A Reaper's Love (WindWorld) (8 page)

* * * * *

The beast that had once been Dixon Coulter
sat in the corner of its cell, dispassionately looking at the ruins of the
human male it had all but devoured. It was a savage beast that stared out from
the sleek black fur face. Lifting a giant paw, unsheathing its claws, the big cat
flicked a rough tongue across the blood caked between the plantar pads. It
swiped the wet paw over its face then turned its head toward the door. Its
whiskers twitched and it bared its fangs.

Deep inside Dixon Coulter’s bewildered
brain, anger shifted. The face peering at him through the thick glass was an
enemy who had tormented and tortured him for months. His body bore the proof of
that torture. The agony had served no purpose that Dixon could tell for they’d
asked no questions of him, demanded no answers. They knew who he was, what he
was, but did not seem to want any information he might have. They seemed
interested only in how much pain they could hand him. How much he could take
before his mind shattered.

Not that he would have given them anything,
he thought as he lay locked within the black-furred body of the beast he had
become. The reason for the torture was clear now—The Fiend had been trying to
wake the creature. Why was equally clear. They had wanted the beast to emerge
and now that it had, he wondered what they intended to do to—and with—him.

“
Protect me and I will protect you
,”
the creature whispered in his mind.

“What are you?”
Dixon asked
.

“I am your hellion. I am he who makes
you what you are.”

And as the big cat sat perched on its haunches,
the creature inside Dixon told him everything he needed to know about what he
had become and what he was to be. It also told him what his captors expected
and how they planned to use him.

“
Ain’t gonna happen
,” Dixon said
with a snarl.
“What do I need to do to get the fuck out of here?”

* * * * *

As he slept, the beast dreamed, its large
paws flexing as it ran. Its muzzle twitched—as did its long tail—and now and
then a chuff came from behind the vicious fangs.

The beast was lost within a human dream.

It was a strange dream for Dixon—inhabited
by people he didn’t know—but a memory for the beast.

And though it lay outside the dream, the
beast could smell the scents therein. Could hear the sounds and feel the
sensations that were playing across a human male’s mind and beneath his
fingertips. His eyes tracked the human female whose delicate beauty was like a
knife wound to his heart and he began to experience what the human male was
seeing and feeling.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The long white dress floated around her
slender form like a gossamer web. It was so white, made from some strange
material that shimmered in the bright light of the summer sky. Running through
the material were silver threads that caught and reflected the sunlight as she
walked.

Barefoot, long hair flowing freely behind
her, she trailed her hand over the swaying spikelets of wheat among which she
moved, fanning them beneath her palm.

She looked around and the gentle, alluring
smile that touched her lips was a blessing. Her beautiful face was alight with
life and happiness and what could only be love. Her captivating eyes lured and
imprisoned the one watching her. The vibrant blue sparkled in the sunlight as
the silver threads stitched through her dress.

Around her, the air was filled with the scent
of juniper and honeysuckle. The rolling hills beyond were emerald green with
clover and dotted with weeping willows that marched along a meandering stream.

He moved to the lovely one’s side and took
her outstretched hand to lace his fingers through hers. He brought her hand to
his lips and gently kissed her knuckles.

“We should be heading back,” he said.

“Not just yet,” she said, her luscious
mouth drawing his full attention. “Please?”

He could deny her nothing. She was the
greatest gift he’d ever received from the gods and he would gladly lay down his
life rather than disappoint her in any way.

“We’re going to get our asses handed to
us,” he warned. “He’s going to wonder where the hell we went.”

“A toll I’m willing to pay,” she said and
leaned into him. Her bewitching eyes held a promise he meant to see her keep.

He put the crooked index finger of his free
hand under her chin and tilted her face. His eyes roamed lovingly over her
luminous features. His breath stilled when she parted her rich rose lips. The
gleam of white, even teeth appeared behind the bowed upper curve. He loved that
her central incisors were longer than the laterals.

“You are a bad influence, Laci Albright,”
he whispered then lowered his mouth to hers.

Her lips tasted of the heady red wine they
had consumed before she took her leisurely stroll through the amber stands of
wheat. Her flesh smelled of gardenias. The suppleness of her body against his
sent waves of desire coursing through him. Because he was what he was, he could
hear her heart beating, the blood coursing through her veins.

Wanting her, needing her, he pulled her to
the ground with him and stretched his hard body over her soft curves.

“You want something, milord Reaper?” she
asked in a voice that sent shivers of desire through him.

“I want you,” he answered.

