Deception: The Reapers Series Book Two

by Bo Reid

  I see a small figure step out onto the fire escape and go up, not down. Morana. It has to be her, there’s no one else in that building remotely small enough for it to be. After she leaves the picture Holt fast forwards. By three in the morning Morana’s coming back down the fire escape from the roof, and back into the building.

  “Is there any other way off that roof she could’ve used?” I ask.

  “None. She had to have been on the roof the whole time. You can’t really see that it’s her, but it’s enough for reasonable doubt. No one else that lives there is small enough to be the figure in the video,” Holt says, and I nod my head agreeing with her.

  “Then who’s the eyewitness placing her at the house?” I muse.

  “We both know that witness is a bullshit pull,” she huffs. Holt’s a good agent. She wants justice and we both know Morana’s probably the last person to be deemed a law-abiding citizen. But if she didn’t kill her father, then someone else did, and we can’t let Morana take the fall for that.

  Also, a bigger part of me than I’d like to admit doesn’t want to see her behind bars.

  I’m sifting through years of history on the Valdis family when my phone rings, “Agent Marks.”

  “You need to get to the Delling County jail, now,” a male voice says on the other line.

  “Who is this?”

  “Just get here, soon,” he says before hanging up the phone. Without wasting any time I get up from my desk, grab my jacket, and make my way towards my car in the parking lot.

  The drive to Delling is a good forty-five minutes when obeying all traffic laws, but I’m not about to waste any time. I manage to cut fifteen minutes off the drive as I pull into the county jail.

  Getting out of my car, I walk towards the front door, when a young deputy walks towards me but doesn’t make eye contact. He brushes my shoulder and apologizes but I feel him slip a paper into my hand.

  “No problem,” I call out and wave before looking at the scrap of paper in my hand.

  M.V. 168

  And just like that, I realize why I’m here.

  Morana

  The bodies of the unconscious women were removed from my cell a few hours ago, but other than that I haven’t had any human contact in here. Until my cell door opens and agent Marks is the one waiting for me on the other side.

  “Do you ever manage to not get yourself into trouble?” he asks. I narrow my eyes at him trying to figure out if I had him pegged all wrong. Is he working with Malic? Is he in on this whole thing? Wouldn’t be the first time I misjudged a good guy.

  “Now where would be the fun in that?” I ask as I shrug, still trying to put all the pieces together.

  “Let’s get you out of here,” he says and motions for me to follow him. I stand but I’m wary of his intentions. I hate not being able to trust my gut.

  He leads me out of the back hallway where my cell was, and I wink at the guards on the MC’s payroll. “Be seeing you boys.”

  I’ll be back for them eventually.

  When he opens the doors that lead out into the parking lot of the county jail, I scan my surroundings and note that at least Malic isn’t here. Yet.

  What I do see is the young deputy who brought me in leaning against his patrol car. He no longer holds the same justice-seeking expression on his face. Looks like I won’t have to ruin his soul after all, his co-workers did it for me.

  “So, where are we headed?” I ask as I slide into the passenger side of his not so undercover SUV. Talin rests his hands on the steering wheel and lets out a deep breath before letting his head fall forward.

  “Oh, come on Agent, life isn’t that bad,” I say and pat him on the back in a mock comforting gesture.

  “I think it’s time you and I had a long talk,” he says before starting up his car and pulling out of the parking lot.

  “Well, it’s a forty-five-minute drive back to Sanorah. What would you like to talk about?” I ask.

  “Everything,” he says.

  I roll my eyes to myself. So not happening, agent. “Yeah sure, what about global warming? What’s your stance on that? Hoax or true?” I muse as I tap my chin as if deep in thought.

  “Morana…,” he warns, his tone so fierce it causes a smile to break out across my face.

  “Yeah, I agree, totally true. I bet it has to do with all the emissions from cars in big cities,” I say whilst Talin slams his fists into the steering wheel, slams on the breaks, and pulls off the side of the road. When he turns to look at me there’s a fire blazing in his eyes.

