Chapter 50
FIFTY
Z
I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. There was a ringing in my ears that refused to let up.
S had been my boyfriend and lover for many years until he was killed. Or at least, I’d assumed he had been killed. Unbeknownst to me, Devlin had captured S’s soul in his magic lamp in an attempt to save his life. S’s brother had made a deal to free him, but Aaliyah got to my ex-lover before I could. Due to his proximity to the hell portal, S became corrupt. Evil. Malicious. The sweet, witty man I once knew and cared for had long since evaporated, leaving behind a decaying husk of who he once was.
I couldn’t even blame S. This wasn’t him. Not really. This was Aaliyah and her magic’s influence.
S seemed to be struggling to focus on me. His milky white eyes—one larger than the other, almost as if it was popping out of his skull—flickered from one shoulder to the other, never sticking for longer than a second. He scratched at the skin of his wrist, unintentionally peeling off flesh in the process.
I tucked my terror in a steel vault and focused on my rage instead. It was much easier to handle.
“What are you doing here? How did you get in? Where’s my mate?” I had no idea which mate I was supposed to be looking for, and pesky fear battered at my defenses yet again.
“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be,” S murmured, still scratching incessantly at his wrist and arm. Ribbons of flesh peeled back, and I had to fight the urge to vomit. “You were supposed to love me.”
I held the shattered glass steady, debating my options. Could I kill him? What even was he anymore?
And how the fuck did he get in here to begin with?
I flicked my gaze to the slightly opened window. Had he climbed up here? That could explain his broken fingernails and the blood welling beneath the chipped nubs.
“This isn’t me.” S brought a fisted hand to his forehead and began to pound. “This isn’t me. This isn’t me.”
He was distracted. If I was going to do anything, it should be now.
I braced myself, bending my knees slightly?—
When S let out a roar of pure anguish and dropped to his knees, clutching at what little remained of his hair.
Footsteps pounded behind me, but before any of my mates could open the door, S tossed his hand out. Black sludge immediately enveloped the wood. Someone tried the handle, but the sludge held firm, making it impossible to open. Something rammed against the door, then again, then again. The door creaked but ran into resistance against whatever the fuck that substance was.
I tried to calm my racing heartbeat.
Great. Just great. Now I was trapped in a room with my deranged, psychotic ex. Yay me.
S continued to scream and scream and scream. Clumps of hair rained down around him as he tugged at his scalp. The sight broke something inside of me.
Because, at the end of the day, this was S—the human I once loved fiercely and unconditionally. He’d painstakingly fixed what Lin broke with his disappearance. And to hear him scream like he was in utter agony?
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck!
The screaming reached a crescendo, shattering my eardrums, then tapered off. S remained on the ground, panting, his fingers scratching at his now-bald head. Slowly, he tilted his head to stare up at me, and tears shone in his glassy white eyes.
“Kill me.” His voice was a rasp.
I blinked, certain I’d heard him wrong.
“Please, Z. Kill me.” A sob broke free, and those tears I saw before ran unrestricted down his face. “I can’t live like this anymore. I don’t want to hurt people. I don’t want to hurt you. The things I’ve done…”
He began to shake his head, as if in denial.
Tentatively, I took a step forward. “S? Is that…you?”
Pain distorted his grotesque features. “For now.” He cried out and dug his nails into his skull. “But I can’t stop it. I can’t stop her . She’s in my head. She won’t leave. You have to kill me.”
Something wet touched the corner of my mouth. I absently licked it away, surprised at the salty taste. Was I…crying?
“She’s here,” S rasped, rocking back and forth. “She’s here. She came for them. She’s here.”
Alarm arrowed through me, and I dropped to my knees before him. “Aaliyah? She’s at the capital?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” S began to cry even harder. The noise burrowed itself deep in my chest and carved out my heart. “This isn’t me. This isn’t me. Please kill me. Please. You need to stop her. You have what you need to do it. Without her power, she’s nothing. You need to…” A scream wrenched free, and he lowered his forehead to the ground, sobbing. “You can do it. With your mates at your side, you can do it.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” I started to reach for him but then pulled my hand back.
My tears ran faster now. Each one scalded my skin where it touched.
“I’m sorry, Z.” S released a pitiful whimper. “For everything. That wasn’t me. This isn’t me. I’m not this. Please help me. Please.”
Shakily, S reached into his coat pocket—fumbling with the item a few times—and then produced a dagger. It was longer than the average dagger, though the blade itself was thinner and looked wickedly sharp.
He slid it across the floor until it landed in front of my knees. “Please, Z. Please. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” I whispered through numb lips as I grabbed the copper handle.
For the first time in my life, I couldn’t hold the blade steady.
