Bloodlines: The Reapers Book Three

by Bo Reid

  “What are you talking about, she has killed one person and made it look like an accident,” I pinch the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

  “Oh, Honey, turn on the local news,” she says.

  I motion for Hunter to pass me the remote since Talin has basically been catatonic since Kesden’s visit. He is torn up about the way he treated Morana, and he went straight into FBI mode. Which to be fair is generally his natural setting, but when your girlfriend thrives on murder, it just doesn't end well. Then we got told by some newbie what is wrong with our girl like we didn’t already know. Kesden might have a slightly different point of view, considering he was born into the crime life and seems to be just as homicidal as our girl, but I still don’t appreciate the fucking insight.

  When I turn the TV on, the local news is running a story about another deputy and beloved member of the community showing up dead today. Only this time, he was found tortured, and his throat slit.

  Talin groans and scrubs his hands down his face. He came into our lives in a peculiar way, and he might have known about Morana’s past. He even helped to take out the Fallen Angels MC, but after that, we went ghost — living quiet, seemingly normal lives for the last two years.

  He didn’t have all those years to build into this, but he has had two solid years to get to know Morana; that should be enough. The sad thing is, Kesden was right; if we could change Morana, we all would, and that is not okay.

  I like to believe that I would only change her for her sake, so she didn’t have to bear the burdens that she does. But I’m not even sure if that would be good for her. Maybe I’m more selfish than selfless. Maybe I want to believe I would only do things that benefitted her, but maybe at the end of the day changing who someone is — no matter how good your intentions are — is still sending the message that you don’t like who they are.

  “Tell my girl to call me, and stop pissing her off,” Emma says before I hear the phone shuffle again.

  “Dude, do you understand how hard it is to please a pregnant woman on a day-by-day basis, and here you are fucking shit up with her best goddamn friend? Why do you hate me, Ranger? Why?” Nash grumbles into the phone and I roll my eyes.

  “Believe it or not, Nash, not everything is all about you,” I huff.

  “Pretty sure it is,” he quips, and if he were here, I would punch him in his stupid face.

  “Don’t you have a backup plan to get in touch with her, Mister I-Know-Everything-There-Is-To-Know-About-My-Sister,” I mock.

  “I mean, I could send her a smoke signal,” he deadpans.

  “Dude, you’re seriously telling me right now that you and Morana don’t have some stupid covert way to contact each other when she’s pissed off at us?” I ask in disbelief as I slump into a chair by the window, fingering the blinds to peer into the parking lot.

  I hear Nash snap his fingers and prepare myself for some bullshit, sarcastic comeback — seriously, how did we not see the relation between them sooner? Two sarcastic little fuck heads, I swear.

  “She forgot to take her pink Barbie walkie-talkie when you guys left, and damn it looks like the string on our tin can two-way radio is broken.”

  “I hate you.”

  “Find my sister, fucker. Don’t make me come up there and beat your ass,” he says, and that gets a chuckle from me.

  “Like to see you try.”

  “All jokes aside, Ranger, you need to find her. As much as she likes to think she can rule the world alone, that isn't Sanorah, and there, she isn't the fucking Reaper. I don’t want to think about what could happen to her alone up there, and I know neither do you. The last time we let her be alone, things happened that we can never undo, and Ranger, I can’t fucking lose her again.”

  “I know, man. I know. I’m going to find her, and I’m going to bring her home, I promise,” I sigh into the phone. No more words are spoken; we just sit there and let the silence drift through the line, then I hear the click, and he’s gone.

  “This is all my fault,” Talin says, staring up at the ceiling, feeling bad for himself.

  Hunter slaps him across the chest. “Come on, let's go find her. This is a small town with a single stoplight. She couldn’t have gotten far,” Hunter says, pulling Talin from his slump.

  I wrench open the motel room door and come face to bloody face with the only person on this earth I want to see. Reaching out to her, I pull her into my chest with a thud. Pulling her into the room without letting go of her.