He took her mouth greedily, thrusting his
tongue deep inside as he slid his hand between them to tug up the hem of her
gown. He caressed the warm skin he encountered as he worked the skirt up her
smooth leg until his fingers reached the small wedge of lace and silk that kept
her sheath from him. He dipped his thumb under the fabric and into her slick
heat.

She groaned and writhed beneath him as he
began to slowly circle his thumb inside her. She pushed her hips against him.

“Like that, do you?” he asked against her
lips.

“You are evil,” she said.

“You knew that long ago, milady,” he
whispered. He flicked his tongue across her bottom lip then gently caught it
between his teeth. Her indrawn breath made him chuckle and he eased his thumb
from her.

“No,” she protested with a groan.

He released her lip, locked eyes with her
then slowly and sensuously replaced his thumb with his middle finger, twisting
it gently inside her until he found the sweet little button that lay in the dome
of her cunt.

She bucked under him when he began to
stroke it. He eased his finger inside her and then his ring finger.

“You are so fricking tight,” he said then
nudged her face to one side so he could place his lips to her ear. “And slick.”
He thrust slowly. “And wet.” Another slow thrust. “And hot.”

“And ready,” she sighed.

“Not yet you aren’t,” he denied and swept
his tongue along the spiral of her ear.

She undulated her hips, brought her right
leg up to crook it over his jean-clad rump. He pressed the bulge of his cock
against her thigh.

“Feel that?” he whispered.

“I don’t think I could miss it, Reaper,”
she answered. “It’s digging a hole in my leg.”

He chuckled and sent warm air into her ear.
She shivered at the sensation.

“You do things to him,” he said. “Things
that should be illegal and probably are in most states and small countries.”

“I’d do more to him if he were butt-naked
atop me,” she said. “And if I weren’t hindered by clothing.”

“Would you now?” he inquired.

“Strip us and see,” she countered.

He had the same Reaper abilities as his
Lupine and Hell-hound brethren and willed their clothes away to leave them
naked in the field of wheat.

Not exactly a comfortable place to be and
she let him know it.

“You wanted naked, woman,” he reminded her.

“The wheat stalks are poking me in the
ass!” she complained.

He sighed. “The goddess had to grace me
with a woman who does nothing but nag, nag, nag,” he said.

“Flip me over and you lie on the ground and
see how you like it,” she challenged.

“No problem,” he said and rolled to his
back, grimacing as the stalks dug into him. He frowned as he settled her weight
atop him. “I see what you mean.”

She nodded. “Unh huh.” She reached between
them and found his cock. When she levered her hips from his then impaled herself
on him, he forgot all about the discomfort beneath his backside.

Slowly rolling her hips forward and back,
she placed her palms on his chest and rode him gently until he put his hands on
her hips and pushed her hard upon him. She arched a brow and he grinned.

“That’s all the permission I needed to give
you a real workout, stud,” she said.

“Give it your best shot, mama,” he replied
with an audacious wink.

“Remember, you asked for it,” she said.

Pure, unadulterated lust shot through his
groin as she ground savagely against him. Her breasts bounced—grabbing his
attention—and he lifted his hands to them, molding them as she arched forward
and back. Her nipples were hard little pebbles under his palm. Her hot, silken
cunt wrapped around his cock was pure heaven.

“You will be the death of me,” he told her
as he arched his head back for the sensations rippling over his shaft were the
most intense he’d ever felt.

“But what a way to go, Reaper,” she said
and pushed down hard as her release came in lightning quick little squeezes
that drew his seed from him in forceful jets.

“Laci!” he cried out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The image of the beautiful woman whose
dream face had started a chain reaction inside Dixon faded gently away but the
thought of her, the longing for her remained and began to grow inside him.

She is my rightful mate,
he thought. The one destined for him. The future mother of his
cubs.

He knew her name and whispered it inside
his mind,
Laci.

He also knew who the male inside the dream
was. It was the man from whom the Fiend had harvested the creature that now
resided inside him, that had changed him from human to beast. He tried to
capture a name from the evil thing but it would not give up the information.
Even the bastard’s face began to fade from his memory.

“He is unimportant,”
the creature said
. “The woman is now yours.”

“Where is she
?” he demanded.

“All in good time,”
the creature whispered
. “First you have work to do before you can
be rewarded with what is rightfully yours.”

“Tell me! Tell me what I must do and I
will do it!”

“Set evil to rights,”
it told him
. “But first you must Convert back into human form.
Once that is done, we will begin the task set for you by the goddess.”

“Which goddess is that?”
he asked
.

“Morrigunia,”
the creature replied
. “The Triune Goddess. She who is the Mother
of Reapers. It is She you need to thank for your good fortune.”

