Reaper Undone (Deadside Reapers Book 5) Page 4

  I bucked and twisted my hips as the one on top tried to undo the button on my jeans.

  “Get off me. Get the fuck off!” Panic flared in my chest as the button popped open. “No!” Tears blurred my vision, and rage clogged my throat so that my next words were a strangled gasp. “I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you.”

  A growl of rage ripped the air, and the Loup straddling me was torn off. Hot blood splattered my face, and the Loup holding my hands released me with a cry of alarm.

  For a moment, I was paralyzed with relief, but only a moment. I rolled to my feet to face Hunter in wolf form as he padded toward me. He was huge, his coat so dark it ate up the moonlight. In wolf form, his eyes were golden, and right now, they burned with fury. He locked gazes with me, and the admonishment slammed into me, taking me back a step. The impulse to lower my gaze in submission was almost too much, but I held my ground, neck stiff, maintaining eye contact, and then Hunter bared his bloody teeth and turned his attention to the other Loup.

  The rogue bastard had shifted back to wolf form, lips pulled back from fangs in a lethal snarl, and it hit me that this rogue wolf was bigger than Hunter. Powerful haunches prepared to launch him into the air, and terror tore through my chest—terror that Hunter would be hurt—and my Loup surged up, wanting out, wanting to fight to protect my mate.

  The wolves attacked at the same time, connecting in a flurry of fur, claw, and teeth. Blood splattered the ground in crimson patterns that stood out starkly against the snow.

  I fought the urge to jump into the fray, willing my body back up. I’d be in the way. I’d be a distraction, a weakness for Hunter. I had to let him do this.

  And he was winning.

  Smaller but faster, Hunter was more skilled than the rogue. He slashed, twisted, and snapped until he had the bigger wolf pinned to the ground, jaws around his throat.

  The rogue fell still, conceding defeat.

  Golden eyes speared me, alight with triumph, and an answering bloom of euphoria unfurled in my chest. He’d done it. He’d saved me.

  And even though a part of me was whispering that it was because of him I was in this fucking mess in the first place, the bigger part, the Loup in me, was starstruck with gratitude.

  The Loup beneath Hunter whimpered. This was the part Hunter let go, and the other Loup ran off, tail between his legs.

  But instead of releasing him, Hunter ripped out his throat. Blood soaked into the snow. The rogue’s body jerked a few times and then lay still.

  I stared at the dead Loup and then back up at Hunter, torn between berating him and thanking him. This fucker had held me down so his companion could violate me. He’d have violated me too, given the chance. The Loup in me saw that this punishment was fitting, but the human, the one bound in societal norms of trials and judgment by jury, was horrified by this primitive justice.

  Hunter pulled himself to his full four-foot Loup height and padded toward me, slowly, as if afraid I’d take off. But where would I take off to now? There was nowhere to run. A sob caught in my throat, and then movement dragged my attention to the left. My scream shattered the night as a brown blur slammed into Hunter. The two Loups rolled, snapping and snarling, and then two more wolves appeared, both as large as the one Hunter had killed.

  They surged toward Hunter and their companion, ready to join in the attack, three on one.

  “No!” I rushed forward on instinct, landing on the nearest Loup’s back. He swung his body sharply, dislodging me. I sailed through the air, hit a tree, and crumpled to the ground, winded, but only for a second. I was up in a heartbeat, rushing back into the fray.

  Fuck these bastards. Hunter was mine to punish, not theirs.

  Hunter twisted, throwing a Loup off long enough to look my way and growl urgently.

  The message in his eyes was clear.

  Run.

  This was my chance to get away. I could leave Hunter to the mercy of these rogues, so incensed by the death of their comrades, they barely looked my way. I could run, and no one would blame me…No one except me.

  Hunter deserved to pay for what he’d done to me, but I’d be the one meting out the punishment, not these fuckers. Even as I convinced myself this was the reason for the angry buzz in my veins, another voice deep inside urged me to protect him.

  Hunter growled again, rage an inferno in his golden eyes, rage aimed at me for not running. The moment cost him, and he caught a claw to the head. The spot in my solar plexus burst into a thrum like an engine about to catch fire. One of the Loup opened a path across Hunter’s flank, and Hunter’s howl of pain was the ignition I needed.

