Shade

by Daun, Cassa

  With an easy smile, I ran my hands down my body, loving how he made me feel contented, satisfied … and loved. “You are incredible.” I grabbed hold of his hands and tugged him. He let himself fall down over me, his lips a breath from mine, our bodies still joined. “I loved getting lost with you.”

  4

  “Don’t leave without me,” Shade said from his open walk-in shower as I finished pulling on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt he’d brought from my apartment.

  I released my hair from the topknot I’d fastened when I’d joined him for a quick wash then looked at him. He was turned, his ass on full display as he held his arms up—one hand pressed to the marbled tile while the other rinsed his hair. Water splashed down, running over his soapy skin.

  It had been so tempting to go another round with him when we were wet, when he washed my body, when his cock hardened again and pressed against my backside. But we knew the others wanted to talk.

  I took a deep breath and shivered.

  He groaned loudly. “Oh, Misha, I will take you again. They will wait.”

  I chuckled when I heard him do the same then moved back to into the bedroom so I wouldn’t have another reaction to his gorgeous body.

  A minute later, after I’d folded and organized my things and placed them on his dresser—since stuff had gotten strewn around the bed—he walked out of his bathroom, pulling up his jeans and running a hand through his hair.

  “All right, let’s go find out what’s up,” he said, then planted a kiss on my neck before guiding me out into the hallway.

  The others were in the living room and looked up when we entered.

  Shade cleared his throat. “Sorry about the wait. What’s going on?”

  “‘Bout time,” Ash commented. He stood in front of one of the tall windows, staring out over the backyard.

  Blood smiled from the armchair beside the fireplace, a book in his lap. And Bone chuckled lightly as he leaned farther into the couch, his arm draped over the back. His eyes caught mine and his hand patted the cushion beside him.

  I thought it all would be awkward. It actually wasn’t. Even though it was a little humorous, they all seemed perfectly at ease with knowing what we’d been doing. Well, maybe not Ash. He seemed pissed, but really his reaction felt more about us having wasted his time. Shade touched my fingers with his, almost as a send-off as I walked to Bone. I could have sat wherever I wanted—maybe in a chair of my own—but I knew the couch was comfy, and frankly, I wanted to be close to him.

  Settling in beside him, I was immediately immersed—by his scent, by his size. One arm remained on the back of the couch behind me while his other hand took hold of mine, threading our fingers and resting them on his thigh as he leaned in and kissed my cheek. The hand in back moved my hair off my neck, and he looked over my puncture wound then turned his attention to Shade. “We found a few Outcasts before daybreak. Nothing seemed out of sort. I didn’t make it to Purgatory before closing, so I’ll have to go back tonight to scope things … talk to Dani.”

  “And more Wraiths are straying,” Ash said, turning around to face us. He reached up and tucked one side of his chin-length hair behind an ear then straddled the arm of the leather chair at his side. “Blood and I were busy all night and this morning keeping them on task. She’s the only logical reason for this mess. We need to find out what’s happening, why they’re reacting to her. It could be linked to why Tucker exploded after drinking her blood.”

  “How about you quit insulting her and at least acknowledge that she’s in the same room,” Shade said, uncrossing his arms and pushing off of the fireplace where he had been leaning.

  I gaped. Shade was mad. Sure, Ash was still being a dick about the whole thing, but he wasn’t as bad as before last night, before I helped Blood.

  “Shade,” Bone warned.

  “I’m just—” Ash started.

  “No, man, you aren’t ‘just’ anything.” Blood spoke up, causing Shade to settle back against the wall. “We get it. Our normal routine is fucked up right now. But it’s been so easy for you to think about yourself, about us. Why don’t you think about what Misha’s going through for a second. Up until the other day, she didn’t know any of this. She was shoved into this situation and is handling it better than most would. We are lucky to have her, lucky to be protecting her.”

