Dark Alpha's Fury, page 16
Xaneth met each Reaper’s gaze. He had pushed them away, along with the aid they’d offered. He wasn’t sure why, other than he had feared the violence within him. And believed he needed to be alone.
Because of the brutality and savagery that consumed him. The thing keeping him going instead of dwelling on his imprisonment and the suffering he’d endured at his aunt’s hands. Even now, it felt like there was a wall—a thin one, but a boundary, nonetheless—keeping all of that away so he could focus on his task.
He wasn’t sure how long it would hold if he survived the battle with Lena. If he was even awake at all right now. That could be the real torment. It would be too easy to fall into that once more. On the off chance this was real, he had to focus. At least he wasn’t running for his life from some beast intent on killing him. At least he could rest.
At least there was Aisling.
Xaneth heard her speaking and pulled himself from his thoughts once more.
“…Dark got away. She recognized me.” Aisling motioned between them. “Xaneth and I knew she would be back with others.”
Eoghan’s lips flattened as he replied in a tone laced with anger, “Because of the bounty Lena placed on our heads.”
“Yours more than the rest of ours,” Bradach pointed out.
Aisling nodded in agreement. “I think we can use that. I think Lena targeted me because she knows if she can get her hands on me, it’ll bring Xaneth.”
“How does she know about the two of you?” Cathal asked.
Cael shrugged as he crossed his arms over his chest. “It could be because Xaneth took Aisling off the battlefield. It could be something else. That doesn’t matter now.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Aisling said. “What matters is that she wants to use me.”
Torin’s brow furrowed deeply. “You’re going to her willingly?”
“I am. Think about it. I let her capture me, then Erith can find me and bring the rest of you. All the while, Lena will think only Xaneth will come.”
“That’s a lot of ifs in there,” Balladyn pointed out.
Too many for Xaneth’s comfort. Yet he couldn’t find a good reason to convince Aisling that it wasn’t a decent plan. And he’d been trying since she’d brought it up.
Chevonne blew out a breath. “I don’t know, Aisling. I know my aunt. She’ll have thought of everything. There’s a chance she’ll kill you as soon as she has you.”
“Ah, Lena will,” Breda replied. “If for nothing else but your magic.”
Chevonne continued. “You probably won’t even see it coming. There won’t be time for you to do anything. You saw how quickly she killed my family. Even the rest of the Six.”
“In a fekking blink,” Rordan grumbled.
Aisling sighed loudly. “It’s a chance, I know. I’ve thought about all of this. I’m willing to take the risk to give us a possible advantage. One, I might add, we need.”
“Xaneth?”
He looked at Erith, who hadn’t said anything until now, and met her lavender eyes. He knew what her question was, but he still wanted her to say it. “Aye?”
“What do you think of Aisling’s suggestion?”
Xaneth felt Aisling’s eyes on him. He didn’t look her way. He couldn’t. If he had his way, Aisling would be locked somewhere Lena could never get to her. Xaneth knew that wouldn’t happen, but for Aisling to use herself as bait? He could barely breathe thinking about it. With every fiber of his being, he wanted to say that he hated the idea. Instead, he said, “I can see why it might work.”
It wasn’t an agreement. But it wasn’t a rejection either.
Still, it wasn’t what Aisling wanted to hear. He felt her disappointment like a punch to the gut.
“Don’t do it,” Chevonne told Aisling. “Lena has shown us who she is. We have to attack as one unit or not at all. If we aren’t together, she’ll pick us off one by one. The Reapers, along with Erith and Cael, are strong enough to stop her. Then there’s Xaneth. She’s terrified of him. We need to use all of that.”
Xaneth glanced away and found himself meeting Balladyn’s gaze. There had been a time they had struck up a friendship of sorts. In Balladyn’s red eyes, Xaneth saw sympathy and understanding. Xaneth had attempted to hide his turmoil about Aisling’s proposition, but apparently, he hadn’t done it well enough if Balladyn had seen through his words. And if the Fae had seen it, then so had Aisling.
