Page 46 of Reaper's Pack

“Kenneth Miller,” I said once more, every word punctuated by my hellhound’s soft snarls, the gravity of the situation emphasized when I positioned my scythe’s blade at his throat. “It’s time to leave this realm and face judgment for the life you chose to live.”

I cast Gunnar a sidelong glance, and without uttering a single command, he moved closer and slid into a lie-down position so that we were at roughly the same height…

Like he just knew what I needed.

As the former serial killer—and future flayed soul—started to weep at my feet, I wrapped my scythe arm around Gunnar, his heart thundering inside that great broad chest, and gripped Kenneth’s sweat-stained T-shirt with my free hand, ensuring he wasn’t going anywhere without me.

And together, we disappeared, headed to Purgatory without delay—where an awaiting Peter would drag Kenneth fucking Miller straight to Hell.

15

Knox

The forest was quiet today.

And not the usual quiet of a sleepy morning, birds in their nests, squirrels in their trees, serpents underground. A gentle dusting of mist coated the ground as I approached the tree line, making my paws slick and muddying the natural scent of the wood. Not a single cedar moved, their usual whisper dead beneath a bleak sky. Had the familiar morning chorus greeted me, muted but present, I might have thought it was just the changing of the seasons—a cool day, a grey day, the clouds thicker than the air around me. It could all point toward a day better spent indoors, the overcast sky ready to shatter at any moment.

Only that wasn’t the case.

Having spent the last two months inside the confines of this ward, I knew better. I knew my territory.

Better yet, I knew the telltale signs of danger.

The silence that greeted me as I crossed through the trees suggested a greater predator than any hellhound stalked the shadows. Something frightening enough to hush the entire forest.

Something worth dealing with—alone, while Gunnar and Declan enjoyed their breakfast.

A low growl rumbled in my chest at the thought of the spread Hazel had prepared for us today. Nothing out of the ordinary: eggs, crispy bacon, salted tomatoes, and sourdough buns. All good. All filling. All delicious and nutritious, the sustenance she provided making the pack strong in a way I never could before.

The food was fine.

The reaper was not.

For she had turned my pack against me—perhaps without even realizing it. In my study of her, the white-haired beauty had never struck me as the malicious type. She had likely coaxed Gunnar and Declan into her thrall unintentionally, but she’d done so all the same.

Declan had mated with her, as I suspected he would when the opportunity and the hunger presented itself. The likelihood of him abandoning her now was slim, which would make our escape harder than it was already. Gunnar, meanwhile, hadn’t fucking shut up since his first field test, describing every bit of the hunt to me in agonizing detail, spending hours on the tablet researching a human murderer by the name of Kenneth Miller.

“I brought him to his doom,” he’d insisted, shoving the screen in my face, forcing me to look at the dead eyes of a human I didn’t give two shits about.

All my shits I gave to them—my boys, my pack—and Declan had fallen for a reaper, while Gunnar had fallen for the thrill of the hunt.

My beta hadn’t said as much, of course.

Declan still refused to talk about it, but he had stunk of sex and her when they returned from their outing that violently stormy night last week.

Hazel had them, whether they would admit it or not. But I knew it. And from the way she smiled around them, hopeful and earnest, her expression tinged with relief—she knew it too.

Which meant I would have to work harder to free them. A gilded cage was still a cage, after all.

But how?

How could I dissuade them when both hellhounds had what they craved?

And how long would it take for Gunnar to mount her, his and Declan’s desire for the reaper clogging up the pack bond whenever she was within sight—within scenting distance, even. Packs shared their mates, and from the intense physical response she elicited from all of us, it was only a matter of time…

We had to get the fuck out of here before then.

Without my beta and his keen mind, however, I struggled to find the answer. Dozens of possibilities had already been nixed, not worth our time or energy, and the deeper Gunnar and Declan sank into her clutches, the less likely either were to propose anything new.

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