  I stared at him, wide-eyed. He quirked a smile, his facial hair catching the light and glinting with the movement. I wouldn’t have expected him to say anything, especially after he’d taken a silver bullet for me, a hexed one that had almost killed him. He was also the quieter one of the group.

  “I’m sorry … Misha. I’m sure this has been a big change for you. My intention was to discuss our plan of action. I should have thought better about how to address the circumstances.”

  “It’s fine. Really. I know you are all dealing with so much, and I’m truly sorry for that. I wish there were other ways I could help.”

  “Ash is right, though,” Bone said. “We need information. What happened to Tucker isn’t normal. The other vampires might know more, that’s why it’s important to talk with Dani. Also, to be sure no one believed his story if he did tell anyone. And the Wraiths … We need to find out if it involves you for certain. Any Favored can control them. It’s possible that others could be in our area causing the disturbance. We’ll look into that too, but it is a good idea to have you see a psychic to cover our bases. Especially since we haven’t been able to read your soul—”

  “I did,” Shade said and all of us looked at him. “A bit.” He smiled at me.

  I raised my brows curiously and returned his smile, knowing the reason he hadn’t told me was because we’d been rather busy. I bit my lip, recalling our connection, and he did the same.

  “And?” Bone asked, squeezing my fingers lightly before releasing to run his palm over my forearm.

  “The feeling was …” He paused with a long blink and a deep breath. “Misha’s soul is fucking beautiful, blindingly so, as you know. But I was able to dig deeper, and I saw the Mark he left.”

  “I thought I might have seen it too,” Blood said. “I wasn’t positive, though, given the shape I’d been in.”

  “Anything else?” Bone said, shifting his focus back to Shade. His finger started to draw a circle on my arm. It calmed me—his touch, his habit.

  “He was there, too. The sight of him, her feeling to him, in a place of comfort with a light.”

  “The playground,” I whispered and saw Bone’s face turn to look at me curiously. “I … uh. I dreamed of him last night. I thought he was one of you, somewhere between human and Reaper. But then I realized it wasn’t any of you. It was him, standing beneath the light post at the playground where I died. He was fully cloaked, surrounded by clouds, and had a scythe.”

  “Is that all you remember?” Ash asked.

  “Yeah, that was all.”

  “That wasn’t just a dream,” Blood said. “Otherwise Shade wouldn’t have seen it. Souls only project actual experiences to us.”

  “So that’s something a little closer,” Bone said, moving his hand from behind the couch to the back of my neck, running his fingers through my hair, against my skin. “Maybe the more we connect with her, the more we’ll see.”

  “Could be possible,” Shade said. “The connections might affect her, affect whatever’s preventing us from reading.”

  “So that’ll help?” I asked, excited for a possible solution, while also liking the idea of connecting more. I couldn’t help it. The feeling was exquisite, and better if it led to answers. I turned to look Bone in the eye. “You all could just touch my soul more.”

  “You know I’m all in with that idea, but there are limits. We can’t connect too much, too often. I told you your soul doesn’t need rest, but your body does. You could get fatigued … or worse. You are getting more accustomed to it, though, since you haven’t passed out like you did that first night.” He lifted an eyebrow and a devilish lopsided smirk.
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  “Ha, ha,” I laughed sarcastically as a cool rush washed over me from simply thinking about Purgatory’s parking lot again.

  Ash sucked in a deep breath while Shade and Blood grunted lightly. Bone groaned and leaned closer, one hand gripping my hair, the other settling high on my thigh. His lips pressed to my cheek. I smiled and lifted my eyes to Shade, whose eyelids looked heavy as he bit his bottom lip. God, these men were sexy as hell and their reactions to me only made me even more aroused. I had no shame in admitting I was attracted to all of them. There was an internal pull, a yearning for them. The need was only growing.

  “It is a good idea,” Ash admitted after clearing his throat. “But we still should take you to a psychic. Searching your mind might be a better option. Possibly result in quicker answers.”

  “He’s right,” Blood added. “The closest is Ms. Tess.”

