Reaper Unhinged

I sank my fingers into his hair and savored the shape of his lips and the taste of bitter ale on his tongue. He was mine, and I was drowning in him, desperate to be swept away. Azazel groaned into my mouth, deepening the kiss for a delicious moment of abandon that made my head spin and my body clench in anticipation of more. But then he pulled back, breaking the kiss with a soft curse. His lips skated down my neck, and his tongue flicked out to taste me.

“Do you need to feed?” My voice was a rasp.

He shook his head. “I’m fine.” His chest heaved as he pressed his forehead to mine. “I fucking missed you.”

I blinked back tears. “I missed you more.”

He set me down almost reluctantly, but he didn’t let go of me.

I pressed a kiss to his hard jaw. “Where’s Mal?”

“Inside,” Azazel said. “Sulking because I beat him at rock paper scissors and the right to greet you first.”

“I don’t sulk.” Mal stepped out into the night to join us. “I get even.” He grinned at me, lopsided and totally Mal.

He looked too good in his travel clothes of soft leather and dark cloak. His hair was ruffled and fell across his forehead in a roguish manner, and his emerald eyes were sharp and intensely fixed on me.

“My turn,” he said. Azazel kissed the top of my head and released me. “I’ll order us some food. Five minutes.” He shot Mal a warning glare as he went past.

“Uriel’s at the bar with Keon,” Mal called out without taking his eyes off me.

It was like being in a predator’s sights. It was like the air was being slowly sucked out of my lungs. There would have been a time I would have been tempted to back up. To put distance between us, but not any longer. Instead, I canted my head coquettishly and crooked my finger, beckoning him to hurry up.

He bridged the distance between us and stopped inches from me.

I tipped my chin up. “Did you miss me?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “A little, I guess.”

I bit back a smile. “A-huh? Yeah, I’ve been super busy too.”

His mouth turned down as if he was considering this. “I get that. No time to dwell, really.”

“Right. So just to get this straight…” I pushed up on tiptoe, so our lips were a hairbreadth apart. “You had no time to think about touching me?”

“No.”

“Kissing me?”

His hands strayed up to bracket my hips, fingers digging in slightly. “Not a moment.”

“Of being naked on top of me?”

One hand swept up my spine, fingers raking up into my hair.

I bit back a moan. “Of being deep inside—”

He twisted a fist in my hair and crushed his mouth against mine. The kiss was bruising and intense, salt and ale as his tongue rasped against mine. He grabbed my ass and yanked me flush against his arousal. Heat spiraled down to the juncture of my thighs and settled in a deep throb.

I tore my mouth away from his. “Mal—”

He cut me off with another kiss, his grip unrelenting and filled with intent as he propelled us backward into the shadows and up against a tree. He broke the kiss and dropped his mouth to my neck. His fangs grazed my throat, and my nipples tightened painfully in anticipation of his bite.

“Fuck.” He pulled away and released me. “Fuck, Fee.” He ran a hand through his hair. He let out a bark of laughter. “I really missed you.”

I sagged against the trunk. Why did he do this to me? How could he make me lose my mind like this?

He took several steadying breaths and then held his hand out to me. “We should get something to eat and catch up.”

I laced my fingers through his, and he pulled me to him, wrapping me in the perfect Mal hug.

I relaxed against him, reveling in the contact. “I missed you.”

“I missed you more, Fee. I missed you more.”

The Den was lit by lanterns dotted around the room, giving it a seedy air, which was apt considering the clientele. Rough-looking demons played cards and dice games. Blades sat snug on hips, ready in case a throat needed cutting. But overall, the atmosphere was relaxed and almost pleasant. Food was consumed and ale drunk, and no one batted an eyelid at the sight of a female accompanied by four hulking males. Keon, on the other hand, drew a couple of curious glances, but he bared his fangs and hissed, and that was that.

“Aren’t you worried someone will recognize you,” Uriel asked him.

“In this den of uncouth souls? No. To them, I’m just a filthy daemon.”

And it wasn’t long before we became part of the furniture. Keon had been right. This was the perfect place to blend in and hold a super-secret important meeting.

I sat between Mal and Azazel with Keon and Uriel opposite. My belly was full of stew and bread, and the ale had gone down nicely too. Stories had been swapped, and pertinent information traded, and we knew what needed to be done.

