Dark Alpha's Temptation--A Reaper Novel Page 8

  “Would you think less of me if I said yes?”

  She shook her head. “Max deserves whatever is coming to him after what he did to you. If finding out you’re a Reaper means his death, then so be it.”

  Dubhan wanted to smile, but he kept it locked inside. Her words pleased him more than she could ever know. Being around her, having her involved in everything was doing something to him. The attraction was deepening, becoming something he wasn’t sure he could shake.

  If he even wanted to try.

  “And the second?”

  “How will we determine if he’s lying or not? Max is a master at it.”

  “I’ll remain with him while you check whatever it is he tells us. If he’s lying, he won’t do it to anyone again. But all this could be a moot point. We may not have to go to him again.”

  Kyra twisted her lips as she sighed loudly. “I hope you’re right, but I’ve got a feeling we will see Max again.”

  Dubhan was amazed by Kyra. She found the good in every situation. It was something new and entirely foreign to him, and yet he liked the idea of it. He wasn’t sure he could do the same, but he’d like to try.

  “What?” she asked.

  Dubhan realized he’d been staring. He cleared his throat. “You’re different than anyone I know.”

  “You’ve just been hanging with the wrong people,” she said with a wink.

  He chuckled, thinking of his fellow Reapers. Each of them had their own issues, but then again, that tended to happen when a person was betrayed and murdered. None of that just went away when Death approached them.

  “Do you think whoever was outside will be back?” Kyra asked with a small frown.

  Dubhan nodded, thinking of the lack of anything he’d found around the house. “I’m not leaving you, though.”

  “You’re still looking for Xaneth.”

  “Then come with me.”

  Her lips curved into a smile. “I can do that?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. I’ve always liked puzzles, and it seems like locating Xaneth is right up my alley.”

  Dubhan watched as she walked to the kitchen and put water in the kettle. She was a Fae and could do most everything she wanted with magic—as most Fae could. But, apparently, not Kyra. She took a mortal’s approach to everyday life.

  She looked up and laughed as she put the kettle on the stove. “I grew up using magic for everything. It wasn’t until I was with my aunt that I saw her doing mundane things like this. I asked her why, and she told me that she found a certain kind of contentment when doing such things. I didn’t understand then.”

  He remained silent as her gaze took on a faraway look. Then she seemed to shake herself and turn on the stove before her silver gaze slid to him.

  “Once Eva died, I found myself searching for anything to help me get through it. I was so angry, I smashed a teacup of hers that happened to be her favorite.” Kyra smiled at him, but it was full of sadness. “I, of course, fixed it with magic, but it made me think of how precious she found such things. After that, I tried doing a few things here and there that I’d seen her do without magic. Oddly enough, it helped. The anger within me began to dissipate, and before long, I was doing less and less magic. You may not believe this, but I feel like it actually gave me more power for when I do use magic.”

  “I can see that,” he said. “You cared a great deal for your aunt. What happened to her?”

  “I don’t know. She’s just . . . gone.”

  He frowned, confused. “Gone? Then why did you say she was dead?”

  “Because Eva would never leave like that. Something happened to her. Over a century ago. I looked all over this realm and spoke to everyone I knew, but I never found her.”

  “A puzzle you didn’t solve.”

  Kyra twisted her lips. “Exactly. When I saw you fight at the Light Castle and knew you had to be a Reaper, I began following you in the hopes you might help me discover what happened to Eva.”

  “You never asked,” he told her with a frown. And the more he thought about it, the more he wondered why she hadn’t.

  Kyra shrugged her shoulders and looked away. “I was going to.” Her silver eyes slid back to his. “But when we spoke, I knew I couldn’t ask for anything right away. I’d planned to see if you could help me when we finished your puzzle. Besides, yours is much more important than mine.”

  “I didn’t mean to make you think you couldn’t ask me about your aunt.”

  “It’s fine,” she assured him with a smile. “We’ve got time.”

  Dubhan didn’t point out that she had yet to find her aunt. Sometimes, it was better to leave things unsaid. He wanted to help Kyra, and this was why Death wanted the Reapers’ identities kept secret, so no one could ask for such a favor.

  The kettle whistled. Kyra took it off the stove and poured the steaming water into two mugs. She went about fixing her tea, and all the while, he couldn’t stop looking at her. Her movements were fluid, practiced, and there was a sense of contentment about her that he hadn’t noticed before.

  Maybe it was her peace that seeped into him. Whatever it was, he liked it. She made him look at everything differently, to consider all possibilities instead of being rigid in his thoughts and actions.

  And for some reason, that made him think of the past. Before he knew it, the words were out of his mouth.

  “I never told you what Max did.”

  She shoved her black hair from her face, and as she did, it shifted to a deep purple that faded to blueish green. The length remained the same, just brushing the tops of her shoulders. “You don’t need to tell me if you’d rather not talk about it.”

  “I want to.” And he did, strangely enough.

  Kyra walked to him and took his hand before pulling him toward the sofa. She gave him a little push, so he sat. Then she returned to the kitchen to retrieve the mugs before curling up next to him.

