Page 144 of Mage Massacres

She sighed heavily, the weight of our immediate future pulling her shoulders down as she whispered, “Yes.”

I was at an impasse. The man in me wanted to ease her worry. The animal in me wanted to rage and riot and kill anything that stressed her out. It was irrational, but you couldn’t explain that to a wolf.

Her emotions tumbled through our bonds, sweeping us away with their force until she rolled her shoulders back. That was a motion I’d seen her do too many times to count, but I suddenly understood its significance.

She had made her mind up, the finality of some split-second decision giving her back the control she needed. Like a switch was flipped, her emotions slowed and her thoughts hardened. There was no room left for doubt or unease.

We all felt the change, though Stone and Palmer didn’t seem surprised by it.

As she glanced around our misshapen circle, the gears in her mind whirled around one complex yet simple thought.

“The Fates foresaw a vendetta getting out of hand, and they were forced to step in. I’ve spent my entire life training, thinking it was to control my abilities. But that was just the excuse they all fed me. Now, I’ve inherited their bullshit, passing it along to you.”

She took a deep breath as she stood, leaning her head back to stare at the stars again.

“If we wouldn’t be caught in the crosshairs; if it wasn’t our friends and your families… I think I’d leave this for my parents to solve on their own. But I can’t do that. Alric has done too much damage to all of us for me to simply let it go.”

Sloane smiled, a gentle and reassuring twist of her red lips that told us we should be ready.

Destruction would come.

Death would follow.

And our mate would sit on a throne—built from the bones of her enemies—as the queen of wrath and justice.

I gazed at her back as she ambled inside, her silver hair shining in the moonlight. She was in possession of some of the most regarded titles in all the realms, but a new one played across my mind as her words finally sunk in.

The CEO of Vengeance had acquired an ancient blood feud.

Epilogue

Alania Summers

Tuesday, June 16th

Morning

I clicked my tongue in disgust the moment Alric came into view.

“Anahein isn’t answering my summons.”

“She’s dead,” my mate responded, venom dripping in his words.

He poured himself a drink from the small bar in my bed chambers as I perched on the edge of my chair, my heart thumping frantically in my chest.

“What do you mean?”

He scoffed, draining the sweet alcohol from his frosted glass. “Darling. Do I need to explain everything to you?”

I didn’t miss the condescension in his tone. “Yes. Yes, you do.”

Alric laughed bitterly, staring at pink liquor as he swirled it around. “She failed. After all the time she had to weave her way in, all the resources, money, magic... She fucking failed. They killed her.”

The blood froze in my veins as my world tilted. “Who are they?”

“Your fake son and the Kings’ heir. Amelia’s child prevails. She’s on her way here, to the winter realm, with Vaughn and the rest of her mates.”

“The gateway is sealed off. They can’t get in.”