The peace Xaneth had found on Dreagan was rapidly slipping away. The tighter he held onto it, the faster it fled. Just as the firmer he held onto Aisling, the quicker he lost her.
Xaneth ran a hand down his face and closed his eyes, his gut knotted in turmoil over what his heart wanted and what he knew was a sound idea. He needed to be honest with Aisling. About the promise he’d made her, about his thoughts on her plan—about how he felt about her. Other than clearing his conscience, what would the words do?
Ever since he’d found out about the Fae Others and Lena, he’d solely focused on taking them down. He’d known with absolute certainty that he could defeat Lena. He still felt that. After her, though? After the Fae Others were disbanded? That same conviction told him that he would die. He didn’t know by whose hand, but it didn’t matter. He knew he didn’t have long to live. So, why should he get his heart involved? Except he already had.
The Reapers needed Aisling as much as she needed them. She couldn’t die, and if she used herself as bait for Lena, that was exactly what would happen.
Something touched his arm. He looked down to see Erith. When he blinked, the others had moved farther away, leaving the two of them alone.
“I told them I needed a moment,” she said.
Xaneth turned to face her. “With me?”
“You don’t want Aisling to do this.”
It wasn’t a question. “There’s a chance she could be killed.”
“It’s her right to choose this.”
“And it’s your right to refuse her.”
“Are you asking me to tell her no?”
Xaneth struggled to find some kind of equilibrium in a world that was quickly spinning out of control. Instead of answering, he asked, “Do you like her suggestion?”
“I think she sees a good opportunity. And, no,” Erith said firmly. “I don’t want to lose her. I don’t want any of my Reapers to die, but it’s a chance each of us takes every time we go into battle. But that’s who we are, Xaneth. It’s what we do.”
He knew what it felt like to lose Aisling. She had died in his arms on Skye. He couldn’t go through that again. Not when he knew what it felt like to hold her against him. Not now that he had fallen in love with her.
“She got you here. She’s the one who helped you stabilize whatever was going on after you woke. Aisling is stronger than even she realizes. Don’t underestimate her. She’s a fighter, and she always finds a way. You know that best of all.”
It was all true, but did he have the strength to let her carry out the plan? Could he willingly put her in Lena’s hands, knowing the Dark could kill Aisling? Of course, he couldn’t. But if the situations were reversed, he’d be damned if he let anyone prohibit him. What right did he have to stop her?
“I don’t know if I can let her go,” he whispered.
Erith smiled sadly up at him. “Think about how she feels about you wanting to meet Lena on your own.”
“It’s what I’m meant to do.”
“And who’s to say this isn’t what Aisling is meant to do?”
Xaneth shook his head. “She’s destined for something more. She can’t die with Lena.”
“Then we make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He dragged in a ragged breath. “If I lose her, I can’t guarantee what will happen to me. What I’ll become.”
Erith placed a hand on his arm and nodded. “Let’s focus on Lena for now.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Aisling tried not to stare at Xaneth and Erith, but it was impossible. She didn’t know why Death wanted a private word with him. Normally, Aisling didn’t give much thought to what Erith did, but now, she wished she stood right there with them to hear every word.
“You did what none of us could,” Eoghan said.
She turned her head to him, not realizing he had come up beside her. She blinked, registering his words. “You mean by becoming such a pest that Xaneth had to talk to me?”
“You make light of it, but that had something to do with it. You’re also leaving out the most important part.”
“What’s that?”
“If he hadn’t wanted to talk to you, he wouldn’t have. That same gut reaction you had to go searching for him is the one that let you know he needed you.”
Aisling snorted. “Xaneth doesn’t need anyone.”
“I disagree. The last time we saw him, he was wild. Angry. Brutish, even. Look at him now.”
Her gaze swung back to Xaneth. All she saw was a formidable Fae who had suffered unimaginable pain and then broke through it to become something else. Something stronger. Something even more formidable than who he already was—and that excited her.
