Page 3 of Reaper

Reaching for my cut, I pull my phone out. I hit the panic button that will alert the other members of my club that I’m in trouble. With any luck, Matrix will activate my tracker before sending Scar and the others to find me.

“Mommy?” Ace takes a tentative step forward.

She rolls her head to one side to look at me. Her hair falls off her face, revealing her delicate, elf-life features. Confusion furrows her brows as she struggles to make sense of her surroundings. She tries to sit, but in her weakened state, she’s unable to move.

“Reaper?” The word is a whisper torn from her throat, fragile as a butterfly wing. It hits melike a punch to the gut.

“Lexi,” I breathe out, my own disbelief mirrored in her gaze.

Those eyes. Those damn hazel eyes that haunt my dreams are here, staring back at me—dark brown irises framed by a light green halo. They’re the very same ones that used to look at me with love … until she vanished from my life without a trace.

The world tilts on its axis. My breath catches in my throat as I stare. Her trembling hand reaches toward mine. I instinctively take it, grounding her to this moment, to me. She’s real, she’s here, and she’s alive. This isn’t some cruel mirage my mind conjured up. It’s not a dream. It’s not even a nightmare.

“You’re safe,” I tell her, even though my mind is reeling, struggling to piece together how the past has suddenly collided with the present on this desolate mountain road.

“Mommy!” Ace’s relieved cry breaks through the haze of shock.

Lexi’s attention snaps toward him. Recognition floods her face as she releases my hand so she can pull her son into her arms. Ace clings to her. His small frame is dwarfed in her embrace. He buries his face in her neck, seeking comfort only she can provide.

“Are you okay, baby?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

My gaze bounces from Lexi to Ace. A surgeof protectiveness wells up in my heart. I don’t know why someone tried to run her off the road, or why she left without saying goodbye, but seeing her again stirs something deep within me.

“Where have you been?” The question escapes before I can hold it back. It’s raw and loaded with seven years’ worth of pain.

She opens her mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. I watch her struggle for composure as her gaze falls away. Her chest expands and contracts with each shaky breath. She manages to sit, while all I can do is stay hunched over the ground. I don’t have enough energy left to move.

The distant roar of motorcycles fills the air. Instinctively, I know it’s my brothers. They’ll be here soon, and they’re not going to like what they find. When she left, I went a little crazy. It took months before I could function again. They’re going to be pissed she’s back in our lives.

And worse, Scar knows how dangerous it is for me to use my power to bring people back from the dead. It almost killed me once, and I was lucky to survive. Ever since then, Scar has warned me repeatedly not to manipulate energy unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Well, this was one of those times when it had to be done.

But why her?

Why now?

I have a million questions, but they’re going to have to wait until we get to the clubhouse.Lexi’s back, and she’s not leaving until she tells me why she ran away seven years ago.

Chapter 2: Lexi

The world spins. A kaleidoscope of blurred greens and grays swirls above me as I gasp for air, my lungs sucking in the charged atmosphere. Sparks of blue light shimmer like stars against a night sky, yet it’s mid-day, still hours from sunset. It’s a struggle to separate reality from the surreal dream threatening to consume me. I must have been unconscious. I was floating, wasn’t I? Among stars or beneath waves? The details slip away like sand through my fingers.

“Lexi?”

That voice—low and rough around the edges in a way that sends a flash of molten fire straight to my core—snaps me back to the present.Reaper.His name stirs a cauldron of emotions inside me. I’ve tried to erase his voice from my memory, yet it still haunts me.

“Reaper?” I croak in disbelief.

“You’re safe.”

I force my eyelids to part, squinting against the harsh light. My gaze locks onto his silhouette, crouched beside me. He’s here. He’s real. He’s not just a fragment of a feverish dream. But how canthat be?

Fear seeps into the chaos of my scrambled thoughts. The last time I saw him was that terrible night when my world shattered into a million pieces. It’s been seven years, but it could have been yesterday. Reaper looks exactly the same. The darkness inside him is still there. Its palpable presence hovers over us, and I feel it seeping into my soul.

“Mommy!”

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