Page 34 of Reaper
They headed up the stairs for the training session—even Liv, who preferred her lab.He watched as Hunter, Xander, Jade, Kane, Gunnar, and Ax had taken positions in a semi-circle around Ara.She tensed for a moment, but shook out her hands to relax her tense muscles.
Reaper’s nerves almost snapped when Kane blurred into action.For just a moment, he thought that she had lost track of the vampire, but when Kane jumped and landed softly behind her, she reacted quickly.
Kane flew across the room with his arms and legs flailing, and landed on the couch.Confusion marred his features as he glanced around to find out how he had gotten there.
Even before Kane had landed on the couch, Ax charged from the right, Hunter from the left, and she waited until they were feet away.They thought that she would be distracted by setting Kane gently down on the couch.Reaper smiled when he realized that she could balance and focus on multiple things at once.
He watched as Ara waited for both shifters to draw closer while she hovered in the air.As soon as they were within arm’s length, she moved herself back through the air and they ran into each other and toppled on the floor without realizing what had happened.
Xander had chosen that moment to leap for Ara, but before he could reach his hand out and touch her, he found himself sitting on the couch next to Kane.
Jade had leapt on to the rafters and patiently waited for the others to distract Ara, but when she silently dropped to land on Ara’s back, the red fox found herself hovering by the ceiling, unable to move.
Gunnar tried to attack low and reached for her ankles, but she sidestepped him with ease and he found himself flat on his back, glaring up at the ceiling.
Reaper growled as he spotted a blur headed toward Ara from the right.He took one step forward, but Kai put an arm on his to restrain him.
“She’ll handle it.Trust her,” Kai said.
He knew he trusted the vampire, but his worry for Ara took precedence.He opened his mouth to warn her when the two vampires split to hit her from different directions.He didn’t know that they’d even arrived.But she didn’t need the warning.
Within feet of reaching her, Thomas and Isaac found themselves running in the opposite direction.The bewilderment on their faces relieved the tension in his body, and he unclenched his hands.They tried to turn back toward Ara, but found that they couldn’t.Each time they tried, they found themselves farther and farther from her, until they needed to stop and regroup.
Reaper turned toward his friend, a smirk on the vampire’s face as he watched the highly trained assassins being thwarted with barely a wave of a hand.He noticed that Kai’s eyes tracked Liv more often than he watched the others.
“You still worry about her?” Reaper asked.
Without moving his eyes from Liv, Kai nodded.“I know that she’s strong, but she’s mine to worry about, and I will do so for our entire existence.”
“When did you know she was your mate?”
Kai didn’t even have to think about his answer.“From the moment I spotted her.”
“Do you ever worry that you’ll put her in danger because of what you do?”
Something in Reaper’s voice must’ve alerted Kai that he wasn’t asking to kill time, because the vampire turned and gave his full attention to the question.
“No, I don’t think our job would ever put those we care about in danger.I did that all on my own.For six months, I followed Liv from her job, to the diner, and to her home.Every night I told myself it was going to be the last night.When the contract came down, I knew that I wouldn’t hurt her—I couldn’t.It was also the reason I could actually talk to her for the first time.”
Reaper swallowed as Kai took a moment to gather his thoughts.
“Yet, I treated her as though she hadn’t mattered to me.I knew she was my mate the first time I tasted her blood—hell, probably even before then—but I was an asshole to her.I almost lost her twice.You remember when I flipped shit over the blood she drew from you, and then, I allowed her to be kidnapped and tortured?For the rest of my days, I will see Liv’s broken body, and know it was my fault.”
Liv sensed that Kai was in distress and darted to his side, reaching for his hand.He wrapped her in his arms and closed his eyes, breathing her in.
Reaper’s eyes found Ara, laughing as she dodged another swipe from Ax.He had given up in his human form and stalked toward her as a lion.At Ax’s powerful roar, Reaper watched as Ara’s eyes widened, but more from curiosity than fear.Ax stalked her, low to the ground with his paws sliding on the wooden floor, before he pounced.
Without moving, Ara flipped Ax onto his back with practiced ease.She scratched his belly, and laughed as she found Ax’s sweet spot and the lion’s leg kicked in pleasure.The others watched, and laughed at how easily the enormous lion could be tamed.
“I know you, Reaper.You question your decisions, even though your first instinct is the right one.If Ara is your mate, then you need to tell her.There is nothing, other than the man who is after her, that is a danger to her.If I thought being an assassin would put Liv in danger, I would quit without thinking about it, but we’ve never let the job come close to home,” Kai said.
“And she cares for you, too, Reaper.The anguish on her face when she thought you were dead…” Liv trailed off.
His gaze found Ara and watched as her eyes glittered with delight as she came up with an idea.Without completely realizing what she wanted, she forced Ax to shift back to his human form.
The shift completed within a flash and Ax, the flirt and ladies’ man, found himself naked in the middle of the living room.Time stalled as Ax’s hands shot to cover himself, and Reaper laughed loudly as he watched Ara’s eyes dart around the living room, avoiding the naked man in the center of it.She met his eyes and walked quickly toward him, before she buried her face in his chest.
“I didn’t know I could do that,” she mumbled.
