Wrath, p.1
Wrath, page 1
WRATH
THE DAMNING
BOOK 7
KATIE MAY
EXPRESSO PUBLISHING, LLC
Copyright © 2025 by Katie May
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book was written using AI, nor does the author give anyone permission to use this book in any AI databases.
Cover Design by Melody Simmons
Edited by Lindsey Loucks of Midnight Library
To everyone fighting their inner demons. Hang in there.
CONTENTS
Foreword
RECAP OF PREVIOUS BOOKS
Chapter 1
Z
Chapter 2
Killian
Chapter 3
Z
Chapter 4
Z
Chapter 5
Z
Chapter 6
Z
Chapter 7
Z
Chapter 8
Z
Chapter 9
Bash
Chapter 10
Z
Chapter 11
Z
Chapter 12
Jax
Chapter 13
Lupe
Chapter 14
Z
Chapter 15
Jax
Chapter 16
Z
Chapter 17
Z
Chapter 18
Z
Chapter 19
Devlin
Chapter 20
Z
Chapter 21
Killian
Chapter 22
Lupe
Chapter 23
Z
Chapter 24
Z
Chapter 25
Z
Chapter 26
Z
Chapter 27
Devlin
Chapter 28
Z
Chapter 29
Z
Chapter 30
Bash
Chapter 31
Z
Chapter 32
Lupe
Chapter 33
Axel
Chapter 34
Z
Chapter 35
Z
Chapter 36
Killian
Chapter 37
Z
Chapter 38
Ryland
Chapter 39
Ryland
Chapter 40
Z
Chapter 41
Lupe
Chapter 42
Bash
Chapter 43
Z
Chapter 44
Dair
Chapter 45
Z
Chapter 46
Z
Chapter 47
Z
Chapter 48
Jax
Chapter 49
Z
Chapter 50
Z
Chapter 51
Z
Chapter 52
Ryland
Chapter 53
Lupe
Chapter 54
Z
Chapter 55
Killian
Chapter 56
Dair
Chapter 57
Z
Chapter 58
Ryland
Chapter 59
Lupe
Chapter 60
Devlin
Chapter 61
Z
Chapter 62
Z
Chapter 63
Z
Chapter 64
Z
Chapter 65
Z
Chapter 66
Z
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Katie May
FOREWORD
Wrath contains scenes readers might find triggering. These include torture, death, past rape and murder, work camps, and manipulation.
Wrath is the final book of a seven book why choose series, meaning the FMC won’t have to choose between her love interests at the end. There is no MM or FF within the harem. There is also no bullying, abuse, or cheating from any of the love interests. They’re one hundred percent devoted to their girl.
RECAP OF PREVIOUS BOOKS
When Z wins the Damning—a competition that pits the best assassins against each other—her world is overturned. Suddenly, she’s forced to be the assassin for the exact kings she wishes to kill.
Fortunately, she has the seven princes to help her with the tasks ahead, each prince one of the seven supernatural species descended from the Seven Deadly Sins…and her fated mates. There’s a prophecy surrounding the seven princes that states they’ll either save the world or destroy it. They despise their parents and their inhumane treatment of humans.
At the end of the first book, Z is poisoned by a competitor of the Damning named Zack at the order of Aaliyah. Her mates are completely unaware that she’s been poisoned…and that the poison is slowly killing her.
The kings assign seven tasks, seven games, Z has to complete to prove her loyalty. Despite her hatred for them, a spell administered by the mage king prohibits her from harming any member of the royal family.
She completes the first task, assigned by the mermaid king. In the process, Dair kills his evil older brother, Tavvy, who attempted to rape and kill Z. Just before he dies, Tavvy tells Dair that he and the rest of the Z’s mates weren’t born—they appeared out of thin air.
Meanwhile, a mysterious female named Aaliyah is sending extinct supernatural creatures after Z, including a gorgon, kraken, and fae. She instructs her monsters not to kill Z but to bring her to Aaliyah alive.
At the end of book two, Z discovers that Jax, her vampire mate, has gone missing.
The kings assign Z her next task—find Jax and return him to the capital in five days. If she fails, she dies. If she succeeds, the kings will have a special reward waiting for her. The kings force Axel, their former assassin, and T, a member of the Alphabet Resistance who has been taken prisoner, to accompany them.
While in the Vampire Kingdom, the inn they are staying at is lit on fire and Z is kidnapped and brought to the Bloody Carnival—a macabre event where vampires and other nightmares prey on humans. She meets a young boy, Miles, who she instantly feels protective of.
During a confrontation at the Bloody Carnival, Miles is killed, a fact that devastates Z. Axel agrees to search for Miles’s younger sister while Z and the other freed humans bury the bodies.
