Page 2

Audrey

I slam the door behind me as I step into the house. Opening my mouth, I’m practically screaming as I call for my mate. “Wraith!”

I hear noise ahead and move toward it. Wraith appears in the doorway of the living room, a frown marring his face. “What’s wrong, trouble?”

“What’s wrong?” I screech as I barrel toward him. “I just had to reap my fucking twin’s soul!”

Shock is written all over Wraith’s face that’s quickly replaced with pity. “Oh, Audrey.”

When he opens his arms for me, I throw myself into them as my anger dissipates, leaving me with only my soul-wrenching grief. Sobs wrack my body as he lifts me into his arms and carries me to the couch.

I hear Brenden and Donovan join us, but I can’t bring myself to lift my head from where I’ve buried it in Wraith’s neck. They speak around me, but I can’t make out their words over my tears.

I hate how my anger is gone, leaving me with the grief of knowing my sister is dead.

Fuck, what about Mom?

Both of her daughters are dead. Wren and I are dead. Mom is all alone.

That realization just has me crying harder. How is this my life?

I don’t know how much time passes as I cry, but eventually, the tears dry up—even if the pain and grief don’t go anywhere. They sit heavy in my heart as I sit up, and I know nothing will fix those feelings except time.

I find Brenden and Donovan pressed against Wraith, one on each side, as all three of them touch me.

Being surrounded by them makes me feel a little better, but even my mates can’t wipe away the pain of knowing my sister is dead.

No. Not just dead—murdered, just like I was. She didn’t even recognize me, and I think that might be what cuts the deepest.

“Hey, firecracker,” Brenden murmurs, his hand trailing down my face. “I know you’re not okay, but is there anything we can do?”

“You’re already doing it,” I tell him because there’s nothing more any of them can do—except maybe Wraith.

Wraith sighs. “Where did you have to deliver her soul to?”

Turning so I can see him, I scoff. “Right here to the academy.”

“No.” Donovan lets out a growl. “Your sister was murdered? I’m so sorry, pretty girl.”

Pulling away, I know I need to tell them the entire story so they can understand just how bad this is. I push to my feet, pacing across the space before coming to a stop in front of my mates.

“Her bastard of a husband is the one who killed me. He’s probably the one who killed her.” At the surprise on Wraith and Donovan’s faces, I tell them the story about remembering everything. I should’ve told them before now.

Before I even finish filling them in, Donovan is on his feet and pulling me into his arms. Instead of returning to the couch, he sits in an armchair facing said couch. “I’m sorry. I just need to hold you right now.”

Softening slightly, I give him a quick kiss before wiggling in his lap until he releases me enough so I can face the others as I finish telling them the story. I sniffle, once again fighting tears as I tell them about reaping her. “She didn’t even recognize me.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Donovan growls, and I bite back a smile.

Wraith sighs. “Fucking hell, trouble. I wish you would’ve told us this sooner, but I can understand why you didn’t. That’s a lot, and you might be right—your sister might have been killed by her husband. Not that it matters now. She’s already here. You never should’ve been the one to reap her soul—I’ll be looking into that as soon as I can.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it?” I ask, almost afraid of his answer.

“About her being dead?” He shakes his head. “I don’t have the ability to bring someone back to life, but there are other things I can do.”

That gets my attention. “Oh? Like what?”

Wraith sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Anything I can do will have to wait until after I welcome her class at midnight. She’ll have to remain there until then. After that…”

“Well, don’t leave me hanging, Wraith.” I’m trying not to get frustrated with my mate, but that’s kind of hard when he’s not telling me a damn thing.

“I can give her back her memories if you really want to know who killed her, and so she’ll recognize you,” he finally says.

I stare at him in shock. “You can do that? You bastard! Why didn’t you give me back my memories, then?”

He rubs his forehead as he considers me. “Honestly? I thought it would be better if you didn’t remember how you were killed—although you apparently already knew. I was trying to save you from having to deal with it.”

“Do me a favor, Wraith, okay? Never keep something from me because you want to save me from something, okay?”

Now I’m pissed again, which is much better than dealing with my grief. There’s nothing I hate more than things being kept from me because someone thinks it’s better for me. Those are decisions I should be allowed to make on my own.

Wraith winces, eyes moving over my shoulder to Donovan, who chuckles. “I told him to give you the choice. He wouldn’t listen.”

“At least I know someone has my back,” I bite out.

“Hey!” Brenden frowns. “I always have your back.”

“Yeah, you do.”

And just like that, Brenden is grinning at me.

What a fucking sociopath, but he’s my sociopath.

