Undead Or Alive (Bad Things #3)(32)

His hands fisted and he remembered Hycim. The guy had been six foot five and thick with muscles. The only vampire/werewolf being in existence, he’d been heavy with power.

“Hycim cut off my wings with his claws. A normal weapon never would have taken them from me.” She bit her lower lip. “But…truth be told, I agreed to give Hycim those wings. They were a trade. He was going to give me something I wanted in return for them.”

“What did you want?”

Her head tilted to the right. “What do you want, Cass? What deal did you make with Luke? You tell me your terms and I’ll tell you mine.”

I was going to trade you for another woman. For a mate I could touch. For some reason, he just couldn’t force those words out. Maybe because…because he knew they would hurt Amber, and he didn’t want her hurt.

“I traded for someone I cared about,” she said softly and he saw her shoulders sag, as if she’d given up on getting an answer from him. As if she knew wanting that answer was pointless. “He needed time to get his strength back…he just needed time, and my wings gave him that time.”

Jealousy burned through him. She’d sacrificed her wings for some dumb bastard out there?

“The wings seemed like a small price to pay but…I didn’t realize the consequences. For me. For him. For everyone.” She swallowed. “When Luke sent you after Hycim…did he ask for you to…to make him suffer?”

He had. Luke had been very specific about the pain he wanted Hycim to endure.

Her eyes squeezed shut. “Don’t…don’t say anything else, okay? I just…” She spun around and hurried from the bathroom.

Cass didn’t bother drying off. When she moved, he moved—they were still bound. Tied on a damn invisible string. Only he found that he didn’t mind that connection. He actually dreaded the moment when their bond would vanish. What would happen then?

Would she slip away from him?

Was he supposed to just let her go?

She stood at the foot of the bed. Her towel dipped below her shoulder blades, so he could see her scars. He could touch them. And he did…but not with his hands.

With his mouth.

His lips pressed to the scar on her left shoulder. “I’m sorry he took your wings.” And Cass actually wished that he could kill Hycim all over again. Because it must have hurt her, so much, the agony must have ripped right through her when the bastard had used his claws on her.

Cass had seen the carnage left when Hycim was done with his victims. That had been one of the reasons he’d taken the job from Luke.

Another reason…

The gloves. The f*cking gloves.

His mouth moved to her right shoulder. Tenderly, he kissed that scar, too.

She turned in his arms. Tears swam in her eyes. For an instant, Cass could have sworn that his heart actually stopped as he stared at her.

“Take off the gloves,” she said, her voice husky.

But Cass shook his head. “I can’t.” You’ll die.

“Don’t touch me with your hands. You can do that, right? If I ask you not to touch me, I can count on you. I can trust you.”

Trust.

He’d gone still. “Are you sure you know what you’re asking?”

“I’m asking you to take off the damn gloves.” She swiped her hand across her cheek, catching the tears that had fallen. “Then I want you to get on the bed. Wrap your hands around the headboard.”

His gaze shot to the headboard. It was wooden—made of two long slats. If she wanted him to grab the headboard, then he could spread out on the bed and wrap his hands around that bottom slat.

“Hold tight to it. Don’t let go. I want to be with you again. But…I want it to just be us.”

She was walking down a very dangerous path. Amber talked about trust but… “My control is too weak with you. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.”

The Reaper…afraid.

She smiled and he was pretty sure his heart broke. “It’s because you’re afraid that you won’t. Somewhere in that dark heart of yours, you aren’t as bad as you want the world to think.” Her lips twisted. “Or as Luke might want you to think.”

“No.” She was wrong on that. “I am bad, Amber. I’ve killed more people than you can imagine—and I’ll kill more. Death is what I was made to do. I’m not human. Wouldn’t want to be. I enjoy the power.” He wouldn’t lie. “You think I didn’t go after the beings who’d killed my family, too? Because I did. Luke was the one who sent me down the path to find them. And I took them all out…for me. For my vengeance.” His voice thickened. “I enjoyed their deaths.”

If that didn’t make him bad, then…

“T-take off your gloves, okay? I don’t want to be with the Reaper. I want to be with Cass. This time…just us, all right? Just us.” Another tear.

He hated her tears.

Cass took off his gloves. He dropped them onto the nightstand, then he climbed onto the bed. He stretched out, and his hands curled around the bottom wooden slat on the headboard. It was an old-fashioned bed, nothing fancy. And the board he gripped? He could crush it. Actually, Cass feared he would crush it.

But Amber had moved to stand near him. Gazing into his eyes, she let her towel fall to the floor. “You fear touching.”