  “Shade, you know Tess best,” Bone said with a chuckle, still very much attached to my side, his face inches from mine. “Think this will work?”

  Shade laughed and scratched the scruff along his chin. “Yeah, but we can’t all go see her. She won’t respond well to that. I’ll take you Misha.”

  “Blood will drive you both in case another human form is necessary. Ash and I will monitor everything in the vicinity in case we find other scouts. I’m not taking chances after what happened with Tucker.”

  “Wait, what? I thought vampires couldn’t go outside in daylight?”

  Bone’s fingers massaged my neck more. “They have human and vampire scouts. They adopt certain humans—companions—into their families, feed from them, care for them, and use them for daylight interactions. Whatever they need. Shopping, business meetings …”

  “I hadn’t thought about that.” Dumb of me not to have even considered much, but it had been a busy couple of days.

  “Tucker’s scout was a vampire, probably the only one he’d trust with the information. He’d been camped in his blacked-out car all day watching our place from down the road, maybe even since I took you from Purgatory. He saw you leave and reported to Tucker, who tracked down your address while cooped up at home.”

  “Ah,” I said with a sigh, feeling bad again for leaving, for putting myself and them in danger.

  “Hey,” Bone said in a whisper. “No need to go back to last night. I just wanted to fill you in since we haven’t … talked much.” He licked his lips with a smile.

  My mood shifted again. He had such an effect on me. They all did. My heart and soul surged with emotion. Being with them, feeling needed and protected, was so unlike anything I’d experienced, even before Death had Marked me. But this truth was so much more than some lonely girl’s obsession with hot guys and the joy of feeling wanted and accepted. Everything had shifted the moment the Cloaking had lifted from my soul, and it wasn’t as simple as the Mark attracting them to me. I was different. I felt the draw to them, felt how my entire being needed to be near them. The changes the Mark had caused, what had been trapped inside, were now free, and I knew I was meant to be here with these Reapers. My Reapers.

  5

  “Why did Bone say you knew Tess best?” I asked shortly after Shade and I had climbed into the back of the black Yukon—which hadn’t been parked in the garage with their sedans—and Blood had turned us away from the long, winding driveway.

  We’d left right after the meeting in the living room, not wanting to waste any time—or “daylight” as Bone had said. He wanted me back at the house before the proverbial streetlights came on and the vamps came out. None of us objected.

  Shade laughed lightly and popped another mini muffin into his mouth. He’d filled a small bag with muffins and fruit before we’d left, knowing all I’d had for breakfast was a banana, which he’d basically eaten half of.

  I grabbed the bag of food between us and slid across the leather to the center seat beside him, wanting to be closer.

  He lifted his arm up and rested it along the seat back, allowing me to nudge against his side. After chewing his bite, he said, “Well, I’ve been pranking her for years, in both forms. I usually like to show up when she has clients there, just to get under her skin. She has taken measures against me, but it’s all in good fun.”

  “So you weren’t kidding when we were all in Blood’s room last night?”

  “Nope,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But I’ve also helped her with some clients. It’s been a while since any of us have seen her. She’s the best to go to, though. The others are even farther away and most don’t have the same fondness of us Reapers. Being able to see and read disembodied souls—ghosts—who refused to be transported is different than hanging out with the noted bringers of death. Most can feel a certain amount of the hollow coldness—like those people who wouldn’t get close to you after you received Death’s Mark. Others think associating with Reapers can only be bad luck. Can’t say I blame ‘em.”

  “So the souls don’t have to leave with you or the Wraiths? They can stay here? And where is it you take them, anyway?” I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought to ask before. I mean, this was what everyone wanted to know. What happened after.

  He flashed a smile and dug into the food bag on my lap, picking up another muffin. “There’s a feeling in them, of things unsettled. It keeps them tethered here. And on occasion, others get left behind if a Wraith has strayed and we fail to notice. As far as where the souls go, we deliver them to several places. Even we don’t know their final destinations. But we know by reading the soul where to take it.”