  Dubhan accepted the tea, not having the heart to tell her he couldn’t stand the stuff. Funny how he didn’t hesitate to speak his mind with anyone else, but when it came to Kyra, he kept such things to himself. It might have been different had she asked if he wanted tea instead of assuming.

  He looked down at the liquid as his thoughts turned back to that fateful night. “I told you I was raised to follow orders without asking questions. If any of us dared, we quickly felt my father’s fist.”

  “That’s not a good way to grow up.”

  “It’s all I knew. I believed everyone was like that for the longest time. A few times, I stepped out of line and didn’t move quite right or quick enough, and I was rewarded with a beating. My father didn’t believe in forgiveness. Said that you didn’t give mercy to anyone. To him, anyone who did those things was weak, and he wanted to make sure his sons weren’t weak.”

  Kyra sipped her tea, holding the mug between her hands. “And your mother? What did she think?”

  “The same as my father. Other Dark gave us a wide berth. My father said it was because they feared us, and that made him happy. I fell in line like my four brothers, doing everything that was expected of me. Until one day, I was sent out with my youngest brother. We were less than a year apart in age, but we never got along.”

  Kyra touched his arm briefly and smiled warmly. “I didn’t get along with my sister either.”

  “This was different. He liked delivering pain. So did my older brothers, but not with as much glee as my younger brother did.”

  “And you?” Kyra asked.

  Dubhan thought about that for a moment before he shrugged. “I had a duty. I did it without thinking, without feeling. It was how I was taught. But that day, I watched my sibling attack a bird simply because he wanted to. He tortured it until I couldn’t take it anymore. I shoved him away from the animal and put the bird out of its misery. He didn’t say a word to me, nor me to him. We went about our day and completed the job my father had sent us to do. Weeks passed. If I came into the room with my family, I got the fe
eling that they had been talking about me. They were never warm and loving, but there was a different . . . coldness about them after that.”

  “Did you think of just leaving?”

  He nodded before he lifted the cup to his lips and drank without thinking about it. He was surprised to find that he liked the taste. Dubhan ended up taking several drinks before he spoke. “Every day, actually. That’s not the plan my father had for us. For generations, my family had set practices. The children remained with the parents, doing all the chores until they found spouses. Only then could they leave their parents’ houses.”

  “You’re kidding?” she asked, mouth agape.

  “Like I said, it was all I knew.”

  “How were you supposed to meet anyone if you didn’t have some time to yourself? Or did you have time to yourself?”

  He shook his head. “Not really. We had a little, but I wasn’t content with that. I began to take notice of other families and people when we were out. When I was sent on missions alone, I took extra time just to be by myself.”

  Kyra’s brows drew together. “Missions?”

  Dubhan briefly closed his eyes as he turned his head away. “I was Dark.”

  “Yes,” she said softly. Then she put her hand on his arm.

  And this time, she left it.

  Dubhan turned his face to her. “One week, I was sent with one of my other brothers on a mission, but we had to get information from Maximillian first. Max gave one item to my brother, but he told me that I had to go to another place to get the other. I knew he was lying, but I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t question him. Instead, I left. As soon as I arrived at the location, my family was waiting for me.”

  Kyra took his cup and set both hers and his aside. Then she climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms around him. It took a moment before he returned her embrace. She said nothing, simply held him. As he sat there, feeling her energy surrounding him, he realized that the pain he usually felt when thinking of that night wasn’t as great as it had been before.

  He didn’t know how Kyra had done it, but he could almost imagine that she was healing the scars of that betrayal. It was absurd.

  And yet, he knew it was the truth.

  Chapter Twelve

  Kyra didn’t realize one person could hold so much pain inside them. Though she normally tried not to feel the pain of others, she searched for Dubhan’s now. But opening herself up to such emotions was . . . dangerous. The torment fell around her like a suffocating blanket that threatened to smother her. Instantly, the magic she kept hidden from others rose up and began shifting the pain, drawing it out of Dubhan and into herself. He needed to find peace, and if she could help him achieve that, then she would do it.

  She was appalled that anything so heinous could be done to a person by their family regardless if they were Dark or not. And to know that Max was involved. . . . She knew Max. He would’ve gotten all the details as to why they wanted him to help, so he would’ve known exactly what he was doing.

  Kyra closed her eyes as her body grew heavy from taking on so much pain. It wasn’t something she did often because the recovery grew longer each time she did it. It was a gift from her father’s side of the family, one that none of her sisters had gotten. Kyra treasured her ability, but it also made her acutely aware of others’ pain to such a degree that she wanted to help everyone.

  And that was why she often kept to herself. Because she’d learned the hard way that not everyone wanted help.

  It became impossible to keep her head up. She rested her cheek on Dubhan’s head, but she wasn’t there for long. He shifted them so she was lying across his lap as he held her in his arms. She looked up into his deep red eyes and smiled before she ran her fingers through his black and silver hair.

  “What did you do?” he asked, curiosity sparking in his crimson depths.

  “I helped rid you of some of the pain. Perhaps I should’ve asked, but you’ve carried it long enough.”