  “You’re going to tell me everything right now, or else I can’t help you,” he says.

  I just roll my eyes. “There’s just one problem with that Talin.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “The kind of help I need? A fed could never provide it. You can never be loyal to me, and that’s what I need. Loyalty. But your loyalty’s in that badge on your hip that you think can protect you from all the evil in the world. News flash Talin, it can’t. Half the evil comes from men wearing that same badge,” I say before wrenching open the car door then hopping out. “Thanks for the bail, I’ll catch you later,” I say, slamming the door and turning to walk down the road towards Sanorah.

  I hear him open his door and get out as he curses up a storm. “You can’t walk all the way back to Sanorah!” he hollers.

  “Watch me,” I call over my shoulder before I feel him lightly grip my bicep and spin me around.

  The next thing I know my back is pressed up against a tree, the bark digging into my skin, and Talin is pinning me in place.

  “Get off,” I grit through clenched teeth. He backs up a fraction of an inch, but otherwise doesn’t let me go. I should be freaking out, I should be screaming or panicked. But I’m just pissed off, and not because he has me pinned to a tree. But because I like it.

  “Now listen to me. You are going to tell me everything, and I am going to help you,” he says, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “And why would you do that?” I growl.

  “Because for some fucked up reason I don’t want to see you in a fucking prison cell! No matter what you’ve done, or what you’ll do in the future, I don’t care. For the first time, I don’t give a fuck about justice. I just care about you,” he punctuates his words by crashing his lips against mine.

  I don’t hesitate to lace my fingers through his hair, tugging and biting at his lower lip. He groans and leans into me, grinding his very hard cock against me. We break apart for a moment to catch our breath, and he rests his forehead against mine.

  “Isn’t this breaking the rules?” I whisper in a husky voice that doesn’t sound like my own.

  “Fuck the rules,” he says before his lips crash against mine again. I arch my back, pressing my chest into him, moaning as his tongue collides with mine.

  I come to my senses and gently push him away from me, breaking our kiss. He doesn’t hesitate to listen and takes a step back from me. Panting heavily, he stands in front of me with his chest heaving.

  “I want you,” he whispers.

  “It’s not that simple,” I say, wrapping my arms around my middle, feeling confused about everything happening in my life.

  “It is if you want it to be,” he growls through clenched teeth. “I want you, Morana, I want all of you,” he says moving closer to me, reaching his hands out for me.

  “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” I whisper.

  “I know enough.”

  “Can you share?” I whisper, looking up into his eyes. “Cause that’s how things work here. I’m not giving up my guys.”

  “I thought you already did,” he remarks, and I bite my lower lip.

  “Yeah, I guess I did.” Tears sting my eyes, but I hold them back.

  “They’re worried about you. They want you to come home,” he whispers, moving forward and brushing a strand of hair from my face.

  “I don’t think I have a home anymore.”

  “People make mistakes,
Morana. It's how you correct those mistakes that matter. Could you forgive them? If they asked, would you be able to forgive them and move on?”

  “I don’t blame them for walking out,” I say.

  “Do you always blame yourself?”

  I shrug. “Things are usually my fault.”

  “Tell me how this works. Sharing.”

  I let out a small, humorless laugh, shake my head and bring my hands up to cover my face.

  “Honesty? I don’t have a fucking clue. And I don’t know how it’d work, bringing you into our weird, fucked-up lives.”

  “We can figure it out,” he says, wrapping his arms around me whilst bringing me in for a hug.

  I tilt my head up and crash my lips against his. He cups the back of my neck, holding me close to him. When I pull back, he lets me go.

  “I want you, but if you hurt one of my guys, I’ll rip apart everything you’ve ever cared for. Do you understand me?” I whisper. “My guys always come first.”

  “I just want a chance to have a fraction of the love they get,” he whispers.

  “Okay, then I have some shit to fix with them,” I say.

