Whatever moment had almost happened between us, whatever the heat in his eyes was—hatred or some lingering vestiges of what I’d done to him—I knew we didn’t have time to stay.
If we were lucky, the beasts would get caught up on the Enmity that Wren and Theo had left lying in the alleyway. The hounds were drawn to the scent of a fractured soul, and they were creatures with a single-minded purpose. If they got their fill, they’d hopefully leave. If they thought their only quarry was the half human who bled black on the streets, hopefully they’d just devour the broken shards and Vitality that I’d left behind and not follow the scent of the man standing in front of me.
The man who, if I looked closely enough, I could see the faintest trail of red spilling from.
Straight to my chest.
Straight to the strange sensation thrumming behind my ribs—not exactly a heart, notmyheart.
I could feelhisbeating, caught between the two of us, working for usbothnow… and I didn’t know what that meant.
There was nothing to compare to our situation. There’d been nothing to compare to the Ardor flowing through me… and now…
Well, now it was even more complicated.
“What do you mean, go? There’s a dead monster back there that looks almost human, and there’s something howling. Something feels… strange in my chest. I… what did you do to me?” I jerked him forward into a clipped walk. I wasn’t sure where I was taking him. Back to his apartment, maybe. Somewhere... anywhere other than here.
“I saved you.” I gave him the best answer I could as we kept moving forward. “I should have reaped your soul, Cole. You were dead. But I saved you.” I was surprised that the words came so easily now. Whatever bond had formed between us was enough to break the ties that Death had put on my tongue. I could tell him anything, would tell himeverything. “I’ll explain more when we’re inside somewhere. That howling you hear? If we don’tmove, it will come for you.” And almost like they wanted to prove me right, the hounds sent up their call again, and I wondered if I was imagining the sound of flesh ripping and tearing, or if they really were taking the Enmity apart.
“Why?” At least he didn’t stop walking as he asked questions, though I felt the reluctant tug of his arm in my hold as I kept pulling us forward. The silent curse caught in my chest at the fact that I couldn’t simply move us both with my usual abilities. I’d never been able to carry anything other than the incorporealwith me, and I didn’t want to test what would happen if I tried now while holding his hand.
Not when his soul had been so eager to leave his body… and not when he was full of Vitality that didn’t belong to him.
Vitality that had filled his chest with strength, knitted his wounds together.
Would he forgive me if he knew I’d done it? I hadn’t evenknownit would work—and it probably wouldn’t have if we weren’t joined by the red thread trailing between us. I’d felt his body connected to mine, slowly siphoning that strength from my chest.
Making itself whole.
Keeping himhere. With me.
I didn’t care what rules we were breaking, or that a human had died so that he could live.
I only cared that his hand in mine was warm, and he was following me as I half dragged him through the streets toward his apartment.
I didn’t stop until the door behind us was locked, and even then I was still worried that the soul hounds would sniff out exactly what I’d done.
Cole was silent as I checked the locks, as he stepped into the living room and pulled his shredded, bloody shirt over his head.
He was quiet as his fingers carefully examined the faint lines of red on his skin—perfect scars in place of claw marks that had punctured his lungs.
“Okay…” He didn’t look up at me, just smoothed his fingers along the marks again before lifting them to the center of his chest. I wasn’t sure if he could see the red thread trailing between us, but his hand pressed over the place that connected us like he could feel it. “I need you to stop fucking bullshitting me and explain what’s going on.”
It was easier said than done, and I still wasn’t sure exactly how much he wanted or needed to know. But I could at least explain tonight. My eyes lingered on his bare chest—the marks, the lean muscles… and my throat convulsed.
Lust…
Another thing a Reaper couldn’t feel… and certainly something that didn’t seem appropriate given the circumstances. But there it was, hovering on the edge of my vision and reminding me how it felt to have the weight of his body on top of mine, for his fingers to tangle in my hair.
I knew from Wren that soulmates usually consummated their bond as soon as it was forged, that their bodies demanded it though they didn’t realize that was what they were doing. From the anger creeping back into Cole’s eyes the longer I stared at him, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m a Reaper.” I paused, waiting to see if Death would suddenly appear behind me for breaking his rules, for speaking those words aloud to a human. Our bond apparently trumped that code, because nothing happened.
Nothing but a beat of silence, and Cole’s eyes going wide.
“A… Reaper. Like… hood and scythe? Grim?”
I frowned, wanting to step toward him and run my fingers along the scars he was still trailing his own across. Instead, I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head. “Humans have a strange notion of what we are… but in a sense, yes. The hood and scythe. I ferry souls and deliver them to Death.”