The gang discovers that Aaliyah has been keeping Jax prisoner. Through her connection with Jax, Z knows he’s been forced to feed on blood regularly, losing himself to the bloodlust and madness.
Aaliyah arrives with her pet gargoyles and Jax. She tells the group that she’s Z’s sister and a demon. A fight ensues. During the battle, Jax is stabbed and killed. Aaliyah disappears before anyone can stop her. Z, in her grief, pours white light into Jax, bringing him back to life. In the process, the poison coursing through Z’s system catches up to her and she collapses.
Meanwhile, Axel finds Miles’s sister and discovers she’s the first nightmare-human hybrid to exist.
T reveals to have been the one to give Z’s location up to the human traffickers at the Bloody Carnival in exchange for S’s—his brother and Z’s ex-boyfriend—soul.
At the end of book three, S is alive and well and demanding to know Z’s whereabouts.
In book four, Z struggles to survive the poison coursing through her bloodstream and her mates are desperate to find a cure. When Z’s condition worsens, the men must separate in order to save her life—Devlin and Lupe return to their fathers while the others decide to visit Bash’s eccentric grandfather, Paco.
While at Paco’s cottage, the group discovers that the spell to save Z’s life will only work once she’s dead.
Z is visited in her dreams by Aaliyah, who tells Z she’s an angel named Gabrielle. Aaliyah reveals that she herself is a demon who was once in love with the Seven Heavenly Virtues before she murdered them on behalf of her sister. Z begins to suspect that the monsters attacking her have been brought through a portal that leads to hell.
At the capital, Lupe and Devlin discover that Ryland’s father—the shadow king—is a spy for the resistance. The other kings throw him into the dungeons for his crimes.
Meanwhile, an army of humans—led by the ex-assassin Axel—arrives at Paco’s house and claims to be followers of Z.
Z proves herself to the humans when she saves a group of them from a trafficking ring. In the process of doing so, Z succumbs to the poison. She passes away, but her mates are able to save her life and rid her body of the poison once and for all.
Lupe and Devlin, however, do not know that Z survived and feel their mating bonds break. Lupe goes feral, and Devlin leaves the capital to get revenge on Aaliyah.
Z and her mates return to the capital and discover that she is now engaged to Axel as a reward for finding Jax and bringing him home.
Devlin, meanwhile, is meeting with a trusted source who tells him that Aaliyah has taken up reside
Seth tells the gang that he brought the resistance to his kingdom and hid them in a series of caves. To enter, they’ll have to cross through the Forest of Monsters and Beasts.
The kings task Z with finding Devlin, which she does so by entering his dreams using the mating bond and convincing him that she’s still alive. He agrees to meet with her once he wakes up but is stopped by Aaliyah.
The group, minus Devlin, arrive at the forest, and Axel offers to remain behind with a still-feral Lupe. They make it through the forest and come face-to-face with B, the leader of the resistance and Z’s mentor.
B takes them back to the caves. He tells them they need to find a hell dagger, which is forged from the fires of hell itself. He believes that the dagger will be the only way to drain the kings’ excess power. Z perceives B’s words as a threat and, due to the spell placed on her after she won the Damning, attacks him. B stabs her in the neck, which Lupe feels all the way across the forest. It’s revealed that B had discovered a way to counteract the kings’ magic by using the bones of past kings. Thus, when B stabbed her, he also freed her from the compulsion that forces her to protect the kings at all costs.
A coherent Lupe and Z finally reunite.
B sends the group away with copies of his research, but when they arrive back at the forest edge, they see that Aaliyah has joined them with a captured Devlin. Aaliyah offers the group the dagger they’ve been looking for, much to Z’s confusion, and then leaves.
Z and her mates return home, only to discover that they walked right into their own wedding. Z will be forced to marry Axel, while the seven princes will each marry a woman of their fathers’ choosing.
Z stabs the mermaid king with the hell dagger, drawing all of the dark magic out of the seven kings. However, things don’t go as planned when the dark magic enters Z instead of dissipating.
Aaliyah arrives, and the guys realize that this was her plan all along. Aaliyah creates a portal, and Z—now consumed by dark magic—willingly goes with her after killing all of the nightmares in the throne room (aside from the kings, Atta, and her mates). Killian tags along as well.
When Z steps out of the portal, she sees that her childhood friend T is there, as well as her ex-boyfriend S. Z kills T for his part in betraying her in the Vampire Kingdom. S tells Z that they need to get rid of the incubus if they have any hope of being together. Z responds with, “This should be fun,” and advances on Killian.
