Page 14 of Reaper

Ara couldn’t figure out why he was warning the other woman to stay away.To her, she seemed harmless.

When she glanced back at Reaper’s tense face, his glare bore into the beautiful woman and Ara absently wondered whether they had a past.Studying the emotions that flashed on his face, an unfamiliar pang in her chest surged into something easily definable, although she had no experience with the particular feeling.Ara had no idea where it came from or even whether it was justified, but she could feel her pulse in her ears and all rationale fled.She sensed more than witnessed several pairs of eyes on her, but she dismissed their stares because her emotions were going berserk and she could only handle one thing at a time.

She had no claim on Reaper, but despite reason, the new sensation grew to be unpleasant.

Over the past few days, she’d grown to believe that he was her one anchor to the strange world she found herself in.But more than that, she started to care for him and any thought of losing that connection was devastating.

Blackness started around the edges of her vision and she heard someone shouting her name from far away.She knew that she was about to pass out, but Reaper pulled her into his arms and whispered words that tried to calm her.Unable to understand her actions, she pushed away from him, needing space to figure out her reaction.Slowly, reality came back into focus.

“Ara?”

“I’m okay.Sorry.Sorry.”

She opened her eyes and caught a strange look on Reaper’s face, but she lowered her gaze to the ground and leaned against the wall for support, embarrassed by her reaction and to the thoughts that started her panic attack.

“I was just going to say hi.Jesus, Reaper, you scared the shit out of her,” Jade said.

In that moment, Ara was swept into another hug and blinked back the sheen of tears that threatened to fall.Jade smelled of peaches and vanilla, and her hold was strangely comforting.Ara thought she would balk at being touched again, but Jade comforted her in a way that she didn’t understand.

Just as she settled into Jade’s hug, the door to the basement was flung open and it slammed against the wall with a bang that resonated in her head.Jade pulled back and stepped away from her a moment before a tall teenager bounded down the stairs.

“He’s determined to ruin every wall in the house,” Kai groaned.

“Like you care,” Liv retorted.

Kai laughed and it relaxed the fierceness of his features.“That’s true.”

She had yet to meet the others formally because they had given her space after her freak-out, but instead of heading toward Liv or Kai, the teen strode right up to her and tilted his head as he gazed at her.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Ara, and you?” she asked.

“Seth.It’s nice to meet you.”

“Same here.”

She smiled at him, bewildered at how easy he made it seem to meet someone new.

“Dinner’s ready.”Seth darted back up the stairs.

Ara’s eyes widened as she watched everyone in the room disappear upstairs.Reaper stayed behind with her, and when she turned to face him with an apology stuck in her throat, he cupped her cheeks in his hands.The next moment, he walked until her back was flush with the wall and he captured her mouth in a kiss that scorched her.Her hands slid up his chest while she rose on her toes, wanting to get closer; his low growl traveled through her body and strummed against her core.

He ripped his mouth from hers and she loved when his hot breaths caressed her cheek.She kept her eyes closed and breathed him in.

“Open your eyes, Ara,” he demanded.

She did as he asked because of the urgency of his voice.When she met his gaze, the jealousy and her reaction to it seemed immature.He had looked at her in no other way than with a need she couldn’t describe, and in that moment, she knew the truth a split second before he spoke.

“I want you.Since the moment I spotted you in the lab, I wanted you.That will never change.”

He brought his mouth back to hers and she grew aggressive when she touched her tongue to his.Moaning for more, she ran her hands through his hair and pulled him closer, swallowing his low growls as she grew more and more breathless.It took several minutes to get her need under control, and when she pulled back to glance at his face, she realized that he told her the truth.

“In time, I will show you how much.But for now, let’s go eat and I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

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