Page 94 of Death is My Ride or Die

This was hard to watch. In a matter of seconds, Death had made seven incredibly masculine men transform into terrified puppies with their tails wedged between their legs.

Blade muttered something vicious under his breath.

Death vanished in a mist of black and reappeared in front of Blade like a monster straight out of a nightmare. He grabbed the reaper by the shirt, fangs lengthening in his mouth. “Whatdid you say?”

At the sight of Death’s own wrath, the crimson in Blade’s eyes extinguished to a dark maroon. “I said somebody isn’t getting any ass from the virgin,” he muttered.

A muscle in Death’s jaw twitched. “Am I to assume you’re the cause of all this, Blade?”

The reapers shifted as Death calmly slid off his right glove. The sight of his black markings and deadly pointed nails unnerved me. Talons extended like knives from his fingertips. and I braced myself for a gruesome execution.

Leo moved to stand between Blade and Death, holding his bandaged side. “It’s the curse, my lord,” he said imploringly. “It’s affecting all of us, including you, and especially Wrath. I implore you to take a moment and not do anything rash. Especially with the girl here.”

As nasty as Blade had been to me, I knew I needed to step in too.

“Don’t you think you’re worsening the situation with your scare tactics and tyrannical speeches?” I asked.

As I spoke, Death straightened, but he kept his gaze drilled into Blade. “Keep your smart-ass comments to yourself, Wrath. This is your final warning.”

He shoved Blade back in line with the other reapers. My heart pounded a thousand beats per minute as Death turned his anger on me. The room darkened like an impending storm. Our eyes connected, and I wished I could pull my head into my shell like a turtle.

“You’re all dismissed,” Death ordered.

The reapers left.

I could cut the tension between us with a knife.

Death glanced at his watch. “You have another date with Ace in three hours.”

“Really?”

Was this what resulted from Death begging for Ace’s forgiveness for me? Damn, Ace was petty as hell, and I loved it.

Death glared at me in the large gym mirror. “I offered Ace money for the damage you caused to his property, but apparently, he values your presence more.”

I fought back a smile, but Death caught it and narrowed his eyes. He brushed past me and approached the shelves holding various weapons.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I want to see if you’ve made progress today.”

“Sorry, I’m done for the day.”

Death shrugged off his cloak, thick muscle shifting beneath his shirt.

“I’mnotfighting you,” I added, since the guy was clearly not taking the hint.

Holding two swords, Death prowled under a light at the center of the mat. His alien eyes shifted colors, like iridescent green kaleidoscopes. “Stop crying, cupcake.” He threw me my sword. Fortunately, I caught it by the hilt. “You knocked me down last night, didn’t you? Now we’re even.” He arched that scarred eyebrow. “Don’t you want to know who’ll come out on top?”

“I’m not fighting you,” I repeated firmly. “Your mood is volatile, your fangs are, like, six feet long, and you look like you want to eat me. More than usual. Besides, I got my revenge.”

“Did you? Because you still seem pissy to me.” Death rotated his sword in a skilled motion around his body, bringing my focus back to the training. Metal clashed. We moved around the mat as if it were choreographed, his mismatched eyes never leaving mine.

A dangerous grin spread over his face like venom. “You made the correct decision to keep that barracuda. It’s tamed down, and your footwork has improved.”

“Uh, thanks.”

We continued this adrenaline-filled dance. Death came at me with his blade in various movements, and I struggled to keep him off me. My arms felt heavy from all my training with the Seven.

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