Descent - Tara Fuller Page 0,79

want more?”

In answer, I caught her smile between my lips. Gwen sighed into my mouth, and I groaned in response. I’d never get tired of that sound. We didn’t get this often. Her father had started letting her venture out more due to our bargain. Agreeing to make the transfer to a Heaven’s reaper wasn’t exactly in my comfort zone, and I still wasn’t fully accepted, but getting these moments made every sacrifice worth it. I took my time tasting her, loving the way her soft body felt pressed up against mine. I threaded my fingers through her long, fiery hair and tugged, exposing her throat. She gasped as my lips trailed down to the spot just below her jaw that I knew drove her crazy.

“Oh!” She shoved me away and I growled, trying to reel her back in. It wasn’t enough. It was never enough with her. “They called his name!”

I sighed and placed her back on her perch and stood next to her watching the students in caps and gowns below.

“Finn Carter,” the announcer said through the microphone. The crowd clapped while Finn gathered his diploma. He gave the crowd a smile and nod as he hopped off the stage to make his way back down to Emma. The scythe at my hip began to warm. Gwen bit her lip and frowned when I cursed.

“Again?”

“Yeah.”

She hopped down from her perch. “I’ll go tell Father you’re busy. He can get the new recruit to do it.”

I should have said no, but I couldn’t. I had to be here. Finn was on the verge of going out and living his life. He was going to move on. Live a life the way it was meant to be lived. He was going to grow old. I needed to see this through.

“Thanks, Red,” I murmured against Gwen’s lips as I kissed her.

She smiled and tapped me on the nose. “Anytime.”

In a flash of pearl-colored light she disappeared, leaving me alone in a sea of people. I waited for the rest of the ceremony to pass, then made my way through the crowd and out into the sunlight where families were gathered taking pictures and crying.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?”

I smiled and turned to see Anaya standing beside me, watching the people around us. “Which part?”

“Seeing someone you thought you were going to be frozen in time with forever grow up, move on.”

We stood side by side and watched Finn, Emma, and Cash pile out of the auditorium laughing. I rubbed my chest, thinking I shouldn’t have been able to feel the achy full feeling there. But I did. Gwen must have been rubbing off on me.

“Ready to do this?” Anaya asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I owe them a visit.”

We both took a deep breath and willed ourselves into corporeality, moving closer. Anaya nudged my elbow, smiling. “By the way, I like the white. It’s working for you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I prefer the black, but apparently you’re not allowed to scare people when you’re a Heaven’s reaper. Go figure.”

Finn stopped when he saw me, and after a split second of my doubting if he actually wanted me here, he grinned. I walked over, and Cash burst out laughing when he saw me.

“Holy shit!” He slapped me on the back, and I scowled. “This is something I never thought I’d see.”

Finn whistled. “Heaven’s reaper, huh? How the hell did that happen?”

Gwen. Gwen was how this had happened. She’d tumbled headfirst into my darkness and pulled me up out of it. Gave me hope. Love. Everything. Instead of saying all that I just shrugged.

“A girl,” I said. “A girl can change a lot.”

He cast a quick glance over at Emma, who was taking pictures with her mom. His eyes softened and he nodded. “Yeah. They can.”

If anybody understood it was Finn. He’d come back to life for a girl. How many guys could say that? He grinned at me.

“You look happy,” he said. “Happy looks good on you.”

“I thought you liked me when I was a surly asshole,” I joked.

He laughed. “Oh, I have a feeling he’s still in there. And for the record, don’t talk shit about the surly asshole. He’s my best friend.”

I looked down at my black combat boots, the one thing from my old self I’d skated by with keeping. They brought back memories coated in death and ash. I needed that. I needed to never forget where I came from. The things I’d done. I clenched my fist and looked up