Aisling drew in a deep breath. “He thinks himself a monster.”
“Monster? Nay. Though I would say that you helped tame him.”
She chuckled at the thought of taming Xaneth. “No one can subdue him. Besides, he’s far from that. All I did was tell him to accept himself. He did the hard work.”
“But you were there when he needed to hear that.”
Aisling glanced at the ground before looking at Eoghan. “Perhaps. Or maybe he would’ve done it on his own eventually. He’s the one who broke free of Usaeil’s torture. He didn’t need anyone for that.”
“Aye.” Eoghan was silent for a moment. “I believe Xaneth could take on Lena by himself—and win. But she’ll have others with her. It’s better if we’re in this together.”
Ah. So that was what Eoghan wanted to discuss. Aisling shouldn’t have been surprised. “You don’t like my idea to use me as bait?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it.”
One side of his mouth lifted in a grin. “I think Xaneth is worried about Lena hurting you. Again. Don’t forget he’s the one who took you off that field. He’s the one who held you as…”
“I died,” she whispered. She kept forgetting that. All she’d thought about today was coming back and finding herself alone.
“It’s obvious something has developed between the two of you. I think it’s always been there. However, that also puts you both in precarious situations.”
Aisling kicked at a small rock near her foot. “Meaning he doesn’t want to see me hurt. Nor I him.”
“Meaning, all he’s thinking about is holding your lifeless body in his arms. My guess is it keeps running through his head, which would explain his hesitation to your idea.”
“I made him promise not to choose me over Lena again.”
A deep frown lined Eoghan’s face. “Will you do the same?”
“Of course.” When he studied her solemnly, she said, “At least, I plan to try.”
“We all have parts to play in the road of life. Sometimes, those parts are easy. Other times they’re demanding. Occasionally, they’re uncomplicated, but generally they’re complex, tricky avenues crammed with thorns and more obstacles and hurdles than we know how to navigate. There are periods we don’t think we can go on, and moments we can’t imagine how we got through it. Both you and Xaneth are survivors. You’re fighters. He won’t stop you, just as you won’t prevent him from doing whatever he has to do in order to put an end to Lena. Because both of you know that is the necessary outcome.”
His words touched her deeply. Eoghan put it into a perspective she hadn’t thought about before, proving once again why he was such a great leader. “Would you let Thea be the bait?”
Eoghan paused as he considered her words. “I’d caution her on all the reasons—and there would be many—why putting herself in danger terrified me. Then I would show her all the ways she could protect herself until I could get to her.” His smile was tender with understanding. “When you love someone, it’s easy to hold tight and think you’re protecting them. But if you love them, then you have to let go.”
“I’m not holding tight.”
“Are you not?”
Aisling’s gaze was drawn back to Xaneth to find his eyes on her. She thought about how she had tracked him from one place to the next, how she had prodded him to speak about his past. She had interjected herself into his life, and now she was thinking about a possible future. With him. Which meant she sought anything and everything to keep him from facing Lena alone.
Yes, she was holding on tight. Clutching him as if he were the only way she could face the next decade, the next year…the next day. As she stared at Xaneth, she saw him for who he was: a warrior. A fighter for the vulnerable and helpless. Someone who saw his role and accepted it, no matter what the ending might be. He was, to put it simply, a hero. The kind of Fae she had always secretly searched for but never thought existed. And yet, here he was. Standing before her.
“Thank you,” she told Eoghan. She looked at him and smiled through the threatening tears.
He nodded. “Anytime. That’s what family is for.”
The Reapers were her family. Not the ones who had disowned her for turning Dark. Not the supposed friend who had killed her daughter and then her. The hodge-podge group around her now, who came from different walks of life and had found a unit of love and acceptance among themselves. They weren’t blood, but they were more of a family than Aisling had ever had. They were the ones who accepted her for everything she was, who were there for her to lean on, but also gave her the freedom to be the Reaper she needed to be.
