Free Reap & Redeem by Lisa Medley Page A

should have been feeding her. He felt like someone had left a helpless newborn on his doorstep, and he had no idea what to do with it. He was so not nurturing material.
    He groaned. “Come inside. You need to eat. I’ll look for your clothes.”
    She didn’t budge. Hands still on her hips, her vulnerability vanished, replaced with utter defiance.
    “Where were you?” she asked again.
    “In the trailer,” he answered, confused by how the balance of power had shifted so suddenly and why she was so damn bossy.
    “Why exactly am I here? And what were you doing in there?”
    His heart did a little flip-flop, and he staggered back from her. He wasn’t used to answering to anyone, let alone a pushy little hundred-pound vixen.
    “I needed to do something,” he said, the answer sounding weak even to him.
    “What?”
    Damn but she was persistent. “Something personal.”
    “Oh.” Her hands slid off her hips and ran smoothly along her gown on either side of her thighs, her cheeks pinking in embarrassment. His eyes tracked every slippery twitch of her fingers as they started worrying at her hem.
    She lowered her eyes, resigned, and walked barefooted back across the grass to the back steps. Kylen spared a sneer for the imps, which were all but rolling drunk with their small victory on the soft earth in the fading evening light, baring their teeth at him in mockery.
    The fiends were getting bold. Too bold.
    The circle of protection Nate had cast prevented them from coming any closer. It kept supernatural entities out unless they were excluded from the spell, like the four of them were. It didn’t do shit to keep humans in or out.
    Nate was a powerful witch, and Kylen didn’t discount his usefulness, only his lack of experience with the hidden supernatural world. Unfortunately, Nate still couldn’t see most creatures’ true forms, like Ruth and every other true reaper could. He wouldn’t have seen the imps for what they were, either.
    Imps had the perfect camouflage as cats. Because of their superior attitudes, independence and general pissyness, humans didn’t even question their behavior when they went all medieval on someone or something. If Olivia could see what they really looked like, she sure as hell wouldn’t have been cuddling with them.
    He shuddered at the thought of the imps clearing the bodies in the alley. They could have turned on Olivia in a heartbeat. She could have been shredded on that forest floor while he was sulking in his trailer.
    He couldn’t let her out of his sight again. That much was clear.
    She turned as she ascended the top step and pulled open the back door. “What’s your name?”
    Stunned, he nearly tumbled into her.
    “Kylen.”
    She nodded and turned her back to him, her sweet ass flouncing under the satin as she walked toward the kitchen.
    Sitting at the table, she folded her hands primly in her lap.
    “My clothes? Or at least a robe?” When he didn’t answer quickly enough, she sighed. “Please, Kylen. I need to know what’s going on, but I don’t feel comfortable wearing this.”
    That one word—his name—was his undoing.
    Defeated already, he walked past her, scooting along the small bank of cabinets and the refrigerator to give her a wide berth. He’d seen Ruth wear some sort of fluffy robe thing from time to time. Maybe it was in the bathroom she shared with Deacon? Who knew where women kept things like that?
    Stomping toward the bedroom, he hesitated inside the doorway. He’d never been
in
their bedroom before, let alone their bathroom. A quick sweep around the room revealed no fluffy garments. He was not digging through any drawers. God knew what he’d discover in there. The room was neat, and a fat overstuffed comforter covered the king-sized bed they’d dragged home a few weeks ago.
    The place was downright nauseating.
    Thank God for Craigslist. Dragging his trailer home with a rented truck was the one thing he’d done right over the past few months. It made