Sloth (The Damning Book 4)

by Katie May

  brown. It continued to writhe on the floor, twitching in all directions, before

  it crumbled into a million pieces of dust.

  No! No! No!

  My bear roared inside of me in denial as I fell to my knees. Emotion

  coiled through my chest like barbed wire—agony, fear, anger… I couldn’t

  decide on one.

  Fur sprouted on my arms as I surrendered myself to the wrath always

  hovering just at the edges of my mind.

  No! No! No!

  I was aware of nothing else except the pain and agony. I screamed, the

  noise deafening in the silence of the prison, as I fell to my knees, my keen

  claws digging into the stone floors.

  “Z!” I screamed until my voice was hoarse, until the candle toppled over

  and the walls began to shake. I screamed until my throat hurt fiercely and the

  tenuous control I had on my rage snapped as effortlessly as the mating bond

  had.

  Then Lupe was no more, and only the wrath remained.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  DAIR

  There was an empty hole where my heart should be.

  I felt…numb. So, so numb. Every breath felt like being cut by

  thousands of minuscule daggers. They dragged at my skin, slashing

  until I was choking on my own blood.

  Z…

  I was dimly aware of screaming, but I couldn’t focus on that. I couldn’t

  focus on anything besides my mate’s cold hand in my own. Her face was

  pale, too pale, and I yearned to see a flash of color in her cheeks.

  The screaming grew louder, and this time, I could make out words.

  “SAVE HER! FUCKING SAVE HER!”

  The voice was familiar, but in my numb state of mind, I couldn’t focus on

  who was shouting. Nothing mattered anymore.

  My mate was dead, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  I felt as if my soul had shriveled into dust the second the bond connecting

  us severed. The sensation was unlike anything I’d ever experienced, and I felt

  almost disembodied, as if I were watching the entire scene play out from

  above. Lurking, but not necessarily participating.

  “SAVE HER! FUCKING DAMMIT!”

  It was only then that I realized the screams were coming from me.

  I ripped my gaze from Z to Paco, who was staring intently at the clock on

  the fireplace mantle, his lips pursed.

  “FIX HER!” I raged, spit forming on the corner of my lips. “FIX HER!”

  Bash was screaming at his grandfather as well, while Killian cried softly.

  For once, Jax’s gaze wasn’t fixed out the window but instead, was focused on

  the love of our lives. The reason we all got out of bed in the morning. I didn’t

  see Ryland, but I heard him just outside the shed, his screams of anguish and

  rage permeating the still, night air.

  “Paco needs patience!” the old mage retorted, still not moving his gaze

  away from the clock.

  He had mentioned something about a time limit, right? Like he had to

  administer the cure within a certain time? Or was it the opposite? Did he have

  to administer the cure after a certain time?

  My brain was utterly fried, and I struggled to fit together the pieces of this

  puzzle.

  All I could think was…

  This is the end.

  I didn’t want to live in a world without Z. The mere thought sent bile

  rushing up my throat. Maybe I’d drown myself in the sea in the most ironic

  way of death a mermaid could have.

  Or maybe I’d—

  “It’s time,” Paco told us, placing one hand on Z’s jaw and forcing her

  head back. With his other hand, he pulled her lips apart so Bash could pour

  the second purple liquid into her mouth. Immediately, Paco placed his hand

  over her mouth, forcing her corpse to swallow the liquid, and I swore, not

  even the crickets outside were chirping. A deathly silence fell over the shed

  as we waited, waited, waited.

  A shadow appeared above my shoulder, but I didn’t peel my attention

  away from Z to greet Ryland. How could I, when my entire world could be

  ripped away from me in a matter of seconds?

  “Why isn’t she waking?” Bash demanded, the words a sharp growl that

  had the fine hairs on my arms standing on end.

  Paco held up a hand. “Wait.”

  We waited.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  The hope I’d felt before dissolved into smoke when Z remained still and

  lifeless. If anything, she appeared even paler than before, a stark contrast to

  the vibrant woman who’d fallen into my pool of water during the Damning

  weeks ago.

  “Come on, baby. Get up. Get up. Get up,” Bash whispered repeatedly.

  We waited with bated breath. I could feel my heart physically spasming,

  clenching with fear and horror. All of our hopes depended on that one damn

  potion. What if Paco made it wrong? What if it did nothing to save her? What

  if she remained dead, a pasty corpse of the woman we all loved? What would

  we do?

  Before my thoughts could send me into a downwards spiral, Z’s fingers

  began to twitch in my hand. I held my breath, scarcely believing what I was

  seeing.

  “Z…” I whispered.

  And then the most beautiful thing occurred—her bright eyes snapped

  open, and she gasped, panting for breath.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Z

  My world was shrouded in nothing but fire. I couldn’t even begin

  to describe the pain I experienced as death washed over me like

  an ice-cold tidal wave. I tried to fight it, tried to resist the

  current, but it was impossible. One second, I was staring up into Bash’s dark

  green eyes, hooded with emotion, and the next…

  I was nowhere.