  “What happened to coffee and coming straight back?” I ask softly, and she chuckles against my chest. Hunter comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder, a deep sigh of contentment leaving him.

  “There was like a really long line for coffee,” she says, turning her head and resting it against my chest.

  “Are you okay?” Talin asks, stepping up to her and trailing his hand down her blood-soaked arm.

  “I’m fine,” she says, but her voice is small, and so unlike my girl. I hate it.

  “I’m sorry, Honey. I really am,” Talin says, bowing his head.

  Morana untangles herself from Hunter and me stepping towards Talin. I watch as she reaches for him, but before she can reach him, she drops her hands to her sides, then wraps her arms around herself.

  How Talin reacts to her right now — coated in another man's blood, drenched in red for him to avenge his father's death, to do what she knows he could never bring himself to do — what he does now, will determine their future. I know Morana loves him, so losing him would crush her. Regardless of how he reacts, I know she’s intent on checking off each name on that list of hers, and she will continue on this bloody path for him even if he doesn’t agree. Even if he decides he doesn’t want her anymore.

  When Talin finally looks up and sees our girl, really sees her, he reaches out to her and pulls her into his chest, burying his face in her hair and gripping her tight.

  “I’m sorry, I love you. I don’t want to lose you, I promise to do better,” he whispers as Morana sighs, melting into him.

  “I love you guys,” she whispers, and I can hear the faint crack in her voice.

  Hunter plants a kiss on her head then moves into the bathroom, I hear him start the shower. Talin lifts Morana in his arms and walks her into the bathroom as Hunter comes back out. They close the door, while Hunter and I strip out of our now-bloody clothes.

  “You think she’ll be okay?” he asks me.

  “We’ll make sure she is,” I say.

  Hunter

  I run my hands down Morana’s back as she rests on my chest, trailing her fingers down my side until she hits the scar. Leaning over, she plants a soft kiss on it, then lays back down in my arms, leaving her hand to rest on it.

  “Does it still hurt?” she whispers.

  “Sometimes, but it’s not so bad,” I tell her, pulling her closer to me.

  She sighs, tilting her head to look up at me. I bend down and plant a soft kiss on her forehead.

  My hands run down her sides where I can still feel her own scars, those that are much worse than my own, and yet she doesn’t think twice about them. Her arms are covered in dark ink, her Reapers, one for each of us. Her thighs are covered in an intricate pattern of a dark forest, and blood-soaked flowers — very Alice in Wonderland without the crazy tea party. Her torso and chest, however, to this day remain untouched with ink, and none of us have ever asked why. “Why did you only cover the scars on your arms and legs?” I finally ask the question that's been burning in my mind for over a year.

  "I cover my torso daily with a shirt. My arms and legs, I have to look at constantly. I never intended to have them covered in order to forget what happened…I just don’t need the constant reminder that it did.”

  “Do you still think about it?” I ask softly, running my thumb over one of her thicker scars.

  “Yeah, there is no use in pretending it never happened, I just have to remind myself I’m still here… and he’s not.”
I pull her closer to me, running my hands softly down her body.

  “I used to wonder if I could ever be okay again,” she finally whispers.

  “Used to?” I ask.

  “I realized I didn’t have to worry, because you guys would always make sure I was okay.”

  Chapter 16: Banja

  Aether

  I know I should be more upset that my sister has been in town for seventy-two hours and has already killed two people, but I hold no love for dirty cops. Not when they’re part of the reason I’ve been trapped here. I am upset she seems to have made no move to actually rescue our mother, and now I’m wondering if she is even planning on it.

  I march across the parking lot of their dive motel; I don’t understand why they don’t just stay at the house. Or at Talin’s house since his mother lives here too. Though I’m betting it's Morana being extra stubborn. For someone that holds so much love for a fallen brother and father, she doesn’t seem at all interested in getting close to new family members, myself included.