  “Ah.” There was still so much I didn’t know, even things I didn’t know about myself. I watched as he ate the muffin, thinking about what the psychic would be able to see. Would she see my death? Would I have to experience it all over again?

  Shade looked down as I absently placed a grape into my mouth. “Are you all right? You aren’t nervous or anything, are you?”

  “Should I be? I’ve never been to a psychic before. I always thought they were scammers. Plus, I never had a real desire to see one. I figured my future was pretty much set to stay the same. And there’s no one I wanted to speak to in the afterlife. So why bother, right? That money was better spent on food and bills.”

  He nodded as I forced a handful of grapes into my mouth and chewed them down. Maybe I was worried. He reached over, but instead of digging into the bag of food, his fingers touched beneath my chin, drawing my eyes up to him again.

  “I’ll be with you. If you’re uncomfortable at all, we’ll leave,” he assured.

  “We can find another way,” Blood agreed from the driver’s seat, catching my eye in the rear-view mirror. The lift in his dark blond brows showed me his concern.

  “Thank you. That means so much. I’ll try my best no matter what. I want to help find out what’s going on. With me. With the Wraiths.”

  “We know,” Shade said, his hand dipping into the bag for another muffin, only this time he held it up to my lips. “You should eat something more than grapes. Here. They’re peach yogurt.”

  When he placed the muffin to my mouth, I opened. He fed me delicately, letting me bite the muffin in half. Even though they were bite-sized, they were still on the large side. After I finished enjoying the next delicious bite, I asked, “So what exactly should I expect? Does she read palms? Cards? Minds?”

  “Hmm,” Shade contemplated. “Whatever she needs, I suppose. She favors hand-to-hand contact when she’s discussing lost relatives with clients.” He chuckled as if he remembered something. “She can’t always speak to everyone’s family, so she relies on her internal Sight to help fill gaps.”

  “So in that aspect, she’s a fraud?”

  “Most have to be, in one form or another,” Blood said. “Others do cold and hot readings, judge a person as soon as they walk in the door or look them up if they’ve set up an appointment in advance.”

  “Like I mentioned before, some psychics Sight is shoddy. She’s better than most others we’ve met, but there are limitations to everything and more
obvious to us than to humans. We see any souls there with her. What we don’t know is the extent of her internal Sight. I’ve been there enough to see when she touched someone, though. There’s no way she can know some of the things she tells them from their appearance or even looking up their information.”

  “So it’s like telepathy. Contact telepathy. Sounds promising,” I replied, feeling a bit more confident in what to expect.

  “Hoping so,” Shade said.

  “Has she ever read any of you?”

  “No, she hasn’t.” His tone dropped, and he glanced up at Blood.

  I stared at him curiously. “But?” It sounded like an unfinished statement. Oh! “Has someone else?”

  Blood was completely silent and still in the front, despite having to drive the Yukon.

  “Yeah,” Shade admitted in almost a whisper. “Ash had a thing with one. Years ago.”

  “Oh.” That was curious information. Maybe it was a reason why Ash was so … cold. I thought about asking, but I could tell they didn’t want to talk about it, knew Shade would likely tell me it wasn’t his place to say, as he had with explaining the others’ interests.

  Shade lifted another muffin to my mouth. His lips parted in the most seductively cute way, attempting to persuade me into opening mine.

  I grinned at him and licked my lips, which received a smile in return and killed all my somber thoughts.

  “Misha, at least one more, okay? It’ll make me feel better to know you have something in your stomach when you see her, just in case you need energy.”

  “Okay, okay,” I replied, still smiling at him. I opened up and watched him focus on my mouth, licking his own lips as if he was tasting it himself. The bite rolled over my tongue, my taste buds triggering at the creamy peach flavor. I chewed thoroughly, still holding Shade’s full attention. “You made these, didn’t you?”

  “Maybe,” he said, quirking an eyebrow.

  “Yes,” Blood called back with a laugh. “He baked them early this morning when we got back.”