The humor that crossed his features sped up her already erratic pulse.
She exhaled hard, but couldn’t control the singing energy flowing through her veins.
This wasn’t adrenaline. This wasn’t happening because they’d survived some Arch-demon attack or because a bounty hunter had come to collect. She’d fallen in love with him. A demon. But Grayson was more human than any other man she’d met. He’d resurrected a piece of her she believed long dead: hope. She couldn’t thank him enough.
And now he was hers.
Nika ran her hands through his thick, brown hair. “Let’s never move from this spot. Forget about the Old Ones, about demons and angels, and the fact I’ve become one of them, and just stay here.”
“Sounds good to me.” His exhales came in short bursts. Good. He deserved a run for his money. “But so does burying myself in you until neither of us can move.”
“There’s just one thing we have to do first.” Smiling, she leveraged her hands against his chest and forced him to meet her gaze. She’d fought the monster inside in vain. Because with this power, she could give him everything. Placing one hand over his heart, she closed her eyes and focused on the one thing he needed from her the most. The empty space where his soul should’ve resided materialized in her mind easily. Throbbing like a fresh wound, it ached for completion just as she had her entire life. She visualized that space filling with what belonged to him, with what gave him life.
Grayson’s sharp inhale ripped her eyes open.
“Oh, God. It’s been so long since I’ve had a soul, I almost forgot what it felt like.” He crushed his lips against hers without warning, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. The combination of earth and wood consumed her attention, but she allowed herself to drown in it. He broke their kiss and stared down at her. “Thank you. I feel...whole. And closer to you than ever.” He swept a piece of her hair off her forehead. “I don’t know where I’d be without you, Nika. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Genuine elation spread through her system as she returned his smile. He’d been sent to kill her by the Deceiver, but Veranika would destroy Heaven and Hell before she let anyone rip them apart again. She lifted her lips to his with a quick nip on his bottom lip. “We have a lot of work to do to make up for the Deceiver’s reign of evil.”
“Yes, we do.” Grayson set his forehead against hers as he slid his hand down her side. “But let’s take this new body of yours for a little spin first, shall we?”
Epilogue
Two days later…
As long as her target insisted on knocking on the devil’s door, she might as well invite him in.
Soft, echoing thumps reverberated down the corridor and through her nervous system as Nika pushed a piece of fogged plastic out of her way. Salt and humidity climbed deep down into her lungs. The sound of lapping waves of the Hudson crested and receded through the warehouse’s open windows. An attempt to vent the scent of fresh blood? Didn’t work. The assault of copper had washed over her the second she’d slipped inside.
Yet, somehow, Martin Henderson had avoided arrest all this time.
She maneuvered the last piece of butcher’s plastic aside, this one coated with more than dirt as she neared the killer’s workstation. A massive table separated them, but she picked out each and every detail of his features easily enough. Receding hairline, sharp, angled eyebrows. The gray in his thick beard put him over fifty, even closer to sixty, but the muscles tightening and releasing with each swing of the butcher’s clever revealed strength. Enough to overpower his victims. Deep lines closed in around dark eyes and hollow cheeks. Nothing like she’d imagined when the reports first crossed the news. He’d obviously used his age to his advantage. Clever man.
“You know bleach doesn’t get rid of blood evidence, don’t you?” she asked.
Those dark eyes shot up, locking on her. His fingers tightened around the cleaver in his hand as every muscle in his body tensed. Two deep breaths. Three. Shock drained from his expression. She’d already seen his handiwork and could almost read his thoughts calculating how best to get rid of her. “How’d you get in here?”
“I always thought you were smarter than that.” She leveraged her weight against the table, careful not to touch the blood of his most recent victim. Surveying the mess in front of her, she nodded. “Guess we gave you too much credit.”
The cleaver glinted with the florescent light overhead as he shifted away from the table. More space to attack. Cute. “Who the hell are you?”
“You’ll figure that out soon enough.” She locked her gaze on the man who’d destroyed so many lives. The evidence didn’t just sit right in front of her, it reflected in the depths of those corrupted eyes. They had him.
A rush of familiar energy filtered through her system. Hot. Wild. The demon closed in on her, but not maliciously. He’d never hurt her. “Instead of asking me all these questions, what you should be doing is begging me to spare your life.”
Confusion contorted Martin’s features. “What?”
Her private bodyguard emerged through the plastic to her left. No FBI jacket. No dress slacks. Just the demon she’d handed her soul. Her heart rate picked up at the sight of Grayson. Her mate. Would that ever change? She hoped not. Tension raced across his shoulders as he stepped toward their first target in a long line of ignored evil they intended to correct. His own killer. “Remember me?”
Martin’s eyes widened. He stumbled back, the cleaver a mere instrument in his hand instead of a weapon. “It’s not possible. I…killed you. I—”
“That’s right, Martin.” Nika rounded the other side of the table, leather body armor protesting with every step, and closed off any chance of his escape. “Time for the Warehouse Butcher and so many others like you to answer for your sins.”
THE END
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I want to thank my baby daddy for supporting me every step of the way. This book did not come without some missteps and disappointments, but he stayed strong and never second-guessed my goals. Love you, babe.
As always, Zoe Forward, Susannah Scott, and Layna Pimentel deserve the utmost gratitude for keeping my career moving forward, keeping me motivated, offering advice and feedback, and so much more. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you ladies and I don’t want to imagine a career without you on my side.
Next, a huge thank you to the editors who helped get this story in shape (even though I self-published it!) Libby Murphy from Carina Press is without a doubt the bomb and Candace Havens from Entangled Publishing gave me everything I needed to make this book work. Thank you, ladies!
And as for you, thank you, dear friend. You keep the stories coming and I wouldn’t be able to do what I love without you.
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His Seductive Target (Afterlife, #2) Page 22
