Page 46 of Fearless
I covered the back of his hand with my palm, sliding my fingers through his. “We’re lucky last night’s injuries weren’t any worse. But it could become a life or death situation in a matter of seconds. I need you to understand that.”
“I get it, babe. I do. Thank you for telling me.”
A smile tugged at my own lips that not even my coffee cup could hide. “I think we’re getting better at avoiding this fighting thing.”
He ashed his cigarette butt in his tray with a throaty laugh. “Can’t say I wasn’t tempted to go there.” His eyebrow popped up at me. “I hate being ignored, and we have such good sex after we fight.”
“I’m sure you can find a way to provoke me when the mood strikes you.”
“Maybe.” He leaned toward me, his hand creeping up my thigh. “Being a happy fucking bastard has its perks too, though.”
“Yeah?” I molded my hand to the side of his neck, angling my head for the kiss. “You’re happy with me?”
“As a fucking clam.” His mouth met mine with equal roughness and sweetness, teeth dragging across my lips with his signature bite. Tasting him was such a treat after not kissing him for over a full day. It was over too soon. He pulled away with a sigh. “I’ll be a lot fucking happier in general once this execution is over with.”
I moved our clasped hands to his lap in a small gesture of support. “Can you make it happen quickly?”
He shook his head regretfully. “No, it needs to be just the opposite. I have to drag it out, make it a public spectacle. I need to use him as an example so that no one betrays the Steel Demons again.”
Reaper’s shoulders hunched forward as if carrying out this man’s sentence was a true, physical burden on him. My hands circled his thick, corded forearm, drawing myself closer to place my chin on his shoulder.
How quickly times changed. Over a month ago, I wrote him off as a heartless murderer when I saw him slit a man’s throat right in front of me. Now the lines etched in his face and the faraway look in his eye told me clearly—he did not take killing lightly.
Back then I also would have done anything to save a person’s life, no matter who that person was or what their crimes were. But now, my sympathy laid with the man who held the reaper’s scythe. If allowed to live, people who endangered others and abused the trust of their community would continue to do so. By taking Python’s life, Reaper secured a safer future for his men who had been loyal, their wives, and their children.
And for us.
“Sugar,” Reaper nudged his forehead against mine, “would you believe me if I told you IknewI was doing the right thing? Not because Ifeelit is, but something bigger than me has told me their lives had to end? And it had to be by my hand?”
“Bigger than you?” I repeated. “You mean like someone above you is giving orders on who to kill?”
“Kind of.” His eyes shifted to where Hades snoozed on the floor by his feet. “Not another person, though. Something…bigger than humanity.”
“Like what, some kind of spirit? A god?”
He huffed out a sigh, rubbing his eyes. “It sounds fucking nuts, I know. But I swear to you, every life I’ve ever taken has been for a good reason. Tom and Liza abused that girl you worked with. Razorwire attacked us. People have tried to kill me first, or hurt my sister. The only one that makes no sense to me is—“
“Daren,” I finished for him, cupping his stubbled cheek. “You didn’t kill your brother, my love.”
“I let him die. That’s close enough.”
“There was nothing you could do.” I stroked my thumb across his face. “Human life is fragile. Weapons and wars aren’t what kill us most often, it’s those tiny, single-celled organisms designed to destroy us from inside.”
Reaper turned his head toward my hand to kiss my palm. “Do you believe me, though?”
“That something bigger is at play, instructing you on which lives to take?” I lifted one shoulder. “If I’ve learned one thing from being around you and this guy,” I nudged Hades with my foot, “it’s that anything is possible.”
Eighteen
REAPER
Ileft him at the kitchen table, the man Mari had been kissing, holding, reassuring. Only she could see that side of me—still wrought with guilt over my brother’s death. Still coming to terms with being…something’s instrument of death. I wasn’t sure if I could call it a god or something else. Noelle seemed convinced that was the case, if her supposed dreams from Daren had any merit.
But I left it all behind, downing the rest of my coffee and rising from the table as Death personified. A man awaited my justice and that was the last he would know of me—the instrument that took his life and sent his soul to whatever bleak underworld awaited him.
Hades woke instantly, his four paws tapping over the marble floor and then the sidewalk outside as if he’d been waiting for me to carry out this task.
Mari walked next to me on my other side. She didn’t reach for my hand as she usually did. Perhaps she sensed the change within me.