  He takes my hand and leads me over to the waiting SUV. “Can it wait?” he whispers into my ear as he runs his nose along the column of my neck, causing goosebumps to break out along my skin.

  Talin gently guides me back until I feel the back bench seat of the SUV dig into my back. He lifts me onto the seat. Climbing in with me he puts a knee on the seat between my thighs, slowly moving them farther apart as he hovers over me. Leaning forward, he brushes his lips against mine.

  When he leans closer to me and crushes his lips to mine, we’re all hands, ripping at each other’s clothes. Teeth crashing, lip biting, urgently wanting to feel skin against skin. I reach up and grab his dress shirt, ripping it open and sending button’s flying everywhere.

  “Fuck,” he pants before moving to nip and suck on my neck. I run my hands across his torso then up to his shoulders, pushing his undershirt off of him before moving my hands down.

  I reach for the buttons on his dress slacks as he kicks out of his shoes. He pulls my shirt off and groans when he sees my bare chest.

  We move higher up the seat, giving him more room as he trails kisses down my body. He places gentle kisses along my hips, just above my panty line.

  “Are you sure?” he asks again.

  “Yes,” I manage to say between heavy breaths.

  He loops his fingers into the waistband of my pants and slowly guides them down my thighs. He moves up my body, trailing a hand up my inner thigh as he nips at my bottom lip.

  When his hand moves to cup my pussy, he moans against my mouth when he feels how wet I am. Slowly he dips one finger then another inside me while moving his palm in circles against my clit. I moan and bite his lip; my hands tangle into his hair as I pull him closer to me.

  He pulls his fingers out. Settling between my thighs, I feel him line up with my entrance.

  “Morana,” he says quietly, and I open my eyes to look at him. He balances on one elbow, tracing his hand along my face. “I want you to be sure,” he says. “There’s no turning back after this.”

  “I’m sure,” I say, reaching down to grab his dick, stroking up and down. I run my thumb along the head, tracing a drop of precum. He closes his eyes and groans. “But you need to be sure too,” I whisper, tracing my thumb over his lip as I cup his face.

  “I’m sure,” he says before thrusting into me. I arch my back and moan as his lips claim mine. He slowly thrusts in and out of me as he kisses my lips.

  Reaching his hand down he rubs slow circles around my clit. “Harder,” I pant.

  He leans down and wraps me in his arms before rolling us so he’s sitting on the back seat and I’m on top of him. He traces his hands across my hips as I rotate them in circles before lifting up and down, moving in circles so my clit rubs against him on each thrust.

  His hands clutch my hips as I speed up my thrusts, resting my hands against his shoulders for balance. He lifts his hips to meet me thrust for thrust. I toss my head back and moan. Reaching around he grasps my ass as my legs start to shake and heat spreads across my body.

  “Don’t. Let. Me. Stop,” I pant as I ride his dick. When my movements start to slow, the orgasm becoming too much to handle, he quickly rolls us back over and he pounds into me again and again.

  I come moaning his name. His lips crash against mine as his hips jerk still inside of me. He moves us again so he’s laying down on the back seat, his feet hanging out of the still-open rear door as I rest my head on his chest, attempting to slow my rapid breathing.

  “Things are different now,” he says, and I smile.

  “Honey, you haven’t seen anything yet,” I say and place a kiss against his lips before reaching around the floorboard to find my clothes.

  He groans when I cover myself back up. I pick up his ruined shirt and study it.

  “Uh sorry,” I say shrugging and he just chuckles softly.

  “I have a go-bag in the back,” he says as I climb off of him to pull my pants back on. He rummages through the back of the SUV, pulling out a new shirt. He tucks himself back into his pants and slides out of the SUV.

  “Let's go take care of your guys,” he says before kissing my forehead. My breath catches in my throat when I realized they walked out and then so did I. What I just did with Talin.

  I don’t even know if they’re still mine.