“I’ve never heard of Her but I will
bless Her until the day I die,”
Dixon vowed.

* * * * *

“As well you should, Reaper,” Morrigunia
said from her throne on
Jeeoil
, the home of the gods.

She had plans for Dixon Coulter. He would
be an instrument of vengeance on those who were doing all they could to bring
about The Burning War that would all but destroy Her beloved Terra. Although
the conflict could not be prevented for it had been written in the Tomes of
Time long before She had sprung from the foam of Her father’s shaft, She would
do all She could to forestall the inevitable devastation of humankind and the
scarring of Terra.

But there were other matters to which She
must attend as well. As any mother should She had a recalcitrant child to
settle down.

She looked away from the cell in what was
called the Middle East on Terra and shifted it a continent away to settle on
another of her cherished Reapers. This one needed to be brought down a peg or
two and She intended to see he was.

“You are far too arrogant, handsome one,”
She said as She watched him. “And you have gotten into the very bad habit of
taking your mate for granted. That will cease.”

She closed Her eyes, willed Her punishment
onto the shoulders of the young Reaper then smiled.

“Let’s see how you like them apples,” She
said with a laugh.

“You’ve got a helluva lady there,” Fallon
told Taylor. “It’s rare for a woman to make the Supervisor back off.”

“Laci can break balls with the best of
them,” Taylor replied quietly. He started to say something else but stopped,
closed his lips.

“Something bothering you?” Fallon asked.

Taylor ran a hand through his hair. “Is
this one of your hellions inside me?”

Fallon nodded. He narrowed his eyes. “You
got a problem with that, cat?”

Taylor took a deep breath. “No but there is
a problem,” he answered on the exhale.

“What makes you think so?”

“I can’t use my mind to speak with her,” he
answered. “And your hellion? It doesn’t want me with Laci.”

Fallon had been lounging in the bedside
chair, his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, his fingers
threaded behind his head. He lowered his hands. He sat up. “What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know,” Taylor replied. “The
hellion said Laci wasn’t mine. It said another female—”

“I want the precise wording!” Fallon
snapped, getting to his feet. He snaked out a hand to grip Taylor’s arm. The
psychic link between the Reapers was instantaneous.

The words came into the Hell-hound’s mind
like oily sludge.

“The one you hold is no longer yours to
have. She belongs to another. Share the mate of the one whose fledgling you now
host. That one now belongs to you as well.”

“Hell no! That isn’t possible,” Fallon
snarled, letting go of Taylor’s hand as though it were a burning coal. “Keenan
is my life-mate!”

“As Laci is mine,” Taylor said.

“You’ll keep your fucking hands off my
woman!” Fallon shouted.

“I’m not going after your woman!” Taylor
yelled back at him. “I want my own woman!”

Down the hall the nurses looked up as
vicious snarls came from Taylor Reynaud’s room. There was a loud, animal scream
of fury then a louder growl.

“Mother of the goddess!” the head nurse
gasped. “Call security. Call security!” She all but threw herself at the
control panel of the monitoring system behind which she sat and flipped a
single switch that controlled a multitude of purposes.

The heavy oak-clad titanium door that led
into Taylor’s room slammed shut. Quadruple grooves appeared around the four
edges of the door—in the casing above it, the threshold below it and down the
casings to either side. Four eighteen-inch-wide tungsten locks shot out of the
door—one each from the bottom and top rails, the hinge and lock stiles—and entered
the deep-locking grooves, completely securing the portal.
Tungsten-and-titanium-woven mesh rolled down from the ceiling and into the
window casement to cover the bulletproof glass window. All electricity was
immediately cut to the room and the water supply stopped.

“What the hell’s happening?” the chief of
security barked as he and six of his men came running.

“We’ve two Reapers together and I think
they have gone into Transition at the same time!” the nurse told him.

“Fuck!” the chief of security hissed.
“Who?”

“Fallon and Reynaud.”

“
Fuck!
” he said again, his eyes
wide. “They’re both Primes!”

“You think I don’t know that?” the nurse
yelled back at him.

“Did you lock them in?”

The head nurse didn’t bother to answer. She
jerked up the phone and punched in the Supervisor’s room number.

“Where’s the room feed?” the chief of
security demanded. “Why don’t we have eyes in that room?”

“Patient privacy,” one of the nurses
answered, for the head nurse was speaking urgently into the phone.

* * * * *

Laci took a small sip of the Chrystallusian
plum wine the Supervisor had poured for her and settled back on the sofa. She
was wary of the man’s geniality but trying not to let her guardedness show. The
flavor burst on her tongue and she sighed with pleasure.

