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The next breath barely comes. It’s a whisper of air and my body tenses. My lungs won’t open, my chest won’t move. Blood thumps lazily in my skull.

This is it. I won’t get another breath.

If this is death, then let me go with love in my heart and the vision of my wife in my head. I’d rather leave this plane with her memory anyway.

“Get me the damn needle.”

“Here,” Lex huffs, and my body shakes.

“Don’t you dare die on me,” Maeve threatens. “I swear to God, Briar, do not leave us.”

There’s a prick in my arm, and my chest locks down. A sudden weight crushes me, pressing me back, before it’s ripped away. My body spasms, limbs jerking wildly, before I spring forward, pulled up.

Coughing, I fall over, body heaving. My lungs fill to the brim, my heart pounds in my skull, and everything tilts. I’m lightheaded, sick, but fuck I can breathe.

“Briar?” Maeve throws her arms around me, arms clawing into me. Weakly, I hold her back, choking the air out over her head. It tastes so sweet.

Across the area, Killian has Freddie pinned to the wall, his knife at his throat. But he’s not looking at him—he’s staring at me, face pale with worry. Maeve drops back on her ass, eyes wide.

Lex claps me on the back, falling to the ground, eyes tired. “Welcome back.”

I was dead. I felt it; the cold nails of the Grim Reaper came for me.

They brought me back. Valentina kept me grounded.

Maeve helps me stand. My knees buckle, and Lex holds my other arm, letting me sag against his strength.

Killian’s jaw cracks, and he reins in whatever emotion he’s feeling. Jerking his head at Freddie’s shocked face, he says, “I wanted to kill him. Especially after he mentioned making my girl bleed.”

The undercurrent of rage cracks across us like a whip. It’s taking everything in the Reaper to keep from slashing his throat.

“I figured you wanted this one.”

Lex and Maeve walk with me over to where they stand. My legs feel like putty, and without them, I’d be back on the ground. Killian flips the knife from Freddie’s neck, holding him with one hand while giving me the hilt.

The coward shakes his head, eyes huge. “You were dead. How are you here, right now?”

Patting my chest, I grin, though it doesn’t reach my eyes. “Trade secret. Maybe one day you’ll understand.”

The capo and my sister release me, and I take Killian’s place.

“So, what? Now you’ll kill me?”

I wink. “Actually, yeah.”

The idiot snorts. “I know the rumors. You don’t kill. You’re all bark and no bite.”

Maeve surges forward, but Killian wraps his arm around her waist, holding her back. Freddie swallows thickly, fear etched across his face. Good. He should be frightened.

“You see, that’s what the rumors get wrong.” I flip the knife in my hand, the expert that I am.

I don’t kill, or at least I never wanted to kill. That was before I met Valentina. I’ve killed in her defense and have killed to stay alive for her. To do it again doesn’t faze me. The demons can’t take me—not when I know in my heart I kill for one goddess, and she’ll never forsake me.

Freddie’s cheeks sink in, eyes wide as he watches my hands.

“I was raised by the most vicious woman in the Northeast and a man whose name makes grown men shake in their boots. My brothers are covered in more blood than what’s in your body. And my sisters?” I shake my head, smiling ruefully. “They’re worst. So, if you think I can’t kill you, that’s your problem.”

“If you kill me, you’ll never find her,” he pants.