Chapter Twenty-one
S aul paused, glancing down at me. “One more thing, pet.”
“Yes?” I asked, trepidation in my voice.
He lifted me in his arms so that we were at eye level. “Ignore everything I said when we were in the bar earlier. I don’t want you to behave.”
My stomach fluttered as he leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. “But?—”
“No buts. I enjoy maintaining control of everything in my life. That isn’t likely to change, and I will always be bossy.” Saul caught my bottom lip between his teeth and gently nipped before releasing it. “But you, my love, drive me wild when you don’t behave. When you push back and challenge me. I’ve never tolerated that behavior in others, but with you, it’s different. Don’t let anyone out there treat you with disrespect.”
Laughing, I shook my head and teased, “That’s easy for you to say, Mister One-Touch-And-RIP.”
“I’m not that bad,” Saul huffed. “I’m a reasonable reaper. They’ll get one chance to apologize to you before I drop them at your feet.”
Circling my arms around his neck, I clarified, “Alive?”
“Mostly.” Saul’s lips twitched as he fought to appear serious.
“So you’re saying I can do as I please and they’ll deal with it because the grimmest of reapers is standing right behind me, watching and waiting?” Like a cat, I rubbed my cheek against his, savoring the heat that washed through me from the skin-to-skin contact… and enjoying the way his scent clung to my skin afterwards. “This is like the touch-her-and-die trope in my books.”
Saul chuckled. “Yes. If they touch you, I’m going to touch them?—”
“Which means they’ll die!”
“It seems fair to me.” He shrugged. “If they keep their hands to themselves, they won’t have a problem.”
Burying my face against his neck, I kissed his soulmate mark. “I love you, Saul.”
“And I love you.” His thumb brushed across the mark on my hip. “You know, we could just teleport somewhere else and not waste our time here.”
“No, we’re going to get this over with.” I wiggled in his arms, forcing him to set me on my feet.
Saul tucked me against his side and wrapped his arm around me. His face showed no signs of stress or worry. If anything, he seemed amused. Still, he was taking precautions to ensure I was protected.
Which was adorable since I was already dead.
I might have lived if Saul had been there the night I died. But I wasn’t complaining. Death had given me the freedom to read to my heart’s content, and it had brought Rhodes, Saul, and Evander into my life… and Lochlan. I was still mad at him.
Saul flicked the lock, swung the door open, and strode out into the hall as if he owned the world.
To my undead horror, five reapers stood against the wall on either side of the hallway, their scythes touching and creating an arch above our heads. My hand had been resting on the small of Saul’s back, but as we exited the grim gauntlet, I twisted my shaking fingers into his shirt and clung to him.
“They’re watching us.” And by they, I mean every freaking patron of the bar had given up all pretenses of doing something and were staring directly at us.
If anyone ever complained about the walk of shame again, I was going to ask if they had to walk under instantaneous death blades held by stoney-faced reapers, all while a drunken crowd of random paranormals watched.
“Yeah, I just had sex. And it felt so right,” I whispered, humming the melody of a song I couldn’t even remember the lyrics for.
My lips had barely moved, so I didn’t think anyone could have heard me, but Saul made a noise that sounded like a cough and sneeze had a baby. And the last reaper on my right snickered. I shot a look at his face, but it was an emotionless mask again… until he winked.
It was good to know at least one reaper had a sense of humor.
Zacharias pushed his way through the crowd and headed straight toward Saul. “What have you done now? Drawing the attention of the court isn’t wise when you have so much to deal with already.” Little drops of spit flew from his mouth, showing just how close he was to losing his grip on the long-suffering friend persona he’d crafted.
I’d gathered enough from his chat with the giant warlock with crappy parents who’d stuck him with the name Tiny Tank to know Zacharias was trying to create something that could bond with energy. What he would do with that creation was lost on me, although he’d mentioned planes several times, which had raised my suspicions.
Still, how could a device that sent energy into a plane cause issues? Saul was a powder keg of energy and he moved between the planes with ease, as did my collectors, and although I wasn’t supposed to, I somehow managed to as well.
I needed to think through all I’d heard, and research a few of the ingredients Tank had mentioned. But that wouldn’t happen as long as I was near Saul—or any of the guys. They were distracting as hex!
“Back up.” Saul’s voice was calm, too calm, and it sent a chill down my back.
Fire burned in Zacharias’ eyes, and he opened his mouth to say something, but wisely closed it. He took a half step back, not wanting to give into an order, but too afraid to ignore it.
