whose sole purpose was to protect the Kings and kill the dissenters?
Silencing their indignant cries with a sharp look, I continued. “But I never
agreed to hurt innocent people. I might not be able to harm the Kings, but I
can promise you that I will spend my entire life working to break the spell
they have on me. In the meantime, I will protect you all. I will be the
champion for the human race. I’ll be the voice when you feel as if you’ve
been silenced.” An awed hush fell over the crowd, and I made sure to meet
each and every one of their eyes.
“You’re not going to get a princess out of me,” I stated calmly. “I’m
dirty, messy, and I like blood way too much.” A flurry of chuckles erupted
from the crowd, disrupting the tension hanging stagnant in the air. When the
laughter abated, I stared at them all with steely determination. “But I will
fight for you. And I always win.”
“I’M SO FUCKING proud of you,” Devlin whispered as we said
goodbye to the last human. I had no idea where they would go, but I prayed
they ran as far and as fast as they could. I cautioned them not to mention my
involvement, but I did advise them to warn other humans about what had
happened.
“We will, Liberator,” one of the men declared with a reverent nod of his
head.
My stomach fluttered at the nickname, but not in a good way. I didn’t feel
like a liberator or a hero.
I was the fucking villain in this story.
A kid had died because of me, because I had failed to save him. Self-
loathing gripped my heart in a vise and refused to release it.
“It’s all so fucked up, Lin,” I whispered.
“But we’ll fix it,” he assured me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
“We’re next in line for the thrones.”
“I don’t know if we can wait that long.” If my estimation was correct, the
Kings had twenty, maybe thirty, years before they would be too senile to rule
their Kingdoms. And me? I only had a few months, give or take, with the
poison currently running rampant through my system. I had no idea how my
mates would react when I was gone. Would they continue fighting? Continue
advocating for the oppressed humans? Or would they give in to their
primitive instincts and become the puppets the Kings always wanted them to
be?
No, they wouldn’t do that. They were too good, too kind. They saw the
evil in the world, and unlike a lot of others, they sought to fix it. To shine a
light on the darkness. I had no doubt they would grieve me, but they would
survive and continue fighting.
Devlin kissed my forehead softly. “I know, Baby. I know.”
“Here!” Killian declared suddenly, materializing behind us. He unhooked
Devlin’s lamp from his belt loop and handed it to my Genie.
“You don’t owe Devlin your soul now, do you?” I queried, only half-
teasing. I knew that each wish required an extensive contract crafted by the
powers that be. Killian had made two wishes inside the Carnival, and who
knew how many he made before that.
“Don’t worry,” Devlin said, opening up his backpack and sliding the
lamp inside. “We made the contract before we even entered the Carnival.”
“I have three wishes to use before I owe him my soul,” Killian explained,
grabbing my hand and playing with my fingers. It was such a mundane
gesture that I was struck speechless, staring at where our skin connected. His
hand was warm on my own, eliciting full-body shivers that danced across my
body.
“He only made two,” Devlin added. “As long as he doesn’t make another
wish…” He trailed off with a pointed look in Killian’s direction.
“I won’t touch the damn lamp for the rest of my life,” Killian promised,
not bothering to lift his head from where he stared at our conjoined hands.
“Good.” Devlin folded his muscular arms, peering over my shoulder. “I
wouldn’t want your ugly soul hogging up space in my lamp anyway.”
Killian glared playfully. “We both know that’s not true.”
Whatever Devlin was going to retort was interrupted by a grinning Axel
emerging from the tent. “Would you like to do the honors, little sister?” He
removed the detonator from his jacket and held it out to me enticingly.
“Fuck yes.”
remained a short distance away, hands in his pockets and a sardonic grin
twisting his lips.
“Fuck this place,” I murmured, pressing down on the button.
Immediately, the tent exploded in a kaleidoscope of colors. Smoke
permeated the air as sparks hissed and danced in fireworks of red, orange,
and yellow.
I held up my middle finger, saluting this shit-hole the only way I knew
how. Devlin, Lupe, and even Axel were quick to join me.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t realize…” Killian stuttered, staring at our raised
fingers. He quickly joined us as we gave the burning Carnival the bird.
It was a fitting send-off for such an atrocious place.
THIRTY
Z
I t was silent as we drove away from the flaming Carnival. The
cold wind from the opened window was a balm to my overheated
skin.
No one spoke as we crossed flat plains and entered a surrounding forest.
By then, the sun had completely fallen and darkness descended. Stars
peppered the velvety sky, bathing everything in hues of gold and white.
At some point, Killian had drifted off to sleep, his head resting on my
shoulder. I absently brushed through his gorgeous red locks as my mind
wandered.
No matter what I did, what I thought about, Miles’s face haunted me. All
I could see were his soulful eyes, gazing blindly up at the burning tent. Had
he been scared before he died? Had it been a quick death or a long one?
