Page 99 of Reaper Flame

“I’m not your problem, Zander.” I raised my voice to be heard over the engine’s roar. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m not losing you, Candy,” Zander growled. He tore his gaze away from the road for a second, and I saw emotion stir in his eyes. “I,we, have lost enough already.”

The Sevens had been surrounded by death for their entire lives. We loved more ghosts than people. The funerals, the glassy eyes, the blood… we’d lived amongst it for so long that it was hard to see a way out. The only light to guide us through was each other. If one of us was extinguished, we’d never be able to see properly again.

“We’re not going to lose anyone else,” I whispered, curling my hands into fists and digging my nails into my palms.

“If you’re not working with me, you’re working against us,” Zander said. “No one can take on the world alone.”

“Are you always so fucking righteous?” I blew out air in exasperation. “You’re just as bad! You try to do everything alone!”

He smiled sadly. “And remember how that turned out last time...”

We settled into a silence, lost in our thoughts.

“Candy?” Zander asked after a while.

“What?” I huffed.

“Can you trust me enough to follow my rules from now on?”

I watched the street lights rush by. Playing by his rules and trusting him were two different things entirely.

“I’ll try,” I replied. Well, except for trying to secure Vixen as Bryce’s heir, but Zander didn’t need to know about that. I’d planned thatbeforethis happened. “But I can’t make any promises, okay?”

“Good,” Zander said. We stopped outside Lapland but didn’t get out of the car straight away. His gray eyes found mine in the darkness. “So, tell me, how did it feel when you killed him?”

Killing people used to be a routine part of my day, like brushing my teeth in the morning, but my life was different now. When I first left Hiram, I convinced myself that my Kitten persona was the work of Hiram’s conditioning. I blamed him for bringing it out of me. For changing me into something abhorrent. It was easier to blame him for the parts of myself I didn’t want to face. But I knew the truth, and the night had forced me to accept what I’d always known. The Kitten has always been inside me.

I’d killed the Blackbird because Iwantedto. Him walking into the Golden Gloves was akin to waving a fat slice of chocolate fudge cake in front of someone on a diet. I’d been the judge, jury and executioner, and it felt…

“Powerful,” I admitted. “I liked it. Does that make me a psychopath?”

Zander laughed. The first real laugh I’d heard from him in a while. “Aren’t we all psychopaths here?”

“Maybe,” I replied. Was that why we were all drawn to each other? We were all equally fucked up and broken, like misshapen puzzle pieces that miraculously became whole when we were together. “Or maybe some people just deserve to die.”

“Like Hiram,” Zander said. His jaw clenched and any trace of a smile vanished. His tattooed neck and face almost made it look like he was wearing a mask. “If we’re going to finish him, then we need to play the game carefully from now on. You’re the only one with the knowledge to beat him.”

“It won’t be long until he shows up,” I said, half-expecting to see him lurking in the shadows like the boogeyman as soon as we stepped outside. “He will come looking for the Blackbird soon.”

“Then we’ll have to be ready,” Zander said. “And in the meantime, we won’t kill anyone else.”

I smirked. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

“I have a specific punishment in mind.” Zander shot me a twisted grin. He could do anything he wanted with a smile like that and leave me begging for more. “But it’ll have to wait.”

“Fine.” I grimaced, remembering Giles was waiting for us. “Let’s see what myhusbandwants.”

* * *

The night was already in full swing inside Lapland. A dancer was in the middle of her performance and drawing in the crowds with her tassel twirling abilities. Zander took my arm, and people parted for us to pass. They knew better than to stand in his way.

“Nice jacket.” Vixen looked me up and down as we approached her, then wrinkled her nose at my hair. She was sitting at the bar while Mieko was busy serving customers behind it. “But why do you look like a drowned rat?”

After the night I’d had, looking like a drowned rat was almost a compliment.

“It’s a long story.” I waved my hand. One that I didn’t have the energy or time to go into. “We’ll explain later.”

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