could block you guys and Nyx? Who is above her in the pantheon?”
Both David and Finn looked at each other with worried expressions.
“What?” Goosebumps danced down my arms.
They hesitated like neither one wanted to say it.
“Tell me,” I demanded. “Whatever it is, I can take it.”
“Not this,” Patrick said from the doorway. “What my cousins don’t want to tell you is that the only one who could do what you’re suggesting is Chaos.”
Chapter 16
“There’s a god of chaos?” I asked, not liking the implications at all.
“Not exactly. More like before anything, there was Chaos.” Patrick stepped forward, joining our circle. “Out of him was birthed Nyx and others. He’s more like a force than a god or anything.”
I took a breath. “Okay, so how do we stop him. How do we remove his binding so we can find out the eleven other killers?”
“That is the million-dollar question,” David smirked. “If I knew that, we wouldn’t be here right now. Everything would’ve already been taken care of with the guilty jailed or dead. Probably a mixture of both.”
Another thought hit me. “What about Emily and her possession? Was that from Chaos?”
David shook his head. “We don’t know. No one has ever invoked Chaos before like this.”
“Well then,” I rubbed my hands down my jeans, my left forearm with my scythe tingling, “Let’s call down Chaos to have a little chat.”
“It’s not that simple.” Patrick’s brow pinched. “Even Nyx wouldn’t mess with it.”
“I’m not Nyx, but I’m not going to sit around here and do nothing while my fate is sealed as a reaper.”
A hurt look filtered through their faces and I felt like an utter ass.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean any offense to you guys.” But I couldn’t stay a reaper. Couldn’t take the lives of both the guilty and the innocent, of both the young and the old. I never asked for this and I didn’t want it. I wanted my life back—or at least not have to sever people’s souls from their bodies. Each swipe would kill me. It would eat at my spirit until I was nothing left but a hallow death demon who relished in pain. Nope. Not happening. Not now, not ever.
Patrick shifted from foot to foot. “It’s okay, we understand. None of us asked to carry the weight of our heritage and become the fates either. But no one can escape their destiny.”
I glanced away, because that’s exactly what I intended to do.
* * *
Two hours later, my eyes were going blurry reading through all the ancient books on mythology and Chaos in their library. Apparently, one perk of being dead, was I could read and understand all languages. Where was this ability when I flunked Latin?
Patrick set a sandwich and glass of wine in front of me. “Eat.”
“I thought I didn’t need food in the underworld.”
“No, you need substance. Either food and drink or reaping souls—which you’ve only done one—or sex.”
I licked my lips at the last word. “So you’re saying if I did nothing but have sex once-ish a day, I wouldn’t need anything else?”
His grin made my breath hitch. “Not exactly. You’re a reaper. Eventually, you’ll need to reap souls. The longer you don’t the weaker you will become.”
He nodded to his offering. “This will help for a small time. Sex even more so. But it won’t hold off the inevitable forever. The longer you wait to reap, the more your power will chip away at your lifeforce until there’s nothing left.”
I took a huge swallow of the wine. My throat suddenly feeling dry and tight. This afterlife had rules that I didn’t agree with, just like my mortal life. But there had to be a way around all of this. Where I didn’t have to be a reaper and do the requirements of the job. That I could live in peace without having to worry about hurting anyone.
“Thanks.” I picked up the sandwich and had a huge bite. “Where’d the food and wine come from?”
“We have food and drink here.” He sat down across from me. “Haven’t you heard of Persephone eating the fruit of the underworld and getting trapped in Tartarus by Hades for six months for each seed she ate?”
“Nope.” I took another bite of the sandwich that tasted like a perfectly cooked roast beef sandwich and gestured for him to continue.
“Do they not teach mythology at all anymore?” His face fell.
“Sorry, they do, but I was out on a family trip that week.” I shrugged. “We had to go to Mexico for a reunion and to celebrate Día de Muertos…The Day of the Dead. My teacher didn’t think I needed the information and let me slide without doing the assignments or homework.”
“That’s outrageous.” His face flushed.
I reached out and touched his knee. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m taking a crash course now. And I looking back, I really do wish I had been able to learn all this then.”
He placed his hand over mine and a spark of electricity jumped up my arm. I couldn’t stop staring at his mouth with his full lips. His sweet smile.
“Rebecca.”
My name on his lips had me coming undone as p
leasure danced across my skin and pooled in my core. His eyes darkened, filling with lust and need and yearning for me that I was drawn to him like a magnet. Heat so hot I thought I’d be scorched from the inside out pulsed between my thighs. My breasts ached, growing heavy and wanting his touch.
I moved closer to him, leaning in. His lips brushed across mine and I sighed. I wanted more, so much more.
I climbed into his lap, trailing my tongue across the seam of his lips. When he opened for me, I moaned. He tasted like spring rain. Like full, blossoming berries that were so sweet and full. Our kiss stroked my heat to an inferno. All thoughts fleeing from my mind except right here, right now and Patrick.
His hands grasped my waist. I wiggled forward, wanting to get closer to him. When he still kissed me and didn’t move his hands, I pulled back.
“Wha—” his voice was husky, deep.
I yanked off my shirt, then tugged at his. Patrick was too much the gentleman to ravish me like David and Finn had done. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want him any less.
As though my actions were his approval to let loose, he pulled me closer. His fingers tweaked my nipples through my bra, before he grumbled and fiddled with the clasp in the back.
“Can they not make a bra that unlatches easier in all this time?” he asked.
I laughed, reaching back and unhooking it myself. When I dropped the bra beside us, Patrick lavished one breast with his hot mouth and then the other. I clutched his hair, not wanting to stop. Wanting to feel him deep inside me. Wanting to quench this ache that pulsed with every beat of my heart stronger and stronger.
“We can stop, if you want.” His breath was cool against my skin.
I quivered, not able to answer him. If we stopped, I’d implode and not in a good way. I lift myself partially, unzipping my pants. His hungry gaze watching my every move. Then I stood, easing off him and shimmied out of my jeans then underwear.
He sucked in a breath and I smiled.
“Your turn.” I gestured to him.
But instead of obliging me, he hauled me down on top of him. His tongue circled my nipple before sucking harder. I ground myself down on him and gasped as I felt flesh rather than his pants.
