“Hey, what’re you doing back?” Ky asked, a suspicious hint to his voice.
“I came to check on Clara,” Ryker explained, sounding much more put together than I felt.
“Mhm,” Zane mumbled.
I swung my feet down to the floor and quickly ran my fingers through my hair. I hadn’t felt like a teenager being caught by her parents in a long time, but having Ky and Zane walk in just before Ryker and I had been about to… oh shit. We’d been about to fuck. I’d already kissed Ky, and now Ryker, and I’d been about to screw one of them.
What is happening with you? I chastised myself.
Shaking my head, I righted my clothes before Ky slipped into the room. He grinned from ear to ear, a mischievous glint in his eyes and victory in his smile as he placed three boxes of pizza on the coffee table.
“Whoa,” I said, my eyes wide. “Someone’s hungry.”
Ky shrugged. “I figured everyone was. I don’t think I’ve seen you eat since yesterday.” He narrowed his eyes, some of that amusement gone from his face. “Eat up.”
I smiled despite my rolling stomach. Guilt gnawed at me, stealing any hunger that might have been there. “Fine,” I agreed.
Ky nodded his approval. “Good. I’ll grab plates.”
“I’ve got them.” Zane stepped through the living room doorway, a sour look on his face. He glared at the cat shifter, but handed over a stack of plates nonetheless.
“Thanks, Zaney,” Ky mocked as he plucked the plates from Zane’s hands. He spun on his heel and returned to the coffee table, taking the seat beside me, and leaving barely an inch between us.
I raised my eyebrows, both at Ky’s new nickname for Zane, and his sunny demeanor. “Zaney?” I questioned.
“It’s my new name for the sourpuss,” Ky explained.
“I got that,” I said, trying and failing to hide my smile from an increasingly irritated Reaper.
Ryker stepped back inside, glancing at me, a heated look still in his eye before he glanced at Ky sitting so close to me. He narrowed his eyes slightly, a tick in his jaw.
Uh oh. That wasn’t good.
Before I could say anything, Ryker slipped around the opposite side of the table and took the corner seat diagonal from me, leaving Zane to sit on the ottoman he dragged away from the window.
“Well this is a nice surprise,” I said.
“I thought you deserved it after… everything,” Ky said. He shrugged and nudged me with his elbow. He was trying to make me feel better. It was so sweet that it did nothing for the guilt gnawing at me.
“I?” Zane growled. “Don’t you mean, we?”
My eyes widened as I looked at the Reaper. “You had something to do with this?”
It was my turn to endure Zane’s glare apparently. “Yes. Who do you think paid for it?”
“But it was myyy idea,” Ky shot back.
“And my money,” Zane said.
I held up my hands. “All right! Thank you both then.”
“You’re welcome,” they said in unison before resuming to glare at each other.
“Okay, well then let’s—”
For the second time in one evening, the front door slammed open. I jumped, grabbing Ky’s arm.
“Clara?” a woman’s voice snapped loudly.
Oh shit.
“Mom?” I gasped.
Chapter 26
The three men in my living room looked at me with varying looks of shock.
“Mom?” Ky asked.
“I thought your mother was out of town,” Zane accused.
I leapt to my feet to rush to the living room door. “Stay here,” I hissed at them.
Before I could make it to the door, my mother stepped into the doorway. Her black hair bounced around her shoulders as she stopped, her icy eyes darting all over me like she expected to find me injured.
“Clara, you’re okay,” she sighed in relief. She reached forward to hug me when movement must have caught her eye. She looked over my shoulder and stiffened.
“Reaper,” Zane said on a breath.
I looked over my shoulder. He’d stood from his chair, his brow furrowed with confusion as he glared past me at my mother.
Suddenly what he said clicked. Reaper? What?
“Clara, get behind me!” Mom snapped. She pushed me behind her, putting herself between me, and my new roommates as she flicked her wrist, and tore through the void. A scythe appeared in her hand as she fell back a step, holding her weapon at the ready.
“Wait what is—” I began.
Before I could continue, Zane shot forward and Mom brought her scythe down. Zane flashed a dagger up in response, barely blocking her blow in time.
“Clara, get out of here now!” Mom shouted.
Mom forged into the living room, thrusting her blade out and sending Zane off balance before she slammed her boot into his gut. He stumbled back but didn’t fall.
Ryker and Ky were on their feet in an instant, but Mom only swung her blade at Zane again, fire burning in her eyes as she fought to draw blood.
“Wait!” I cried. My mind was still spinning, trying to catch up with what I was seeing. My Mom was here, wielding a scythe and trying to kill my Reaper teacher? What the fuck was happening?
Zane sliced up in time to stop Mom’s next hit, then spun and kicked the back of her knee. She collapsed to one knee, but used her momentum to spin and slice at his ankles. Zane jumped the blade and Ryker tackled Mom to the floor.
They rolled across the floor, and Mom sprung to her feet, but Ryker blurred with speed, only to put himself between her and Zane once again.
Ky grabbed Zane, attempting to hold him back. Mom advanced on Ryker, her scythe drawn at her side.
“Mom, stop!” I shouted.
Everyone stilled. Zane breathed hard, his gaze not leaving Mom, while Ryker and Mom glanced my way, hesitant. I met my mother’s gaze, and she narrowed her eyes before tilting her head at the three men.
“What the hell are a Reaper, a vampire and a shifter doing in your apartment?” She was using her you’re-in-trouble-young-lady voice, but for the first time, I wasn’t worried about it so much as I was horrified to realize my entire life was a fucking lie.
Because it wasn’t my estranged father who was the Reaper after all. It was her. This entire time, she’d known what I was. She knew who I was because she was a demon too—and she’d never told me.
“You?” I said, still unable to believe it. My throat tightened as our eyes met once again. “You’re the Reaper?”
Mom stiffened, seeming to realize what she and I had both said. She lowered her scythe slowly, her gaze dropping to scan me from head to toe. Surprise wrinkled of her brow and widened her eyes. “So you are one of us after all.”
“One of you?”
To be continued…
Clara might be dealing with some shit now, but what happens when your life is a lie, your mom is a demon and the Queen of Mean has an unexpected task that might be too good to be true?
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Find out in book two: Reaper’s Fate
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About the Author
Katherine Bogle is the bestselling author QUEEN OF THIEVES and HER WOLF, as well as the international bestselling DOMINION RISING series.
She first found success with her debut novel, Haven, which came second in the World’s Best Story contest 2015. Since then, she has gone on to release 17 books with one core theme: kick-butt heroines. Though her series may span genres—from fantasy, to steampunk to science fiction—she will always write about strong women overcoming the odds.
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Reaper's Fire Page 22