Mated to the Reaper

By Alexa Riley

He's dying for her.

The Grim Reaper will stop at nothing to find her… let's just hope she's ready to be claimed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexa Riley
• Release date: Jul 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393726050

Alexa Riley

New York Times bestselling author Alexa Riley is two sassy friends who got together and wrote some dirty books. They are both married moms of two who love football, donuts, and obsessed book heroes. They specialize in insta-love, over-the-top, sweet, and cheesy love stories that don’t take all year to read. If you want something SAFE, short, and always with a happily ever after, then Alexa Riley is for you! www.AlexaRiley.com

Book preview

Prologue

Grim

Three weeks was all I could stand with the coven of vampires. Three miserable weeks with the pain in my chest that wouldn’t go away. What’s it like to be surrounded by happiness twenty-four hours a day? Lonely. Seeing love radiate from mated couples only made me feel more alone in the world than when I was actually alone. To see what I’d never have.

Gordon gave me hope that Bishop held the key to my mate. The dream that I hadn’t dared to put into words blinded all my senses. I went to Bishop thinking he would have what was mine, but I should have known better. I know I’d taken away the chance for Bishop to pay back Gordon for all that he’d done, but rage and hate pumped through my veins like DNA and there was nothing anyone could have done to stop me.

I thought that living among the coven of vampires would somehow teach me to soften my heart. Instead it may have had the opposite effect. By the time I left I was as cold as stone through every part of me and resigned to an eternity on this earth alone. There was nothing left for me in that house, and the longer I stayed the harder it was to be around them.

Besides, I have my calling and there’s no stopping it.

When people whisper in the night about their time on earth coming to an end, it’s me they’re afraid to name. I’m not responsible for every soul on this earth. I can only imagine that task would be a little time-consuming. I’m in charge of the undead. The souls of the secret monsters that live among us belong to me, and when their time is up, it calls to me. Bishop’s soul was knocking at my door the day he found his mate. Gordon was getting just as close, which is why I felt even less remorse about taking his life.

It’s not an easy job, but it’s the one I was born to have. My father before me was the Reaper, and when I was old enough he passed it on to me. For as long as there have been vampires my kind have existed. My mother called it a gift, but it’s always felt like a curse. When it’s time for me to collect a soul it’s because a vampire never found their mate. There aren’t many ways for a vampire to die; it’s either by my axe or at the end of their two hundred years. But either way, it’s with me.

Thankfully there aren’t many of our kind in the world, so I don’t have to track them down often, but it’s enough that I don’t stay in the same place for more than a few months at a time. My father told me that when I found my mate my role would change. He said that when the time came another Reaper would come forward and share the burden so that I could have a family of my own. Even to me, our history is still somewhat hidden and I still have a lot to learn.

I run my thumb along the blade of my axe before I set it down on the table in front of me. I stare into the fire and think about my time with the vampires and how I had to leave. The envy that flowed over me when I looked at the happy couples made my stomach twist into knots. My mind drifts back to the night before I left, and I close my eyes tightly, trying desperately to erase the images that come flooding back.

I’d gone with Kane to speak to Valen and talk about his role as a slayer. He wanted to discuss why he took the lives of the immortals before he met his mate and why he doesn’t do it anymore. I wanted to learn all that I could because I was always the one following around after him and cleaning up his messes. It was going to be a chance for me to have some questions answered, but the second I walked into their house, something changed. A knot formed in my stomach when Ravana walked into the living room. My chest tightened and all I could do was stare at her while my heartbeat pounded in my ears.

I didn’t hear a word Kane or Valen said, and by the time I realized that I’d been staring at her, Valen was already asking me to leave. I’d not only crossed a line with his mate, but I couldn’t defend myself to him or to Kane. The coven had opened their homes to me and made me feel like a part of their family. But I couldn’t get the image of Ravana out of my mind.

I wanted to explain