It sped over the landscape as if it weren’t fully there, the hazy appearance of a spirit.
Hunter pressed closer to me, though he didn’t wrap an arm around me, as though he wanted both hands free to face whatever approached us.
The thing slowed when it neared us, and this time I could make out a shape. It was a dark figure, though not wholly corporeal or solid, covered in dark, floating cloth, including a hood that obscured its face. It had sleeves so long, hands couldn’t be seen. Nothing but the mist-like robes were visible, floating despite there being no breeze.
It paused before us, and I could feel it looking at me. The sensation crawled over me like ice, something frozen and sinister.
A growl left Hunter, but the thing took no notice of him. It came closer, shifted as if to see me better. After another moment, it rushed away with the same speed it had arrived with, and Hunter let out a heavy breath.
Kase came over, Grant behind him. “Please tell me that wasn’t what I think it was.”
“Wish I could.”
“They never show up,” Grant said. “What the hell is going on?”
I elbowed between them men. “For those of us who don’t have a field guide to hell on hand, what was that?”
Hunter pushed his hair from his face. “A reaper.”
“The thing that severs the connection between body and soul?”
Hunter nodded. “Yep. Reapers are one of the few things that nobody fucks with. Even Lucifer leaves them alone. Because they aren’t alive or dead, they don’t belong to the living or the dead realm. They don’t belong to anyone.”
“They’re from purgatory.” I might not have seen one before, but I did understand what they were. They were, in a way, cousins of mine, something connected to the thing that seemed to make me different.
Kase was the one to answer, nodding. “Reapers don’t take notice of the living or the dead. They’re more like scavengers than anything else, beings that do their job and ignore everything else.”
“It was looking at me.”
“I mean, it stopped, but—” Hunter started to say.
“No. I felt it staring at me.”
Grant cursed under his breath. “You do not want a reaper taking an interest in you. They’re essentially invincible because they aren’t alive—never were—and they don’t have actual bodies to harm. If they want to snatch a soul from a body, they can do so with a touch and no one can do a thing about it.”
I thought about the way it had seemed to look past my skin, into my spirit, into the part of my that wasn’t corporeal, and I shuddered. Just when I thought there wasn’t anything worse, that we had reached the end of bad shit that could ruin my day, it seemed like the universe wanted to throw another one into the mix.
Sure, soul-snatching mist creatures from purgatory.
What the hell was next?
Chapter Two
I shoved Troy, and the jerk didn’t even have the decency to look as if he felt it. He hunched his shoulders forward and wouldn’t turn around.
We’d been walking across this depressing wasteland for hours, ever since waking, and he refused to acknowledge me. No matter what happened, even when I tried to draw his attention—nothing.
As it turned out, I didn’t care for being ignored, which was funny given how little notice people normally took of me. Maybe that was why it bothered me so much. I’d spent my life being ignored, so how dare Troy—who I couldn’t get to leave me alone before—pretend as if I suddenly didn’t exist.
Especially all because of his own insecurity-driven hissy fit.
I leaned down and picked up a small rock from the path, then chucked it at the large target that was his back. I rather enjoyed the deep thud when it made contact.
He stilled and rolled his shoulders, as if centering himself. “Do you really think provoking a werewolf is a good idea?”
“You don’t scare me, and neither does your furry little friend.”
He turned slowly, and his eyes had that brightness to them that said he struggled with his control. It seemed that after his little run in with that shadow, he hadn’t fully recovered. Still, he didn’t meet my gaze directly. “You saw what I really am.”
“And?”
“And I hurt you. I could have killed you. That should explain to even you why this was a horrible idea from the start.”
“Even me?”
He huffed softly. “You don’t make great choices when it comes to your well-being. You have to realize how dangerous I am now. It’s better for everyone if you keep your distance.” He turned to walk off, as if our conversation had ended.
It hadn’t.
I grabbed his arm and yanked, but when I couldn’t turn him, I got in his path instead. “What if I don’t want to keep my distance?”
“Too bad. I have enough control for us both.”
I crossed my arms, standing toe to toe with him. If he thought I was afraid, he clearly didn’t know me at all. “That wasn’t you. It was that shadow.”
“Maybe the shadow made me act that way, but if you hadn’t done whatever you did, I would have killed you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I’ve already lost one mate!” The words came out on a roar, one that shook the trees around us. Even if the others weren’t right next to us, no doubt they’d heard.
Anger didn’t make up all that bluster, though. I’d learned that anger was nothing more than fear dressed up all fancy.
He lowered his voice, sounding more defeated that he ever had. I’d annoyed him countless times as his neighbor, but he’d never looked lost before. “I lost one mate because I wasn’t strong enough, Ava. I lost her because I couldn’t protect her, and it nearly destroyed me. I can’t do that again, can’t lose another, especially not you.”
I cupped his cheeks, the stubble on them unusual for him. Then again, it wasn’t as if there’d
