Page 19 of A Wild Darkness

I quickly back away, catching my breath. “Think about that when you show up at my mortuary in the middle of the night without notice.”

He walks over to the corner of the room to retrieve one of the white earbuds from the floor and then picks up the other only a few feet away. “What are you doing here this late?”

I turn to face Mr. Branson’s body. “Nights can be lonely. I don’t like my clients being here unprepped and all by themselves.”

“While the world sleeps, you hang out with dead people?”

Irritation zips up my spine as I cover the body back with the white sheet. “While the world sleeps, I tend to the souls who are no longer with us,” I bite back, annoyed that he referred to my clients as dead people. “Besides, how is that any different from what you do?”

“What do you mean?”

My eyebrows raise. “You hang out with dead bodies, too.”

“What I do is completely different.”

I roll my eyes. “Not that I don’t enjoy your riveting company, but why are you here?”

“I came to talk to you about something.”

Dread settles in my stomach. The last time Sebastian wanted to talk to me, my sister Lux had been kidnapped by a sleazy hotel heir and his sex ring.

“Is everything okay?” I rush out. “Where’s Lux?”

Sebastian hands both of the small items to me. “She’s fine. I came here for you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you get in? I have an excellent security system.” A sly smile crawls across the sharp features of his face, and suddenly I have my answer. “You know what? Don’t answer that. I’m sure you disabled the alarm.”

“Smart girl.”

I roll my eyes. “If that’s all, I have work to do,” I tell him, moving to return to my task when Sebastian pushes off the counter and saunters over to me, stopping only a few inches from my face, and I swallow hard at our proximity.

Sebastian has always had trouble respecting personal space. He has no filter and is a perpetual space invader. “Stevie.”

“Sebastian.”

“I need your help.”

I draw back. “You’re being a space invader.”

“Fair enough.”

“Why would you need my help?” I ask, putting distance between us.

“One of the guys found a card on Andrew’s body the night your sister, River, and I burned him in the forest…” he begins.

Quick memory of those few weeks flash through my mind. That night, only a couple weeks ago, still brings fear at my core. Which is a rough memory to relive because of how terrified I was for my sister, but I trusted the guys and their team to bring her home.

And they did.

“Yes?”

“It was for a secret society of serial killers.”

“Like a serial killer club?”