Chapter Thirteen
M y eyes crossed as I stared at the abs flexing with each move the reaper made.
Don’t lick them, Axe. You have no idea where they’ve been.
The scent of evergreens, burning wood, and a masculine musk overwhelmed my senses and fanned the flames of desire I was desperately trying to keep from turning into a wildfire. I needed answers.
Yeah, like what does he taste like…?
Deciding I needed a distraction before my intrusive thoughts got any creepier, I cleared my throat. “So, um, what’s your name?”
“Saul.” With a smirk, he added, “Are you ready to admit defeat?”
I’d accepted my loss, but the arrogance on his face ruffled my feathers. “Of course not. I could do this all day.” I faked a long yawn, as though exhausted by the whole affair.
“Is that so?” Using his unsettling reaper speed, Saul lifted me from my seat and spun us around until my back was once more pressed against a wall.
Saul’s mouth brushed mine in a touch so soft I might have imagined it, then moved down my neck. “Tell me the truth.”
This had to be the weirdest interrogational technique ever.
“I feel nothing.” I wasn’t sure if I was denying it out of sheer stubbornness or the thrill of seeing how far I could push him.
“You can try to hide it, but you desire me.” Saul’s chest rumbled with a sound that could have been annoyance or laughter.
His large hand grasped my thigh, sliding me up the wall until he could hook my leg over his hip. When he ground his hard length against me, I barely swallowed my moan.
“Still not my type,” I wheezed past the lump of need that had lodged itself in my throat.
“Such a stubborn little pet,” he growled, his teeth nipping my neck. “One last time. Tell me the truth.”
My body grew wetter at the unspoken ‘or else’ in his command. What the hex was wrong with me?
Monster romance really should come with warning labels, since the journey from enjoying reading smut in the quiet of your bedroom to getting turned on by taunting a sexy reaper was a lot shorter trip than I’d imagined.
“Fine. I lied.” It was time to do the logical thing and admit my defeat with grace and dignity. “I haven’t been a good ghoul.”
Shut the creaking haunted house door!
Why did I say that? And why didn’t I recognize the husky voice coming from my mouth? I was possessed. It was the only thing that made any sense.
“I tried to play nice.” Saul’s tongue swirled up my neck. “Now we’ll do things the hard way.”
Prepared to admit my defeat, my lips parted. “Do your worst.”
Saul’s eyes grew brighter, casting a soft purple glow around us. “As you wish.”
His arm clamped around my waist like a steel band, and the room darkened for a moment, just as it had before I’d ended up here. When the world came back into focus, I found myself flying through the air.
“Oof!” I grunted as I landed on a large bed.
A bed that smelled of a certain sexy reaper.
Crypts! I was in Saul’s bed.
Trembling, I lay still as his large frame moved over me. Once more, he caught my wrists in one of his hands and lifted them above my head. The white shirt slid several inches higher, exposing more of my bare skin.
Dropping lower, but still keeping his full weight off me, Saul kissed my forehead, my cheek, and the tip of my nose. Everywhere except where I wanted to feel his lips. The man was infuriating!
His free hand traveled up my thigh, teasing the sensitive skin of my inner thighs and inching ever closer to the part of me that ached for his touch, regardless of all the reasons I shouldn’t. But just before his fingers reached the apex of my thighs, he stopped.
“Pet, I will ask this only once, so think carefully before you answer.” His breathing was harsh. Or was I just imagining it?
I thought he was going to repeat the same question, but this time, he asked something completely different.
“If you do not want me to touch you, you need to leave now. I will forget our little wager and let you go. But you need to decide now.”
My heart melted at how adorable this big, bad reaper was. Saul could have taken whatever he wanted and sent me off to the beyond with no repercussions. And even though he could see the effect he had on my body, he wanted to make sure my mind was just as on board.
I didn’t know why he’d been in the tunnels or how he was connected to the murderous reaper, but I knew this man had told me the truth. He hadn’t tried to kill us.