“Fuck. I’m sorry, Audrey. I should’ve listened to Donovan.” He shakes his head as he pushes to his feet before coming to kneel in front of me. “You’re so strong all the time, trouble, and I just want to protect you from what I can. Which I know isn’t what you want. I’ll try to do better.”

“That’s all I can ask,” I tell him, leaning forward to kiss him. “Now, tell me more about giving my sister back her memories.”

Wraith shakes his head, turning his attention back to Donovan. “You can’t hog our mate, pet.”

I can practically hear Donovan roll his eyes behind me. “I can do whatever I want.”

“Ummm…yeah, I’m not okay with that,” Brenden calls over, his smile turning predatory. “I don’t handle it well when someone tries to keep me from my obsession, and that’s exactly what Audrey is—my forever obsession.”

And it seems Brenden is letting out all of his crazy today.

How the hell did I end up with a sociopath vampire, a possessive hellhound, and literally Death as my mates?

At least life will never be boring, and that’s without adding in my other two possible mates.

Maybe the two of them will be more normal?

I scoff because knowing my luck, they’ll be worse.

I pat Donovan’s knee. “Why don’t we go sit back on the couch? I can sit between you and Brenden so neither of you freaks out.”

“I guess that works.” It totally sounds like my hellhound is pouting, and when I turn around to glance at him, I see he is.

“Okay, grumpy pants, let me up. I want to hear what Wraith has to tell me.”

Donovan’s arms tighten around me for a moment before he sighs and lets me go. Wraith helps me stand, leading me over to the couch. Somehow, Donovan ends up getting there before us, launching over the back of the couch and leaving barely any space between him and Brenden.

I just shake my head and sit down, knowing this isn’t worth arguing over. If they want to be sitting on top of me—more like me sitting on top of them—then so be it. It’s not like it’s a hardship to be pressed up against my mates. Wraith sits on the coffee table across from us.

“Instead of assigning her to one of the groups, I’ll put in a request shortly for her to be in a group on her own. Since you’re not staff, Audrey, you can’t be in the room with us—”

“Why not make her staff, then?” Donovan asks, and I perk up. I like the idea of being able to be in the room with them.

Wraith sighs. “Fucking hell. Honestly, I probably should. You can be a teacher’s assistant like Brenden for now. We’re going to have to figure out how all of this is going to work, anyway. I guess I’ll put that request in as well.”

“Thanks, Wraith.” I grab his hand, giving it a squeeze, but when I go to pull away from him, he keeps a hold of it. “Can I have my hand back?”

He shakes his head. “No. I think I’ll hold on to that since your other two mates are cuddling with you.”

I throw my free hand into the air, rolling my eyes. “Yeah, okay. Do whatever you want, I guess.”

“I will, but thanks for your permission.” He smirks, and I have to bite back a smile. My mates are so damn attractive. “I’ll assign Wren to you, then you and Donovan can bring her back to the house. I’ll have to handle a few things, but I’ll meet the three of you back here.”

“And then you’ll give her back her memories?” At his nod, I let out a sigh of relief. “Then what?”

Wraith looks confused. “Then you’ll know if you’re right about it being her husband. That way, you won’t have to worry about it. Your sister will remember you, and we’ll help her through the academy.”

I frown. “And then what?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Audrey. Like you and Brenden, I won’t allow her to be sent away. She’ll become a reaper just like you.” Wraith pushes to his feet. “That gives us six months until she graduates. That’s plenty of time for us to figure out how this will all work once everything is said and done. Now, I’m sure you’re hungry. Why don’t I go make us breakfast, and we can figure out what we’re going to do with the rest of our day.”

All I can do is blink as he walks toward the kitchen as if the conversation is done and over with.

I might have shared how I died with them, but I realize I never shared my vengeance plans. That was probably a smart move on my behalf because I don’t think Wraith is going to take that well. He seems to think I just need to confirm if Michael killed my sister and then I’ll be able to move on with my life.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Even if he didn’t kill Wren, he had something to do with her death—of that, I have no doubt—and he will pay for what he’s done.

Brenden’s already on board with my plan. I think Donovan will back me up, but I think Wraith is going to be a hard sell. But that’s not something I have to worry about just yet.

First, I need to get Wren her memories back and confirm that Michael killed her, too. Then I can bring up my plans. Okay, my non-plan because I don’t actually know how the hell to make him pay, but I’ve already cleared the biggest hurdle—I passed my final and graduated.

One step at a time, I remind myself.

“I am pretty damn hungry. Who knew that crying burned so many calories?” My joke falls flat even to me. I huff as I stand. “I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be down in time for breakfast. Thank you—all three of you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Without waiting for a response, I practically run from the room and up the stairs.

A shower sounds amazing—definitely the right call. Hopefully, it’ll help relax my tight muscles and then I can come at the situation with a fresh mind.