Page 19 of Reaper
Chapter Seven
Reaper
Reaper’s eyes snapped open the moment the heat ebbed from his body, and he found himself in a defensive crouch before he thought about moving.His wide, focused eyes scanned the woods and property that surrounded Kai’s house, watching for any movement that would alert him to danger.
After several seconds, his eyes settled on the man lying prone with no pulse that he could detect, and a Colt M4 discarded next to him.He ignored the firm hands that gripped his shoulders while he assessed more of the situation, pissed that Ara could’ve been hit by the bullets that struck him and the SUV.
Ara.
Did the man get to her?Was she dead?
Through his haze, he spotted Ara in Gunnar’s arms several yards away.Even from that distance, he noticed that her eyes were closed but he watched as her chest rose and fell with steady breaths.He stepped closer to confirm that she was unharmed, and as he scanned her, he blew out a breath.Other than his blood on her hands, she seemed fine.He sank back against the SUV as relief flooded through him.
He closed his eyes to regain his strength and remembered that she spoke to him sometime after he had been struck by the shots.The desperation in her voice became more important than the warmth that spread through his chest.He had wanted to answer her, to reassure her that he would recover, but couldn’t force the words past his throat.He cursed inwardly because although he’d shown her his wolf and answered her questions, he’d neglected to tell her about his healing abilities.
But what bothered him wasn’t the desperation in her voice when she thought him dead, but the way she had described herself as she begged him to stay alive.Knowing about her past made the words hurt worse than the bullets that penetrated his chest.
Each of the assassins had a past, ones they’d forgotten once they’d become immortal.Ghost had found them and had given them each a purpose, a reason to wake up in the morning.Before becoming assassins, their long existence had grown tedious and unfulfilling.Over time the assassins had become as close as any family related by blood, and without their support, Reaper would be lost.
He remembered the sadness in Ara’s eyes when she told them how she watched out for herself throughout her life.The explanation had left him with a better understanding of her, but it also made him want to rage against those who had ignored and abandoned her.The protectiveness that had driven him to find her, despite all the indications that she would rather be left alone, had grown over the last couple of days.Although he couldn’t protect her tonight, he vowed he would be vigilant and never let her come close to harm again.
When he opened his eyes, he gathered his strength and stumbled his way toward Gunnar and Ara.He needed to touch her, to see for himself that she hadn’t been hit by a stray bullet or hurt herself when she passed out.
“She’s okay,” Gunnar reassured him before he placed her into Reaper’s arms.
Reaper mumbled his thanks as he pulled her closer in the cocoon of his arms.Once he caught her familiar scent and sensed her strong heartbeat, he allowed himself to relax a fraction.Voices flared in unison around him, but he concentrated on the steady beat of her pulse.
With the noise that surrounded them, he thought that she would have regained consciousness.Minutes passed and other than her strong vital signs, she hadn’t stirred.His arms started to shake as fear washed over him, his gaze never leaving Ara’s face.He could still hear the loud conversation around him, but one voice carried through the rest.When Reaper glanced up, Kai stood closer to him than he realized.
“What?” Reaper asked.
“Let’s get her inside.Liv will make sure she’s okay.”
Rage and fear shook him to his core, but he willed himself to relax so he wouldn’t hurt her.He grunted his agreement and turned toward the house, making sure that he didn’t jostle Ara in his arms with his long stride.
“Gunnar and Jade, perimeter.Check for other dangers,” Ghost directed somewhere behind him.
He had no idea how long he’d been unconscious but when he awoke, it was without any aftereffects of being shot or losing a copious amount of blood.Each pierce of the bullets that struck him burned and it took all of his concentration to try to reach Ara, but the subsequent strikes that followed had him pinned to the spot.His body had shut down in order to recover from the injuries he sustained, and he cursed his weakness.
His worry grew with each step as he headed toward Liv’s lab.But when he spotted Liv hovering close to the couch, ready to check Ara, he blew out the breath he’d been holding.
He settled Ara on the couch gently, but found that he couldn’t loosen his stiff muscles to move out of the way.Liv, sensing his reluctance to move away from Ara, shoved him into her lab chair and rolled him to the edge of the couch where Ara’s head lay.All the while, he kept Ara’s tiny hand in his.He couldn’t bring himself to sever their connection.
“What happened to her?Was she hit with something I can’t sense?” Reaper asked.
Ghost strolled in the room, a mask of concentration and rage on his face.“No, she killed the man without touching him.We watched as she kneeled over you, mumbling.It stunned the hell out of us when her hands started glowing over your chest and gradually intensified over several minutes.Gunnar caught her as she passed out, and you woke up as soon as the light dimmed.”
Liv had completed her examination of Ara, and when she stood, she had a look of bewilderment on her face.“I think that she healed you.It seems as though it’s the one thing that does deplete her energy.”
Something inside him bloomed at the truth of what Liv had said, and he couldn’t help but stare at Ara in amazement.
When he thought about the powers that lay dormant inside her, it shouldn’t have surprised him that she could heal.He should have suspected it when she reached for Xander earlier, ridding him of his motion sickness.But he’d been savoring her happiness too much to delve into the reason Xander had felt better.
His eyes never left her chest as it rose and fell with deep breaths, and it wasn’t until Liv had slid a needle into his arm to draw blood that he pulled himself out of his thoughts.Liv ignored his protests and proceeded to check his vitals, poking and prodding him until she was satisfied that she had enough to work with, and turned to her lab equipment, giving him a chance to focus back on Ara.For long minutes, they were quiet as he willed Ara to wake.
“Unbelievable,” Liv gasped.
Reaper had no idea what Liv had been talking about, but he was grateful when Kai and the others walked into the room.
