Page 119 of Reaper Unhinged
He rolled his forehead against my cheek, and hot tears splashed my collarbone. “We lost you.” His voice was a ragged sigh. “Fuck. We lost you.”
“I felt it.” Azazel gripped me tighter. “The wrenching in my soul. I felt you die.”
“We all did.” Grayson scanned my face as if he couldn’t believe he was seeing it again.
I’d died?
A memory stirred at the back of my mind. I’d died and…Cora…Cora had held me together and brought me back.
Panic flared in my chest. Something had happened. Something to Cora. “Cora! Where’s Cora?”
“I’m here, babe,” Cora said from beyond the wall of muscle that surrounded me. “Alive and kicking. Just letting the guys do their thing.”
Yeah, the guys weren’t letting me go anytime soon, and I wasn’t complaining. My feet didn’t touch the ground, and my chest was kinda aching a little from Azazel’s epic grip, but I didn’t care. Their scent, their heat was like a balm to a soul that felt frazzled and fractured.
I closed my eyes and reveled in the contact, and slowly, increment by increment, Azazel’s grip eased. Mal kissed my cheek and stepped back, and Grayson did the same. But they didn’t go far.
Uri slipped past Grayson and pulled me into a tight hug. His body trembled against mine.
I stroked his back. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”
I was back from…wherever I’d gone. Somewhere…
Uri released me and Azazel to scoop me up and sat on the single-seater with me. Mal and Grayson gravitated toward us, crouching either side of the sofa as if they couldn’t bear to be too far.
“I died…” I said the words out loud to test them, then looked up at Cora, who was leaning against the mantelpiece. “You…came for me?”
“Damn straight I did,” Cora said. “Like fuck was I letting you ride that stinky bus or the over-the-top bike.”
What? My mind was fuzzy. “Bus?”
Cora frowned. “You don’t remember any of it?”
“She’s not supposed to,” Vi said. “No one who returns recalls anything.” Her expression was speculative. “But you do…”
Cora shrugged. “I guess I’m special.” She grinned. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Fee’s okay.”
There was a flash of movement to my left, and my head whipped around in time to watch Hunter stride from the room.
Uri locked gazes with me for a long beat, his ember eyes filled with relief and love, and then, giving me a nod, he headed after Hunter.
“Well.” Missy pressed her hands to her thighs. “That was not fun, and I will not be doing it again, so if someone could take me home, I’d be very grateful.” Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she passed out.
“Shit,” Vi said.
I’d died, which meant Eve’s curse had activated.
Shit indeed.
* * *
I was back.I was alive and my guys were ecstatic. But all I could think about was Lilith and what my dying had done to her. There was no time to revel in the victory of my survival, and not much time to connect with Azazel or Mal, because my dying had made it even more urgent that they get back and fortify Imperium. Still, the guys lingered for a day, taking every moment to touch me, to hold me, to tell me that they loved me. But even just a day was too long for them to stay away from the Underealm.
If Lilith was damaged in some way, Mammon would use that to try and wrest control of the Underealm.
But she wasn’t dead. At least that’s what Azazel said. “I’d know if she was dead. I’d feel it.”
So, that was good news.
