Tasting Darkness

I have officially concluded that I am not father material. Aleera has been asleep for two days and is showing no signs of waking anytime soon. Her phoenixes were driving everyone insane. Chirping little f*ckers were always hungry, and we had to syringe-feed the balls of fleshy mush.

Once again, I awoke in the middle of the night, or was it day? It has been two days, and I was losing track of time already. F*ck doing that for months on end, years even. At least Ryze knew not to shit on the damn floor or your shoulder when holding him.

These bastards had no manners. And were devouring more worms than we could dig up. We had resorted to hand-feeding them mushed-up Weetbix with a syringe.

“I need sleep,” Lycus growls, rolling into me. Placing his hand on my chest, he sleepily blinks down at me, a smirk on his l!ps.

“I will suck and f*ck the life out of you if you do this feed for me.” I shake my head. It was his turn.

“Please? I need my beauty sleep. You could go without sleep for a year and still be pretty,” Lycus says between yawning. He drops his head on my chest, and I hear Darius chuckle as Lycus tries to bribe me.

“Please? I won’t even complain while doing it,” he purrs. I roll my eyes.

“No complaining of a sore jaw or chapped l!ps,“ I growl at him, and he pats my chest, rolling off to face Aleera as I climb out of bed. Stretching my arms above my head, I look at Darius, who has a chick in his hands, as he forces the syringe in its beak to feed it before grabbing the next.

“Lycus will suck your d!ck if you make me coffee,” I volunteer the germ that woke me. “He already owes me a d!ck-s*cking for doing his night shift,” Darius says, and I glare at Lycus.

“That f*cker is getting more sleep than all of us,” I g***n, feeling a little used. That little bitch will be paying up, or I will pin him down and f*ck his face. Either way, he is licking these nuts.

“Get in line. He’s got a lot of d!ck to suck. Pretty sure he owes Kalen one too,” Darius says, and I shake my head, cursing Lycus internally for tricking me.

Sitting next to Darius, I grab a bird and syringe and help him feed the squeaking hungry birds. Ryze flies into the room moments later, and I try not to throw up when he helps feed them.

“Good boy,” Darius tells him as Ryze feeds a few from the other crate.

“Marvelous creatures. I didn’t even ask him. He flew off when they woke me and has been back and forth out the window,” Darius tells me as he gives Ryze a scratch under his beak. He then bounces off out the window.

“They sense her,” I tell him, and he nods, glancing at the bed at our mates. “I don’t think they just sense her, though. I think they know what you were,” I tell him. He swallows and nods.

“When she shreds.” I am about to ask when he holds up a hand and cuts me off.

“Don’t; I know what you are going to say.

“Darius, whatever it is you’re hiding, she’ll forgive you,” I tell him.

“It’s not her I am worried about. She may forgive me,” he mutters. “Then what is it? “I ask him.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says, and I see his eyes darken as he reaches over by the fire and grabs another log. He tosses it in and turns back to the birds. I sigh, changing the topic, knowing that one I won’t get anywhere with

“The power hunters?” I ask him, and he peers over at me.

“She has found us,” Darius answered, and I knew he was right. There was only one group of power hunters that large, and they hadn’t been seen in years.

“I never saw her,” I tell him, and he shrugs.

“And they clearly didn’t expect what they found? I don’t think they even knew why they were here besides power. I believe this was just to test out our defenses.”

You think she figured it out?”

“No other group, not even the council, are crazy enough to step foot into my Kingdom,” Darius says, and he was right. We had never been attacked here before, never.

“She would have been looking for infinite power source flares and Aleera.” He peers around at the crates of Phoenixes. “These birds, they would have been like a beacon, “Darius says.

“Are you going to tell Aleera her mother is hunting her?” I ask him, reaching for another bird. He hushes me, looking toward her behind me, then shakes his head.

“You need to tell her, and you need to tell the others you did kill her father,” I tell him. Honesty was the only way we would get through this. Yet Darius, I knew, was the most secretive of us all.

“I can’t,” he whispers.

“When she sees the truth, she will forgive.

“She may forgive me, but I will never forgive myself,” he says, standing up. I watch as he walks off into the bathroom, shutting the door. I sigh, scooping up the next bird when Kalen wakes up, sitting up and rubbing his eyes before glancing at the bathroom door.

“Everything okay?” he asks, tucking the blanket around Lycus and Aleera. “Yes, Kal, go back to sleep,” I tell him, but he shakes his head, climbs out of bed, and stops beside me.

He stares at my legs where I sat beside the crate, and I roll my eyes before opening my legs, and he sits between them, resting his back against my chest as he scoops out a chick and reaches for Darius’s syringe to feed it. I k!ss his cheek and continue feeding the squirming bird in my hand, whose beak was wide open, waiting to be fed.

“I take it Lycus conned you too?” Kalen yawns, and I nod against his shoulder.

“Well, he’ll be in for a surprise when he wakes,” Kalen laughs. I k!ss his n*ked shoulder

“Hmm, unless you want to take his place? You suck d!ck better,” I whispered, wudzincaan hieman kalan buah titing sucking on his ear. Kalen laughs, tilting his head so I can’t keep nibbling on it.

“Feed your chick,” He laughs. I g***n. My c0ck hardening at the mere thought of his l!ps wrapped around it. Lycus will be paying up.

I waited for Darius to finish his shower before I kidnapped Kalen, forcing him into the shower with me.

“Nope, Lycus is your man; I am too tired,” Kalen whines when I shove him against the shower wall and try to k!ss him. Kalen sighs instead, offering me his neck, and I don’t hesitate to sink my fangs into his neck.