This game we were playing was too intriguing to admit that I wanted him, so instead, I gave him a shy smile and whispered, “You can touch me.”
The unsure look on his face vanished, instantly replaced with the arrogant one I found equal parts annoying and arousing. “Innocent little pet. You should have run.”
He didn’t give me a chance to respond before his fingers stroked along my slit. Clenching my fists so tight my fingers left tiny half-moons in my palms, I fought to keep myself from reacting.
Lifting an eyebrow in challenge, I waited for his next move.
Spurred on by my defiance, he shifted slightly so he could trail kisses across my collarbone and shoulders. Inch by slow inch, his mouth moved lower until his lips found the hardened peak of my nipple.
There was no hiding my gasp as his mouth sucked and teased my breast through the thin shirt fabric, sending tiny zaps of pleasure shooting straight to my core. The wanton part of me longed to rip off my shirt so I could feel his lips on my skin, but with my hands still above my head, I couldn’t do anything without asking him for permission. And I was far too stubborn to do that.
“Your body betrays you,” he murmured. “Admit you have lost.”
“You’ll never take me alive,” I hissed, belatedly adding, “well, dead. You know what I mean.”
His laughter sent delicious vibrations through me. “You’re something special.”
I was saved from another idiotic response by his finger suddenly burying itself inside me. Stars sparkled in my vision and, despite my best efforts, my hips bucked.
As his finger continued to thrust inside me, quickly finding the perfect angle to pleasure me, he watched my face. It was a look I couldn’t fully decipher. He wanted to hear me say the words, but it was more than that.
With my body still worked up from his dance, my climax built far too quickly. He somehow knew exactly how I longed to be stroked… like I was meant to be his.
I was seconds from falling apart when his hand stilled. Blinking, I tried to clear the lust from my mind.
“Tell me,” he ordered, his rough voice sending a fresh wave of heat rushing to coat his finger.
I tried to rock my hips, but he pinned my legs with one of his, trapping me beneath him.
His finger disappeared, leaving an emptiness inside me that was far bigger than just a desire to get laid. I wanted him. I wanted to belong to him.
Lifting his hand to his mouth, I watched in shock as he licked his finger clean with the thoroughness of a cat cleaning its paw. When he finished, he looked down at me with a wicked smile that set my world on fire.
The lights in the room buzzed and the lightbulb in the lamp nearest the bed popped. This time, it wasn’t from embarrassment.
“You’re mine.” The words tumbled from my lips before I’d had time to think them through. “I mean, you’re my type. You win. Are you happy now?”
I was rambling, desperately trying to distract him from what I’d accidentally confessed. Humans never mentioned getting married on the first date, and here I was declaring I was going to haunt his butt for the rest of eternity.
It must have worked, because rather than running away in panic, his grin grew. Slipping first one finger and then a second into my tight heat, he stretched me as he found that perfect rhythm again.
“Come for me, pet.”
I obeyed and let myself fall… trusting this stranger would catch me.
Eventually, I came back to my senses. Feeling absolutely boneless on the mattress, I waited to see what Saul’s next move would be. He’d won the bet, and that meant I would be spending the night in his bed.
Only it couldn’t be anywhere close to night since the library hadn’t even been open when I’d tried to hide from the men and had somehow landed in the reaper’s lair. Glancing around the room, I found an open set of balcony doors that led out onto a marble porch. A tiny slice of deep navy sky was visible.
It was night. But how was that possible? It wasn’t uncommon for me to lose track of time when I was reading a good book and miss several hours, but I’d never lost an entire day. How long had Saul’s dance been?
Catching the confusion on my face as I stared at the open doors, Saul explained, “You are on the other side of the world. It’s almost midnight here.”
I cleared my throat and asked, “Where am I, and how did I get here?”
