“You’ve been such a good little assassin, Z. You deserve a reward.” The shifter king’s smile broadened, revealing two rows of perfectly white teeth. When he smiled like that, I truly could see the resemblance between this man and his son. The only difference was their eyes—Lupe’s blue orbs radiated passion and love, warmth and kindness. The shadow king’s? His were empty voids. It made me wonder if the asshole even had a soul beneath that prickly exterior.

  “Reward,” Bash repeated in a dry tone, glaring at his father, the mage king. Of course, the mage king was asleep, his head lolling against his shoulder and a steady stream of snores leaving his mouth. Lazy asshole.

  “Of course! We’re not complete monsters,” the mermaid king interjected with a wicked grin, and I was suddenly grateful I’d sent Dair away. That smile…it thirsted for blood. Blood, death, and pain.

  “Z, I’m sorry,” Axel whispered from beside me, his voice low enough that I doubted anyone but me heard it.

  Before I could question him about his cryptic comment, the shifter king gestured the ex-assassin forward with a simple quirk of his finger. Axel obediently moved to stand directly beside the shifter king’s throne, his hands clasped behind his back and his face a picture of respect. He looked like a soldier—though not a soldier for my army.

  He looked like…the enemy.

  Like one of them.

  “But this is also a reward for our old friend, Axel,” the shifter king commented, grinning up at the stoic assassin. “We promised him a reward for helping us with you.”

  “Helping you with…me?” I repeated dumbly, and Ryland hissed out a breath from beside me.

  Axel kept his gaze fixed on something over my shoulder, not meeting any of our gazes as the kings laughed, the sound sharp and taunting. It resembled swords clashing together, sparking with electricity.

  I knew that any second, a bomb would drop and detonate, killing us all.

  Any.

  Damn.

  Second.

  “If he agreed to help us keep an eye on you, we offered him your hand in marriage,” the incubus king explained with a salacious grin, giving me a suggestive once-over. His eyes burned with lust, white-hot and searing.

  “What the fuck?” Bash roared, but he was silenced by a wave of the shifter king’s hand.

  “Z will be married to Axel by the end of this week,” he exclaimed with a wide grin. But that grin wasn’t aimed at me…it was aimed at the princes.

  I realized then that this had never been about me. Not really. Maybe at first it had been, but when news of my mating with the princes reached the kings’ ears, they knew they’d finally found leverage over their rebellious sons. Me. This was just another twisted game they were playing, but this time, the prize was my life.

  “No fucking way!” Ryland seethed. “Where’s my father? He would never allow this.”

  The kings laughed again, the sound cold and deadly, but didn’t respond to the shadow prince.

  “D-d-dad,” Killian stuttered out, turning towards his father. “Please.”

  The incubus king’s lips peeled away from his teeth in what might’ve been a sexy smile if it had actually reached his eyes. They remained as cold as ice, not a speck of warmth to be seen.

  “By the end of this week, Z will be married to Axel.” He propped his chin on his palm and smirked. Rage and disgust burned in my chest, even as a dagger of fear cut me open. How the fuck could Axel do this to me? To us? “And like any wedding, we’ll end it with the two of them consummating their marriage.”

  The kings laughed once more as my rage boiled over, scalding me.

  Fuck. Fuck.

  Fuck.

  The kings just declared checkmate, and our only options were to finish the game…

  Or flip the entire table over to start a new one.

  I cast a glare at Axel so full of betrayal and rage that he physically flinched, immediately peeling his gaze away from me. I was distantly aware of Bash, Ryland, Killian, and even Jax arguing with the kings, much to the assholes’ amusement. But I kept my face perfectly placid, not a flicker of emotion seeping into my hardened gaze.

  If the kings wanted a game, they got one.

  I would fucking destroy them this time around.

  “Perfect.” My saccharine sweet voice interrupted the cacophony of noise as all eyes turned towards me. I smiled broadly as I directed my next question at the confused kings. “When can I pick out my wedding dress?”

  Twenty-Eight

  Dair

  “Devlin? Lupe?” I ducked my head into Lupe’s bedroom, fighting off my irritation. His bed was made, a few books sitting on his bedside table, but the lumbering shifter was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, I softly shut the door and wheeled myself down the hall to Devlin’s room.

  Unlike Lupe’s, Devlin’s bedroom looked as if it had been plucked straight from a home décor catalogue. It was as immaculate as always, not a piece of clothing out of place and the comforter on the bed smoothed to utter perfection. In the opened closet, I could see Devlin’s pressed suits meticulously ironed, not a wrinkle in sight.

  Shaking my head in amusement, I shut Devlin’s door and checked every bathroom.

  Nothing.

  My amusement dissolved as true fear replaced it, weighing down my heart.

  “Dev! Lupe!” I hurried from room to room, checking each and every one, including the closets, until one fact became clear—my brothers were no longer in the capital.

  My arms ached from the effort I was exuding, and I eventually paused outside my own bedroom, shaking out my fingers. I hated this damn chair more than I hated anything else in my life.

