Page 33 of Reaper
Liv swallowed, hard, before she took Ara’s hands in hers.“Do you…would you mind if I draw a small amount of blood?”
“Was that what you were worried about?” Ara asked.
When Liv nodded and happened a glance at Ara’s arms, the guilt and the pain shown on Liv’s face.She had discovered that some of her colleagues were using biological weapons to kill immortals and had done her best to stop them from killing again, but she never believed that Standard would hurt humans.
Ara laughed and hugged Liv again, a quick squeeze, before she rolled the sleeve up on her right arm.
“You’re a sweetheart.I’ve had success with this vein before.”
Ara pointed at the spot that hadn’t been damaged, and Reaper’s growl erupted past his throat before he could stop himself.Ara reached for his hand, and when he felt her cool palm in his, he relaxed a fraction.
He couldn’t even bring himself to watch as Liv inserted the needle.Instead, he glanced at Ara’s face, but she didn’t even flinch or tighten her grasp on his hand, choosing to watch Liv instead with a steady gaze.Within moments, the needle had been withdrawn and a round bandage covered the area.
“Thank you for making it painless,” Ara said.
Liv squeezed her hand before she turned toward her equipment with the samples for testing.
He heard before he spotted the others as they walked down to the lab.Xander was the first down, and when he spotted Ara on the table, he headed straight for her.
“Are you okay?” Xander’s voice was filled with concern.
“I really am,” she told all of them.
“Hey, can I take you on my next assignment?I won’t even have to get close to the target with your powers,” Ax asked.
Reaper’s arm shot out and he punched the lion-shifter in the arm, satisfied that he hit him hard enough that he spotted the wince on Ax’s face.He laughed when the lion-shifter rubbed the spot where the hit landed.
“Don’t be an asshole.”
“He’s not quite there—he hasn’t turned on the full Ax charm yet,” Jade said.
“Don’t give him ideas,” Reaper growled.
Another punch landed in Ax’s gut when he raised his arm to loop it over Ara’s shoulders.This time the hit didn’t have the same intensity, and soon, the fucker had Ara wrapped up in a tight hug.Ara’s laughter was the one reason he didn’t kill the shifter, and he managed to restrain himself.Barely.
He watched the scene in front of him, his arms crossed and his hip cocked against the table that Ara had vacated.With him and his friends, she relaxed and enjoyed the banter, joining in whenever she wanted to.He liked that she was part of the family, and she would never be alone again.
When he’d first been recruited by Ghost, he enjoyed long stretches where he could be alone.But soon the camaraderie he’d shared with the others drew him out and he found a place where he belonged.Because of the acceptance he’d felt over the years, it had been an easy decision to build his house in Snowfall.But the picture of his life was now complete because Ara was his, and the restlessness he hadn’t known existed before he’d met her had settled into happiness.
A movement brought him back to the present.“What is it?”
Liv glanced at the slide again, and when she lifted her head, her wide-eyed look gave him pause.“I found the HMGA2 gene in Ara’s blood work.”
Reaper reached for Ara and found her closer than he realized.He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her back to his chest as he laid his chin on her head.He relaxed his tense muscles, not wanting to alert Ara to his concern, and turned his attention back to Liv.
“The gene helps regulate cell growth and it’s correlated with increased IQ and higher brain output.I don’t have your original blood work, but I suspect that whatever they injected you with bonded with the gene already present, and increased your powers tenfold.I believe that healing is part of that new power.Because of the increase in brainpower, you can manipulate anything physical you want to.That’s why you were able to boil the man’s blood without touching him,” Liv said.
The fuckers had increased her natural-born powers.He almost laughed out loud at the irony.
“That’s the reason he wants her back.She was able to shield herself where she couldn’t before, and now he understands that her power has increased,” Reaper said.
“Which means that the gunman isn’t the only one coming after her.”Ghost had a calculated look on his face, and before Reaper could even ask him what he planned to do, Ghost had already run up the stairs.
Ara turned to him and with one look, he understood what she wanted.
“I need all of you to train Ara.Today we’ll start with evasion.You will try to get a hand on Ara, but if one of you hurts her…”
Jade was the first to speak.“We won’t.”