“You’re in my home, and for now, I’m going to keep the exact location to myself. As for how you got here, I don’t have an answer for you.” Taking my hands, he gently pulled me into a sitting position as he spoke. “You shouldn’t be able to walk into the reaper plane, and you shouldn’t have been able to teleport to a location you had no way of knowing even existed.”
“Hmm,” I murmured, my brain working overtime as I tried to put together the pieces. “So when I’ve hidden myself in the past, do you think I’ve been going into the reaper realm, or plane, each time?”
“Yes, it appears so. Stand in front of me for a moment.” Saul’s voice was low and firm. It wasn’t a request.
I stood, more confused over my willingness to obey him than the fact I’d been hop-scotching my way through the different planes. “Do you have some type of magic that makes people do what you say? Like an alpha werewolf command?”
Saul’s rich laughter warmed my body from head to toe. “You have a lot of experience with werewolves?”
“No, I’ve just read a lot about them. In… In research books.” I sounded defensive even to my own ears.
“I see.” Saul’s chest rumbled with another laugh as he turned me so that I faced away from him. “To answer your question, no, I do not have the power to control another being’s mind or will.”
His fingers gripped the hem of my shirt, gently lifting it over my head and leaving me completely bare in front of him.
“There is something about my species that attracts females. But it is not something that we control, at least not any more than a human male might use his looks to attract a mate.” As he spoke, Saul’s fingers trailed down my spine and each rib.
“Have you done that to me?” I whispered, the words so soft I didn’t think he could hear them.
“Not until you refused to tell me the truth. When we made our wager, I will admit to trying to seduce you to prove my point.” His fingers prodded a tender place along my shoulder blade, causing me to wince.
Saul froze, and hoping to distract him, I blurted out a question I never would have asked if I hadn’t been flustered. “You only did it to prove a point?”
Why did that hurt my feelings? This was an erotic one-night stand, and he hadn’t promised me anything more.
His hot breath brushed over my skin, stopping directly over the tender flesh. “No.”
The skin beneath his mouth grew hot as energy poured into my skin, rushing through every cell in my body.
When he finished with my back, he spoke, his voice low. “Turn around, pet.”
My legs wobbled as I slowly faced him, and I struggled with the urge to cover myself. I’d been a goody two shoes my whole life. This time, I wanted to do what I was never brave enough to do while I was living.
His hands held my hips and his thumbs absently brushed the sensitive skin of my stomach. His eyes traveled over every inch of my skin, caressing me in a way that was nearly more intimate than being touched.
Saul wanted me.
Very slowly, he began the same process as he’d done on my back. Prodding and exploring, although avoiding my breasts. Each time he found a tender spot, Saul would lean in and kiss it, sending a fresh wave of his potent energy into me.
“You’re healing me.” My eyes closed as his mouth moved to heal a bruise just over my breast.
“Why did you give so much of your energy away? You should have healed yourself first.” The harshness of his words was a stark contrast to the tenderness of his touch.
You should have healed yourself first.
“How did you know I healed someone else?” I asked, opening my eyes to study his face.
By the time I’d started healing Rhodes, the reapers had vanished. There was no way he could have known. Unless…
“I watched you,” Saul admitted, kissing a slow path between my breasts that had nothing to do with healing injuries.
A chill ran through me. How long had he stayed? What exactly had he seen?
“Calm yourself, pet. When things became intimate with the second collector, I left.” He brushed his lips across the swell of my breast, making it harder to focus.
I should be upset that he’d been lurking about like some creepy voyeur, shouldn’t I? So why was I feeling all hot and bothered just imagining him there… imagining all four men in the same room?
“But I wanted to stay.”
I barely heard the words, and for a moment, I thought I might have imagined them.
“You wanted to stay and… watch?” The last word came out as a groan thanks to his tongue flicking across my nipple.
I knew collectors were cool with sharing, at least to some extent, but I had zero idea of how reaper society functioned. Even if it was possible to have him in my life, would he be willing to share me with them?
He would have to be because I was drawn to the three collectors just as much as to him. We were an all-or-nothing sort of deal.
