Reaper's Vow (13 page)

The same kind of hesitation Miranda had given him.

“We promised no secrets between us, Addy.”

Her hand over his was warm and familiar, but not comforting. “I know. I just don't know where to start.”

And as he sat there, the pieces of the puzzle started to scramble in his mind with the chaos of leaves strewn in the wind, but then they began to settle. He focused on one fact at a time, and from that, order took shape. Addy had grown up human; he knew that as well as he knew the back of his hand. She claimed now to be Reaper. Something Isaiah had done to her had brought that about, but it stood to reason that if Addy could be turned into a Reaper, then so could Miranda.

“Maybe I can help. Miranda wasn't born Reaper, was she?”

She shook her head.

“No one's born Reaper.”

“So no Reaper was ever born.”

“As far as we know.”

“Seems like you don't know much.”

She stood, dropping her hand to her hip and taking up that hip-shot stance that always meant she was out of patience.

“I'm betraying my husband by telling you this, Cole, so listen up, because if you're going to stay here, there are some things you do need to know.”

He took a sip of coffee. “I'm listening.”

“Not all Reapers are cut from the same cloth, just like all men aren't cut from the same cloth, but what they all have is a tremendous amount of power, a certain amount of madness, and no understanding of their capabilities.”

“Explain.”

“I want to.” Her hands wrung together before the right one reached into her pocket. Looking for the worry stone she thought she'd lost. The one he held.

“Just spit it out, Addy.”

She bit her lip. Took a breath. The stone in his pocket weighed heavier than it should. There was a time when he would have given it to her without hesitation, but now . . . Now everything was different. Addy was different. Just how much he wasn't sure. Just another piece of the puzzle to be put together. He waited for one minute. Two. Finally she sighed and straightened her skirts.

“Not everybody can be converted to Reaper. If an attempt is made—”

“How is someone made?”

“Through bites.”

“Bites.” An image of Isaiah sinking his teeth into Addy's fair skin turned Cole's stomach. “You let that son of a bitch bite you?”

She shrugged and blushed, her gaze skirting his. “I didn't mind at the time.”

At the time
—his mind revolved around that and then recoiled as the meaning sunk in.

“Son of a bitch, he bit you
then
?”

She blushed deeper but didn't deny it.

He took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair before shoving it back on his head.

“I'll kill him.”

“No, you won't.” She folded her arms across her chest and leveled him with that superior look that worked so well for her. “You had to suspect some of this.”

He had. But not
that
. It was going to take some getting used to. “Fine. I won't kill him.”
Yet.
He motioned her on. “Keep talking.”

“Reaper passion is very violent, much more so than humans. All their drives—a Reaper is stronger physically and mentally, his passions are stronger. Human women don't tend to do well with that.”

“Meaning?”

“They get hurt, or they die, or they get bit and become mad.”

“So you're telling me Reapers have a hard time finding a sexual companion.”

She nodded. “It's forbidden for Reapers to associate with human women.”

“So Isaiah told me. Under penalty of death. And yet he's still alive.”

“Blade had a lot to do with that.”

“Who's Blade?”

She sighed and sat back down. Her posture was proper as always. It was good to see she hadn't changed completely. “No one's really sure of that, either, except everyone knows he's a very powerful Reaper.”

“Figures.”

She eyed him sternly. “He saved my life.”

“I'll keep that in mind.” He finished his cup of coffee in one long pull. Taking the cup from his hand, she refilled it.

The pot rattled as she set it back on the coals.

“There are some that believe Reapers and humans should never mix. And others . . .”

Taking the cup from his hand, she took a sip, fanning her mouth when the hot liquid scalded her.

“Careful, it's hot.”

She glared at him. He smiled back and prompted, “And others?”

“They believe that if a woman can be converted and mated, then she can breed Reaper children.”

Hearing the word “breed” coming from his cousin's mouth in regard to herself and other women just didn't set well.

“So you're telling me that you, Miranda, and the other women here are targets for a bunch of locos that want to have babies with you?”

“Just Miranda, Cindy, and I. The other women haven't been converted.”

“Lovely. And Jenny?”

“Clark says she was born Reaper.”

“Says?”

“There's some doubt to that but others are willing to believe it's true so they are willing to bend the mating law.”

Which explained why Clark felt he was entitled to two women.

“Isaiah's downright open-minded.”

Addy shook her head. “It's not Isaiah but the council. Isaiah doesn't believe the laws are well thought out.”

“No. I don't suppose he would, seeing as obeying them means he would lose you.” He got a glare for the observation. “Just what is this council?”

“Every pack has a group of men who make decisions and interpret the laws handed down by the national council.”

“A Reaper court, in essence.”

She nodded. “Clark has influence with the council.”

“The same council Isaiah asked what to do about me?”

She nodded. “They're leaving you to Isaiah's discretion, by the way.”

“Counting on the hostility between us to settle things?”

Addy smiled slightly. “Probably.”

He could work with that. “So why the hard shove for Reaper children?”

“Some feel the children will be superior.”

“And what do they intend to do with these ‘superior children'?” He had an idea, but he wanted to hear it.

“I don't know. I assume they think it will give them an advantage and that they'll be able to gather some power. I mean it's what men always want—power. It's what the people that kidnapped me wanted. It's what the men that converted Isaiah wanted—power. Everything's all about power.”

“And what do you want, Addy?”

“I want peace and quiet and time to enjoy the man I love.”

“That ship sailed.”

She nodded. “I know.”

Leaning against him, she hugged him. Regret permeated her energy.

“You shouldn't have come after me, Cole.”

“You knew I would.”

She sighed. “I'd hoped you wouldn't.”

