Dark Alpha's Fury, page 1
Dark Alpha’s Fury
Reapers
Book 16
Donna Grant®
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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DARK ALPHA’S FURY
© 2023 by DL Grant, LLC
Cover Design © 2023 by Charity Hendry Designs
Formatting © 2023 by Charity Hendry Designs
ISBN 13: 978-1-942017-96-7
Available in ebook, print, and audio.
All rights reserved.
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Excerpt from: SHOULDER THE SKYE
© 2023 by DL Grant, LLC
Cover Design © 2023 by Charity Hendry Designs
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All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce or transmit this book, or a portion thereof, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author. This book may not be resold or uploaded for distribution to others. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Contents
Dearest Reader—
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
Excerpt of the next Dark Universe Book
Don’t miss these other novels
About the Author
Dearest Reader—
Ah, Xaneth. If you’ve been in any of my Facebook Lives, you’ve heard me talk about this character for years. He was one of those secondary characters I never intended to continue making appearances. But there he was, book after book after book.
I can’t tell you how many emails I got about Xaneth. So many readers were anxious for news of him, to learn what he was doing, and when he would get his own book. I like to keep spoilers to myself because I don’t want to ruin the reading experience. However, I didn’t have answers to those emails because as a character, Xaneth wouldn’t talk to me. He kept to himself. But when he appeared in the books, he was all-in.
Still, he remained elusive. I had a difficult time determining who would have the last book of this series, Xaneth or Balladyn. For a long time, I was sure it was going to be Balladyn, but at the last minute, I knew it had to be Xaneth. And, boy, he and Aisling didn’t let me down.
From the moment I put the first Reaper to paper (Baylon in Dark Alpha’s Claim), I was utterly smitten with them and Death. I wanted to delve more into the Fae after touching on them in the Dark Sword/Dark Warrior series and the Dark Kings. The Reapers gave me that option and then opened an entirely new world to play in.
For those who are lamenting that this is the last Reaper book, let me assure you that while the series is ending, it won’t be the last you’ll see of any of them. The worlds are interconnected in my Dark Universe, and I never know what characters will show up or where they’ll take me.
It’s been an absolute pleasure writing the Reapers, their mates, and even the villains. I loved learning about each of the Reapers—their struggles and victories. I adored discovering their love stories and seeing everything they had to go through to find love. And now, I leave you with one of the greatest love stories of them all…Xaneth and Aisling.
xoxox,
DG
Chapter One
He woke with his arms clutching her. Except, she wasn’t there. She was never there. His hands felt empty, as if a piece of him were missing—had always been missing.
Until her.
Xaneth rolled onto his back and fisted his hands, jagged rock digging into him. He still felt Aisling against him, still smelled her jasmine scent. He opened his eyes and stared at the gray sky. Smaller, wispy clouds drifted leisurely against the backdrop of larger, darker clouds. At least his headache was gone.
They used to plague him often after he snuffed out evil, but they had ceased—at least, he’d thought they had. After the battle on the Isle of Skye, they had returned with a vengeance. How he despised them. They caused him to pass out, which left him vulnerable. Like last night—or however long it had been since he’d fallen unconscious.
He took a deep breath and slowly released it. Nothing had been the same since Skye. He’d had a chance to end the Fae Others’ leader but had opted to save Aisling instead of going after Lena.
Xaneth sat and bent his knees to plant his feet on the ground. He wound his arms around his legs and looked at his hands. He’d never felt so helpless, so powerless as he had when holding Aisling’s dead body. He should’ve known that he couldn’t do anything to help her. The rage and despair that had welled within him when he realized she had breathed her last had been more than he could handle. He’d been ready to destroy everything.
For her.
Then, inexplicably, she’d taken a breath. He’d been so dumbfounded that he could do nothing but stare at her. He had almost gone back to her. Held her. Touched her. Then he remembered who he was…what he was. And he knew he had to leave. His mission was to eradicate evil. Nothing more. Nothing less.
So, he’d teleported away before he did something foolish. At least Aisling was alive. That gave him a measure of comfort. Though he wasn’t sure he deserved it.
He fisted his hands once more and hung his head. Skye had been a disaster for him. He could’ve—and should’ve—ended Lena once and for all. The havoc the Fae had caused was unconscionable. How many more times would he have the opportunity to reset the balance between good and evil? How could he continue walking this realm, knowing he had let his personal feelings get in the way of what he was meant to do?