  And what I hated even more was the freedom that was dangled enticingly in front of my face like a tasty morsel and then brutally wrenched away. The last few hours, I’d been…free. I hadn’t been confined to this prison of a wheelchair, but instead, was capable of venturing on my own two feet. For a man who’d spent the majority of his adult life stuck in this chair, it was a heady, intoxicating sensation, one a person could become addicted to. Maybe that was the aspect of Z that had first captured my attention, before I knew we were mates—the freedom she exhibited. She didn’t believe in silly things like fate or destiny, despite it being shoved in her face. Fate was a wind blowing from all directions, never capturing Z because she didn’t stay still long enough to let it.

  She was, for a lack of better word, free, as I’d always yearned to be.

  Shaking my head, I forced myself to roll farther down the hall until I reached the very end.

  Were Devlin and Lupe in the throne room with our parents? That would make sense, I supposed, if they wanted to keep an eye on Z.

  Despite my resolve strengthening, something didn’t feel right. It pricked at my skin repeatedly like thousands of rusty nails. That uncomfortable sensation slid through my veins like poison.

  “Prince Dair!” a raspy voice called from behind me, and I swiveled my head over my shoulder to see none other than old Mrs. Grinshaw hurrying towards me, her customary apron firmly in place and her gray hair twisted away from her face.

  “Mrs. Grinshaw,” I greeted, eyeing her warily. “How are you?”

  She released a tired sigh when she finally caught up to me, her wrinkled face creasing with pain.

  “The best I can be, considering…” She trailed off and very slowly shook her head from side to side. A strand of white escaped its binding and bounced against her cheek.

  “Considering?” Tension reverberated through me, tightening my muscles until they were as stiff as boards.

  “You didn’t hear?” Her white brows reached her hairline.

  “Hear what?”

  Had something happened to Z? Fuck, I knew I should’ve gone with them! If my father laid a hand on her—

  “Lupe and Devlin.” Mrs. Grinshaw’s lips curled downwards as sadness sparked to life in her eyes.

  Now I was panicking for a completely different reason.

  “What the fuck happened to them?” I demanded, and her eyes narrowed at my curse word. She’d been the one to teach all seven of us etiquette, so I knew that my slip of tongue had her mentally seething.

  But then her face distorted once more, the anger transforming into sadness. She lowered her eyes to her hands, where they fisted in the skirt of her dress. “They felt…well…I imagine you felt the same. I’m sorry, dear. I know you must be grieving as well—”

  “Grieving?” I interrupted, knowing I was being rude but not giving a damn. There were too many things I needed to focus on.

  Her nose wrinkled. “The mating bond?”

  “The mating bond,” I repeated blankly as pieces to this deformed puzzle finally started to come together. “Devlin and Lupe…felt the mating bond break?”

  My heart thumped erratically in my chest, and my hands turned ice-cold. A single bead of sweat slid down my forehead, but I didn’t make a move to brush it away.

  The feeling of the mating bond snapping in two and then dissolving was unimaginable. It was an agony I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

  If they felt that…

  And if they didn’t know that Z was still alive, too lost in their pain and grief to notice the bond reforming…

  “Where are they?”

  Grinshaw’s tongue darted out to lick her lip as she shuffled from foot to foot. I knew whatever she had to tell me was bad, horrible even, and I braced myself, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.

  “Lupe went feral,” Grinshaw told me sadly. “We had to lock him in the capital’s dungeon for fear of what he might do to others…or himself.”

  Shit.

  Panic roared within me for my shifter brother, but I forced myself to push it down and focus on what I did best—fix problems for my family. I may not have been a natural-born leader like Devlin, but I was the problem-solver of our makeshift family. I’d fix this. I had to.

  “And Devlin?” My voice was nothing but a raspy whisper, my mind running a mile a minute as I pictured my shifter brother trapped in the capital’s dungeon below me, slowly losing his mind to the wrath. Was he at least human, or had he transformed into his bear? Was there anything left of the brother we all loved?

  Panic warred in my chest and swallowed the air around me.

  And what about Devlin? Where the fuck was he?

  Please be okay. Please be okay.

  Please, please be okay.

  “He left,” Grinshaw told me simply, and I could see the underlying fear in her gaze. There was more to the story than what she was telling me.

  “Where the fuck did he go?” My hands shook as complete and utter fear consumed me. Annihilated me.

  “I tried to stop him.” A single tear slid down Mrs. Grinshaw’s face as she once more grabbed at her skirt, pulling at a string that had somehow gotten loose.

  “Where. Did. He. Go?” I hissed out, though my anger wasn’t directed at her.

  “He wanted revenge. He said…he said he was going to kill a woman named Aaliyah.”

  Twenty-Nine

  Devlin

  There was nothing but pain and darkness.

  No light broke through the monotony of my thoughts as I stared out the windshield. Rain splattered the glass, cascading down like teardrops. Fitting, I supposed, with my own tears making salty tracks on my face.

