Page 1 of Reaper
Chapter One
Reaper
It had been close to a month since he last spotted the curvy brunette who had come to occupy his waking thoughts, and if it weren’t for his flawless memory, he would have thought she had been a figment of his imagination.An emotion he couldn’t pinpoint clawed inside him, a sense that he needed to find her before another danger presented itself.That feeling led him to stand outside a deserted neighborhood, his breath visible against the cold night, at close to midnight.If he didn’t find her soon, he would have to give up his search and go back to work.
Every night since he had lost her trail, he would scout a different neighborhood in the mountain town of Snowfall, Colorado that contained vacation homes, empty because of the off-season, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.He had found evidence of her overnight stay at several, but he hadn’t been able to track her until after she’d left.Although he sensed that he had been getting close, the time he’d spent searching passed with excruciating slowness with no trace of the woman.
Reaper had first spotted her when his team had raided Standard Biotech to rescue several immortals who had been imprisoned, and to his surprise, the make-shift prison also contained…her.
Hell, he didn’t even know her name, but he knew her to be human.
The moment he walked into the glass enclosure that held her and the other prisoners, he smelled her fear.It took him a moment to locate her with her back pressed against the opposite wall, trying to hide in the shadows.A low growl escaped his throat as the guard in the room reached for her arm, wrenching her closer, as he walked backward toward another exit.Reaper took a step toward her, ignoring the insignificant human with the weapon.At his advance, the guard released his hold on her to grip the gun with both hands.Reaper’s mouth twisted into a smile that promised pain.
The guard reached blindly for her the moment he spotted Reaper’s sneer, but she held herself out of his reach, and at that moment he realized that her fear had nothing to do with their raid.Her eyes darted to the door, as if she expected someone to walk in and kill her.Protectiveness swamped him, and that unknown feeling had him wading through his own thoughts, too slow to reach her before another tried.
I got her.Kai started forward.The guard flinched at the quick movement, and he emptied the magazine into the vampire’s chest.Kai grunted in pain, but kept his progress until he reached the woman.Reaching an arm out, Kai gripped the hem of her shirt.Before he could yank her close, the guard smashed the butt of the gun down on Kai’s forearm, breaking several bones and the vampire dropped to the ground.
Reaper darted forward and grabbed the guard by the throat, easily crushing his windpipe, before he tossed him to the side without any further thought.His eyes scanned the area because he expected the woman to be right in front of him, close enough to touch, but when he searched, there was nothing.
Mine!He raged inside his own head, not letting the others know about the fear shivering over him at the thought of her gone.
“Fuck, Kai, can you see her?”
The vampire grunted as he righted himself, bleeding profusely from close to a dozen bullet wounds, but he glanced around and he shook his head, confirming that the woman disappeared.
“I can smell her.I still sense her fear,” Reaper said.
After searching for close to a half hour, Kai hadn’t healed enough to continue, and Reaper had been forced to give up his search for the woman.
They carried Kai back to his house where he could drink from his mate, Liv, and regain his strength, but every instinct inside him told him to keep searching for the missing woman.But without an idea where to start, desperation and hopelessness made his muscles and brain lethargic.
Destiny had given him a second chance later that same night.Liv had been kidnapped by the now dead Dr. Ames, the one who had captured and tortured the immortals.Reaper tried to suppress any thoughts about why they’d captured the human woman and what they might have subjected her to during her captivity.It was the only way he could keep his instincts sharp as they raided the warehouse to save Liv.
While they waited for Ghost’s signal to breach, the familiar scent slammed into him, stealing his breath.The stiffening of his spine alerted Jade, who stood next to him in formation.
What?Jade’s surprised outburst rang in his head.
He looked down and something on his face had alerted Jade to scan their surroundings.The scent of fear lingered in the air, and although the fox shifter understood what it meant, her brows drew down in confusion at the intensity that must’ve shown on his face.
Ghost, the woman is here.Reaper needs to protect her, Jade communicated through their mind link.
Go.We’ll call if we have problems.Ghost’s gruff voice gave him permission.
Reaper didn’t wait; he took off at a run, desperate to reach her before she could be spotted or killed.
As he rounded the corner, what he saw gave him pause.
She stared into the warehouse, her brows angled down in concentration, as she moved her hands through the air.It wasn’t until he looked inside that he fully understood.Dr. Ames had been throwing punches at Liv, striking her face and chest, but something—or someone—slowed his movements enough that the blows were ineffective.When he glanced back at the woman, he knew that she had been the one preventing the fierceness of the hits.
When the understanding struck him, his body stiffened as he processed what it meant for the woman.They kidnapped her because her powers were beyond that of a normal human, and they would kill her before they let that kind of power escape them.A fierce growl broke through before he could hold it back.
The woman whipped around to face him, her eyes wide, as she kept her hands outstretched.A howl of pain sounded from inside, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.At the same moment, the team breached the warehouse; Kai would take care of Liv, so he took a step closer to to the scared woman in front of him.She tensed but didn’t run, and he took that as a sign of progress.Another step, and then another, but when he stood several feet away, he knew not to push it any further, and stopped.
“I’m not going to hurt you, beautiful,” he said.
Her eyes were wary, but she hadn’t moved from the spot since he alerted her to his presence.He could see the exhaustion etched on her face as she leaned against the outside wall of corrugated metal.Although he had a strong desire to sweep her in his arms and keep her safe, he managed to keep his distance.
She looked as though she hadn’t slept in days, maybe even longer.The way the scrubs hung on her malnourished body indicated that she’d lost weight.Although her curvy body tempted him like no other’s had, rage rushed through him at the abuse she must have suffered, and it stole his breath.With his mind ricocheting around desire, protectiveness, and rage, he took a deep, calming breath before trying to convince her to accept his protection.
