Page 70 of TBR: Dead But Well Read

“I can’t stay! There were too many of them! They’ll kill him!” She tried to pull away, but Evander firmly held onto her.

That wasn’t going to work if she decided to teleport herself like a freaking reaper.

“Who is going to be killed? I need you to tell me what’s going on so I can help.” Evander was impressively calm.

Axelle sat, her gaze darting around the room and her fingers twisting in her lap.

Squeak!

A gray ball of fur tumbled from Evander’s pocket and scurried into Axelle’s lap.

“Wasabi?” She stroked his head with a trembling finger. “How’d you get here?”

As expected, the gray rat didn’t respond, which I appreciated, since with the way things were going, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had. At leastsomethings were still as they seemed.

“I went looking for you at the library and found Wasabi sleeping in your blankets. Rhodes and Lochlan had talked about your rat friend, and I didn’t want him to be alone. He’s been hanging out here with me while I tried to figure out where you two had gone,” Evander explained.

As Axelle continued to pet the rodent, the tremors in her hands eased.

I sighed. Not only had our circle grown to include a reaper, we’d added a rat, too. And from where I was sitting, she seemed to prefer the rat to me.

What had I done to make her go from desiring my touch, to shying away from me? I knew I could be a dick, but I’d gone over and over my actions and words and couldn’t figure it out.

Unless she had been uncomfortable with the intimacy we shared, but hadn’t been brave enough to say so. She’d seemed into it, but maybe she regretted it?

But it seemed like more than embarrassment or shyness. No, she was angry at me. Besides, she’d proven she wasn’t shy with her reaper make-out session in front of the entire club.

“Who are you worried about?” Evander repeated his question now that she had calmed down enough to speak.

“Saul.” Axelle dropped her chin to her chest and her lips quivered.

“Saul? The reaper, Saul?” Evander shot me a quick look that I returned with a smirk. He had no idea what was coming.

Axelle whispered a watery, “Yes.”

“You were supposed to run if you saw him!” Evander’s voice rose slightly.

I laughed. “Oh, she did. She ran straight onto his cock.”

“Lochlan! Don’t be crude,” Evander hissed.

“Don’t get your boxers in a bunch, bro. It’s cool. They’re allowed to have sex since they’re married.” I was being harsh, but I was too hurt to care.

“Married?” Evander grasped Axe’s chin, tilting her head back so he could see her face. “Is that true?”

“Yes. I felt the bond with him, just like with you guys. He’s my soulmate.” Her eyes shimmered with tears. “I followed my heart, but things got out of hand and…”

“Had you met him before we told you about him?” Evander asked.

She nodded. “Twice. The first time, we didn’t speak, but I saw him watching me in the library. I hadn’t known he was a reaper. Then I accidentally ended up in his house when I tried to hide from you guys.”

“Did he hurt you or try to make you do anything you weren’t comfortable with?” Evander’s tone echoed the same fear I was feeling.

She’d been alone. In his home. What kind of torture could he have inflicted on her?

Axelle’s large doe-like eyes went soft, the same way she used to look at me. “No. He was sweet.”

I snorted. “No one has ever used that word for Saul.”

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