Tasting Darkness

Chapter 25

Lycus POV

I truly believed Darius would have had to knock her out before she handed my magic back to me. Aleera

gripped the front of m y shirt as I leaned over Kalen, trying to make him come back to the room with us.

Tobias could usually compel him to follow before we would douse him in our magic to cleanse the

darkness away, and he would finally release it to us. The medication helped him, but something had set

him off. I hadn’t seen him like this since his last suicide attempt.

Darius caught her movement and gripped her throat. We all thought she would attack. Why wouldn’t

she? This was her chance to escape us again. The furious look on Darius’s face as his hand wrapped

around her throat told me if she did anything, he wouldn’t hesitate to snap her neck.

That would kill Kalen, but I knew Darius wouldn’t allow harm t o come to us, especially when we weren’t

sure exactly what she was capable of. Aleera froze, and my eyes were locked onto her sapphire ones.

Her hand trembled as she reached for my face; her fingers barely touched me but it was enough. She

was our keeper, keeper of our souls and magic, so that small touch was enough to send my magic

hurtling back into me with an alarming speed that stole the breath from my lungs and sent m e backward.

Although when she returned it to me, I felt it was different.

f

Something about it felt different, but that was soon forgotten when she smacked her lips against Kalen’s.

A growl tore out of me when I saw her steal his magic. How could she take advantage of him while he

was in this state? –

Within seconds, Darius tossed her and I moved forward, smacking into Kalen, who gasped. His eyes

flew open, stunned before they flashed brighter, recognition returning, and the buzz of energy rippled

across his skin and zapped me. She didn’t take it. She didn’t take his magic. Tobias also, realizing that

gripped my shoulder as he stood up. Darius stalked towards Aleera, who was choking, choking on the

darkness she had just taken from him.

Horror washed through the bond because she had no power to cleanse it from herself. It usually took all

three of us to contain the shadows that tainted Kalen, yet even we struggled because it always came

back no matter what..

She crawled to her hands and knees, clutching her throat with one hand as she wheezed. An agonized

scream tore out her, and her eyes burned brightly before the color left and they turned white.

“Wait, he still has his magic. She didn’t take it, Darius,” I screamed as Darius grabbed her hair. Her eyes

fluttered, and her face fell slack just as Darius looked over at us. I didn’t see

Tobias move when Darius was shoved by his magic, forcing him to let her go. Darius smashed against

the window before the floor shook as he crashed back to the ground.

Tobias rushed toward her and dropped to his knees at her side, gripping her face. Kalen wailed as he

scrambled across the floor to her. He snatched her away from Tobias.

“Don’t touch her,” Kalen snarled. His entire body rippled as his aura tried to smother Tobias’s, but he was

no match for the vampiric-fae king. Tobias ignored him. His fingers pried her eyelids open, and all I saw

was white as I walked over and kneeled beside her. Darius groaned as he got to his feet and shook off

the blast of Tobias’s magic. No doubt Tobias would later pay for attacking him.

“Help her, fucking help her,” Kalen wailed as he tried to force her to take his magic to cleanse the

shadows that writhed beneath her skin. The black veins wiggled under her pale skin a s the life drained

from her when Tobias leaned down.

“Tobias, no,” Darius snarled as he rushed to get to his feet just as Tobias sunk his teeth into her neck

below her ear. Darius realizing he wasn’t marking her, let out a breath, and Aleera’s body jerked as he

clutched her, feeding off her and trying to pull the darkness out of her blood.

The dark veins below her skin’s surface moved toward his bite mark when he jerked away, unable to

absorb any more, and he began to choke, dropping her into Kalen’s lap. Still, Aleera didn’t wake.

“Darius, please,” Kalen begged, and I looked at Darius, who stared at her unmoving.

“Darius!” I snapped when he didn’t move to help her. I knew h e struggled the most with her. Just as

much as Tobias did, I truly believed he would never forgive her. But right now, she was dying; he couldn’t

let her die for helping our mate.

I understood his hatred toward her, I did. But she was our keeper and even though I hadn’t forgiven her

for what she did, I didn’t feel it was worthy of death. Darius killed his father for her and for us. Doing that

turned him cold. He wasn’t always so bloodthirsty and emotionless. Darius would never admit it but I

knew he loved her just as much as he hated her; he just liked to blame the bond. Honestly, we all did.

None of u s could deny the pull we had to her. He blamed her because he wouldn’t have had to kill his

father if she didn’t run. His father would still be here with him.

Tobias grips Darius’s pant leg, and Darius looks down before growling. Darius was a demon, the

shadows affected him, but h e could contain them. They just made him murderous when he took them,

volatile and his magic would become numb.

“Please,” I gasped as Kalen wailed, rocking back and forth with her clutched in his arms. We only had

seconds left before she would be lost to us. Darius’s eyes softened as he watched Kalen. He knelt

beside her, gently taking her from Kalen. He brushed her hair back from her face. Being part incubus,

Darius could give and take magic from all of us, but it required emotion.

Darius had been forced to become our keeper, and it was lucky he was an elemental, or we all would

have perished when she left us. Though its consequences cost all of us everything, not that Kalen and I

actually had anything before our mates. Tobias and Darius, it cost them the most since they were both

straight before she left us. Tobias was also vampiric-King. His entire family shunned him except his twin

brother so he gave u p his title for us, gave up his family and stuck by us.

His lips covered hers, his thumb on her chin holding her mouth open, but I wasn’t sure how it would work

when she was pretty much dead in his arms, no emotion for him to feed off to take it. A tear slipped down

his cheek, this man never cried, or if he did, it was never in front of us, and that was when I realized he

wasn’t taking the darkness. He was washing his magic through her and devouring his own power again,

removing the taint which would indeed have some consequences.

The color returns to her, and her eyes turn blue again. Darius stumbles back on his hands, gasping

before he wipes his hand across his mouth and glares at her, but I saw the flicker of relief cross his

features and zap through our bond before he masked it when her eyes fluttered and she sucked in a

sharp breath.

“Aleera,” Kalen choked, crushing her against him. Her body was all floppy in his arms, and she would

probably remain like that for a few hours. We were usually comatose whenever we cleansed Kalen.

Although glancing at Darius and Tobias, they appeared alright, even after taking it from her. Yet Aleera

showed no visible signs that she was still holding onto the shadows.

Tobias was breathless but still conscious, Darius however, taken the most, was rippling with anger that

usually came from taking the darkness. He rose to his feet before storming off, and I knew it was to stop

from hurting us or hurting her in front of Kalen.

“I will check on him. Are you right to get them back?” Tobias asked me, sounding as breathless as he

looked, and I nodded. Kalen was peppering her face with kisses while Aleera stared vacantly at the

pointed ceiling.