  As much as I wish I didn’t want to get close to her, I do. At the end of the day, she’s still my older sister, and she has the one thing I have always wanted — a family.

  Reaching up, I pound my fist against their door, stepping back as Hunter pulls it open.

  “Hey, man,” he says with a lazy grin, and gestures for me to come inside.

  “If you’re here to yell at her, turn your ass around. She doesn’t need it,” Ranger growls from his place on the bed, as he ties his boots.

  “Not here to yell at her, but I do have questions.”

  “Such as.”

  “What’s it going to take to get her to find our mother,” I grit out as the bathroom door opens, and Talin steps out in a towel.

  He stops when he sees me, turning around and closing the door. Walking over to the duffle bags on the floor, he pulls out men's clothes, then reaches into another bag for smaller items that must be Morana’s; it's hard to tell when they all only wear black. It's like a goddamn goth parade around them, would it kill them to toss in a pop of color now and then?

  When he catches me staring at him, he waves the clothes in his hand, standing and clutching at his towel. “Didn’t think you would want to see your sister naked,” he says.

  “Yeah, hard pass, bro,” he nods and heads back to the bathroom.

  I take a seat at the table, waiting for the boss to get out of her sex shower. I really shouldn’t call her the boss. I’m sure the title will just go to her head. Sifting through the papers spread out across the table, I note a map of the town. Various plots and homes are marked with a red pen; looking closer, I note the homes seem to belong to most of whom I assume to be the dirty cops.

  “What’s her plan?” I ask, holding up the map.

  “Ask her yourself,” a small voice sounds from across the room as Morana steps into the small space.

  “This would be so much easier back at the house, you know, instead of having five people crammed into this small motel room,” I suggest, but Morana rolls her eyes, and I see Ranger shake his head.

  “By my calculations, there are either three members of the sheriff’s department that aren’t dirty or have figured out how to hide their blood money better than the rest. I say we pay them a visit,” she suggests.

  “What about Mom?” I ask.

  “I’ll get to her eventually,” she grumbles, and I roll my eyes; she is impossible.

  “Fine, let's go talk to the maybe-not-dirty cops,” I say, standing from my spot at the table.

  “You’re coming with us?” she asks, raising both her eyebrows in surprise.

  “Yeah, I’m done waiting around for you to decide to do the right thing. So, if I have to get my hands a little dirty to speed up the process, then I will,” I say, motioning to the door.

  Morana walks over to me and pats me on the cheek as a toothy grin takes over her face. “You’ll make such a pretty monster.”

  Morana

  “Afternoon, gentlemen,” I say as I take the open seat across from the three deputies that probably aren’t dirty.

  “Ma’am,” one of them says, tipping his hat towards me. I watch as the other two glances over my shoulder at the male entourage that followed me inside the small diner.

  “Is there something we can help you with?” one of them asks with a small sneer.

  Oh, at least he has an idea of who I am, goodie.

  “Actually, there is,” I say, smiling. “Here’s the thing boys, I’m going to start strategically taking care of your dirty co-workers and every Shay contact. You’re going to sit here and look real pretty until I’m done. Then I’m going to leave here, never come back, and you’re going to turn this town around. M’kay?” I cock my head to the side and study the horrified looks on their faces.

  “Did you just say you’re going to kill people?”

  I shrug. “Actually, I said, take care of.”

  “I highly doubt taking care of means that you’re going to bake them a casserole.”

  “You never know,” I quip as the bell above the door dings. I study the way the officers in front of me stiffen, their spines going rigid.

  A large hand rests gently on my shoulder, and I hear the scrape of chairs at my back. “Making new friends, Little?” Kesden Shay asks in his deep baritone voice that vibrates through me all the way down to my now-wet pussy. Fuck, what is he doing to me? All these dicks can turn a girl into a real slut.

  “I always like making new friends,” I say, winking at the officers across from me.

