Tempting Darkness

Darius

Aleera was lite on her feet; I'd give her that. She could move when needed, making me wonder how much time she'd actually spent running. She moved quicker without magic than some of my men here who had been in training for years. It was like she anticipated where the next attack would come from, like she could sense it. I found myself absorbed as I watched her.

Even some of the men had stopped to watch. Most laughed, but most of them were floored with how she moved, and she remained almost in the same spot, never stepping out of the barrier. This class was a defense class. You had to block your opponent; yet she had no magic to block with, but she watched. I figured out pretty quickly she was studying the flick of his fingers, the way he stood. It was almost as if she knew what he would do before he did it just by examining his stance. Mikhail was one of our best; he never missed a target, and at first, I thought he was holding back, but the longer it went on, I could see his frustration. He really was trying to hurt her; he just couldn't touch her.

I knew I should have stepped in. A pit formed in my stomach when he decided to partner up with her. I was initially going to be partnered with her, but he stepped forward, eyes locked on his target. Still, I was ready to step in if needed.

I wouldn't have hurt her, knowing it would upset Kalen and Lycus. Scared her, yes, but hurt her probably not with how this stupid bond grew stronger each day. Ignoring the pull was becoming harder until I remembered what she had inflicted. Which infuriated me even more, feeling the pull to her, feeling my mates' pull to her. But she deserved it. God, did she deserve pain for what she had caused us, but when I noticed her getting tired, I knew I needed to stop it.

The bond called me to protect her, going absolutely haywire when I saw her get boxed in. Just like the night we'd found her in her burning room. The entire place was a raging inferno; she had tried to escape but was passed out on the bedroom floor. The moment we stepped into her room, we knew something was amiss. We tried to get back out, but a barrier had been placed on her door and window. Tobias and I barely got her out in time before the roof caved in. Tobias had used his body to shield her and sustained severe burns while I broke the damn barrier spell placed on it.

It took nearly all our power that night to heal her and put the cloaking spell on her and her grandmother so she would be protected. Little did we know it also cloaked us from her once she came of age.

I always felt bad that I couldn't heal Tobias. His back was destroyed, and he refused to let Lycus and Kalen heal him, knowing our reserves were almost completely depleted. We were literally running off borrowed time.

Two and a half years, Tobias and I went without power before we figured out another way to power-share. All of us agreed that Aleera was not an option. She was too young, and her powers hadn't manifested. Besides, none of us were comfortable knowing what that meant for her-to power-share and transfer our power among all of us. It would have been plain disgusting. We were monsters but not that sort of monsters.

They tried to kill her. We should never have left that day. We simply wanted to tell her parents she was our mate and that we would wait for her to come of age. We never thought they would try to kill her. But as the flames got nearer, I could see her panicked state as she gasped, and I knew that was where her mind took her. I could almost feel her panicked state even without marking her. I heard her heart racing, so I extinguished the flames just as she collapsed to the ground.

Mikhail was warned, so I felt nothing toward him when I drove my hand through his chest and melted his heart. A few men gasped around me as his lifeless body fell to the ground at my feet.

"When I say enough, you f*****g stop," I told them, letting fire engulf my hand and burn off the blood residue. Shaking the flames away, I looked down at my mate on the grass. I couldn't help the snarl that slipped through my lips as I scooped her up.

I didn't want to touch her, but I wouldn't leave her unconscious with these men. They could truly be monsters, but none got away with defying me. Yet as I picked up her limp body... Damn, she smelled good, felt good in my arms. I shook the thought away and opened a portal to her room before stepping through it. Get a grip, idiot, I reminded myself.

Placing her on her bed, she stirred, blinking up at me dazedly, stuck wherever her mind had taken her. I needed to get out of this room, away from her, when she rolled on the bed, and I saw something in her back pocket, just an outline of something made of steel poking out the top. Walking back to the bed, I fished it out to find it was a pair of scissors. My brows furrowed, wondering why she had them. Was she going to try and kill us in our sleep?

Let her try. It wouldn't end well for her. I placed them on the bedside table when she mumbled. "You're an elemental."

Looking over at her, she was still passed out. Shaking my head, I walked out. She was bound to find out anyway. What did it matter if she found out earlier? I might be the last of my kind in more ways than one, but it was not like I kept that small fact secret from the world. It was partially why everyone feared me. It was one thing being an elemental, but a dark and demonic fae elemental was unheard of.

I wondered what Aleera's perks or gifts would be. I knew she was dark fae from her schooling paperwork. Although it never stated any gifts, she wouldn't be the first not to have any. But I still wondered briefly before shaking that thought away. Who cares? We would never know anyhow. But each of us had certain gifts that were our own.

Walking through the shared bathroom, I opened the door only to bump into Kalen. He clearly wasn't expecting to find me in her room. He glanced past me before tilting his face toward mine. His hands connected with my chest, and his magic fizzled out as he tried to use it. If he had done that to Lycus, he probably would have shoved him through the wall. Yet his dark magic was no match for mine, dying out as it touched me, and I felt my magic get a jolt as it absorbed it. "What did you do to her?" he demanded, trying to shove past me.

I gripped his arm, shoving him through to our room before locking the door. I glanced at him. His aura was all over the place, his anger being the strongest to come through, but I could see the madness lurking through it. Lycus warned me this morning that he was too upbeat and energetic. What comes with the high is a massive low.

"Where is your medication?"

"What did you do to Aleera?" he snapped, trying to get past me to the door.

"Where are your meds, Kalen? You promised Tobias you would take them."

I could feel our mates getting nearer as his emotions became more turbulent. They could sense his aggravation. I tried to reach for him, and I cursed, giving his magic back as I watched a portal open up. I grabbed and pinned him when I saw it led to Aleera's room just as Lycus all but smashed the door in to help subdue him. Only it was too late. As I tackled him, another portal opened up and swallowed him just as he punched me. His fist connected with the side of my face knocking me off him. I hit the ground where Kalen should have been.

"Where did he go? Where did it lead?" Lycus panicked. Jumping to my feet, I raced to Aleera's room and burst through the door. Aleera was sitting up on the bed. She looked over at me.

Kalen, however, was not in the room. "Is he in there?" Lycus said, smacking into my back.

Aleera looked at us, confused. "What's-"

"Stay in your room." I snapped at her before slamming the door.