  Numb.

  I felt numb.

  Empty.

  Nothing mattered any more—not the kingdoms, not my brothers, not even my own life.

  Z was dead.

  I’d felt the moment our bond broke, signifying she had left me. And with her went what remained of my heart and sanity.

  I’m coming, baby girl.

  There were a few things I needed to do before I felt comfortable joining my beloved in the afterlife. When I left her years before, I’d known I would survive it because she was still alive. Still smiling and laughing and loving. I would happily live in the dark if it meant she would thrive in the light.

  But this? Knowing she was gone for good? It destroyed something fundamental inside of me. Everything ached—from the tips of my feet to my very soul.

  I wouldn’t be able to save the kingdoms from complete and utter ruin, but I could enact my vengeance.

  Aaliyah was going to die for what she did to my mate.

  And if death claimed me during the impending fight?

  It would just save me a bullet to the skull.

  Just a few days, baby. And then I’ll be with you.

  Epilogue

  S

  “You cannot be fucking serious!” I raged, spinning on my brother. T lifted his hands in the air in a placating manner, though the stubborn glint in his eyes did not cease.

  “You can’t see her, brother. Not yet.”

  “Why the fuck not?” I continued to pace the small hotel room, my feet wearing a hole in the carpeting. We’d been here just about two days, and I was going fucking crazy.

  When T freed me from my prison, I’d thought I’d be reunited with him and the love of my existence. But instead, I was faced with the cold hard truth—Z was in love with another man. Seven other men, to be exact.

  Nightmares.

  The crowned princes.

  “It’s a spell,” I seethed, whirling on my brother. “She must be under a spell.”

  The Z I knew would never sleep with the enemy unless she was forced to or she was undercover. And since T insisted it wasn’t either…then that must mean she was under some sort of coercion. Maybe she was being blackmailed? Threatened?

  The princes were evil, as were their fathers, and it was my job to save my girl before she fell prey to their wickedness.

  “Whatever they’re using her for probably isn’t good,” I continued as T cast me a pitying look. I hated that damn look more than words could describe. He’d told me numerous times before that Z was in love with those monsters.

  Bullshit.

  They must’ve done something to her.

  I stared intently at the picture T had given me, the same picture I’d stared at every damn second for the last day and a half.

  It showed Z smiling up at a tall, muscular man with light brown hair and thick glasses. Six other men surrounded her, all staring at her with lovestruck eyes. It was apparent to me that they didn’t know the picture was being taken, but that only made me more enraged. Envy swirled in my stomach. I wanted nothing more than to be the man she stared at so…lovingly. Combined with the envy was wrath, white-hot and blistering. How dare these men try to take away my one reason for living? What Z and I had…it was fucking amazing, and these monsters couldn’t even try to replicate it.

  I was prideful enough to admit that I didn’t want Z with anyone else. Not when we could finally be together again. I was gluttonous for more of her—her taste, her laugh, her smile…I wanted it all. At the same time, I was greedy and selfish. I didn’t want to share her with those men, not when I knew what it felt like to have her all to myself.

  A trickle of lust invaded my senses as I stared at her perfect smile, before dropping my gaze to her smooth collarbone and the swells of her breasts. I traced my finger over her face as emotions bombarded me. We’d been doing nothing all day, and I was feeling pretty damn lazy.

  But that was going to change.

  Ideas formed in my head the longer I stared at the picture, and with a grunt of determination, I ripped the image in half—eliminating the guys while saving my Z’s sweet face. I kissed the picture before gently placing it in my back pocket.

  “I’m going after her,” I told my brother with a piercing glare. He threw his hands up into the air and released an exasperated scoff.

  “And what will you do when you reach her?”

  My words were a vow, a promise, a declaration. “I’m going to kill the princes and save my girl.”

  And they won’t even see me coming.

  * * *

  Want to know what happens next? Pre-order book five, Pride, here!

  Acknowledgments

  It takes a team to make these books, and fortunately, I have the best one.

  Thank you to my alphas Kelly, Ellen, and Ash! I can’t even describe with words how amazing your advice and input is.

  Thank you to Melody for creating this beautiful cover and to Meghan for editing and polishing this book. You ladies are the best!

  And finally, I would like to thank my incredible family. Without you guys…I probably would’ve finished this book two years earlier. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

  And finally, I would like to say thank you to my incredible readers. Every day, I am humbled and astounded by your support and encouragement. Thank you for believing in me, my characters, and my stories. I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of you.

  About the Author

  Katie May is a reverse harem author, a KDP All-Star winner, and an USA Today Bestselling Author. She lives in West Michigan with her family, cat, and adorable puppy. When not writing, she can be found reading a good book, listening to broadway musicals, or playing games. Join Katie’s Gang to stay updated on all her releases! And did you know she has a TikTok? Yeah, me neither. Follow her here! But be warned…she’s an awkward noodle.

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