  A red haze stole my vision, and the Loup surged up, twisting and morphing my limbs. Muscles elongated, and claws burst from my fingertips.

  I was in half shift.

  The realization was a poignant human thought, and then my roar shook the trees, and bloodlust took over. Blood in my mouth, flesh splitting beneath my fingers, the crunch of bone, and the crack of ribs. Copper on the air, pungent and delicious. On and on.

  Attack, attack, attack in a frenzy until there was nothing but blood, fur, and bone.

  I surfaced to find myself facing Hunter, chest heaving in victory.

  He was safe.

  He was alive.

  The adrenaline that had flooded me a moment ago abandoned me in a rush, and my legs buckled. I hit the ground with my knees, vaguely aware of the snow seeping in through the rips in my jeans. My body pulsed as it dropped out of half shift, aching as muscles regained their human form. Darkness edged into my vision.

  I was about to pass out. No. Not here. I couldn’t. I swayed, fighting to stay conscious, and then Hunter’s warm body was up against me, silken fur caressing my cheek as he held me up. He nudged me with his nose, and I grabbed hold of him, sliding my arm around his neck and hauling myself up onto his back with the last of my strength.

  He was solid and safe beneath me, and the darkness retreated a little as his body heat brought mine back to life. I fisted his fur in my hands and gripped with my thighs and then we were moving, and I abandoned myself to the motion and the fact that there was no escape.

  Not tonight.

  Chapter Six

  Cora

  I materialize outside a derelict building on the edge of Necro, and a wave of dizziness hits me. An arm wraps around my waist, and I’m pulled back against a familiar taut body.

  Jasper.

  His lips caress the delicate shell of my ear, breath enticing and warm. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

  I shrug out of his grasp. “Looking for Fee.”

  “How many jumps have you made in the last hour?” he asks, keeping pace with me as I stride toward the dead-looking, crumbling structure.

  “I’ve lost count.”

  “Cora,” he snaps, and grabs hold of my arm to haul me back. “You’re hurting yourself.”

  Once again, I pull free of him. “I can do whatever the fuck I want, Jasper. You may be bound to me, but you don’t get to control my actions.”

  I set off toward the building again, jogging across the empty road and past the husk of a car propped on bricks.

  “She’s not inside,” he calls out.

  I stop and stand, hands on hips. “I need to find her.” I hate the quiver in my voice. The weakness. “Hunter has her.”

  “Her fated mate?”

  “She doesn’t want him.”

  “She might not want him, but maybe she needs him.”

  “Urgh, enough with the cryptic bullshit, Jasper. If you’re here to help, then great; if not, then fuck off and let me get on with my search.”

  He watches me with piercing eyes that make me feel like I’m naked. I fucking hate the way he looks at me as if he can see into my soul. I hate the way he can bring my body to life with his hands and his mouth and his cock. I fucking hate that I’m standing here waiting for him to give me a decision.

  “She’s not in Necro,” he says. “I can’t sense her.”

&
nbsp; “Of course you can’t. Vi put a muter on her. It blocks her reaper power and my connection to her. Why do you think I’m jumping all over the fucking city?”

  He walks casually across the street until he’s standing so close I can smell his minty-fresh breath, and then his hand whips out to grab my throat, not too hard, just tight enough to let me know he means business.

  “Extra nights between your thighs,” he says. “Extra hours with my cock deep inside you.”

  His words make my head swim with carnal memories, and I fucking hate it. I grit my teeth. “If I agree, you’ll help?”

  “Yes. If you agree to the price, I will find your Fee.”

  I close my eyes to maintain my equilibrium. “I’ll pay.” My eyes snap open as something sharp scrapes my neck. My blood is on his nail and dribbling over his finger. “What did you do that for?”

  “Your blood is her blood, and I can use it to find her.” He tips his head to the side. “I’m surprised your witch friend didn’t come up with this solution, she knows you’re Fee’s tulpa…”

  Has Vi deliberately withheld information? My blood boils, and I almost forget about Jasper’s hold on me and his proximity, but he reminds me with his breath on my lips.