“I’m looking forward to finding out what I’ve done.” Saul smiled at the ancient-looking reaper who stood behind Zacharias. “It’s been far too long since I disrupted their day.”
The fact that not a single reaper reacted to Saul’s taunting jab, and the ancient reaper only responded with a sigh, spoke volumes about who held the power in the room.
Zacharias dropped his tone and tried to convince Saul he needed to tuck his tail and be an obedient dog. Not in those words, but that was the gist. He was going to milk this opportunity for all it was worth, making sure the group of reapers saw he was a long-suffering friend who kept them all safe from the big bad wolf’s mood swings.
Needing to distract myself before I either vomited on him or bit him again, I let my gaze drift around the club. The place had been buzzing and unbearably loud just an hour ago, but now was as silent as a church, even though it was just as packed. Every patron was leaning in, as eager to hear every word as if this were their favorite telenovela.
Huh. Starring in a romance drama about my love life hadn’t been on my bucket list, but I would’ve devoured a book with a plot exactly like this.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, my eyes locked with a pair of familiar green ones.
Son of a witch! What was he doing here?
If I weren’t so rattled, and it wasn’t my life that had just taken a sharp turn off a tall cliff, I might’ve appreciated how juicy this moment was.
The entire club would eat it up if they figured out that I’d just been banged in the bathroom by the raven-haired reaper who’d broken a man’s arms for speaking to me… and also belonged to the pale-haired, fae-prince-looking collector who sat with his boots up on a table. And to make it worse, it had been less than twelve hours since Lochlan had warned me to run if I ever encountered Saul.
Lochlan’s eyes tracked every movement Saul made—every place on my body that he touched. Gone was his lighthearted, take-nothing-too-seriously attitude. It had been replaced by hard lines and a grim set to his jaw.
His eyes met mine again, and he mouthed the words, Are you okay?
I was still mad about him going on a date and rubbing it in my face by taking her to the cafe across from the library, but it felt nice to know he was worried about me.
Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I nodded. Lochlan’s eyes narrowed, scanning my face before turning his attention to Saul.
The lights above me hummed and flickered as I realized Lochlan didn’t believe me. He thought I was being held against my will. If he suspected what had happened in the bathroom, did he think I hadn’t been a willing participant? No wonder he looked like he was counting how many people he was going to kill.
I needed to talk to him and explain things, but Saul wasn’t going to let me walk around the club alone, especially with so many ticked off reapers lurking about. If I waved him over, it was going to stir the hornets’ nest even more.
Zacharias was still droning on, growing more annoyed with each quick-witted jab Saul tossed at him.
I wracked my brain, trying to come up with a way to reassure Lochlan. Maybe the best way to prove Saul wasn’t holding me captive was to show Saul affection that clearly hadn’t been coerced. I didn’t want Lochlan to be killed by trying to save me, and this seemed like the least disruptive way of making sure he got the message.
Slipping from under Saul’s arm, I moved to stand in front of him. My hands slid up his abs and chest as I went up on tip-toe. Reaching up, I caught his face between my hands and gently tugged him down so I could kiss him.
What I’d intended to be a sweet kiss that I initiated, without prompting from Saul, took a different turn when Saul responded with gusto. His hand moved to my butt, and I couldn’t help but notice the way his fingertips brushed the hem to make sure my dress hadn’t ridden up.
The fingers of his free hand sank into my hair, cupping the back of my head as he provided such incredible mouth-to-mouth, I thought he was on the verge of getting my heartbeat back.
When we finally broke apart, Saul brushed his fingers across my cheek. He wasn’t trying to convince the room I was his plaything; he was letting them witness how he felt about me.
“Saul! I’m glad you figured out how your dick works, but pay her for her time and send her on her way. This mess could turn into a crap-storm that disrupts both of us if you don’t grow a pair and deal with it.” Zacharias finished his rant by grabbing my arm and trying to yank me away from Saul.
That was the moment I realized my plan to be non-disruptive had a huge flaw.
Saul was still high on sex and he’d decided that only one thing in the world mattered to him anymore. Me.
The only reason Zacharias had managed to touch me was because Saul had been so focused on stroking my face. Zacharias probably viewed Saul’s gentleness toward me as weakness and a sign his friend was no longer the man the world feared.
I was sure Zacharias had a brain in there somewhere… he just chose not to use it.
And Saul was about to show him just how badly he’d miscalculated.