Chapter Seventeen
Elliot
Sanding was rhythmic. The back-and-forth motion and tight circles helped me calm down.
After a few minutes, my mind quieted enough for me to ask myself why I’d started that fight in the first place.
It seemed to me I was about to get down and dirty with the hottest guy on the planet.
Why did I fuck that up again? Besides the fact that, according to Grym, my life had suddenly changed almost overnight.
And yeah, he might have said as much in the dark and smoky in-between or whatever it was called, but it was one thing to hear and another to experience firsthand.
The reapers were all over my house. Picture fourteen hot men, all attractive in different ways.
Even Mr. Kidnapper Thug was hot. In a tattooed-head sort of way, but still no less than the rest. Not that he was around anymore.
At the first sign of trouble, he bailed?
That went against his hitman, mob aesthetic, didn’t it?
The mob was loyal to each other. Whatever his reasoning, he wasn’t on my property anymore.
If that meant he bailed, then he might just be the smartest amongst them all.
I was pulled from my thoughts when I thought I saw something move in the far corner of the workshop.
I knew Grym was outside, guarding me like a knight guarding a prince.
All I had to do was call out to him, and he’d come inside with me.
He’d check out whatever was in the corner.
Was it a giant spider? If so, maybe I’d make Grym kill it for me.
I didn’t like those, but I didn’t like being their killer either.
I stopped sanding as I glanced again in that direction, but all I saw were shadows, so I dismissed it as me seeing things that weren’t there and went back to sanding.
Then I saw it again, off to my left. When I stopped the sander a second time, I turned toward whoever was lurching in the corner, expecting to confront one of the reapers, but nothing was there except shadows.
Were those shadows moving? It was hard to imagine a shadow moving toward me without something tangible tethering it to reality. I blinked twice, then shook my head. If I heard marbles clanking together inside my mind, I would know it was just me playing tricks on myself. But I heard nothing at all.
The shadows grew dark, deformed limbs. I sucked in a breath and moved away from them, only to bump into a hard wall of muscle. An arm came around my waist, holding me in place. Grym’s deep voice washed over me, reassuring me. “I won’t let them hurt you.”
“What are they?”
“Demons. HR sent them.”
“HR?” That sounded... weird. Like the death thing was a for-profit organization.
“Human Resources.”
“I know what HR stands for, Grym. What I don’t know is why it applies to this situation.” And also, fucking demons. Really? That sounded very supernatural to me. And yeah, I kissed Grymley, the reaper, not fifteen minutes ago, but why did my life have to get even weirder?
“Demons run that department.”
“Demons.” I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that demons were shadow creatures ready to swallow me whole. Well, I didn’t actually know their intent, but I pictured myself enveloped in their darkness and dragged off to hell.
It didn’t happen that way, though. Actually, what happened was very undramatic, considering there were demons in my workshop. No possessions took place.
There seemed to be four of them. They hovered above the concrete in front of us.
“I think we should run before this turns into an exorcism.” I hated the movie. It scared the crap out of me. I knew that was the point, but I wasn’t into shadowy demon creatures.
Neither were reapers, for that matter, yet here we were.
“Stay where you are, Elliot.” Morgana stepped in front of us.
“Ezul. How are you, sir?” Well, that was... polite. Was she just going to hand me over with a sorry for the trouble, sir?
The demon changed, taking on another form entirely. The darkness disappeared a little at a time until the shadow became a person. The only way to tell he wasn’t human was the horns peeking through his hair and his black eyes.
Presumably, Ezul was the demon’s name. It sounded atypical but not crazy abnormal. A barista wouldn’t have trouble calling that out when his coffee order was ready.
The demon had dark hair and pale skin and wore black clothing.
“I’m not here for you, Morgana.” Ezul might have gargled with gravel that morning.
“I speak for Grym.”
Ezul smiled. “Is that so? That is a very poor choice to make, Morgana.”
Morgana lifted her chin. “Yes, well, it’s the one I’m making.”
Ezul sighed. “I see. This is quite the problem, isn’t it?”
“It has implications.” Morgana shook her head as if the problem were creating a ton of stress and she were carrying it on her shoulders. “Souls are already lingering in the living realm. We all feel it.”
Ezul’s eyes burned with tiny flames, and his complexion turned a sickly gray. “Why are you doing this, then?”
There was a pregnant pause as Morgana didn’t answer him, and Ezul seethed with a rage that was the scariest shit I’d ever witnessed. I’d died once, so that was saying something.
She met Ezul’s gaze. “Grym and Elliot deserve a chance at love. The rest of the reapers and their beloveds do, too.” Her words made my chest ache, and I wanted to hug her.
Ezul scoffed. “You’re collapsing the system for love? It’s such a small reason, yet it carries big consequences for us all.”
“There is nothing small about love, Ezul.”
“Tell that to Donn when his majesty invokes his wrath.” Ezul threw the papers at Morgana.
They floated to her feet. Sparks leaped from them.
At first, I thought the papers had caught fire, but the sparks grew.
It was as if the paper had been burned into existence.
Before long, an entire stack lay at her feet, scattered across my workshop floor.
“You have three days to do the right thing.” With that, he turned back into a shadow.
His human shape faded. The four shadows left the workshop, slipping into the dark corners of the room.
I wasn’t sure whether they were still there, listening and watching like stalkers, or had been absorbed into the floor.
I just hoped they’d left my workshop and property, and that they’d never come back.
Morgana turned and met our gaze with a smile. “Well, that went better than expected.”
A demon showed up in my workshop, threatening my life, and she thought that wasn’t terrible or terrifying? “It would be even better if they just left us alone.”
“Agreed, but that won’t happen.” Morgana addressed everyone.
“We have three days to figure out what to do next. I’ll work on finding a witch.
In the meantime, Ezul is right. There are souls to ferry, gentlemen.
Things to do. Grym and Elliot. I suggest you complete the bond.
We’ll need your abilities, Elliot, if we’re going to find people who are on our side.
I have a feeling we’re going to need an army. ”
“Fall in love, gentlemen,” she said, and with that, she left the workshop.
Everyone else filed out behind her.
I turned to face Grym. “Did she just demand that we fall in love with each other?”
Grym smiled and cupped my cheek. “Yes, she did.”
“That’s not something we can do on command.
And I hate to beat a dead horse here, but she’s also not the boss around here.
Someone needs to tell her that, and that I have zero abilities unless she needs a table or kitchen cabinets made.
Then I’m her guy, but I doubt that ability is going to build her that army she mentioned. ”
Was Grym watching my mouth as if he wanted to kiss me? It also seemed he wasn’t giving the conversation his full attention. “Would you let me make love to you?”
That was an easy decision. “Yes. Of course.” I wasn’t stupid. If Grym wanted to fuck me, then yes. Seven ways to Sunday didn’t sound like enough. Please. And thank you for asking.
Grym took my hand and pulled me out of the workshop.
“Wait. You mean right now?”
“Right now. But not right here.”
“Do you want to only because of Morgana?”
“Morgana has nothing to do with this. In fact, let’s not bring her up again. I don’t want to kill the mood.”
“Yeah, I don’t want that either.” But I couldn’t help but think that Grym somehow associated sex with bonding and love, which meant he was basically sacrificing himself for the cause.
I was still a little unclear about what the cause actually was.
Love. I got that. But I didn’t understand why we just couldn’t date each other and see what happened, like normal folks did.
Why did it have to be tied up with all the other stuff?
Why were we being persecuted for liking each other?
And why the hell would loving each other make us allies?
I’d find out all the answers to my questions just as soon as I finished fucking a reaper. And not just any reaper. Grym was my reaper.