  I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what, exactly, I experienced in that

  one minute I was dead, but I could’ve sworn I saw a familiar man and woman

  standing side by side, his arm wrapped around her waist.

  My parents.

  They beckoned me forward, identical grins on their faces, and I wanted

  nothing more than to run towards them and allow them to pull me into their

  arms. I missed them fiercely, and I knew the only cure for that would be

  holding them as tight as I could and never letting them go.

  But then their images rippled and dispersed until I was once more floating

  in that abyss of darkness.

  So much darkness.

  But now…

  I gasped, jerking upright and glancing from side to side desperately.

  “What in the…?”

  Five of my mates huddled around me, their eyes bright with tears and

  disbelief. I spotted Paco just above their shoulders, silently moving his naked

  ass away to give us some privacy.

  “Z.” Dair was the one who spoke first, and before I could even catch my

  breath, his lips were on mine. I froze, muscles tensing, before immediately

  wrapping my fingers in his golden-blond hair and deepening the kiss. His

  familiar sea scent barraged me, and I wanted nothing more than to lose

  myself in it. In him. Everything was always so easy with Dair. He was like a

  tranquil spring current that I didn’t hesitate to swim in, secure in the

  knowledge that no harm would ever come to me.

  I was pulled away from Dair before
the kiss could get too heated and met

  Killian’s greedy, searching lips. I teased him with my tongue, and he opened

  for me immediately, wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me to

  him.

  “I thought I lost you,” he whispered between pants of breath.

  “I thought you did too,” I admitted, unable to shake off the unease of

  being in that strange darkness. It’d been so tempting to stay there, to

  surrender to the inevitable. There would’ve been no wars or armies, no

  malicious kings or sadistic bitches. And…

  And I would’ve been reunited with my parents. S. Even A, my adoptive

  father.

  Thoughts of my mates kept me from succumbing completely. I knew if

  the situations were reversed, if one of them had died, I would’ve lost my

  damn mind.

  So I fought, kicking and screaming, until my soul snapped back into my

  body like a rubber band that had been pulled too tautly. At least, that was

  what it had felt like. One second, there was complete and utter darkness, a

  bottle of spilt ink I was wading through, and the next, there was light.

  Ryland and Jax both took their turns kissing me passionately, the latter

  shaking in my arms as he murmured my name repeatedly, peppering kisses

  across my face.

  “I love you, Jaxon,” I whispered in his ear, too soft for anyone but him to

  hear. He shuddered in my arms, a delicate ripple I felt in my own body, as his

  arms constricted tighter around me.

  “I love you too. More than anything.”

  It was only then that I realized we were missing one person.

  My eyes narrowed as I searched the small hut for Bash, unable to see his

  ash-blond hair anywhere.

  I turned towards Ryland, who was on the other side of me, and cocked an

  eyebrow. “Where is he?”

  Ryland’s lips pursed as he smoothed his hands through my sweaty hair.

  “Outside,” he confessed, and pain rushed through me, though my rage

  quickly tempered it. Why would he leave me after everything that just

  happened? After I just fucking died? After what he told me? Did he regret

  those three words? “But you should get some rest—”

  “I want to see if he’s okay,” I interjected, stumbling to my feet. Ryland

  immediately caught my elbow to keep me from toppling over, his face

  scrunched together in rage.

  “My god, woman, you nearly died!” he bellowed, his tongue caustic and

  acidic. Despite his cruel tone, there was near panic in his icy blue eyes. This

  entire situation had shaken him, shaken all of them, and I didn’t know if

  they’d ever recover from it completely. I knew I wouldn’t if I’d been forced

  to watch one of them die.

  The mere thought had bile rushing up my throat.

  “Ry…” I gently took his hand in my own. My whole body felt sluggish

  and heavy, as if the entire force of Earth’s gravity was pushing down on me.

  Despite that, there was a skip to my heart that hadn’t been there prior. I may

  have been tired, but I no longer ached fiercely like I’d been run over by a

  truck. “I’m okay.” I turned towards Paco and repeated, “I’m okay, right?”

  “Paco does not sense any more poison in little girl,” Paco exclaimed with

  a toothy grin. I bit down on my lip to stop myself from arguing about the

  “little girl” comment. The man had saved my life, and he deserved my

  complete and utter respect.

  Or at the very least, a day free of retorts.

  “She’s cured?” Killian breathed, almost as if he scarcely dared to believe

  it.

  “Cured, yes.” Paco nodded his head, and the relief that spread through the

  room was almost palpable.

  His words set off another round of kisses and declarations of love as each

  of my men sought to hold me, touch me, love me. I allowed them to, relishing

  in their embrace, before remembering my sulking mage. I needed to know

  what his problem was, even though an insidious sort of fear slithered through

  my mind and grasped my heart. I didn’t know if I could handle it if he

  rejected me.

