Wrath (The Damning #7)

Chapter 1

ONE

Z

B lood.

Blood everywhere.

On my skin. My hands. My cheeks. My clothing.

Bones crunched and snapped beneath my feet as I ventured farther down the hall of the opulent mansion.

How did I end up here?

That question rattled around in my brain—bouncing around like a thrown ball —as I forced myself to take one more step. And then another. And then another.

Dark red liquid, almost resembling paint, cascaded down the white walls on either side of me. The repetitive drip, drip, drip provided an eerie metronome in tandem with my movements.

Drip. One step.

Drip. Another step.

Drip. A third step.

My heart thundered in my chest as I reached the very end of the hall, where a door stood slightly ajar.

Every alarm bell in my head rang simultaneously, warning me not to enter this room.

Go away.

Turn back.

Retreat. Retreat. Retreat.

Yet my body refused to obey my brain. I reached forward and pushed the door open the rest of the way. It creaked ominously, the noise almost deafening in the sudden silence that pervaded the space.

A cold wind tiptoed up the nape of my neck as I stepped into the room.

I gasped audibly, my legs threatening to give out from underneath me. I placed a hand against the wall to keep myself upright.

No. No. No!

My mates—my sweet, perfect mates—were dead.

A scorching, burning scream ripped from my throat as I surveyed the destruction.

Devlin, with an arrow through his skull.

Killian, lying in a puddle of his own blood, his eyes vacant.

Dair, all of his limbs missing.

Jax, his eyes gouged out of his head.

Lupe, a sword protruding from the center of his chest.

Ryland, his head disconnected from his body.

Bash, reduced to nothing but a charred husk, the smell of burnt flesh permeating the room.

“NO!” I cried as grief, fury, and pain warred for dominance.

Something fizzled in my chest. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but everywhere it touched, it burned.

I was on fire .

“No one but me will love you now,” a deceptively sweet voice declared.

A moment later, Aaliyah came into view, looking almost ethereal in her shimmering white gown. Her blood-red hair mirrored the color splattered across the walls and floor.

My sister stepped forward until she stood directly in front of me and then knelt down, her eyes sparkling with a malicious type of joy that made me want to dry-heave. “I will have your heart. You won’t have any other choice.”

I gasped, and pain ripped through me.

Shock held me immobile as I stared at Aaliyah’s hand—which was currently in my chest.

She smiled—a sickeningly loving smile—and slowly removed her arm. In her palm lay my still-beating heart.

“See?” She tilted her head to the side as she studied the organ. “I told you I’d have your heart.”

I began to scream.

“Z! Z! Wake up, dammit! Z!”

The voice jarred me awake.

I bolted upright in bed, blinking rapidly, desperately attempting to clear away the residual fog from my most recent nightmare. My skin felt clammy, and an incessant pounding beat between my brows.

“Dev?” I asked groggily as I struggled to reorient myself to the here and now.

I was no longer in Aaliyah’s palace of horrors.

I was with my mates, on a boat, sailing across Lake Meade.

“I’m here.” My genie mate waved his hand, and one of the candles nearby erupted into purple flames. The fire illuminated his eyes, making them appear almost luminescent. Shadows danced across his olive complexion. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“I suppose you could say that.” I rubbed at my eyes as a yawn threatened to tear my jaw apart.

The last thing I wanted to do was relive that nightmare. Even thinking about it sent pinpricks of panic racing down both of my arms.

I shivered and huddled farther into the blanket. “What time is it?”

Devlin glanced towards the clock hanging opposite the bed. “A little after two in the morning.”

“Way too fucking early for you to be yapping,” Bash exclaimed from my other side. His arm encircled my waist as he nuzzled the back of my neck. “Go back to sleep.”

I tapped his wrist impatiently. “Let me up.”

“Make me.” But Bash relented with only a tiny sigh of irritation, rolling onto his back and throwing his arm over his eyes.

I crawled out from between the two warm bodies, trying to ignore the sudden, persistent chill that invaded my system. I missed their heat almost instantly.

“Where are you going?” Devlin asked with concern, sitting upright in the tiny bed the ship’s captain, Phineas, allowed us to use.

“The bathroom.” I kept my voice low since Bash had already fallen back asleep, his breathing deep and rhythmic.

Devlin nodded and then shifted onto his side, his long lashes fluttering against his cheekbones.

I allowed myself a moment—just a moment—to study the two.

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 but seven men 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.