Page 42 of Bound to Death

“I won’t,” I growled. “You—don’t you want to save your friend? You can’t go now. Your soul is all that is needed to bring the end of the world, little raven.”

The dead didn’t speak, so I couldn’t hear her voice, but her smile said enough. She thought I was being ridiculous. Me, the Soul Eater. The Ruler Between Life and Death. And I couldn’t believe how even after she’d left her body, the cheeky woman could taunt me like this. But it was just another reason I refused to lose her. So, I did something I never thought I’d be capable of doing. I begged for her to stay.

“Come with me, Asha.” I sucked in a breath, closing my eyes. “Stay with me, little raven.”

When I opened my eyes, her soul was fucking sparkling. Her smile grew, then she reached out and took my hand before I could snatch it away. Emotions swelled in my chest when Ithought that I’d lost her. I wasn’t given the chance to keep her. And I would never recover.

Who was I without her?

But instead of disappearing, Asha grew solid, and the shadows clinging to my body fled mine for hers. She was wrapped in them. A skin-tight dress formed around her naked body. The hand in mine became solid, weighted, and then before I could gather my wits, she wrapped her arms around me.

I stared down at her, hands eclipsing her pale face while her devastating green eyes lifted to mine. “How?”

She yanked me down, and our lips met in a heated kiss that could’ve lasted for the rest of time and it still wouldn’t have been enough. “I don’t know how I knew, but I just did. If I touched you, I’d be yours.”

I kissed her again, the words gone. All I could do to express the relief, the gratitude, the happiness that rushed through me all at once was to suck her lips and feel her subtle warmth. To inhale her sweet scent. Our tongues twined before I gathered the beauty into my arms and forced her legs to wrap around my waist.

Though it was clear that now her body shared the same attributes as mine, nothing had changed. She was still exactly as gorgeous as she’d always been. Perfect in every way.

And she was all mine.

Epilogue

Asha

My spine curved as Thanatos made his way down my naked body, nipping and sucking several places along the way. His moon eyes shot up to mine before he sunk between mythighs and used his ridiculously long tongue to reach places inside me I didn’t know existed.

I was still getting used to my new body. Or not body. Well, supernatural form, I guess.

“Oh, fuck,” I moaned, his tongue working back and forth while his fingers prodded lower. “You’re not playing fair, asshole. Your ravens—”

“Our ravens,” he corrected, pulling his head away.

I bemoaned the loss of it. “Still feels weird to say it. Can’t believe I somehow became Death, too, when Michael decided it’d be a great idea to stab me with her badass bird sword.”

His laughter tickled my thigh, and I shuddered in response. Brushing his mouth over my skin, he eyed me skeptically. “Even I’m not sure how it all works, but I’d be the first to admit I don’t give a fuck how it happened, only that it did.” He kissed his way down my legs, getting closer to where I throbbed for him, and I stopped the jerk with a hand.

“They said one of the Horsemen found their Counter Soul? Does that mean the end of the world can still happen?” I demanded, relieved when he lifted his head and got to his knees.

Brushing back his dark hair, Thanatos sighed. “It does. They still have time to deliver one of the Counter Souls for the apocalypse. We were wrong about the timeline. There’s still a few months left. Each Horseman has a Counter Soul, and now it’s clear that they’re the only ones who can collect. But you needn’t worry. War is protecting hers. Famine can’t be bothered to find his. And Zelus is…well, Zelus. He’ll be punished for what he did to you, so even if he has, I’ll make it so he can’t ripen and deliver his soul, I promise you, little raven.”

But my gut was never wrong, and it was screaming at me, so I wasn’t listening anymore. Sitting up, I beckoned the shadows to dress me. It was weird that I could do everything he couldnow. So weird. The thoughts of a human with the powers of a goddamn god.

“I need to check on Emily. I don’t know what it is, but something feels off. I just…”

Already next to me, Thanatos peered down at me, not happy to be interrupted.

He hadn’t let me go since the day I died. He’d spent every second drowning me in pleasure—pleasure I didn’t know was possible. It was nothing like the ecstasy I found in my human body. Still, he’d ignored every raven that came calling. He left them to do his—our—duty. I’d come to terms with the fact that Thanatos would happily let the world burn around us, but I had someone I still cared about in danger. Especially if they still had months left to deliver a soul.

“I can take human form like you can, right?” I asked, turning. “She won’t know I…you know…died, right?”

His smile burrowed into my chest. “Right.”

“Good. Let’s just pay her a little visit, and then we’ll team up to thwart the end of the world,” I decided out loud.

Thanatos couldn’t look any less interested. “She’ll die one day. We’ll collect her soul the way we were always meant to. If…should you want her to come here, I could—”

“No. I want her to live a fucking awesome and ridiculously long life, Mr. Killer.” I clicked my tongue at him, crossing my arms. “We’ll take her soul when she’s super old and super ready to go. Not because you guys thought humanity wasn’t worth saving, and not before she’s gotten to destroy every man who crosses her in the courtroom.”

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