I began to sob as I knee-walked closer to him and then held the blade high above his neck, where the tendons and sinew were visible.
“I’m so sorry.” My hand shook.
Then I lowered the blade, quickly and efficiently.
Just before it came in contact with his neck, I heard a soft, “Thank you.”
The dagger sliced through his flesh like butter.
His head rolled in one direction, and his body fell in the other.
S was no more.
I was belatedly aware of a shadowy figure breaking through the slightly opened window and sending glass flying in every direction, but I couldn’t pull my gaze away from the man I once loved. The man I’d just killed. My tears ran in hot rivulets down my cheeks as Ryland cursed, grabbed at my shoulders, and pulled me into his chest.
And for one minute exactly, I allowed myself to fall apart.
I cried for S and T, two brothers who’d had their lives snuffed out because of Aaliyah and her games.
I cried for myself and the love I once had.
I cried for my mates and what they would have to endure in the years to come.
I cried for all of the humans who had been tortured, ridiculed, and laughed at by the nightmares in power.
I cried for Axel and Mali and Atta and B and Diego and all of my friends I’d met along the way.
Voices reached me, muffled and indistinct, almost as if they were coming from the end of a long tunnel.
“How the fuck did he get in?”
“Where were you, Devlin? Why weren’t you here?”
“I’d forgotten the wine! I was gone for a minute! I didn’t know… Fuck!”
“You should’ve heard something, Lupe!”
“Get your finger out of my face before I bite it off.”
And when my minute ended, I shoved all of my emotions aside—locking the box up tight and throwing away the key—and blinked to clear the tears from my eyes. I straightened in Ryland’s embrace, then twisted to face my other mates, who were all huddled around me, worry etched across their faces.
The time for mourning was over.
I needed to be a leader now.
A Liberator.
A queen.
“Aaliyah’s here,” I said stiffly, rising to my feet.
Devlin lunged for me as if he meant to help me stand, but I cast him a warning look. He, smartly, stepped back.
“She must’ve snuck in somehow. She probably has help.”
“She’s going to free the kings,” Jax breathed, his red irises widening.
“And if she’s here, then that probably means her army isn’t far behind,” I added.
No wonder Davia and her team hadn’t noticed any movement at Aaliyah’s fortress. They already had left by the time our army arrived.
“Bash, contact Davia. Tell her to send the army to the capital. Maybe we can use this to our advantage—attack her from every direction.”
“On it,” Bash said, already stepping away.
“Ryland, find Seth. Lupe, find Atta. Then I need you guys to assemble the troops. I want them stationed at every entrance and exit. If Aaliyah’s here, she’s not getting out alive.” I spun to face my other mates. “Dair, who do we have guarding the kings?”
“Axel,” Dair said simply.
Fuck.
“We need to get to the dungeons now. Before Aaliyah can free them.” If she hadn’t already.
Dair wheeled himself closer to me. “I’m going to head to the medical center. They’re going to need help and protection, and we all know there’s not a lot I can do in a big battle.”
“Dair—” I immediately began to protest, but he cut me off with a small smile.
There was no anger on his face. No self-hatred or self-deprecation. Only grim understanding.
“It’s okay,” Dair assured me softly. “I know where I’m needed. Now go. Quickly.”
This was it.
The final battle.
I knew it in my bones. Tonight, I would be fighting my sister, and only one of us would come out alive.
Terror shot through me, along with a healthy dose of resolve.
I would survive this. We all would.
“I love you. I love you all. So, so much,” I told my mates.
“This isn’t goodbye,” Bash snapped.
“We’ll see you soon,” Ryland agreed with a wink. Then he disappeared in a cloud of shadows.
Quickly, I changed into my fighting leathers and sheaths.
Devlin, Killian, Jax, and I immediately took off in the direction of the dungeons, but just before we left the room, something S had said occurred to me.
So far, I hadn’t given much thought to how I was going to eliminate Aaliyah. I only had a vague idea that I wasn’t even sure would work.
But if it did…
S’s words rattled in my head.
“You need to stop her. You have what you need to do it. Without her power, she’s nothing.”
“Z, what are you doing?” Devlin hissed as I ran to our bags and began to sift through the items, pulling clothing and toiletries out at random.
Where the fuck was it?
“Z?” Jax demanded.
My searching fingers found what I was looking for, and I carefully stored it in one of my sheaths.
God, this had to work. Because if it didn’t, I was out of options. The world would go to hell.
But S was right. I had to rely on my mates and my love for them. I was stronger than I was before.
“I’m coming,” I told my mates, spinning back to face them.
They eyed me suspiciously but didn’t comment.
Together, we raced down the hall.