  But what other reason would he have to leave?

  “Go to him.” The order, unsurprisingly, came from Dair. My sweet

  mermaid always seemed to know when my other men needed me. The blond

  prince pulled my attention away from Jax and gave my hand a reassuring

  squeeze. Warmth migrated from where our hands touched, settling in my

  chest. “He needs you right now.”

  “We all need her,” Ryland murmured, but he didn’t protest as I moved on

  wobbly legs to the backdoor of the hut, pushing it open and stretching my

  taut muscles. I still felt sore, uncomfortable, but nowhere near the level I’d

  been at when I was dying from the poison.

  Because I was…cured.

  Cured.

  A giddy laugh wanted to escape me at that one word. I always thought I’d

  die before my time. As an assassin, you came to learn that death was

  inevitable. But honestly? It didn’t scare me. At least not at first. It was only

  after I met my mates that I came to the realization that I wanted to live. Now,

  instead of fighting to die, I fought to survive. When I discovered Zack had

  poisoned me, I kept it quiet, believing it was my burden to bear alone, my

  torture to endure. I’d assumed I would die from it, but here I was, alive and

  well and loved by seven incredible men.

  Heat radiated through my body accompanied by a kaleidoscope of

  emotions. They created a beautiful tapestry of color in my mind’s eye, and I

  leaned into it like a flower twisting towards the sun.

  Movement to the left startled me, and I shoved the plethora of emotions

  aside to focus on my mage mate.

  Bash was pacing, tugging repeatedly at his blond hair, and seemed

  unaware of my presence. In the moonlight streaking through the boughs of

  trees, his eyes appeared lighter, almost like emeralds, and glimmered.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, and his head snapped in my direction.

  “Z.” My name was a prayer on his lips, though his tone held a healthy

  amount of trepidation. His entire body shook as his arms raised, reaching for

  me…before immediately dropping back to his sides. “I’m so fucking relieved

  to see you’re okay.”

  “Because of you.” I ventured a tentative step closer, watching his face

  carefully. Everything about Bash was chiseled, masculine perfection, from

  the sweep of his eyebrows to the curve of his jaw. While he was usually

  clean-shaven, the last few days had seen blond stubble on his chin, giving

  him a rugged look.

  I found it sexy as hell.

  When Bash turned his gaze away from me, focusing on a branch

  sprouting off the nearest tree, I took the final steps forward until I was

  directly in front of him. “I know you helped Paco with the cure.”

  “You died, Z.” His voice shook. “I held you while you fucking died.”

  “I know. I was there.” I tried for a joke, but it fell flat. There was nothing

  but despair and heartbreak in his green gaze. Agony reverberated from him in

  waves that almost felt tangible, as if I could reach out and grasp his pain in

  my fist.

  “I can’t…I can’t lose you.” He fina
lly turned to face me completely, his

  features shadowed, and I carefully clasped his hands in my own.

  “You won’t. I promise you, Sebastian. I will fight to remain with you and

  the others until I’m incapable of fighting anymore.” His eyebrows furrowed

  at my use of his full name, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he simply stared

  at me, a myriad of emotion glimmering to life behind eyes I always thought

  were impassive and incapable of love, but now I realized they were teeming

  with life and passion. “You can’t get rid of me. I suppose you can say that

  you’re stuck with me.”

  “Like mold,” he deadpanned, a tiny twinkle appearing in his eyes. My

  own lips twitched into the beginnings of a smile. I much preferred this verbal

  sparring version of Bash over the somber one.

  “You’re an ass,” I quipped.

  “And you’re the pain in it,” he responded without pause.

  We stared at each other for a long moment, the only light in the forest the

  golden glow from the moon high above. The tension between us crackled and

  hissed like a live wire, adding to the foray of fireworks and lighting already

  coursing through my body.

  “I…” Swallowing, I began again. “I heard what you said.”

  His expression didn’t change, not even a twitch, as he blinked at me.

  “Oh.”

  “You said that…you loved me.” I kept my voice low and soft, staring up

  at his handsome face with hearts in my eyes. For what felt like the first time

  in my life, I didn’t hide my emotions. I wore them for everyone to see, for

  him to see, and he could either tenderly cup my heart or crush it. Either way,

  the choice was his. Vulnerability shot through me as I shuffled from foot to

  foot, finally forcing my gaze away and lowering it to the ground. The

  intensity in his mossy green eyes was too much for me to handle. “Do you…

  I mean…did you mean that?”

  “Did I mean it when I said that I loved you?” Bash asked for clarification.

  There was no teasing in his tone. His voice was uncharacteristically serene.

  Solemn, even. One glance beneath my lashes showed a grave expression on

  his face as he regarded me.

  My heart stuttered.

  “You don’t have to…um…”

  “I hate that you even have to ask me that,” he gritted out, shoving a hand

  through his hair almost distractedly. “I know I don’t do a good job of