It felt like a last supper before we went off to potential death because none of us knew what to expect. Limbo was a mystery, and Mammon’s pickup could involve a number of nasty surprises. Azazel and Mal had come with a troop of soldiers ready to fight if need be. They were stationed a fifteen-minute flight from the rendezvous point, and Limbo was a fifteen-minute flight from this tavern.

It was almost time for us to part ways, and my heart sank. I wasn’t ready for this moment to end. I wasn’t ready to dive into danger just yet.

Mal’s hand slipped onto my thigh. He squeezed gently and then drained his tankard of ale. “I hate this. There’s a reason no one goes into Limbo. It’s one of the most dangerous spots in the Underealm.”

“And the power source is our only hope at saving our worlds,” Keon added. “This affects us all.”

Azazel’s jaw ticked. “We have no choice. Lilith must be found and rescued.” He looked down at me. “Because once Fee saves our worlds, we’re going to have to be ready for a war.”

He had faith in me, and that gave me faith in me.

“We meet back at quarters in forty-eight hours,” Mal said. “No matter what.”

In other words, if I failed to find the power source, we could face the end together.

I had no idea how long earth would take to die once the Beyond shut down. No idea how long the demons would survive without their connection to the celestial power the Beyond allowed them, but however long it was, we would experience it together.

I picked up my tankard and held it up on a toast. “Forty-eight hours.”

“Forty-eight hours,” the others echoed.

Mal and Azazel left first, and a hollow sensation bloomed in the pit of my stomach.

“They’ll be fine,” Keon said. “Both are ruthless on the battlefield.”

I nodded. “I know. I just…” Missed them already. Worried that I’d never see them again. “Nothing.”

We left the sweaty, crowded confines of the Den and headed out into the crisp night air.

I asked the question that had been plaguing me for hours. “What if we don’t succeed? I mean…What if we don’t make it out?”

Keon gripped my shoulders. “You will make it out. I’ll make sure of it.”

I believed him. It was his job to keep me alive for Lilith’s sake. Except now…Now I felt he wanted to protect me.

That was good. Because I was not ready to die.

Chapter Twelve

The entrance to Limbo was marked by a towering stone arch etched with symbols I didn’t recognize.

“This is the gateway. The only way in or out,” Keon said. “But those confined are allowed no exit.”

“The ancient souls that the Beyond abandoned here?” I looked to Uriel.

The celestial’s brow pinched. “Why would the Beyond leave any human souls here?” He pursed his lips and stepped closer to the arch to study the symbols. “Enochian. But I can’t…I can’t seem to read them.” He rubbed his eyes and studied the symbols again before shaking his head. “Strange, almost as if they don’t want to be read.”

“Was the divine about when the circles were disbanded and the souls were recalled?”

“I don’t know,” Uriel said. “I didn’t even know the divine was gone until recently.”

Of course, he was a lower circle celestial, not privy to that information. “No worries. Let’s just get this over with. If this power source is here, then there will be some kind of clue or energy signature we may be able to pick up on.”

I was clutching at straws, and we were technically going in blind with no plan, but it made me feel better to say words that made it seem like we knew what the fuck we were doing.

I pulled a dagger from my holster and stepped through the arch. Fog closed in around me, damp and cold. The chill seeped through my clothes to kiss my skin. The world here was gray, black, and muted. We were in an open space, and trees were visible through the fog. This was a path of some kind, made of white pebbles.

“Stay on the path,” Uri said. “I think the path is safe.”

Made sense. The fog was thinnest here, but it hovered thickly on either side of us as if eager for us to come closer so it could smother us.

“What if the power source isn’t on the path?” Keon asked.

He had a point, but my gut told me to stick to the pebbled track. “There has to be some clue.”

Whispers filled the air, and then the hairs on my arms stood to attention. We weren’t alone.

“Who’s there?” Uri demanded.

One of them, a lilting female voice said.

Here? a male voice replied.

Again.

It’s been a while.

Too long, the woman said.

Then maybe we should play our song?

Foreboding bloomed in my stomach just as the haunting notes of a melody rose up in the air. The foreboding morphed into panic, then terror as primal instinct blared a warning.

Keon stared at me, shaking his head. His mouth moved, forming words I couldn’t hear.

“Don’t listen!” I cried out.