Fuck, I couldn’t think about it. I would drive myself insane with the
“what ifs.”
“It’ll be okay,” Lupe whispered gruffly from the passenger seat. He had
slid his glasses back on as soon as we entered the car, and they somehow
demoted him from intimidating to approachable.
“I don’t think it’ll ever be okay.” My voice was low and distant, heady
with pain and self-loathing. Guilt ate away at my insides like a parasite.
Could someone die from this—from this gnawing, undefinable bug prowling
in your stomach?
“Axel is looking for Miles’s sister right now,” Lupe continued. “She’ll be
okay.”
“But can we trust Axel?” I questioned, pain splintering just behind my
eyes. A part of me did trust the eccentric assassin, but a larger part of me was
fearful. For five years, he had been in the Kings’ back pocket. It was
ingrained within him to follow their commands and rules. He was loyal to the
Kings, first and foremost.
Lupe turned quiet, contemplative, seemingly unable to answer my
question any more than I could. He scrubbed at the dusting of hair coating his
jaw.
“I think—”
I let out a sudden scream as a body fell on top of me. Killian jerked
upright, karate
-chopping the air chaotically with an audible “ahhh!” Devlin
cursed, the car halting to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road, and Lupe
growled, jumping into the backseat and holding the intruder in a headlock.
“Nice to see you assholes too,” a familiar voice choked out.
“Dair?” I asked in disbelief, slipping my dagger back into its sheath. I
blinked rapidly at the golden-haired prince as he smiled back sheepishly.
“The one and only.” He flickered his gaze towards Lupe, still holding his
neck, and then back to me. “Errr...can you release me, please? Choking might
be your kink, but it’s not mine. At least, not with your ugly ass doing the
choking.”
“What the fuck, man?” Devlin exclaimed, swiveling in his seat. His violet
eyes flared brightly in the darkness of the cab.
Dair’s smile grew on his face as Lupe reluctantly released him.
“A pill,” he declared with a smirk. “From the Mage King himself. It acts
as a portal. To send you to your heart’s true home.” His eyes focused intently
on me, and a flush erupted in my chest. I had used those pills frequently when
I worked for the Resistance. It had always brought me back to the Compound
with the other assassins. Now, I wondered if my home wasn’t truly a place,
but a person.
Or people.
“So cheesy,” I murmured, attempting to stop the satisfied blush creeping
up my neck and to my cheeks. Dair, in answer, merely pecked me on the lips.
One touch from him was nuclear.
He froze suddenly, pulling back to survey me with unwavering intensity.
His eyes traveled over my dirty clothes and blood-stained skin, darkening
infinitesimally when they landed on a gash on my forehead.
“What happened?” he inquired dangerously, his animosity saturating the
air.
My lower lip began to tremble, but I stubbornly held my tears at bay.
Later. I would fall apart later.
I would fall apart until there was nothing left of me to weave back
together. It felt as if my heart was ripping open and weeping blood.
“I’m so glad you’re alright,” I whispered, staring at his handsome,
chiseled face. His eyes softened slightly as he cupped my cheek, leaning
forward to dot kisses on my nose. The last time I had seen him, he had been
unconscious in his room—a shell of the man I knew and loved. Something
settled inside of me at seeing the vibrant light returning to his sea-blue eyes.
“I’m alright,” he agreed, peppering kisses across my lips. “But you’re
not.”
My heart cracked like a stone being dropped as I told him what had
transpired. The more I talked, the more I wondered if I would ever be
mended. Fixed.
Or if I was always fated to remain broken.
ONCE MORE, I was in the elegantly furnished bedroom.
My Vampire mate sat on the bed, sucking the neck of an unconscious
female. Horror momentarily stilled me before I forced myself into action.
With lightning-fast reflexes, I gripped the girl’s arm and dragged her
body away from Jax.
“No!” I screamed in horror as her head lolled to the side, giving me an
unrestricted view of her lifeless eyes. The gathering darkness I always felt—
lying in wake—exploded out of me like a whirling tornado. “Jax, how could
you?”
He growled, the sound more monster than human, before prowling closer
to me. Blood stained his chin and dribbled down his bare chest.
“I’m thirsty!” he roared, his fangs poking his chapped bottom lip.
“This isn’t you,” I insisted, stumbling back a step. Anger rampaged
through me as I stared at the girl’s face. Her features twisted and contorted
until they took the shape of a young man with honey blond hair and wide,
innocent eyes.
Miles.
“How could you?” I whispered hoarsely, dropping to my knees. “I don’t
even know who you are anymore.”
“I’m thirsty!” Jax screamed again, shoving at the nightstand flanking his
bed. It fell to the ground, the glass vase on top of it shattering into pieces. I
winced at the cacophonous, almost deafening, noise.