It was only right that she do the same for Xaneth. Because he was also family.
A few moments later, Xaneth and Erith walked over. Xaneth came to stand beside her and brushed his hand against hers. Aisling linked her pinkie with his. His gaze was warm when it met hers. The pit that had opened in her stomach slowly began to recede. She might have to call on Eoghan’s words later, but for now, she had found solid footing again.
Erith caught her attention. “Aisling, are you sure you want to do this?”
“Nay,” she admitted. “But I think it’s the only way.”
Cael asked, “What if Erith can’t find you?”
“I will,” Xaneth declared.
Aisling’s knees went weak at his statement. She knew without a doubt that he would come for her.
He looked at her and nodded once. “I will.”
“I know.” The words came out as a whisper. The vow she saw in his eyes and heard in his words made her lightheaded.
No one had ever looked at her that way before.
Erith nodded. “Then it’s settled.”
“Let’s move onto Xaneth’s plan,” Cael said. “I’ve looked at it from all angles. It’s sound. It’s our best option.”
Balladyn added, “But we should be prepared to change tactics.”
“Absolutely. Lena is the coldest bitch there is. She’ll come after us in ways we’ll never expect,” Ruarc replied.
Xaneth was the one who broke eye contact first as he looked at the others. Aisling dragged air into her starved lungs and listened as they went through each detail of the plan. The second group of Reapers would come in from another angle after the battle had been raging for a short time. This would be the final battle between them and Lena. Someone would come out on top.
Halfway through talking everything out, two dragons, one silver and the other red, flew their way. Aisling tugged on Xaneth’s finger to alert him. His eyes lit up when he saw the two enormous dragons headed toward them.
Ulrik, the King of Silvers, and Guy, the King of Reds, tucked their wings and dove from the sky. They shifted before hitting the ground, each landing on one knee with their hands on the earth, fully clothed. The two got to their feet and greeted Erith and Cael first. The smiles shared were genuine.
Guy’s pale brown eyes ringed with black turned to her and Xaneth. He walked to them and smiled in greeting. Wind swept through his shoulder-length, honey brown hair. “Welcome to Dreagan,” he said to Xaneth in a thick Scottish brogue.
“It’s stunning,” Xaneth replied.
Ulrik walked over. His gold eyes crinkled at the corners from his smile as he nodded to Aisling and then faced Xaneth. “Rhi and Con will be sorry they missed you. You’ll have to return when they get back from Zora.”
“I’d like that.”
“So,” Ulrik said as he faced the group, “we didna get Lena on Skye. I take it with all of you gathered now that you’re planning another attack?”
Eoghan nodded once. “We are.”
“Then we’ll prepare,” Guy answered.
Erith held up a hand. “We’re not asking that of you.”
Ulrik and Guy shared a look before Ulrik addressed her. “We’ve been friends for a long time. The Reapers have been there for us when we needed it. We’ve returned the favor. That doesna end now. Lena is a threat no’ just to the Fae but also to the humans and us.”
“We want in on this,” Guy added.
Ulrik nodded in agreement. “I’m no’ alone in this. Every King wants to join you. However, since half of us are on Zora with Con, you’ll have to deal with those who are here.”
“You mean the best of the Kings?” Guy said with a wink.
Ulrik chuckled. “Exactly.”
Aisling watched unease fall over Xaneth’s face. He didn’t say anything, but she knew he was thinking of the additional people in danger. She leaned close and said, “Regardless of who fights, everyone is in jeopardy.”
“I know. I don’t have to be happy about it. This isn’t the Kings’ fight.”
Ulrik looked at him and said, “The Dragon Kings protect this realm. Always have. Always will. The Fae Others might no’ be after us yet, but we all know they’re coming. We wiped out the original Others. We’ll be there to lend aid against Lena.”
“Then I suppose we’d best fill you in on what we have so far,” Erith said.