Xaneth got to his feet and looked at his surroundings. Wind buffeted him on all sides, the air heavy with the scents of salt, driftwood, and seaweed. Water met the horizon in every direction he looked. Beneath his feet, the rocky ground had patches of snow that clung to the last vestiges of winter. He scanned the desolate area, looking for any signs of life. Other than sea lions and birds, he saw nothing.
Where was he? He glanced at the semi-sheltered area of rocks against the rising hill where he had been lying. At least he hadn’t been left completely exposed—not that the boulders hid him, but they were better than nothing.
Xaneth leaned his head to one side and then the other, hearing the pops as he stretched his neck. Then he looked up at the tall mound and its steep incline. It wasn’t large enough to be a mountain, but it was by no means puny. He could teleport to the peak, but he needed movement after being unconscious. So, he began the arduous trek upward.
By the time he reached the top, his breaths came rapidly. The isle was small, maybe only a quarter mile in any direction. And uninhabited. Perhaps that was why he had chosen it, though he had no memories of it. Other islands were near, and he could even see movement on some. Was he still in Scotland? Xaneth tried to pull up his memories of what’d happened after he left Aisling on Skye, but everything was blank.
How many days had passed? Or was it weeks? How he hated the lost time with no way to account for it.
His thoughts drifted back to Aisling. The moment he’d gone to Skye to join the Reapers and Druids in fighting the Fae Others, he had sought her out—even when he knew he shouldn’t have. They had stood shoulder to shoulder in battle. Not because she couldn’t take care of herself, but because he hadn’t been able to stay away.
She had followed him for weeks, and he’d demanded that she leave him be. She had finally given up and returned to the Reapers as he wanted. He should’ve been overjoyed. Except, he had been anything but. He should’ve kept his distance from her. But that was like asking the moon not to shine.
Xaneth thought of that battle and how he had known that Aisling had his back. That he could count on her. Just as she had known that she could count on him. They had been in sync on a level he hadn’t comprehended even existed. He had enjoyed fighting alongside her, as odd and ghastly as it was to admit.
Since he had awoken from his torture at the hands of his aunt, Xaneth had been utterly and completely alone. At first, he’d wanted to change that, but it didn’t take him long to realize that he was something different. Something to be feared. That was when he knew he had to stand apart from everyone else for however long he had left.
Even the beautiful Aisling.
Especially her.
Because he craved to be near her.
He fought it every second of every hour. His mistake had been going to her before the battle. Worse, he d lifted her into his arms when he found her wounded. He swallowed at the memory of holding her. The feeling of her body had been imprinted on his soul, just as her exquisite face. He would never be able to forget her, no matter how hard he tried.
Xaneth glanced down at his damp clothes covered in dirt and blood. Aisling’s blood. With a thought, he teleported to one of his safe houses that he’d once used when hiding from his aunt, Usaeil. At one time, he’d believed that was the darkest time of his life. She had been intent on erasing everyone in their family. He had been the last, and he had made it his mission to keep out of her reach until he could end her life.
He’d been damn successful at keeping away from her, too. He’d become known as the Seeker, a Fae who did business with both the Dark and the Light—something that just wasn’t done. Yet he’d found a place for himself in that in-between world. He’d even become…if not friends, then friendly with the King of the Dark, Balladyn. They’d agreed to help each other kill Usaeil since she had betrayed them both. Instead, Usaeil had captured Xaneth and murdered Balladyn. At least Balladyn had gotten a second chance when Death made him a Reaper.
Xaneth hadn’t had that option. Usaeil had trapped him in his own mind, endlessly torturing him. He had finally gotten free, but it had been an accident. He’d been trying to end his life to stop the horrible cycle of torment and somehow freed himself. When he went looking for Usaeil to exact his revenge, he’d learned that his cousin—Usaeil’s own daughter—Rhi had risen against her with the Dragon Kings. Though the Light and Dark army had eventually killed Usaeil. Xaneth would’ve loved to have been the one to take her life, but it was enough that she no longer lived.
As for him, he knew his time on Earth was measured, and there was nowhere else for him to go. Whether Usaeil had changed him or he’d done it himself when he got free of her torture, he was different. Now, he smelled the unmistakable, vile stench of malevolence. And once he did, he was compelled to hunt it down and end it.
The Fae Others reeked of such vast amounts of evil that it made him gag. The Six—three Dark and three Light Fae—had created the group modeled after the original Others who had attempted to take down the Dragon Kings. Though the Kings had won and stamped out the Others—or so everyone thought. One Fae, Brian, had hidden, while two Druids were allowed to go free because no one believed they could do any harm.
