part0006

T he breath pounded from me as I darted around a tree and hopped over its sprawling roots. Running next to me was my crazy hot fiancé Jax Jackson. I know, his parents didn’t do him any favors with that name, but what could he do about it now? I certainly didn’t care as long as I could call him mine. Corny but true.

“Go right,” I yelled at Jax as I veered in the opposite direction. Through the trees I caught a glimpse of the spectral mountain lion I’d been chasing for the last ten minutes. “Damn, he’s so fast.”

When I say spectral, I mean exactly that. I’m a grim reaper for the southern district of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and anywhere else the big boys upstairs see fit to send me. My clients are paranormal beings; Shifters, witches, vampires, the occasional demon if I’m stupid enough to run into one of them. Sometimes I like what I do, and other times it’s just a giant pain in my ass—like now.

“Don’t lose him. I’m going after Merle!” With that, Jax disappeared into the copse of trees, leaving me to deal with the ghost Shifter.

Our situation was unique. Being law enforcement for the Shifter community, Jax chased the living. Working for Grim Reaper Services, I chased the dead. It could be challenging at times, especially since Jax was the only one who knew what I did for a living. Thankfully, he thought it was kind of hot. I let him believe that.

Marvin, the mountain lion Shifter stretched his ghostly legs, picking up speed. A chuffing growl followed in his wake as the distance between us grew. Was he laughing at me? Smartass .

This was perhaps the toughest reap I’d ever faced. It wasn’t that Marvin was dangerous. It was that he was Jax’s dead great uncle. As was Merle, but he, in fact, was not dead.

In life, Marvin and Merle had shared that weird twin bond, and it seemed that connection had carried on after Marvin passed. It was my job to get him to the other side. So far, he’d been irritatingly uncooperative.

For the last two weeks, the men had been running wild in the backwoods of West Virginia. That wouldn’t have been a problem if they’d stayed close to town, but their ever-expanding cavorting had grown farther from Shifter land and precariously close to where unsuspecting humans lived. Marvin would be fine, after all, he was dead, and nobody could see him. It was Merle Jax worried about. Mountain lions and suburbia were not a good match.

Up ahead, the glimmer of daylight broke through the trees. “Marvin, stop!” A stitch pinched my side and I slowed. “It’s too dangerous for Merle.”

I assumed he heard me, because the ghost cat cut to the right and headed in the direction his brother had ran.

“Shit.” I stopped and bent over, trying to catch my breath, the sweat pouring off me.

I was so ill-equipped for this job. Even after working out for a month straight, my stamina remained the same. Don’t get me wrong, I could reap the crap out of a porcupine or skunk, but mountain lions and wolf Shifters tested my skills, which were usually found lacking.

“How’s it going, sweetie?” said a familiar voice behind me.

“How does it look like it’s going?” I straightened and turned. Standing in the opening of an elevator was Bunny my porter. She delivered the souls I reaped via what I refer to as the Elevator to the Great Beyond. I’d gotten used to seeing her pop into the middle of nowhere and was thankful that nobody else could see her. “What are you doing here? I didn’t call you. ”

“Just watching the fun.” She gave me a frosted-pink-lipped smile. “Wondering when you’ll land this cat.”

“At this rate, never.”

Though Bunny looked harmless, I kept my distance. Rule one in the Grim Reaper Services Handbook was to stay clear of your porter. It was one of the few rules I took to heart because I wasn’t a hundred-percent sure she was now or ever had been human.

She leaned against the frame of the elevator and swirled a bright red cherry around her giant pink cocktail glass. Bunny was all about pink. Today she wore pink jeans and a bubblegum pink tunic. Her tiny feet sported three-inch pink platforms, and a bright pink headband with roses adorned her teased dark brown hair. To say she looked out of place in the backwoods of West Virginia was an understatement.

“You’ll get him.” She slid the cherry off the stick and chewed. “You always do.”

I harrumphed. “I might have met my match.”

“Oh, you’ve definitely met your match.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “But it’s not Marvin I’m talking about.” Her gaze shifted to a spot over my shoulder as a seductive purr vibrated from her. “Lucky girl.”

The crackling of branches and leaves sounded behind me, signaling Jax’s approach. I narrowed my gaze on Bunny. “Don’t objectify my boyfriend.” My glare turned into a sweet smile. “That’s my job.”

“Like I said, lucky girl.”

Bunny and all spirits were invisible, and unless Jax was touching me he couldn’t see them. Sometimes I let him know when we had visitors, and he shared the experience with me. But most of the time, I didn’t tell him. If he actually knew how often spirits popped in for a visit, he might break off the engagement. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“I lost him,” he said. Unlike me, he didn’t appear the least bit winded. Damn him .