  He stared at her, shock reverberating through him. “By the stars. You’re one of those Kavanaughs. I thought the Kavanaugh story was a myth, but it’s real.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked worriedly.

  “I’ve heard of your family, Kyra. Your line has the ability to take away pain, whether from the body or the spirit. I know there are Dark who have wanted to capture one of you.”

  Somehow, that didn’t surprise her. It made her wonder if that’s why her aunt had disappeared. As quickly as she thought it, it was gone. If Eva had the ability to take away pain, she would’ve told Kyra.

  “You look ill,” Dubhan said.

  She shrugged and closed her eyes as she dropped her hand to her lap. “It takes a while for what I’ve absorbed to filter through me.”

  “You absorb it?” he asked in a soft voice. “Does that mean it’s . . . in you?”

  She nodded since talking took too much effort.

  His hold on her tightened. “Do you carry it with you always, or does it leave?”

  “Some of it leaves.”

  “Thank you,” he said and kissed her forehead. “But I am not worth you harming yourself.”

  She forced her eyes open to look at him. “You most certainly are worth it. You’re more worthy than anyone I’ve ever known.”

  A muscle moved in his jaw, but he didn’t say anything else. For the next hour, he simply held her, letting her drift between sleep and wakefulness until she was able to keep her eyes open.

  “How do you know how much to take from someone?” he asked.

  She tried to get off his lap, but he tightened his hold, refusing to let her move. “I don’t. I let my body tell me when it’s had too much. Then I stop.”

  “Don’t tell others what you can do. People will use it for their benefit.”

  “I get to choose who I help,” she said.

  He shook his head. “You’ve not encountered the worst of this realm. The ones who manipulate and lie to get what they want, all while making you believe it was your idea the whole time.”

  “I guess I’ve been fortunate, then.”

  “Very much so.” He shook his head, his lips thinning. “When I think about what could’ve happened to you. . . .”

  “Don’t,” she told him. “I’m fine. I’m here with you, unhurt.”

  His crimson eyes met hers. “I’m very thankful for that.”

  “We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s start looking for Xaneth.”

  “I’ve been all over Drumshanbo. He’s not here.”

  She rolled her eyes. “There are lots of places you haven’t looked.”

  “I’m thorough.”

  “I’m not implying that you aren’t, but there are some places that need a deeper look. Not to mention the bookshop.”

  He stood, putting her on her feet as he did. “You can’t get near it, remember?”

  She cocked a brow. “Maybe not me, but someone needs to visit that place.”

  “It isn’t going to be you. Or me, for that matter.”

  “I can acknowledge when someone points out something I overlooked. Besides, I’d very much like to stay alive since I’m not nearly done exploring that gorgeous body of yours.”

  Dubhan grinned and drew her against him, lacing his arms around her once more. “That’s a good thing since I plan on doing much more to you.”

  “Is that right?” she asked with a teasing glint in her eye. “I’m definitely up for that.”

  “Just wait. There’s so much more.”

  She raised her brows. “It’s all I’ll be thinking about now.”

  “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

  “Oh,” she said and playfully punched him in the arm. “That’s not fair.”

  “It is since every time I look at you, all I can think about is kissing you, which makes me think of how beautiful you are when you come.”

  Her body clenched with need at his words. She was breathless when she said, “You really do need to stop.”

  “Ne
ver.”

  “Is that a promise?” she asked with a grin.

  He gave a nod. “It is.”

  She really could get used to this. Dubhan might have carried a substantial load of pain and anger, but despite it all—or perhaps because of it—he hadn’t allowed it to destroy him like it would have others. It showed his strength of character, something that Death must have also taken note of.

  Her smile dropped as she thought about a future with Dubhan, one she hadn’t imagined until that moment. She wanted more with him, desperately, but how could she have that when he was a Reaper and owed his life to Death? There was no room in his world for her.

  “You’re sad,” he said, a frown marring his face.

  She forced a smile and rose up on her toes to place her lips against his. “I’m happy being with you.”

  “Don’t lie, remember?”

  Kyra looked away and drew in a deep breath before releasing it. Only then did she meet his gaze. “I knew when I first saw you at the Light Castle that you were special. I didn’t realize how much so until I met you. I thought I followed you because you could help me find Eva. But even that took a backseat as all I wanted to do was be near you, talk to you. Then it happened. And you were . . . so much more than I could’ve ever hoped for. I didn’t expect to fall so hard for you.”

  “Fall for me?” he repeated in a low voice as his eyes searched hers.

  She swallowed and continued talking while trying not to notice that he was shocked at her words. “I just realized that I have limited time with you, and I want to make the most of it.”

  “Kyra,” he began.

  “If you aren’t going to let me go to the bookstore, then we need to find someone who can and will. I think I know someone who might do it.”

  “Who?”

  She grinned up at him. “A mortal. A teenager looking to make a quick, easy bit of money. I figure he’s our best bet.”

  “Why would you trust him? He could work for the Others or those looking to join them.”

  “Maybe he does. We won’t know until we ask.”

  Dubhan gave her a hard look. “We wouldn’t even know then since neither of us is entering the bookstore.”