Page 6 of Reaper
“You could’ve been killed,” he growled.
She shrugged before she continued her story.
“What I didn’t know at the time was that I had been spotted.I was kidnapped the next night.While I walked home, I felt a sharp pain on my neck, and when I woke up, I found myself dressed in scrubs and locked in a glass enclosure, and I knew I was being watched.For the first few months, I had a cell of my own as they tried to test my blood and my abilities.”
“Tested them how?” he asked.
Unsure of how much to tell him about her time in captivity, she picked up both of their empty plates, rinsed and stowed them in the dishwasher, before she tackled the rest of the dishes.It gave her time to shore up her strength to tell him everything.By the time she turned back to him, he stood near the counter with his fists clenched at his sides, ready to hear about her time at Standard.
“The one who’d captured me wanted to know what abilities I had, other than moving people and objects with my mind.He ordered my blood to be taken, every day, but more than that, he liked to threaten me because he thought that was the key to my powers.It wasn’t.When my blood didn’t reveal anything, he moved on to the physical stuff.He knew that his touch revolted me, but he tried.Every time he tried, I was able to fight him off, but as punishment, he sent in the guards to give me a beating, thinking that I couldn’t defend myself if I passed out from the pain.But he was wrong again—”
A loud roar ripped through the house and she froze at the sound.She slammed her lids shut and waited for something to happen, but when she heard and felt nothing, she blinked her eyes open.
Soon, she relaxed as she watched Reaper pace around the kitchen.His breaths were deep and staggered, and for a few moments, she thought that he had his anger under control.Until he put his fist through a concrete pillar.
Without even glancing at his bleeding fist, he stalked toward her and stopped a few feet away.“Did he…ever…?”
Her eyes widened after a few moments of trying to decipher his question.“No, no—I fought him off.”
At her answer, he continued to pace around the room.Close to a half hour later, his steps slowed and his breathing dropped back to normal.He caught her gaze and searched her face.
While he’d been dealing with the anger at her situation, she had tracked every movement.Not because she had been scared of him, but because something about him drew her.She wanted to wrap her arms around his waist and offer him comfort, but didn’t know him well enough to unlock her body and move.Something about the way he moved, all sinew and muscle, had radiated power.But she hesitated to close the distance between them for one reason.He was breathtakingly handsome.
She’d never paid attention to men in her life, whether they were handsome or not, but her attraction to this shifter had gone beyond her reasoning.Her body vibrated with something she couldn’t explain, and her mind had gone back to when she had woken in his arms more times than she could count.
But she had to remember that he wanted to protect her, and that had nothing to do with attraction, only a sense of duty.
Lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t realize he had walked toward her until he bent down to meet her gaze.When she blinked, he lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and moved toward the living room to settle into an overstuffed armchair, with her on his lap.He tucked her face into his neck and rubbed her back, but she ignored the sensations that passed through her.She wasn’t the one who needed comfort.
“Are you okay?”
His arms tightened around her, but after a long moment, he nodded.She continued her story in order to distract him.
“When they couldn’t get my cooperation, they moved me in with the three shifters and the vampire.At the time, I had no idea that immortals existed, but they had protected me from the moment I walked in, and I did the same for them.The three shifters—Felix, Patrick, and Solomon—had worried that the vampire, Michael, would attack me since he had been starved for months, but he refused to drink from me.When they took me in for my daily blood draws, I would sneak out several vials of my blood and bring them back for Michael to drink, and it was enough to keep him alive.
“I grew close to Solomon during our time together, and what I didn’t know at the time was that they monitored us and used my affection for him against me.One day, he was sedated and taken from the room, which they had never done before, and he never came back.A week later, I was injected with another of many formulas they thought would control me and I became violently sick.As I was heaving, the man laughed as he told me that Solomon had died, and it was entirely my fault.”
She grew quiet as she remembered the giant blond who had been her one true friend.Somewhere deep inside, she knew that she hadn’t been responsible for his death.But if she had kept to herself like she had done throughout her entire life, Solomon would still be alive.
Reaper’s solid arms squeezed her, but she allowed the guilt to overwhelm her.Her feelings since finding out that he had been killed teetered between guilt and missing her friend, but there was one solid thought that never wavered.She hoped that Solomon had found peace.
“When you noticed that the others trusted me, why didn’t you come with me?”
“I don’t trust easily.”
“I can understand that, but I could sense that you trusted me a little.”His face pinched in pain and she found that she needed to explain.
“I’ve been on my own since I was fifteen.But even before that, I found that I couldn’t trust anyone.I learned it the hard way.”She glanced at him to make sure he listened to her next words.“It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you—I don’t trust anyone.”
A flash of hurt crossed his face, but before she could explain further, he asked her another question.“Why didn’t you leave Snowfall?”
“I tried.When I checked to see how much money I had in my bank account, I realized it had been emptied and closed.I searched for all the accounts I could remember, but they didn’t exist.Finally, I searched for my name and received zero results.Nothing comes up when you search for my name.I called every government office that I could find, and they all told me the same thing.I didn’t exist.”
For long minutes, he rubbed his hand up and down her back in a gentle motion, lost in thought.It felt nice to be held, to be cared for, and she sank into him.Her head rested against his chest.She closed her eyes and listened to the beat of his heart, relaxed by his warmth and the steady rhythm.
“What happened to the woman in the warehouse?Liv?”
She could feel Reaper’s gaze on the top of her head, but she didn’t want to move to read his expression.She’d cut him off earlier when he thanked her, not comfortable with taking any credit for saving the woman.Like Solomon, she hadn’t got there in time and found her powers ineffectual.
