Page 16 of Stolen By the Reaper

He hissed through his teeth as he traced a new mark. “The beast accepted my terms, then claimed Hester’s soul, anyway. He needed her close to keep her safe, he said.”

I opened my mouth, but words failed me. What did one say to such a horrific revelation? “I’m... I’m so sorry.”

“It was centuries ago.” He shrugged, but I saw the tension in his shoulders. Just how much of his flippant attitude was to hide that pain? “I mourned. I lived. I died, and here I am, five hundred years later.”

“Fivehundredyears?” I paled, the enormity of his existence hitting me.

I struggled to wrap my mind around it. All that time, all those souls. Hisdebt.Debt he shouldn’t have needed to pay after dirty demon tricks!

And now he risked starting over—with his sister’s soul under threat—for me.

Quiet me. Small me. Me, perfect target for maniac boyfriends to score points with their demon overlords.

“I’m not worth this trouble,” I blurted. “I’m not anyone special.”

His eyes blazed as they snapped to my face. He handed me the bowl of shimmering paste and held out his arm. “Here,” he murmured, touching the faint red of a former glyph. “Trace this.”

Green flames bored into me as I probed the paste, hesitantly. It was cool to the touch, smooth, almost like oil. I scooted closer, taking hold of his forearm with my free hand and swiping the mark with my thumb. “This one?”

His nostrils flared, and I caught a bob of his throat. “Go on, Josephine,” he coaxed in that deliciously deep voice.

I dipped my forefinger through the strange paste and dragged it over the faded design. I felt a hum, like the echo of distant music, and then his skin parted beneath my touch. Green fire licked at my fingertips. It didn’t burn; instead, it sent a jolt of electricity through me.

Azrael groaned, his eyes fluttering closed. The tip of his cock stirred, hardening, growing thicker as I watched. The muscles of his stomach twitched.

The blood in my veins heated, my skin warming all over. The walls of the cavern grew smaller. Closer. The space between us was an inferno. I dragged the pad of my thumb over the freshly formed glyph, my heart hammering.

“That’s why.” His eyes snapped opened, the flames burned brighter than ever. “You have power, Josephine. You broke through my illusions. Do you have any idea how rare that is?”

I shook my head, acutely aware of our closeness. His thumb traced circles on my wrist, leaving trails of fire in its wake. “What does that make me? Not human?”

“It makes you a proven adversary. You’ve been blooded by the beast, and survived.” He reached up, brushing his thumb down the scratch that remained from Alain’s blade.

“Blooded by the beast,” I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper. Everything sounded like a riddle when you didn’t understand the rules. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re dangerous.” His fingers trailed higher again, sending shivers down my spine. “A demon can only be truly killed by an enemy already marked by their power.”

My breath caught, trapped somewhere between fear and a strange, intoxicating excitement. The heat of my reaper’s skin soaked into me, and the intensity of his fiery gaze made it hard to think straight.

“The cut from Alain...”

“Enough to grant you power.” He grinned, slow and wicked. “Enough to make you a threat.”

He leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear. I fought the urge to lean into him, my skin tingling where we almost touched. The scent of him—smoke and spice—filled my senses, making my head spin.

“Imagine it,” he murmured. “Making them tremble. Making them pay.”

I shivered, pulse quickening. The idea was tempting, more than I wanted to admit. Revenge had never been my style, but then again, I’d never been sacrificed to a demon before, either.

“I’ve seen your strength. Your fire.” His lips coasted along the slope of my neck, sending a jolt of heat through me. “You could be the one to stop him.”

But justice? Ensuring no one else suffered the same fate? That, I could get behind. Even if the end was painted in the same bloody red.

Maybe especially then.

The air crackled with possibility and power. With something else, something primal and hungry.

I wet my lips, watched his eyes track the movement. This was madness. I barely knew him, barely understood this new world I’d been thrust into.

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