This wasn’t Jax. Not my sweet Vampire. My Jax wouldn’t look at me with
vitriol spewing from his eyes. Instead of the love and warmth I usually saw,
there was nothing but coldness. An icy tundra I didn’t dare venture across.
“What happened to you?” I remained kneeling, unable to find the will to
climb to my feet. I had lost Miles, and now, I had lost Jax. He had killed
someone, and there was no turning back from that.
“She’s a murderer,” Jax growled through gritted teeth. “She killed seven
innocent children. She didn’t deserve to live.”
“And that makes you God?” I screamed, my voice infused with so much
passion and emotion I felt like a completely different person. Finally— finally
—I stumbled to my feet, jabbing an accusatory finger into his chest. “That
makes you judge, jury, and executioner?”
His face darkened, something unrecognizable flitting across his features.
“And you’re one to talk? You’re an assassin! You kill people too! Why do
you get to judge me?” By the time he’d finished his spiel, he was panting,
chest rising and falling with his erratic breaths.
And…
And he was right. Some of my anger diminished as I considered the
broken, scared man standing before me. I had no fucking right to judge him
when I, too, was a pawn to death. I’d enacted my own form of vengeance
daily before the princes had come into my life. I still did. At the Carnival, I
had killed Hans because I had deemed him a horrible man who didn’t
deserve to live.
Fuck, I was a hypocrite.
“I’m.” He stepped even closer until we were nose to nose. “Thirsty.”
“This isn’t you,” I tried again, dropping my hands from his chest and
balling them into fists. “Aaliyah did something to you. I don’t know what, but
I swear to you, Jax, I’ll find out.”
“You don’t know what I am!” he roared. He continued pushing me
backwards until I was flush against the wall, my chest heaving. His strong
arms blocked me in on either side, caging me against his sculpted frame. His
face contorted in mild recognition as he roared out, “I killed before, when I
was younger. I killed a human maid’s daughter because I was weak.”
“Jax…” I whispered, my heart splintering at the raw emotion in his
voice. He sniffed my neck, and dissonance once more clouded his features.
His eyes rolled back in his head as my scent curled around him, a soft smile
playing on his luscious lips. It was almost as if he was adrift at sea, and my
presence was keeping him tethered to the shore. With each inhale, coherence
returned to his face, accompanied by something primal. Feral.
“Mate…” he rumbled, voice almost guttural. Something like wonderment
sparked to life in his eyes as he lifted a strand of my hair and sniffed it.
“Mate.”
“Yes,” I whispered, cupping his cheek. I gently wiped the remaining
droplets of blood off his lips with the pad of my thumb. “I’m your mate, and
you’re
mine. I’m coming for you, Jax. I’ll help you. I promise.”
“Mate.” His eyes lowered to my lips, and the previous anger and rage I’d
noticed before diminished instantly to be replaced by liquid fire. Lust
saturated the room like a perfume.
“Mate,” I echoed. Before I could think better of it, I pushed myself onto
my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. He held himself rigidly—body taut—
before he kissed me back with reckless abandon. His hands fisted in my hair,
pulling tightly enough to sting.
“Mate,” he growled against my lips. His kisses were feverish, and I
rivaled it with my own intensity. When his hands dropped to my ass, I jumped
up his muscular body and wrapped my legs around him.
He spun, still carrying me, and lowered us both roughly onto the bed.
“Come back to me, Jax,” I pleaded, kissing up his neck. “Please.”
My Vampire mate released a roar—the sound eerily similar to that of
Lupe’s Bear—before he ripped my shirt straight down the middle. His eyes
devoured my revealed skin before he lowered his lips to the valley between
my breasts.
His fangs scraped at my skin, but instead of pain, molten lava flooded my
veins. I gasped softly as those same fangs pricked my nipple through the thin
material of my bra.
“Mate,” he whispered against my skin.
“Your mate,” I agreed readily.
Using his teeth, he cut through the flimsy fabric of my bra and pulled it
off my body. He cupped both of my breasts, tugging on and twisting my
beaded nipples.
“So. Beautiful,” he murmured dazedly, lowering his lips to my right
nipple as his hand continued to knead my left. He traced my areola with his
tongue before grazing his fingers over the sensitive nub. I gasped, arching off
the bed, as he sucked and licked my aching nipple. He quickly moved his
head to my left breast, giving it the same attention as my right.
He was already shirtless, and I took the moment to trace the contours of
his beautiful body. He wasn’t as muscular as Lupe or even Killian, but he
had a defined six-pack and a prominent V.
I twisted his nipples just as he did mine, and he groaned against my chest.
“Z…” he whispered, and when I guided his face back to mine, there was
a flicker of coherence and intelligence in his eyes. It was quickly replaced by
primal hunger as he devoured my lips with his own.