Undead Or Alive (Bad Things #3)(44)

He kissed her throat once again. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you.” His wrist began to burn.

She gave a little gasp and he knew she felt that burn, too.

Their cuffs appeared, one on her wrist. One on his.

“The forty-eight hours are up,” Cass told her, swallowing. “You’re free.” He pressed a kiss to her mouth. “And I swear, I will make sure that Gregory never hurts you again.” He backed away from her. Then he reached for the cuff that surrounded his wrist. He shattered that cuff, breaking the bond between them.

Lightning was still flashing in the sky. Thunder rumbled.

“I feel him close by,” Luke said. “The bastard thinks his magic is strong enough to hide from me.” He laughed. “Hell, his spell isn’t half as good as Amber’s was.”

“You let me go,” she said, not ever looking away from Cass. “I knew it. You both let me vanish.”

“Because you were in pain,” Leo mumbled, yanking a hand over his face. “I always hated your pain. Being near us—it made you hurt more.”

Cass hated her pain, too. “I’ll find Gregory. I’m the one who should have ended him. The pain he caused her—it’s on me.”

“It’s not, Cass!” Her eyes widened in horror. “You never did anything to hurt me.”

But he’d never done anything to make her life better, either. And he’d failed to keep her safe.

He summoned his scythe. He’d be using it to take Gregory’s head.

Luke waved his hands toward him. “Here you go, Reaper. I’ll give you a head start…”

Wind whipped around him, and Amber disappeared.

Cass opened his mouth to roar her name, but then the wind died away. He realized Luke had sent him deeper into the woods. And Cass turned his head when he heard the rustle of footsteps.

Then the snap of a twig. I’ll give you a head start.

A smile curled Cass’s lips. Luke had given him new prey.

Gregory was smiling when he broke her neck. Cass would smile when he used his scythe on Gregory. “Guess what, buddy?” Cass called out as he turned, keeping the scythe close. “Death is ready for you.”

***

Amber grabbed Luke’s shoulders and shook him—as hard as she could. “Where did you send him?”

His eyes widened. Thunder boomed.

“Easy, there, Amber,” Leo tried to soothe.

She wasn’t in the mood to be soothed. She was pretty sure she’d been dead, and her night was hellish. “Where is Cass?”

Luke’s brows lifted. “He’s Death. He’s a Reaper…I sent him off to—you know—reap.”

“You sent him to Gregory.”

Luke flashed her a smile. “I told you that Gregory was trying to use magic to hide from me. Silly vamp. I could feel him out there, so I sent your Reaper to take what was left of his soul.” He inclined his head toward her. “You’re welcome.”

“I’m not thanking you!” Amber screamed. She shook him again, just because. Then she jerked away from him. “You and Leo—you both always think you know what’s best!”

“We do,” they said in unison.

“You know jackshit,” she fired back. Her shoulders heaved. She pointed at Luke. “You…you think I don’t get that you didn’t want me to sacrifice my wings for you?”

His eyes gleamed. “About that…”

“And you.” She pointed to Leo. “You think I didn’t know how much you blamed Luke for me giving up my wings? But it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his choice. It was mine. Hycim had found a way to hurt Luke. Luke was weak because of Hycim. Luke needed time to recover, and my wings bought him that time. They were a small price to pay for Luke’s life.”

He’d stiffened. “They weren’t small to me. They were your power.”

“There’s more to life than power. You both need to learn that lesson. Maybe then you can avoid killing each other.” She rubbed her neck. It still ached. And her back itched. And she felt…weird inside. Shaky.

And scared. So scared…for Cass. “Gregory was the one who gave Hycim all the intel on you—on you both.” Her gaze swung between them. “He admitted that he was the one who turned Hycim into a hybrid. Gregory has been gunning for your power all along, Luke, and you didn’t know that.”

His face hardened. “Then it’s fitting that the Reaper is about to take his head.”

“You sent Cass to do your dirty work before! Gregory was family to him! Family! Having Cass take his head…that would be like—like—”

“Like me killing Luke,” Leo announced flatly.

Silence.

“Gregory isn’t his family,” Luke said. “Gregory is one of the f*cking vampires who killed his family. Then they took in Cass, thinking they could brainwash him into being their attack dog.”

At his words, horror flooded her. “You…you knew that all along? And you left Cass with him?” She stared at him in shock. “They cut off his hands! His hands!”

“And if Gregory was the one yanking Hycim’s strings…then he’s also the one responsible for cutting off your wings,” Luke fired back. “So let your Reaper lover take his vengeance. Let Cass do his worst.” He gave a grim shake of his head. “I’m supposed to govern the dark ones, but I don’t control them completely. They have their own thoughts. They get f*cking out of control, and I do my best to clean up the messes they leave behind. When the vampires took Cass—back when he was a kid—I was dealing with f*cking twenty other world-ending problems. The apocalypse is always a step away.”