Reaper's Vow by Sarah McCarty

few.”
    â€œBut that’s not the biggest problem?” Cole hazarded another guess, looking at Isaiah’s expression. Smoke curled around his face casting an air of mystery. As he narrowed his eyes, Cole could see what Addy saw in him. The man radiated strength and power.
    â€œThere are those that think that Reapers are in a position to take over this country now that it’s in such disarray after the war.”
    â€œFuck, they want to go into politics?”
    Isaiah shook his head. “No. They want power. A lot of power. They see themselves as superior, but the hitch in the giddyup is Reaper law.
    â€œSo how does Addy play into this?”
    Jones shook his head. “Shit. We need whiskey for this.”
    â€œI don’t have any more, do you?”
    Jones shrugged. “Just one of the many things on the to-do list.”
    â€œSetting up a bar?”
    â€œAt this point we’d settle for the sufficient contents for the bar, but yeah. Liquor is scarce.”
    â€œThen I guess we’ll have to make due with cigarettes. So spill it.”
    â€œReapers are different. You’ve seen it yourself.”
    Monsters
whispered through his mind.
    â€œMake your point.”
    â€œIt’s not an easy one to make to a human.”
    â€œI’m getting damn tired of people calling me human with a sneer in their voice.”
    Isaiah took another drag on his cigarette, shook his head, and flicked off the ash. “Anyone ever tell you for a man who is living on borrowed time, you’ve got a lot of attitude?”
    â€œI’ve been told a lot of things.”
    Isaiah looked at him from the corner of his eye. “In this case, you ought to listen.”
    Cole knew what Isaiah meant, what he was trying to tell him. He was in charge of this band, but his control was not absolute. At any time Cole could find himself under attack. As if he didn’t know it. The energy humming under his skin was a constant warning.
    â€œNoted. Now, get on to telling me what’s going on with Addy.”
    â€œShe’s making her home here.”
    â€œSo I noticed.”
    â€œYou don’t approve.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œShe can’t go back with you.”
    â€œSo you say.”
    â€œIt’s the way it is.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œShe’s Reaper now.”
    â€œEven if that marriage you held is legal, she can be un-Reapered in the time it takes for a judge to hit his gavel on the stand.”
    Isaiah’s lip lifted in a snarl, and his eyes took on a strange glow. The energy that pulsed out from him pummeled Cole with hard, invisible blows.
    â€œYou will not take her from me.”
    Cole was beginning to get that impression. “And you can’t keep what’s not yours.”
    â€œShe’s my mate. There is no part of Addy that doesn’t belong to me.”
    Cole didn’t like the images that came with that. “Being with you will only get her hurt—”
    â€œYou saw her,” Isaiah cut in. “Does she look hurt?”
    â€œNo.” Dammit, she didn’t. She looked like Addy, yet different somehow. “Not yet.”
    In a wink the other man’s energy disappeared, and his face became a flat, expressionless mask. Cole wasn’t impressed.
    â€œYou’d do well not to rouse the beast in us.”
    â€œI’ll do whatever it takes to get answers.”
    Isaiah took another drag on his cigarette, the tip glowed bright orange in the deepening gloom. Around them the crickets stilled. His energy seethed.
    â€œEven if those answers don’t exist?”
    â€œThey exist. It’s just a matter of hunting them down.”
    â€œAddy said you were persistent.”
    â€œI showed up here, didn’t I?”
    â€œI told her you would. She wasn’t happy about it.”
    â€œWhy?”
    Isaiah stubbed out his cigarette on the sole of his boot. “She worries you’ll judge her.”
    If