  “Enjoy your lunch, boys, and remember our deal,” I say, standing.

  “We didn’t agree to anything,” one of them says, glaring at me.

  “Oh right, I forgot the terms,” I say, leaning forward. “I’m going to take care of all your problems, and you’re going to let me. Because if you don’t, everyone you have ever loved will find themselves at the wrong end of my blade. And you three? Well, you’ll get to watch as the life leaves their eyes, and I reap their souls,” I whisper.

  “Who are you?”

  A smile spreads across my face. “The Reaper.”

  I stand to turn on my heel and walk out, followed by the most rag-tag group of men there ever was. Kesden Shay, someone who should be my enemy, but he’s just as broken as I am. Aether Tyler, my brother. Talin Marks, ex FBI agent. Ranger Hayes and Hunter Miles, my guys, my Reapers. All five of them have just one thing in common; they need me.

  “So, what’s our plan, Little?” Kesden asks as we step out onto the sidewalk.

  “Since when are you involved in any of our plans?” Aether growls. “Your family is the reason I had to drag them here in the first place.”

  I raise my hands to stop them before a fistfight breaks out on the sidewalk, which honestly could be highly entertaining.

  “First of all, I don’t get dragged anywhere. I am here because I wanted to come. Second of all, he,” I motion to Kesden, “is just as crazy as I am. So, if we’re going to take out everyone on my list efficiently, then he’s in.”

  “How can we even trust him,” Aether says, crossing his arms. “You don’t even know him.”

  “I don’t know you either, so why should I trust you?”

  “Fair point,” Aether grumbles.

  Ranger steps up to Kesden’s chest, shoving him back against the diner’s brick wall and stepping fully into his face. “You hurt her, and I’ll be your worst nightmare,” he growls, and Kesden smiles.

  “Sorry, big man, I’m already my own worst nightmare,” Kesden says, patting Ranger’s chest, which just elicits a growl to break free from Ranger.

  “Okay, guys, can we dial back the testosterone just a smidge?” I huff.

  “Pretty Girl, you got something you want to confess?” Hunter asks, raising an eyebrow and nodding towards Kesden.

  “Not really,” I mumble.

  “Oh, come on, Little Miss, don’t tell me you already forgot what it was like to have my hard cock between your thighs,” K
esden smirks, and I roll my eyes.

  Ranger turns around and glares at me. I put my hands up in surrender. “It’s not what you think!” I yell and point at Kesden. “You! Stop insinuating something that didn’t happen happened,” I grit at him.

  “Then what did happen?” Talin asks, stepping forward.

  “He might have kind of, sort of, in a roundabout way helped me torture Bernard,” I shrug, lifting my hand to study my nails.

  “And somehow he got between your thighs at that point?” Hunter asks.

  “Just a little bit! Fully clothed! Nothing really happened,” I huff out. “Can we just move on? I have people to kill!” I yell, throwing my hands in the air.

  Talin rests his hands on my shoulders, massaging the small knots forming from all the stress. Having three boyfriends is really stressful; I think I need more orgasms to deal with them.

  “Okay, guys, we can get back to whatever this is later,” Talin says calmly. Aether huffs his disagreement while Ranger and Hunter glare daggers at a smirking Kesden.

  “There are six of us, why don’t we pair off and take a section of the list and work together to take them all out? We partner up and meet back up in twelve hours, when the list is done,” I suggest.

  “Dibs,” Ranger, Hunter, and Talin all yell at once.

  “Dibs? Dibs on what?” Kesden asks, and now its Ranger’s turn to smirk at him.

  “Being Morana’s partner.”

  Kesden rolls his eyes.

  “Why don’t we all just draw straws,” Aether suggests.

  “Yeah, alright. Short straw gets Morana.”

  “Hey, you could make it sound better; the short straw is always the losing one!” I huff, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “It's only ever winning with you, Love,” Ranger says, kissing my head.