Page 71 of TBR: Dead But Well Read

Fury burned in her gaze as she turned her wrath on me. “You saw the way he treated me tonight! When I was in his house, he healed my injuries, fed me his energy, and held me while I slept.”

My stomach dropped to the floor, and I pushed to my feet. “You were hurt? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because you guys were hurt worse. And it doesn’t matter, you couldn’t have done anything except worry. I didn’t tell himeither. He figured it out.” She angrily swiped at the stray tears on her cheeks.

I kneeled in front of her, but not wanting to be rejected again or make her feel uncomfortable, I didn’t touch her. “And then you gave us too much of your energy?”

“I was fine. Tired, but my energy would have bounced back. It always does. Saul is just overly protective.” A tiny smile flitted across her face for a moment. “It felt great to sleep, though. I’ve missed that.”

He should have sent her into the beyond the moment he saw her wandering around—it was what any other reaper would have done. But the dark reaper had taken better care of her than we had. Maybe we had misjudged him.

“I want to be honest, things happened that night in his house. Not sex, but other things. I really wanted to tell you guys, and I told Rhodes. But when I tried to tell him Saul’s name, he didn’t want to hear it because we were in the middle of… well, you know.” The table lamp hummed and flickered.

How could she exude sexual energy like a succubus, wrap four men around her pinky, have every guy in that club sporting a hard-on, and yet get bashful talking about sex?

“Are you sure Saul hasn’t tricked you into letting him claim you?” I pressed.

My gut knew the answer. I’d watched every move he made in the club, and there was no way he could fake the way he felt about her. The man was in love and wanted the world to know it. It was unnerving to watch him switch between death personified as he toyed with the reapers, to a besotted, lovesick puppy with her. He’d called Axelle his pet, but from what I’d seen, he was the one who was ready to sit, stay, and roll over at her command.

Maybe I’d buy him a collar and leash… once I was sure he wouldn’t risk upsetting Axelle by murdering me.

“Saul would never! Hexes! After he performed his striptease dance for me, I would’ve done anything he wanted. But he focused on taking care of my needs and then held me while I slept.”

I was still struggling to process the idea of Death dirty dancing, when Axelle added, “So, yes! He’s made mistakes, but at least he owned up to them and apologized!”

That last bit felt directed at me, but I couldn’t figure out what she meant.

“Enough of this. I want you to be straight with me. No more dodging questions and avoiding me!” I growled in frustration.

Axelle clenched her jaw and stared over my shoulder at the wall behind me. This ended now.

“Don’t ice me out,” I pleaded. Cupping her face between my palms, I gently forced her to look at me. “If you won’t talk, then you can listen to what I have to say. I saw the look in your eye when you casually asked about the UnderGrave, and I knew you were hiding something. So when we got back from our mission, and you weren’t in bed with Rhodes, I tracked you down.

“When I got there, you were nowhere to be found. The club was buzzing with excitement over something, so I grabbed a beer and sat down to eavesdrop. It seemed a ghost chick no one knew had shown up dressed to kill, and every man in the bar had planned to shoot their shot with her.”

I paused, swallowing back the possessive jealousy that lodged itself in my throat. “But the dark reaper appeared out of nowhere, wrecked a collector who’d hit on the ghost, and then whisked her to the private area of the club out of everyone’s reach.”

The corner of Axelle’s mouth turned down in a small frown, but she remained silent.

“I’ll be honest, at that point, I was terrified they were talking about you, even though it was hard to imagine my adorablesweatpants-loving boo in the risqué, red mini-dress and heels they couldn’t stop talking about. But then the orc behind me started talking about how the ghost chick had sat on Saul’s lap, enjoying his touch, and returning his kiss with enthusiasm. I decided it couldn’t be you.

“So imagine my surprise when the reapers showed up demanding to see Saul, and he strolled out of the bathroom with you at his side.” I brushed my thumb against Axelle’s bottom lip. “I had my blades out, and I was prepared to kill him or die trying. He’d die for daring to use your body for his pleasure. And then I saw your eyes. Those gorgeous, sleepy, bedroom eyes I saw when I licked you until you came. You looked happy, content, and well-loved.”

I stopped, needing a moment to steady my breathing, and Axelle whispered, “Lochlan?—”

“No, let me finish.” I had to get this out now. “I saw the fear in your eyes when you spotted me, and I caught the flash of disgust. It hurt because I still don’t know why you went from sharing yourself with me to hating me. I knew you were afraid I would attack and hurt Saul. Then you threw yourself at him, rubbing it in my face that another man got to touch you.”

“That wasn’t why!” Axelle protested, but I pressed a finger against her lips.

“Please let me finish. You may never accept me as your partner, but I need you to know how I feel. I wanted to leave, to not see another man have what I wanted most, but I couldn’t. Not while you were in danger. Saul is impressive, but he was outnumbered, and he’d nearly killed his only ally for touching you.

“So I began making my way closer. I knew if a battle broke out between the reapers, I wasn’t going to make it out unscathed. But I wasn’t leaving until you did.”

Her eyes shone with tears, and I blinked hard to stave off my own. “When that old-as-dirt reaper laid into Saul for dirtying his species name by marking you, I couldn’t stay quiet while anyone spoke about you like that. Axelle, I risked my life and sacrificed my reputation to contradict the reaper and defend your honor… and the honor of the reaper you’d hidden from us but clearly loved. I felt the way your body stiffened when I kissed you in front of them. But you were desperate enough to protect your precious reaper that you were willing to act out your part and kiss me back.”

My voice broke, but I pushed to finish. “It nearly broke me to hold the woman I love more than life itself and know she may never feel that way about me.” My hands dropped from where I held her face to land limp at my sides. “I will treasure that bittersweet kiss for the rest of my time on this earth, but I never wanted to make you uncomfortable, boo. From now on, I will no longer try to touch you or get in your personal space.”

“Why did you do it?” Tears slid down her cheeks. “Why did you stay when it hurt you so much?”

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