“Yes. If I couldn’t be the one to touch you, then I wanted to watch your beautiful face as you found your release with him.” His tongue swirled around my nipple, causing me to whimper.
Abruptly, Saul stood, sweeping me up into his arms. He moved to the head of the bed and, cradling me against his chest with one arm, he pulled down the comforter and sheet.
Yes! He was finally going to stop teasing me and get to the main event.
Saul lowered me onto the bed and then slid in behind me. His muscular arm wrapped around my waist, tucking me into the heat of his body. It felt incredible, but not as incredible as it would feel when he used his wiener-wand to clear the cobwebs from the crypt between my thighs?—
“Are you sure you’re a ghost?”
Despite the fact that we spoke the same language, it took an embarrassingly long time to process what he had asked. It was something I blamed him for, since he was keeping me all hot and bothered.
“What? Of course I’m a ghost. I have a gravestone to prove it. Well, technically, it doesn’t prove it since it doesn’t have my actual name on it, but my flesh-and-blood body is buried under it.” Annoyance flashed through me and the lights in the room flickered.
“Ghosts don’t survive long on the human plane, and they definitely don’t cross into the reapers’ territory,” Saul mused, not accusing me of anything, simply working through his thoughts out-loud. “We need to find a way to keep you from fading.”
“Aw. You don’t want me to disappear?” I cooed, shocking myself that I felt so relaxed in the company of the being that almost everyone in the world feared.
“You’re mine, pet.” Saul nuzzled my neck. “Tell me, how did you die and when did it happen?”
“I was in a charity boxing match with the Easter Bunny. He took me out with a mean roundhouse kick in the second round.” I clicked my tongue against my teeth as though disappointed with myself.
“You have a strange sense of humor.” Saul’s teeth nipped the curve of my ear. “Now, how did you die?”
“Alright. It’s just that I hate telling anyone because it’s so stupid, it’s humiliating. You see, Cupid had gotten in trouble for drunk flying and was caught with his pants—er, diaper—down. Literally. Thankfully, there wasn’t much to see, but the court ordered him to take mandatory archery lessons at the facility where I worked. Let’s just say he showed up sloshed, and I caught a stray arrow in the back.” I sighed theatrically. “I was struck down by a weapon of love.”
Saul growled, and his hand slid down to pinch my butt. “Enough with the nonsense. If you won’t tell me the truth of how you died, then tell me when you died.”
I would give him that much. “About three years ago.”
Saul rose onto his elbow, rolling me to my back so that I looked up at him. “Is that the truth, pet? You’ve been a ghost for three years?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “It’s the truth.”
“You are a miracle.” His purple eyes searched my face as though trying to figure out what made me different. “No ghost can survive that long without fading, yet your energy is stable.”
I nodded.
Saul lowered his forehead until it pressed against mine, and again his energy surged forward. This time, instead of washing through me like a tsunami, it moved with purpose. Wispy tendrils of his power poked and prodded, searching for who knew what.
When at last he pulled away, his face was hard and his pupils had narrowed to thin, cat-like slits. “Your body is capable of storing an impressive amount of energy, but you have barely enough to function right now.”
Unsure of what he wanted me to say, I bit my tongue and remained silent.
“You fed all three of the collectors, didn’t you? Even though you knew your reserves were low.” All signs of teasing had gone from his tone. Saul was angry, and I couldn’t grasp why.
“They were in worse shape than me. My energy will replenish itself. You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do with my body.” Clamping my teeth together, I glared up at him in defiance.
Saul’s eyes glowed, the thin slits of his pupils making him appear even more dangerous. The room grew dark as shadows leaked like ink from him to swirl around the bed, almost wrapping us in a cocoon. He moved over me, his large frame pinning me to the bed.
“You are mine, pet.” The fingers of his right hand wrapped around my throat, caressing the skin as he tightened his grip just enough so that I felt his power. “And since I am Death, there isn’t a thing in this world that is going to take you from me.”