“Excellent, isn’t it?” the Supervisor
inquired, about to seat himself in a chair that flanked the sofa.

“The best I’ve ever had,” she replied.

The phone rang and the Supervisor frowned.
He crossed to the desk and picked up the receiver. “Yes?”

Laci watched the color fade from the older
man’s face.

“We’ll be right there.”

Placing her wineglass on the cocktail
table, Laci got to her feet. “Tell me,” she said, her insides quivering.

“Fallon and Reynaud are locked in Taylor’s
room,” he said, striding quickly to the door.

“Why?”

“They may have Transitioned.”

“May have?” she asked as she hurried to
catch up with him as he stormed into the hall. “
May
have?”

By the time they arrived in the trauma
unit, everything was perfectly, chillingly silent. The nurses and security men
were clustered down the hall—well away from the Reaper’s room. They turned
anxious eyes to the Supervisor.

“Protocol was followed, sir,” the chief of
security said.

“When did everything go quiet?” the
Supervisor snapped.

“Right after I called you,” the head nurse
told him. “We’ve not heard a peep since.”

“Well, they’ve either killed one another or
they’re talking,” the Supervisor said. “Either way, we need to know.” He nodded
to the control panel. “Call them.”

The head nurse looked at the chief of
security and their faces turned red.

“Fuck me. You didn’t think of that,” the
Supervisor grumbled.

“Let me,” Laci said. She walked behind the
nurse’s desk, asked which button to push. She took a deep breath then flicked
the switch. “Tay?”

Silence.

Laci bit her bottom lip then tried again.
“Taylor?”

“We’re fine,
chere
. Leave us alone.”

She exchanged a look with the Supervisor.
“Should we keep your room in lockdown?”

“We’ve issues to discuss,” Taylor replied,
his voice tight. “Leave us alone now.”

“Maintain lockdown,” came Fallon’s order.
“And turn off the fucking intercom. Our conversation is private.”

“What the hell are they up to?” the
Supervisor snapped. He strode to the door of Taylor’s room, put his hands on
his hips and stared at it for a long moment before throwing his hands in the
air. He came back to the desk. “They’re sitting on the floor like two Indians
at a pow-wow.”

Laci felt a chill go down her back. She
wondered how many times the Shadowlord had used his abilities to spy on his
people.

“I can’t see through the fucking door like
Superman, Albright,” he mumbled, clearly reading her thoughts. “Fallon sent me
a mental picture to…” He snarled. “Reassure me they are in good working order.”

Fallon’s stare was as cold as the
snowfields of his Siberian birthplace. His jaw tight, his lips pursed, as far
as Taylor could tell the Alpha hadn’t blinked in the last fifteen minutes.

“I love Laci,” he told Fallon.

“And I’ll tear your head off if you go
anywhere near
my
woman,” Fallon said in a voice that was half growl,
half snarl.

“Has this happened before?”

The dark amber in the Alpha’s eyes
lightened only marginally. “Not to my knowledge.”

“Who would know?”

Fallon cocked his shoulder slightly.
“Perhaps the Supervisor. Maybe my mother. She…” He stopped and his angry eyes
narrowed into thin slits. “Or my wife’s mother who hates my guts with a fucking
passion.”

“She’s not happy you are with your lady?”

The Alpha Reaper snorted. “That’s an
understatement.”

“Enough to find a way to influence your
hellion?”

Fallon’s frown deepened. “If she could find
a way, she might have. She has very strong psi powers that she was able to hide
from the Exchange.” He finally blinked. “I don’t see how the fuck she could
have influenced my hellion, though. Unless she has been communing with the
Martiya
.”

“The what?” Taylor inquired.

“The
Martiya
is a formidable evil,”
Fallon said then appeared to shudder. “It’s what they sent after me. The beast
gave me the beatdown of my life and nearly killed me. Its name means Spirit of
the Night and it is pure darkness with savage strength, immense powers and a keen
craving to maim and mutilate and destroy. I was taken from it before it could
kill me but the one who sent it—a minion of my mean-as-a-ghoret mother-in-law—wasn’t
happy about my salvation. My mother-in-law even less so.”

“I take it your mother-in-law wouldn’t tell
you if she had sent the thing back at you. Could the Supervisor tell?”

“No,” Fallon said, “but I know someone who
would.” He closed his eyes. “Old friend?”

Taylor felt an immediate sense of
foreboding that made cold sweat pop out on his face. The foreboding quickly
became real fear. He held his breath, waiting for something truly evil to come
soaring toward him.