In book six, Z struggles to control the dark magic inside of her and turns into a twisted, demented version of herself. Her mates, desperate to save her, enlist the help of a mermaid named Phineas to travel across Lake Meade.
Z discovers that she was once an angel-demon hybrid that fell in love with the Seven Deadly Sins. When her angelic father found out, he had her raped and killed. Her mates, devastated, gave up a part of their souls to create nightmares on earth, then passed away. Z and her current mates are the reincarnated versions of them.
Z manages to rid herself of the dark influence—thanks to Killian’s help—and frees both herself, Killian, and Mali. Killian is shoved into Lake Meade, which is a dumping ground for hell magic, and grows a tail and horns.
The book ends with Z—now completely healed of the dark magic—reuniting with her mates, determined to end this battle once and for all.
CHARACTERS:
Z — Member of the Alphabet Resistance that advocates for human rights, assassin, mate to the seven princes, and winner of the Damning. She discovers that she’s a reincarnated angel-demon hybrid who was murdered centuries ago by her angelic father after falling in love with the Seven Deadly Sins.
Dair — Z’s mate, mermaid, and descended from Envy. Like all mermaids, he’s forced to live as a mermaid for twelve hours a day and a human the other twelve. His father constantly cuts his legs off, grows them back, and then cuts them off again each night. Paco provided him with a potion that will allow him to walk, though he only has a little bit of it left now. B believes that he might be able to heal Dair permanently using the bones of past kings.
Devlin — Z’s mate, genie, and descended from Greed. He trapped S’s soul inside of his magic lamp until it was freed by T in book three. He was Z’s childhood sweetheart. At the end of book four, he left the capital in order to avenge Z and murder Aaliyah. He reunited with Z in book five.
Killian — Z’s mate, incubus, and descended from Lust. As a child, he was forced to watch his father rape and kill his nanny. He willingly traveled with Z and Aaliyah at the end of book five, which led to him growing a tail and horns.
Lupe — Z’s mate, shifter, and descended from Wrath. His father implemented the first human concentration camp. He prefers to fight with words rather than violence. At the end of book four, he lost himself to his wrath after feeling Z die. He was finally able to come back to himself at the end of book five.
Ryland — Z’s mate, shadow, and descended from Pride. He hides his face in his shadows to hide his hideous facial scarring. He was the first to know all of the princes were mates with Z. His father was thrown into the dungeons at the end of book four after being revealed as a spy for the resistance, though he’s freed in book six.
Jax — Z’s mate, vampire, and descended from Gluttony. He’s facing madness because he refuses to drink human blood and is only coherent around Z. He was kidnapped by Aaliyah at the end of book two but was rescued in book three. During his time as a captive, he was forced to consume an endless supply of blood, exacerbating his insanity.
Bash — Z’s mate, mage, and descended from Sloth. He initially distrusted the mate bond and what he perceived as a lack of free will, so he struggled with his affections for Z. However, they finally confessed their love to each other in book four.
Atta — Shifter and descended from Wrath. She’s Lupe’s younger sister and the mate to Mali.
Mali — Vampire and descended from Gluttony. She’s Z’s best friend who unwittingly betrayed her, leading to the death of their mage friend, Diego. Mate to Zack (now dead) and Atta. She worked for Aaliyah before getting freed by Z in book six.
Diego — Mage and descended from Sloth. Z’s best friend and mate to HH. He was murdered by Zack protecting Z after Mali betrayed them.
T — Z’s friend from the Alphabet Resistance and brother of S. He traded Z to the Bloody Carnival in exchange for his brother’s soul. Z murdered him at the end of book five while Aaliyah and S watched.
S — Z’s deceased ex-boyfriend and T’s brother who was killed by shifters. It’s discovered that Devlin had his soul inside of his lamp until he lost it. T made a deal with human traffickers to retrieve his soul, thus bringing him back to life. He is currently working with Aaliyah and is lost to the dark magic.
B — Leader of the Alphabet Resistance.
A — Z’s former mentor and father-figure before he died.
Davia — Leader of the Rebellion and a friend of Z’s.
Aaliyah — Main antagonist of the series who wants to capture Z for unknown reasons. She revealed herself to be Z’s sister and a demon at the end of book three. She confessed that she was once the lover of the Seven Heavenly Virtues before she killed them. She gave Z a dagger designed to draw the dark magic out of the kings. The dark magic entered Z and corrupted her.
Zack — Mage and evil assassin who killed Diego and poisoned Z. He was Mali’s mate, but now he’s dead.
Axel — Shadow and ex-assassin of the kingdoms. He found a half-human, half-mage child, Mary-Lynette, and has adopted her as his own.