If I were a strong independent ghost, I would’ve told him he didn’t own me. But frankly, Saul was freaking terrifying and a total hottie when he went all angry Grim Reaper. And why deny the truth?
Leaning down, so that our faces were inches apart, he hissed, “If you want to feed your collectors, then you will ask me for help. I don’t care if I have to give you energy while the four of you bang to your hearts’ content and I am forced to watch. But you will not allow them to feed back-to-back from you unless I am there. Do you understand me?”
I nodded.
His fingers stroked the column of my throat. “Use your words.”
I wasn’t his toy, and I would dang sure feed the men if they needed me. A spasm of irritation jolted through me, but a sharp spasm of desire followed hot on its heels.
It wouldn’t hurt to agree with him… and it might even be fun to find out what happened if one day I had to disobey him. A thrill of excitement raced through me at the thought. Saul had no idea the amount of trouble he was signing up for if he was so determined to keep me as his pet.
Let the games begin.
Lifting my fingers to my forehead, I gave him a sassy salute. “Yes, sir.”
“Good girl.” Saul’s hand moved to cradle my jaw. “Now take what you need.”
I didn’t get to ask what he meant because he captured my mouth in a demanding kiss. As though we’d kissed a thousand times, my body seemed to melt against his.
My lips parted, allowing him to deepen the kiss. Just as his tongue stroked against mine, I felt it. The rush of raw power pouring down my throat. Saul’s power.
I never would have admitted it, but I had pushed myself too far in the tunnels. While the reaper’s scythe hadn’t killed me, holding it had burned through a large amount of my energy. Then healing the guys so soon after had depleted me to levels I hadn’t experienced since I’d blown up half the computers in the library. I didn’t regret my decisions, but it would have taken me weeks to build my energy back up to normal.
When I’d taken enough power to ease the tiredness and put me past the danger zone, I tried to break the kiss, but Saul wasn’t having it. His hand moved back to my throat, and he held me still as his power continued to rush into me like a raging river.
This lasted for several more minutes before he finally broke the kiss and pulled back so he could look into my eyes. His pupils had returned to a circular shape, but his eyes still shone with an otherworldly glow.
Without saying a word, he shifted positions on the bed so that once more my back was tucked against his chest. His shadows were still wrapped around the bed, and pulsed in perfect rhythm with Saul’s steady heartbeat.
Unable to help myself, I whispered into the darkness, “You healed me and you shared your energy with me.” He’d also given me a mind-shattering orgasm, but I couldn’t bring myself to mention that. “Why? What are you getting out of this?”
He remained quiet for so long that I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he murmured, “I get you.”
Tears sprung to my eyes as Saul buried his face in my hair and his large palm flattened against my stomach, holding me tighter to him. “Now go to sleep, pet.”
I huffed. “Silly, reaper. Ghosts can’t sleep.”
“You underestimate my power.” Saul’s seductive purr was back. “As long as you are touching me, you can sleep. I can feel your exhaustion. Let me take care of you tonight.”
The idea of sleeping sounded too good to be true. I didn’t want the burden of needing sleep as much as a human, but the past day had been overwhelming, and my mind and body vibrated with the need to shut down and truly relax.
“Saul? I’m scared,” I whispered, lacing my fingers through his against my stomach. “What if I don’t wake up?”
“My love, I already told you nothing can take you from me. You are safe in my arms. Now go to sleep.” Saul tucked my head beneath his chin and tossed a leg over me.
Safe in the shelter of his body, I closed my eyes.
When he’d won the bet and I’d known I’d be spending the night in his bed, my mind had swan-dived into the gutter. I’d envisioned all sorts of naughty things that might happen.
What can I say? I’m a smut loving girl and completely obsessed with tropes like forced proximity and only one bed.
I’d thought my night would have been one of seduction and sins.
Instead, my night was one of snuggles and sleep… and falling in love with a purple-eyed reaper.