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How? Izel had never heard of a reaper mating, except for Jaden. But Jaden was Death, which would explain why he had found his. Izel was nothing like Jaden.
Izel studied the man’s face, taking in the sharp lines and the soft curve of his lips. He was handsome, in a way that was both ordinary and extraordinary. Izel felt a pull toward him, a magnetic force that he couldn’t deny.
He never thought he had a mate, let alone thought to find him in such an unexpected way. The human was still unconscious, and Izel wondered what had brought him to this state.
There was no way Izel could claim the human, even if he’d wanted to. He had a duty, had agreed to become one of Jaden’s reapers in exchange for immortality.
What a joke that had been. It wasn’t a life. Not when Izel wasn’t free to live it. He simply guided souls to the afterlife. That was it. There wasn’t even any downtime since there were so many people populating the earth.
Maybe Izel should have read the fine print before he’d agreed, though he hadn’t signed any contracts. Jaden had shown up and struck a bargain.
How Izel wished he could kick Jaden’s ass. But the guy was Death, and Izel would be crushed to dust if he attempted to strike the guy in any way. Besides, at the time, Izel would have agreed to anything in order to escape his fate.
Izel looked one last time at the human when he felt the dead calling to him. It was time to go. As much as he wanted to linger, Izel knew better. He had no choice but to vanish from his mate’s room and resume his duties.
Izel appeared on a bustling city street, the noise and chaos of human life all around him. He paused for a moment, taking in the sights and sounds. It was so different from the quiet solitude of the hospital room, yet he found himself longing for the silence.
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He couldn’t afford to get distracted. There were souls to guide, but he wondered about his mate. Who was he? What was his name? Izel didn’t even know what color eyes his mate had.
In a nearby alley, Izel found the soul that he’d been searching for. A thug. Shot dead and left to lie in filth. But the human’s ghost was there, glaring down at his own body.
“I can’t die,” the guy said, his jaw clenched. “I need to smoke the fool who did this to me.”
Too many times Izel had dealt with this type of situation. Normally he tried to ease a person into the idea that they were truly dead, but men like this one only wanted revenge. They wouldn’t listen to reason, so Izel simply touched his scythe against the thug’s ghost, sending him away.
Honestly, he never knew where a soul would end up. It all depended on a person’s beliefs. It also depended on the life they’d led. He had a feeling this one was going to end up in hell.
He reaped at least a thousand more souls before he could return to the hospital, only his mate wasn’t the one lying in the bed. It was someone new.
Izel closed his eyes once more, and when he opened them, he found himself in a modestly decorated home. The walls were adorned with tons of family photos in various-sized frames, and colorful Spanish artwork, which appeared hand painted, gave the space a cozy and lived-in feel.
His mate was there, talking to an older woman. Leaning against his scythe, Izel was curious about the dynamics between the two. He’d lost interest in people’s lives long ago, but he cocked his head, watching as his mate argued with the woman.
“I don’t want you going anywhere,” the woman said. “You just got out of the hospital after being brutally attacked.”
“And I’m not sitting on my butt at home,” his mate countered. “The guy who attacked me is no longer a threat, Mom.”
“How do you know?” She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know when Marvell Delk just vanished? For all you know, he’s still in town. Besides, I don’t want you hanging around his brother anymore.”
“I mean no disrespect, but you can’t tell me who I can have as a friend. I’m not a kid anymore, Mom. You’re being unreasonable.”
“Then act like an adult, Orion,” she said with a huff. “I don’t care that you still live here, but as long as you do, you’ll follow my rules.”
“That’s not being fair,” Orion said. Though Izel could tell that his mate was furious, his tone was civil.
His mate’s name was Orion. A buried memory surfaced. One of Izel quarreling with his own mother. She had still tried to treat him like a child, and Izel had rebelled against her treatment of him. Just like Orion was doing with his mom.
Two weeks later, Izel’s mother had died when attacked by a rival tribe. The loss had devastated him, and even to this day, he wished he could have that day back. Instead of arguing with her, he would have hugged her tightly in his arms.
Izel’s father might not have killed him if she’d still been around. She’d softened Djimon, keeping his more violent tendencies at bay. After her death, Djimon had lost any humanity he’d had left.
And Izel knew full well that his father hated him for her death. Why? He hadn’t a clue. It was just one more thing for Djimon to despise about his firstborn.
“I’m going out,” Orion’s mom said. “Please save me from worrying about you and stay home.”
“But you’re going out,” he said.
“I wasn’t attacked,” she countered as she walked out of the room.