  “You’ll stop jumping,” he says against my mouth. “You’ll go back to your Loup friends, and you’ll tell them you have eyes on the streets. You’ll rest and leave this to me. Do you understand?”

  His thumb sweeps along the column of my throat, and my breath hitches traitorously.

  He licks the seam of my mouth, and an unwanted moan rises between us as my mouth parts.

  He sucks on my bottom lip, and I clench my fists to quell a groan of pleasure. “Do you understand?” he repeats.

  “Yes.” My voice is a husky rasp, and I’m desperate for this ordeal to be over.

  He obliges by releasing me, and then he’s gone.

  My hand goes to my throat and then to my mouth, still tingling from his attentions. “Fuck you, Jasper.” I say it out loud, but not too loud, because he might hear and come back.

  I make the jump back to the house and materialize in the kitchen of the Regency Pack house. My legs give out, but before I can grab hold of anything to brace myself, I’m swept off my feet.

  “I got you,” Dean says, his smooth baritone a delight to my ears.

  “Thanks, big guy.” I offer him a cheeky smile, and I swear his cheeks flush.

  Dean sets me down on a high-backed stool carefully, and Bobby places a cup of coffee in front of me.

  “Extra sugar,” he says shyly. “I figure the jumping-about thing takes energy.”

  I give him a grateful smile. “Thanks. You figure right.”

  “Did you find anything?” Grayson asks, straight to the point.

  His hair is mussed, and he smells of the outdoors, plus he’s topless—all abs and shit—which means he’s only just come back from scouring the city himself.

  “No. But Jasper’s on it now. He has eyes on the city. If she’s here, he says he’ll find her.”

  “What kind of eyes?” Dean asks.

  “I didn’t ask, because to be honest, the less I know about Jasper’s goings-on, the better.”

  I gulp the coffee, not caring how hot it is. I need to get my energy levels up because when Jasper comes back with intel, I need to be able to make the jump.

  The doors to the house swing open, and Azazel and Mal enter, looking pissed off.

  They’ve been out scouring Necro and the surrounding areas ever since their meeting with Eldrick. That’s another thing that’s bothering me. Logan, the ex-Rising Pack member, is adamant his intel’s correct—that Eldrick and Hunter are about to make a move to take Necro, and Grayson’s inquiries over the last two weeks back it up.

  It makes sense for Eldrick to be in on Hunter’s plan, but Azazel has a gift for reading people, and if he says Eldrick’s innocent, then he must be. So, what the fuck is going on?

  I look up at Grayson. “Where’s Logan?”

  Grayson’s brows snap together. “He’s not lying. I’d smell it if he was.”

  I roll my eyes. “Yes, yes. I get that. I just need to ask him a few questions. Maybe he knows something else that might be useful, something he might not even realize is crucial.”

  “It’s obvious Hunter’s working alone on this,” Dean says. “If Eldrick is innocent, then it must be all Hunter’s idea.”

  “And he spread the word that Eldrick was working with him, maybe to garner support…” Grayson ponders.

  “Right, so then Hunter goes off and kidnaps his alpha’s daughter at the eleventh hour and blows up his own fucking plan?” I give them all incredulous looks. “Why would he do that? Why throw away all his hard work like that? If Eldrick isn’t on Hunter’s side, it would mean exile or some shit from the pack, right? I doubt Eldrick is going to pat Hunter on the back and forgive this.”

  “Hunter wants Fee,” Grayson says. “And he knows once he has her, Eldrick won’t abandon him. He’ll have to keep him close to keep his daughter safe.”

  “Dammit, hadn’t thought of that.”

  Logan lopes into the house, his body slick with sweat. “We’ve searched the whole of Rising Pack territory and nothing,” he says.

  I fix my gaze on him. “Who told you about Hunter and Eldrick’s plan?”

  “Everyone in the pack knows. It’s all they whisper about.”

  “A rumor. You left on a rumor?”

  His expression hardens. “A rumor that’s been proven to be true.” His gaze flits to Grayson, who nods in agreement. “I want no part of a pack that would seek to crush the Loup’s spirit, and that’s what such a regime will do.”