“I promised you that you'd never be taken again, Addy.”

“And I wasn't taken this time. I walked away.”

“With him.”

He glanced down the street to where he heard Isaiah's voice raised above the others.

“Yes”

“Even knowing what he is, what being with him could cost you?”

“Yes.”

“He's really worth all that to you?”

She nodded. “And more. He lives for me. He'd die for me, and he makes me happy.”

And she'd do the same for Jones. Cole could read it in her face, feel it in her energy, An energy that used to be a lot weaker.

Reapers. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Did you become stronger when you converted, Addy?”

Had he really asked his cousin that, as if being converted was a normal thing?

She licked her lips and took a step back. “I became a lot of things, but yes, I am stronger.”

“You don't need your worry stone anymore.”

She shook her head. “I've got Isaiah.”

She really did love him. Reese was right.

“You're being foolish, you know. You'd be safer back at the ranch.”

She shook her head again. “No, I wouldn't. That's still in Reaper territory, and the rumors are out. They would look for me there, and they'd kill everybody to get to me. You, Reese, and Ryan. And I'd be in a worse position than I am now.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“I really believe that you would die trying to protect me from something of which you have no comprehension.”

“How much comprehension do I need?”

“Close your eyes and think back to when you were very, very young and there were bumps in the night and monsters under your bed and gargoyles in the closet, multiply your fear by ten, and then you might just have an inkling of what you'd be up against.”

“Shit, Addy, and you're one of them?”

“Not them. Not the crazies. But yeah, I'm Reaper, and I love my husband, and I'm going to make a life with him even if it's hard.”

“How about if it's impossible?”

“Nothing is impossible. You taught me that.”

He slapped his hand against his thigh, his fingers rubbing up and down the holster of his revolver.

“I might have steered you a bit wrong there.”

“No, you didn't. I knew you were going to come for me, Cole. The whole time when I was captured by the Indians, I knew you were going to come for me, and I did just what you said. I stayed alive, and I believed. And when those other men kidnapped me, I did everything you said. I remembered their faces. I did what I had to do to stay alive, and I came home. Nobody's ever given anyone a better gift than that faith you gave me.”

Threading her fingers through his, she brought his hand to her cheek. He wanted to yank it away before she could say what she was going to say. He'd been taking care of Addy for twenty years. To the point she was more daughter than cousin. He knew her like the back of his hand, which meant he knew all the wishing in the world couldn't stop a determined Addy. But he tried anyway.

“Don't say it.”

Tears moistened her eyes as her gaze met his. “It's time for you to let me go, Cole. Time for you to stop worrying about me and start making your own life.”

“I've got a life.”

She patted his arm. “You're thirty-five years old, Cole. You're famous as a bounty hunter and rancher. You've created so much from so little, but you've got nothing for yourself. You have no woman, no wife. Your house looks like a barn without a single nicety.”

“Three men live there.”

She let him go and shook her head. “You haven't built your life to have a future. You've just built a . . . space.”

She moved her hands up and down her thighs, her fingers rubbing unconsciously on the stone that she no longer carried. Cole couldn't look away. He was so used to seeing her with that worry stone. He'd given it to her, and now it was gone. She didn't need it though, and she was trying to tell him she didn't need him.

“I like my life just fine.”

“Then it's my turn to tell you, you're being a fool. You need to find a woman that makes your heart beat faster, a woman who you'd die for and who'd die for you. You need to have kids. You need to have a real life.”

“Fuck, Addy.”

She stood. “I can't be the reason you stay alive anymore, Cole. You saved me, you healed me, and for whatever guilt you feel, whatever debt you think you owe, I absolve you of it.”

She was tearing the rug out from under his feet. Addy was fragile. She'd always needed him. “Addy . . .”

She opened her arms to include the whole dilapidated village. “This is my life now. I'm happy.”

“As a Reaper.”

“Don't say it with such disgust. Through you and then Isaiah and then by becoming a Reaper, I found that person that was lost so long ago. I don't regret anything. I'm me again.”

“And if they kill you?”

“Then I'll die with no regrets.” Standing on tiptoe, she straightened his hat before brushing his hair off his forehead.

“Can you say the same, Cole?”

He wanted to rail at her, but the energy coming at him was just as calm and as focused as he'd ever felt from anyone. Addy meant what she said. She was comfortable in the middle of this chaos, trying to build something from nothing, living hand to mouth, being hunted.

She was happy.

“Son of a bitch, Addy.”

“What?”

He took a step back. “I think I'm jealous.”

She smiled at him. “You should be. More than that, you should be looking for the same kind of love for yourself. Now”—she pointed down the way—“the men are training down there. You might want to join them.”

“Aren't you worried I'm going to get my butt kicked?”

She shrugged. “You probably will, but that's never stopped you before.”

“Because I'm a hardheaded son of a bitch?”

She said, “Because you're a Cameron and a force to be reckoned with.”

“I do need to talk to Isaiah.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not about me, I hope.”

“Nope, Addy girl, for once you're not on the menu.”

She smiled as if he'd just given her a gift. “Thank you.”

* * *

The village wasn't that big. It didn't take Cole any time to get to the empty field at the edge. In the muddy grass, men were fighting hand to hand. No weapons. They moved with the ease and grace of well-trained warriors. Another thing not to hate about Isaiah. The man believed in being prepared.

It didn't take long for Cole's presence to be noticed. One by one the men came to a halt. One young kid stopped midfight. His opponent's blow hit him in the side of the face. Blood sprayed from his nose as he went down.

Cole cocked an eyebrow at the boy. “Don't ever let down your guard, son. The fight's not over until the other party can't stand up anymore.”