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Kalen Wraith
The portal closes, and I sigh in relief when I see Aleera is no longer behind me. Tobias groans on the floor behind me while Darius watches me with a predatory glint in his eyes. I move around the desk, trying to keep my distance from him. If he grabs me before I can touch his aura, I’m fucked. This side of Darius only recognizes power. Darius is starving for it and will kill for it if I can’t change his aura to recognize me.
This is not Darius, and I had not seen him like this in years. He always made sure to keep this side of him contained. Nothing is more dangerous than the Demonic King. Just like when he killed his father, his father was a power-hungry monster, just like him. Once his mate died, his father would take power however he could.
But Demonic Fae could kill and absorb the power, yet that required someone to die. He reminded me of his father when he was like this, a cruel monster. Just like Tobias was a monster when frenzied, so was Darius without power. Without power, Darius has no control over his incubus. None, it’s why we always make sure he has power; Darius knows better than to let his reserves extinguish. It is why Darius ultimately killed his father.
His father wanted us to claim Aleera so that she could share power. I knew he wanted to use her so he could retain power also, and we had gotten into an argument over it. Xandrious lost it. He hadn’t had power in weeks after Darius learned how he was maintaining power by killing and taking it. Darius confronted him before locking him up. Only he got out of his prison cell.
When he escaped, I got into an argument with him over Aleera. Lycus jumped in to stop Darius’ father from raping me. Xandrious knew how we maintained power, and figured if we wouldn’t share Aleera with him, then we were fair game. Lycus was nearly dead by the time Tobias and Darius got here. I have no memory of it after being knocked out when I called on them. Lycus refused to tell me what happened, and so did the others. All I know is that I woke up to Xandrious dead, and Darius had absorbed his father’s energy and soul. So seeing Darius like this petrified me.
We were all worried about this, but figured he would have enough sense to come to one of us and not let it get this far.
Darius’ aura is so black it is like looking into oblivion. It stings as feel for his bond, temporarily blinding me as I look through the aura resonating around him, consuming me as I seek out his bond.
Darius lunges over the table at me. His sharp-pointed nails reach for my neck when he is tossed sideways. Darius smashes into the wall on his side as red light blasts past me. I glance at Tobias to see him sitting up. His hand is outstretched, blood running down the side of his head from his temple and drenching his shirt.
Darius groans and his skin turns scaled as he growls before rushing at me. I see Tobias' hand flick toward him, but I step in his way, making him drop his magic, and I grip Darius' head in my hands as his sharp needlepoint nails dig into my shoulders. I stun Darius, numb and mute his aura and him.
“Leave us!” I yell at Tobias.
“Like fuck I will when he is like that!” Tobias says, spitting blood on the floor. Darius, who is stunned by my magic, stares at me as the tendrils of darkness seep into me, telling me to give in to the darkness and follow it. Focusing, I manipulate his aura, trying to take some of the darkness out of it, but it is so cold, making me breathe smoke clouds in the air.
“Kalen?” Tobias says uncertainly, coming up behind me. I feel his hand touch my lower back, and his worry bleeds into me as the darkness tainting Darius washes into me from his aura.
“I’m fine,” I gasp as Darius’ grip tightens, his nails breaking my skin through my shirt.
“Twist it,” Tobias growls behind me.
“What?”
“Change the direction of it. Stop trying to take it. I will do it,” Tobias says, trying to nudge me out of the way.
“Tobias, he will hurt you.”
“I don't care. I won't have him hurt you. Not like last time.”
“I was fine,” I retort.
“Bullshit, I know he hurt you, you can’t lie to me.” Tobias snarls. Although he has a point. Last time, I couldn't sit properly for a week, and I was so power drained that I burned out, which knocked me out for two days straight.
“He doesn't want to hurt me,” I tell Tobias, feeling some part of Darius stuck behind his baser instincts.
“But he does, doesn't he,” Tobias says.
“Tobias, get out!” I tell him.
“Kalen! No!” Tobias snarls at me.
“Get out or fucking watch! I'll power him, but I am not letting him hurt you,” I tell Tobias. I was useless at everything else. One thing I can contribute to our bonds is helping them stay in control or deal with Darius when he is like this. But I know I had to change his anger to something else, and warm and fuzzy wasn’t Darius.
The only thing stronger than his fury was his lust. I didn't mind, and I know he doesn't mean to hurt me. He would drain me of power, but I am used to not having magic. Darius used it as punishment over the years; so I am capable of living without it.
“Fuck! Then let me knock him out,” Tobias curses, realizing I wasn't letting him swap places with me.
“And when he wakes up, he will be ten times worse! You know this!” I growl at my mate.
Tobias is more potent than me, but that would make Darius rougher with him. I know Darius fights it with me, but he won't with Tobias. And then once Tobias is drained of power, we would be dealing with a frenzied Vampiric-Fae. Going from one monster to another. Tobias wanders off as I feel through the bond for Darius’ bond, tugging on it and luring it out.