“He won’t hurt you,” Fallon said, his eyes
still closed. “His presence—even in a man’s mind—has that effect.”

A wavering holographic image of an immense
shaggy creature appeared in the far corner of the room.

“Hound!”
Taylor heard and the gruff voice sounded greatly pleased.
“Where are you,
pup?”

“On the Island.”

“And Keenan?”

“Here with me. I also have a fellow Reaper
here,” Fallon said. “Can you dispense with the terror vibes? He’s feeling the
result.”

“
I will consider it.
Introduce him
to me
,” the voice demanded.

“
Vainshtyr
An Fear Liath Mor
,”
Fallon said. “I present to you Taylor Reynaud. He is an Alpha Reaper.”

“I smell cat,”
the Big Gray Man pronounced with a sniff
. “What a stench!”
There was a low growl. “
I hate felines save skinless in a savory stew
.”

Fallon laughed, remembering his first
conversation with the creature known as the Guardian. “He is Panthera but he
now has a Hell-hound queen inside him. One taken from me.”

There was a long sigh. “
You are too
kind, pup
.
So? Greet me, pussy boy. I am not getting any younger
.”

“Address him as
Vainshtyr
,” Fallon
said in a low whisper. “It means Master.”

“I know who he is,” Taylor said,
swallowing. “It is an honor,
Vainshtyr.”

“That goes without saying.”

“We need your help,” Fallon said.

“Why else would you call, hound?”
An Fear Liath Mor
asked
. “What can I
do you for?”

Fallon sighed. “You’ve been watching TV
again.” When there was no answer to his statement, the Alpha got to the point.
“Has my mate’s mother found a way to converse with the
Martiya
?”

There was a long pause then a low growl.
“That
bitch has no such ability. She is not Rom. Why do you ask of the Spirit of the
Night?”

“The hellion now residing within Taylor has
denied him the right to his own mate. It is ordering him to take mine.”

“You were right in calling on me, pup,”
the Big Gray Man said
. “This has the earmark of some powerful
being.”

“How is it possible for anyone to
manipulate my hellion?” Fallon asked.

“Was it stored before being Transferred
from you to the pussy?”

Fallon smiled. The Guardian had decided to
show Taylor the rude side of his personality. “Aye. They took my queen a few
hours before.”

“
Then find the one who may have touched
it,”
An Fear Liath Mor
said.
“I cannot say for sure but perhaps
that one did some mischief.”

“So whoever this person is knows we would
fight to the death to keep our life-mates,” Taylor said.

“Aye, but without a queen, all I have are
nestlings,” Fallon reminded him. “They are nowhere near as strong as the queen.
As much as I hate to admit it, you might conceivably win in a battle between
us.”

“
Unfortunately that may be true, hound
,”
the Big Gray Man said.

“But if he dies, so will his life-mate,”
Taylor said.

“Not if the hellion stakes claim on her,”
Fallon said. “Keenan has one of my fledglings inside her. The fledgling will recognize
the authority of the queen. That’s the only way Keenan would survive.”

“Can what has been wrought be set aright
again?” Taylor asked.

“
Easily
,”
An Fear Liath Mor
.
“
Take back your queen hound and keep it this time
.”

Fallon locked eyes with Taylor. “He’s not
strong enough yet for us to do that. He will only have squigglings at this
point.”

“
Then hie yourself to a cell and wait
until he is ready for you to retrieve your queen
,” the Big Gray Man
snapped. “
But there is a risk in that
.”

Both men frowned. “What risk?” Fallon
asked.

“
The hellion inside your life-mate owes
allegiance to yours, hound. It will do what its creator demands. Your lady will
come to the pussy boy
.”

“The hell she will!” Fallon shouted.

“I won’t accept her,” Taylor said, shaking
his head.

“
You will have no choice,”
the
Guardian told him
. “As I have already said, it is best you hie yourself to a
cell beside the hound’s and wait it out.
”

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” Taylor stated.

“
A word of caution, pussy boy. Do not
come into contact with the hound’s mate. If you do, if you lay eyes upon her,
there will be hell to pay
.
I must go now. Another ward is in need of my
assistance
.”

“Coim, wait!” Fallon yelled but the
creature’s image faded and the air became far less oppressive.

“Coim?”

“That’s his given name,” Fallon explained.
“Whatever you do don’t call him that unless he gives you permission to do so.”

“Copy that. We need to get out of here and
into a containment cell,” Taylor said, pushing up from the floor. He raked a
hand through his hair and tried to contact Laci but there was no answer from
her.