  I down my coffee. Pack business gives me a headache. “Jasper. Jasper!”

  The air ripples and my personal malevolent spirit appears. “Impatience doesn’t suit you.”

  “Any news?”

  His smile is a warning, sharp and cold. “Summon me again, and I will increase my price, but maybe that’s what you want…”

  My pulse quickens. “You wish.”

  His brow flicks up slightly, calling my bluff. “I will come fetch you when I have a location; in the meantime, I can confirm Fee is not in Necro City.”

  And he vanishes in typical Jasper fashion without a goodbye, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

  “What did he mean?” Dean asks softly. “What price?”

  I shake my head. “It’s nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Nope, from the look on his face, he’s not about to let the topic drop, and I’m steeling myself to knock him back when Vi sweeps into the house.

  I’m still pissed at her, but right now, her entrance is a godsend because all eyes are on her.

  “I have the key to the shackle,” she says. You can tell she’s been crying from the puffy skin under her eyes. She’s meant to hold on to the key and hand it to Hunter once Fee’s mated to him fully. “I got here as fast as I could. There was a meeting, and I had to attend, and I—”

  “Could you do a scrying spell for her?” I blurt out. Mainly because I need to know but also because it keeps Dean’s attention off me.

  Vi stares at me with wide, innocent eyes. “Sorry?”

  “Jasper said you could easily locate Fee with a scrying spell.”

  “Not with the blocker on,” Vi says. “It blocks her reaper signature and kills her connection to you, her tulpa.”

  “What about by using blood?”

  Everyone is listening now. Grayson is especially alert and tense as he waits for her response. Azazel and Mal stand side by side, arms crossed, mouths pressed in thin lines, and if the situation wasn’t so fucked up, I’d be tempted to take a snap of them to show Fee later.

  Vi’s eyes harden. “I know what you’re insinuating, Cora. I know you and Fee share blood, but Hunter wanted something a witch couldn’t trace, and so I added a warping rune to stop a witch from scrying.” Her shoulders sag. “I understand I’ll have to earn your trust again. I underst
and that sorry isn’t enough, but I swear to you I am on your side.” Her words choke off on a sob.

  The anger bleeds out of me. Women in love do crazy things. “I believe you, Vi.”

  She gives me a tentative smile. “Do you think Fee will ever forgive me?”

  I’m all about the honesty. “If Hunter succeeds in his mission, then no, but if we manage to stop him, then yeah, I think with time, she will.”

  Vi takes a shaky breath. “Where are we on the search?”

  “Necro is clean,” Azazel says. “Now, we wait for Jasper to find Fee.”

  “Relying on a malevolent spirit,” Mal drawls. “The world’s gone mad.”

  I don’t care what we have to do and who we have to squeeze for help; I don’t care what price. All I know is if I don’t get my best friend back before Hunter finishes the mating, then I might lose her for good because there is no doubt in my mind that being bound to Hunter will crush my best friend’s spirit.

  I can’t let that happen.

  Chapter Seven

  Fee

  Hunter and I sat at the kitchen table, nursing a glass of whiskey each. Neither of us had spoken since getting back to the cabin. We’d dried off, and now we were here, just sitting and drinking, trapped in a weird bubble of what-the-fuck.

  The effects from the fallout of the adrenaline rush were gone, but the fight-or-flight situation had left me with another problem. The heat was here. A prickling in my blood, and a throbbing in my palms. It was coming, and my time was almost over.

  I needed to stay calm. Calm would control it and slow it down. Ha, who was I kidding? I had no clue if that would work, but I had to try. I wasn’t ready to give up.

  Hunter broke the silence. “It’s not safe here any longer. A rogue pack is prowling this territory. There could be more.”

  “I thought rogues lived solo.”

  “There have been rumors of rogues forming packs for some months now. I didn’t believe it until tonight.” He sipped his whiskey, not looking at me, and that in itself was disconcerting.

  Hunter was the master of penetrating looks and raking stares. He used his obsidian eyes to intimidate. But this worked in my favor. Proximity, eye contact, all that shit might nudge the heat to the next level.