Page 51 of Reaper
Chapter Eighteen
Ara
Ara dodged Kane’s swipe and turned in time to see Hunter, in his panther form, leap toward her.Not having the time to drop to the ground, she shot in the air a split second before he struck her, and successfully avoided him.
Several knives flew by her while she hovered several feet in the air.She spotted Jade’s arm held straight, away from her body, and smiled at the fox when she cackled.Ara used her powers to flip Jade upside down, and dangled her feet from the floor to keep her out of the way.
A second later, one of the blades nicked her bicep, but she ignored the flash of pain and continued her perusal of the coming attacks from the other assassins.
Reaper cursed when he noticed the blood that flowed down her arm, but she knew she would heal.One of the many wondrous things she discovered after becoming an immortal shifter.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t fast enough to deflect the knives, and flinched as the two knives stuck into the wall.She heard Kai’s laugh and relaxed a fraction.
“Don’t worry about it, Ara,” Kai said.
While her attention was averted to the damage the knives caused, Ax took advantage of her inattention and leapt straight toward her.Although she noticed the movement from her peripheral vision, she wasn’t fast enough to avoid him.His humongous form slammed into her and brought her to the ground.When her back slammed against the floor, her breath wheezed out of her and she looked up at Ax’s smug face as he pressed his entire weight down upon her.
“Well…fuck,” she gasped.
Busy trying to get air back into her lungs, she didn’t have the strength to push Ax off her.
He lowered his face until she could feel his breath against her cheek, and she froze.He had the devilish look he normally had when he flirted with her, but with Reaper close by, he was taking a huge risk.
“You should…get off.”She tried again to push, without success, trying to save him from Reaper’s rage.
“I’m going to kill you, Ax.Get the fuck off her!”Reaper charged toward them.
The pressure of his heavy body lifted and although she should have taken a moment to catch her breath, she shot to her feet before Reaper could harm Ax.
Reaper’s rage was evident on his face.Without taking a moment to think about the consequences, she darted between them and shouldered Ax out of the way and pressed her hands against Reaper’s chest.She flinched as Ax slammed against the wall with a thud, but her gaze never left her mate.Before he acted on his anger, she jumped into Reaper’s arms and wrapped her arms and legs around his body to prevent him from moving.
“What are you doing, beautiful?”
She buried her face in his chest and answered.“Keeping you from killing Ax.”
“He knows better than to touch the mate of a shifter.I promise I won’t kill him.I just want to hurt him a little bit.Okay, maybe more than a little bit, but he’ll heal.”
Tightening her grip on him, she refused to budge when he tried to set her aside.Reaper turned with her still in his arms, and glared at Ax, who floundered slowly to his feet.She must’ve thrown him across the room with more force than she thought and winced.
“Sorry, Ax,” she mumbled.
“He deserves more pain than that.The next time he touches you, I will kill him.”
Something about his tone sobered Ax and he nodded once before he walked away.
“Okay, training is done for the day,” Ghost announced.“Reaper, a word.”
Unlocking her hold on him, she gave him a short kiss before she headed downstairs to see Liv.
She had been training for the last month, eight hours a day, and had grown closer to the group of assassins who had taught her everything they knew.They treated her like a sister and were almost as protective of her as Reaper.Almost.But during her training, she had neglected her friendship with Liv.
She had been grateful that Reaper hadn’t given up on her, and because he’d found her, she had a group of people she could call her friends.They had come into her life like a battering ram, and instead of hiding away in a shell that had become a constant, they drew her out and she quickly became close to them.Apart from getting to know them on a personal level, she worked hard to hone her skills and built her endurance, wanting to keep up with the others.
With each day that passed, she grew stronger but her one defect was shifting.After the first shift, she expected the transition to be seamless, but it was far from it.
Each time she had tried to shift, she relaxed her body and welcomed the shift as Reaper sat patiently beside her.But her body didn’t want to cooperate.
His words were encouraging, and she understood what happened to her during the shift, but it still took her close to a half an hour to complete the change.It never hurt, but after watching Reaper transform within a couple of seconds, her lengthy shift confused her.
