Page 3 of Wrath

Bash, with his pale skin, ash-blond hair, and lean body. His features almost gave him an angelic look, but his eyes and sinful smirk suggested he was anything but.

Then there was Devlin, with his olive complexion, dark curls, and haunting purple eyes. He was the first man I’d ever loved…and he, along with the others, would be the last.

Thoughts of my mates sent a warm, fluttering glow parading through my chest.

Fuck, how did I get so lucky? I had not one butsevenmen who loved and adored me, and who I loved and adored in return.

But as instantly as it came, my good mood evaporated when I thought of the clusterfuck waiting for us back at the Capital. Namely, the insidious kings who my mates had imprisoned. They wouldn’t give up their crowns without one hell of a fight.

Yet we were an expert on fighting evil.

Unwittingly, my mind strayed to Aaliyah. My sister. It felt like centuries since I’d been imprisoned by her—by her dark magic—but it had only been a few days. Still, no amount of time could heal the emotional scars left behind. They’d always remain like black sludge that refused to come off, no matter how many times I washed and scrubbed myself.

But I didn’t want to think about Aaliyah or the kings or the battle waiting for us when we returned home. I had only a short while left with my seven mates before our lives would change irrevocably. I was determined more than ever to hold on to what I had with an iron grip.

Shouldering my way into the tiny bathroom, I flicked on the light and placed my hands on the countertop. It felt as if I’d just swallowed an entire tub of battery acid. My throat stung something fierce. I sucked in a scorching breath and reminded myself to breathe.

I was with my mates.

Everything would be okay.

We would survive this.

Yet, whenever I stared at my reflection in the mirror, all I could see was Aaliyah’s grinning face.

“No one but me will love you now.”

I was afraid of the steps Aaliyah would go to make that statement true.

She’d already tried to kill my mates. And if she were to ever succeed…

I struggled to inflate my lungs with air, but it felt like I was inhaling razor blades.

I had to kill Aaliyah before she could kill me or my lovers.

There was no other option.

My sister…had to die.

TWO

KILLIAN

My father had always told me that there was power in physical appearance. He had drilled it into my head time and time again, from before I could even walk. We were incubi, and as such, we had to be the epitome of perfection and physical health, of good looks and beauty.

I wondered what he would think of me if he could see me now.

I stared in the mirror for the one hundredth time in the last hour, studying my reflection as disgust curdled low in my gut like soured milk. Hesitantly, I reached up and touched one of the horns protruding from my head. I winced as it pricked my finger, breaking skin and causing me to bleed.

Behind me, my tail swished back and forth in agitation.

A reptilian tail. With scales.

Fuckingscales.

I turned away from the mirror with a pained sigh…and immediately locked eyes with Z. She stood in the doorway of the room I’d been staying in, her blue eyes aglow with an enigmatic emotion and her golden curls loose around her face.

The past few days, we’d been sailing on Phineas’s ship towards safety. Phineas was a mermaid Dair befriended and procured the help of. He ruled the waters in the Shifter Kingdom, and if anyone wanted safe passage through them, they had to go through him.

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