Page 84

“Josie?”

Epilogue

Heath

I’d never seen true joy on Aiden’s face until that exact moment, his eyes emanating an exuberance that was almost unfamiliar in its intensity.

Bianaca gasped softly, placing a hand over her mouth as she moved to stand behind him. Without removing his eyes from Josie, Aiden placed his palm over Bianaca’s other hand, where it now rested on his shoulder.

I didn’t even think the two of them realized what they’d done, how natural their interactions had become, how easily they comforted each other.

A pang of jealousy coursed through me as I narrowed my eyes at the back of Bianaca’s head.

Didn’t the girl realize how goddamn obsessed with her I was? How it’d gotten to the point where I’d normalized my stalker tendencies concerning her because they took up so much of my time? If she knew half of the things I’d done, she’d run screaming. I couldn’t even imagine what she’d do if she discovered the extent of my obsession.

As I watched Aiden and Bianaca interact, a niggle of loneliness embedded itself in my soul like a damn sliver of wood. Nothing I did could remove it.

I opened my mouth, prepared to interject myself into the conversation, when the world disappeared around me.

Darkness.

An endless pit of darkness.

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Heath.” The voice echoed from all directions, both masculine and feminine, young and old. Numerous dialects and accents superimposed themselves over each other, creating something new and intense.

My pulse picked up speed as I turned in the direction I thought the voice was coming from. When I looked, all I saw was a canvas of inky darkness, almost velvety in appearance.

“What do you want?” I demanded.

“The other reapers will come for you,” the voice continued. “You disobeyed.”

Fear threatened to penetrate the walls I’d erected around myself in an attempt to remain numb and indifferent. Even my customary cocky smile—my mask—felt forced, a crack in my armor that the entire world saw.

“Are you going to…?” I didn’t finish my sentence, but I didn’t need to.

“Turn you in?” Amusement laced the person’s tone a split second before disapproval seeped in. “Heath…”

“Just give me more time to figure this out,” I all but begged.

“I’ve given you time,” the voice whispered. “But you’re running out of it.” There was a pause, shockingly pronounced, before, “You broke the rules.”

“I did it to protect them!”

My heart battered my ribcage ferociously as I whirled in a circle, searching desperately for the owner of the strange, disembodied voice.

“You lied to her. To the girl.”

It wasn’t a question, but I felt the need to answer as if it were one.

“I told Bianaca I didn’t remember anything from my human life,” I agreed, the words tasting sour on my tongue. Acidic even. “She can’t know the truth. She doesn’t remember anything, and it needs to stay that way.”

“The other reapers will come for you all,” the voice pointed out.

My jaw ground together, and I felt my hands curl into fists, despite not being able to see them.

“Let them come,” I growled out. “I’ll be ready.”

I heard what sounded like a heavy sigh a second before the darkness winked out of existence and light returned. I blinked my eyes rapidly, attempting to adjust them to the near blinding light of the house we’d found ourselves in, before focusing on Aiden, Bianaca, and an unconscious Josie once more. Everyone appeared oblivious to what had just transpired, none of them the wiser.