Unfortunately, everyone had been wrong. Brian told certain Fae about the Others, which then led to the Fae Others’ creation. Meanwhile, the Druids did the same. As concerning as the Fae Others were, Xaneth knew the one he needed to take out was Lena. She had learned to consume other Fae’s magic, making her stronger and more powerful. She didn’t need the other five with her to make her power move, so she had killed them and consumed their power, as well.
From the moment Xaneth had laid eyes on Lena, he’d known she was the reason he was still alive. She was his objective. Already, she had killed tens of thousands of Fae to obtain their power, and then she brainwashed thousands more to join her faction. With the might she now harnessed, she could enslave everyone to her will if someone didn’t stop her.
Lena should never have been allowed to get where she was. No individual, be they human, Fae, dragon, or something else, should ever have that kind of power. It disrupted the balance of the universe in ways that rippled outward for generations.
Xaneth briefly thought about going to Death. He knew Erith wished to speak with him. Did she know something he didn’t? He shook his head. That didn’t matter. Death and her Reapers were particularly formidable. The problem was, they were on the defensive and had been from the start. Death was the Fae’s judge and jury, and her Reapers were her executioners, reaping their souls. For the most part, Erith kept an eye on the Fae but stayed out of day-to-day issues. Until it was too late—as was the case this time. They’d had the clout to take down Lena when she was still part of the Six before she took her companions’ magic and killed them. Doing that had put Lena on par with Erith. Though Erith wouldn’t battle her alone. Cael, her lover, was more god than Fae now.
There was a chance Erith and Cael together could defeat Lena.
There was also a real chance they would lose.
Both Erith and Cael were important. Their lives had meaning. Xaneth’s didn’t. He’d spent most of his life hiding from his aunt instead of confronting her. He was still hiding, though for a different reason. If anyone had to sacrifice themselves, it should be him. He had no one. No family, no friends.
An image of Aisling filled his mind. He shut his eyes and shoved her away.
When he opened them again, he blinked and looked around the cottage hidden deep in the forest. His magic made it appear as if it were in ruins, and if anyone stumbled upon it, they would fear it, the feelings convincing them to run away. The cottage might be small, but everything inside was pristine. He had spent a lot of time here. It was his favorite of his safe houses.
Xaneth snapped his fingers, and his filthy clothes and shoes vanished. He walked naked into the bathroom. He didn’t look in the mirror for fear of what he might see. Had his coloring changed? Were his eyes now red since he had taken lives? It was better if he didn’t know.
He could use magic to clean himself, but he preferred the shower. He turned on the water and stepped beneath the spray. After scrubbing away the dirt and blood, he washed a second time before getting out and drying off, careful to keep his gaze away from any reflective surfaces. Then he went to the wardrobe. Inside was an assortment of clothing, from rags to royal attire. He grabbed a pair of dark jeans and a charcoal gray, long-sleeve Henley.
Once his boots were on, he ran his hands through his damp hair and felt how long it had gotten. He ran his hands through it again, using his magic to cut it short. As he turned away, his gaze landed on the bed. He paused and, for just a moment, let himself imagine what it would be like to see Aisling waiting there for him.
He could picture her on her side, watching him with her dark, crimson eyes as she held herself up on a forearm, her long, black and silver braids falling to the side. She would run one of her long, blood red nails along her bare thigh and over her hip as she smiled seductively.
Xaneth took a step toward the bed but promptly halted. He shook his head to dislodge the fantasy. It had been a mistake to allow his mind to drift so. It was a slip he couldn’t make again. He squared his shoulders and turned from the bed and thoughts of what might have been. Then he took a deep breath and searched for the stink of the Fae Others.
Chapter Two
Dreagan Manor
Aisling’s eyes snapped open on the scream that reverberated in the room. She sat up, gulping in huge mouthfuls of air before swiping at the tears that had fallen. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and dropped her head into her hands. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She listened for footsteps in the corridor, hoping and praying that no one came to check on her.
As each second passed without the sound of anyone approaching or a knock on the door, she let the tension ease from her body. It didn’t matter how long she lived, how hard she worked to let go of the past, it would always have a hold over her. That was just the way it was for those who became Reapers. Being betrayed and murdered tended to do that.
Aisling stood and padded barefoot across the plush rug to the mirror. She stared at her reflection, not liking what she saw staring back at her. She was confused and scared, two things she’d sworn never to feel again. Yet here she was. Right back in the same situation that had caused her betrayal in the first place.