  “They’re worried sick about you,” he whispers as he helps me into the front seat of the SUV. He places a kiss on my lips. “They’re still yours, they just got upset. It happens. But they love you more than life itself. I think they will no matter what,” he says. I nod and he closes the door to the SUV, making his way around the hood and climbing into the driver’s seat.

  I pull my feet onto the seat, holding my knees against my chest. I turn to stare out the window. We’re silent for the rest of the drive back to Sanorah. We can talk about everything later. Right now, I need to fix all that I’ve ruined.

  It’s just like me to ruin things. I’m walking destruction. Chaos bottled up. Anarchy coursing through my veins. My soul is Death.

  I am The Reaper.

  Chapter 15: Strychnine

  Morana

  Talin pulls into the garage of our building and turns off the SUV. I take several deep breaths before opening the car door and sliding out. Talin walks next to me as we make the trek up the four flights of stairs to our apartment level. When the shaking in my hands becomes overtly obvious he grabs my hand and laces his fingers with mine. It’s both soothing and nerve wracking.

  “Holt said they’re all in there. I can wait here if you want,” he says as we crest the top of the stairs, and I look down the hall to our ominous apartment door.

  “You can come if you want,” I say and he nods, gesturing his hand for me to lead the way. I drop his hand and reach up to knock on the front door to our apartment. It no longer feels like a home, it just feels like a black weighted cloud of secrets, deception, and poor choices.

  When the door’s wrenched open I don’t look up to see who’s standing there, too ashamed of everything I’ve done. I don’t mean the murders, I couldn’t care less about those. I’ve done a lot in my life but the only thing to affect me is hurting the people who’ve cared about me for so long.

  Suddenly I’m being pulled into the apartment and crushed against a hard chest. I take a deep breath and Ranger squeezes me tighter.

  “Don’t you ever fucking leave me again,” he whispers, and I want to bite out that he left me first. But I don’t. For once I keep my fucking mouth shut. “I’m so goddamn sorry, Love,” he whispers, giving me another crushing hug.

  “It’s okay. You were right,” I whisper back, wrapping my arms around his middle. Once I return his hug, it’s like he lets a weight off his chest. He steps back and Hunter takes his place to deliver an equally crushing hug and plant a kiss on my cheek.

  “Don’t scare
us like that again, Pretty Girl,” he whispers, and I nod.

  Nash steps up to me next, but instead of bringing me in for a crushing hug he runs his knuckle down my arm, now covered fully in black and grey ink.

  “It turned out great,” he says. I don’t miss the tears that glaze over his eyes that he blinks back or the way his breath catches in his throat when he stops at the section dedicated to him.

  Ranger and Hunter both touch a section of my arms, running their hands across the portion of my new sleeves that were created just for them. I knew Ricky would work magic, and somehow he knew what I wanted before I did.

  “You got this after we left,” Hunter says.

  “Yeah.”

  “We left, and you still had Ricardo do this?” Hunter asks, his voice breaking on the last words.

  “Of course.” They each look at me, and I see it when they realize that they’ve always meant everything to me.

  And they always will, no matter what.

  My right arm’s covered in four large Grim Reapers. But my left is dedicated to all the light these men have brought back into my life. There is even a section dedicated to the memory of Hades.

  “We need to talk,” I tell them, and they stiffen. “Not like that. But I do have some things I need to tell you guys,” I say and gesture to the couch. Talin steps forward, and for the first time they notice his presence.

  I watch as the four of them eye each other up. Nash’s the first to recognize the change. He looks at me and I give a slight shrug, to which he smiles.

  We all move over to the couch where I notice Emma Holt’s been sitting silently since we arrived. Nash takes a seat next to her and lifts her into his lap. I smile at the way he looks at her.

  “You want to explain this?” Ranger asks, gesturing towards Talin as I take a seat on the chair in the corner. Hunter comes over, lifting me up and sitting down in the chair before pulling me into his lap and close to his chest.

  “I’m all in,” Talin says before I can respond.