“Me too.” I swiped the bottom of my T-shirt across my forehead. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. They’re wily bastards. Always have been from what I hear.” He took a step closer, bringing his body an inch from mine, and looked down at me. “So, what should we do now?”

From the lusty look in his eyes, I knew where his thoughts were headed. Though I loved the idea of partaking in a little afternoon circus sex, we weren’t alone. I took his hand and stepped to the side. “Bunny’s here.”

His eyes snapped up, his vision focusing on my porter. Even though he smiled, a tolerant sigh eased from him. “Hey, Bunny, how’s it going?”

“Just peachy, Jax. You?”

“Never better.” A smile tugged at her mouth as she took a sip and swallowed. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

Jax had proposed, and I’d accepted. That had been a few months ago. Since then we hadn’t talked much about the actual wedding. Life always seemed to get in the way.

Her eyes shifted from me to Jax, held, and then drifted to me again. “I see.” Nodding, she straightened. “Alrighty then.” She backed into the elevator, all the while giving us an assessing stare. “Call when you need me.”

“Roger that,” I said, as the doors slid shut. The elevator compressed into a thin line of pink light and then winked out of sight. My lips pursed, and for a few seconds, I stared at the spot where the elevator had been. “Did she seem a little judgy to you?”

Jax swung me toward him. “About what?”

“About us not having a date?” I leaned into him. “It’s not a big deal, right?”

“No.” He bent his head and pressed a light kiss on my mouth. “It’s not a big deal. We’ll get around to setting a date when we’re ready.”

I snaked my arms around his neck and let him kiss me again. The thing was, I’d been ready to set a date since the day he’d asked me, but finding the right time to talk about it had never come up. And he’d never mentioned it again. The longer we didn’t talk about it the more awkward if felt, so I continued on like nothing had changed between us.

Breaking our kiss, I said, “What do you want to do about Merle?”

“There’s nothing we can do right now.” He released me but took my hand and started toward his truck. “As long as they stay away from humans, they should be okay.”

“That’s a big if.”

“I know. Stubborn old mules.” His arm wound around my waist. “Let’s head back to your place and we can brainstorm some ideas.”

The ride back to town took about twenty minutes. On the way, we discussed possible options for Merle and Marvin, how unseasonably cool it was, how much we both like hamburgers and beer, and pretty much anything that didn’t have to do with the wedding. Maybe I was being a little paranoid, but I got the feeling Jax purposely avoided the topic. I brushed it off as being normal male behavior. Weddings were for women. At least, I thought they were. I’d never been married and had only attended a couple of weddings as a guest. I’d never been part of the wedding party, so I didn’t have a solid grasp on how things were supposed to work.

We passed the cement statue of the bear that dominated the town square. The poor thing was missing half his head, and nobody seemed the least bit bothered about that fact. More than once I’d noticed the shoddy appearance of our little town, but damn it, I loved the place with all it’s magic, mayhem, and quirky people.

Jax pulled into the spot next to his office, shut off the engine, and then turned to me. The smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, and the dark desire filling his eyes told me exactly how I’d be spending my afternoon.

“There they are! Poppy!” My Aunt Sugar’s screechy voice speared the heated moment. “Poppy!”

My gaze slid away from Jax, and a very promising afternoon, to the mob of women in front of my apartment door. “What the frick?”

He swiveled in his seat, his eyes rounding. “Damn, there goes our fun.”

“What are they doing here?” I didn’t open the door, hoping my aunt would go away.

“Why are you just sitting there?” She waved me over. “Come on. We’ve got plans to make.”

As I stomped past him, he caught me around the waist and scooped me against his body. Before I could protest, he leveled a knee-buckling kiss on me. So not fair. At first, I put up a good fight, but when his tongue rubbed against mine, all the fight drained from me. I sagged against him, enjoying the last bit of real pleasure I’d have that afternoon, and ignored the inappropriate cat calls from my female relatives.

After several seconds, he pulled back. “Am I forgiven?”

“Just barely.” I pushed away and gave him a wicked grin. “You’re going to have to figure out some way to make this up to me.”

“I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.” As I turned from him, he slapped me on the ass. “See ya around seven?”

I spun toward him again, walking backward. “Don’t be late.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be.”

With that, I faced the pack of women crowding my front door and marched toward them. Lord only knew what they had buzzing around in their busy brains, but from the looks of anticipation on their faces, I was about to find out—whether I wanted to or not.