Tempting Darkness

My mind flicked to Kalen in this vulnerable state. I could take his power and escape, but I couldn't do it. It would be so easy, but I felt like I would condemn him if I did. The floor creaked as I heard three sets of feet step into the room. I could smell the buzz of electricity as a portal opened up. I glanced over my shoulder to see Darius, Tobias, and Lycus step into the room. "You were supposed to stay in your room," Darius told me, and I nodded.

"How did you find him?" he demanded like I was the one that brought him here.

"I don't know. I just found myself here. I don't even know where I am, only that I was in some abandoned part of the castle."

"What, you just stumbled across him?" Darius snapped, and Lycus walked around Kalen and kneeled on the other side of him. He gripped his shoulder.

"Kalen, can you hear me?" Lycus whispered.

"I won't let you take her from me again. Why is it bad? I just want to see her," Kalen mumbled, and Lycus's eyes went to me. I could feel them all looking at me.

"I am right here, Kalen," I told him.

"But not for long. They always take you away, always take you away..."

My brows furrowed in confusion. Lycus pried his hand from mine.

"She is right there, Kalen," Lycus whispered, kissing his cheek. Kalen just stared through me when Lycus placed Kalen's hand on the side of my face.

"See? Can't you feel her? She is right in front of you," Lycus told him.

"Why can't I feel her?" Kalen muttered, his eyes scanning my face. His words confused me.

"She has no magic, that is why. But she is right there."

"You lie. You always lie, then take her from me." Lycus looked behind me at Darius, and I heard movement before I watched Tobias kneel beside him. Kalen growled before he could even touch him. "Leave him. He might hurt her if you try," Lycus told Tobias. His hand fell to his side, and I figured he would try to compel him.

"Your point being?" Darius growled.

"He would never f*****g forgive himself, Darius. Stop being a d**k," Lycus snarled, his canines slipping out in anger.

"Well, what do you suggest then, Lycus? He hasn't had one of these for months. You know it is the only way," Darius snapped. Lycus's eyes went to me fleetingly, and Darius growled at him. "Darius, she won't hurt him, will you, Aleera?"

My brows furrowed in confusion at Tobias's words.

"What?" I asked when Lycus suddenly gripped my arm, and I felt his magic rush into me with a significant force. Without thinking, I felt myself latch onto it and drain him. It made me almost choke before he let go, stumbling backward, his eyes wide. Tobias grabbed him, and the atmosphere suddenly rippled with Darius's rage at what I had done. I remained still, unmoving. Lycus looked at his hand when I felt Darius grab my arm in his grip, and I knew he was about to take it off me when Kalen made a strangled noise. My eyes darted to his as he blinked at me, like it was the first time seeing me.

His lips parted, and I knew he could sense Lycus's magic running through me, yet I remained still. Not moving, knowing if I did, Darius might just kill me for what I'd accidentally done. But the moment Lycus tried to force me to take it, my bond latched onto him like a starving person getting its first-ever meal and absorbed it completely.

I know that wasn't Lycus's intention. He would have only wanted me to take enough so that Kalen could feel me beside him.

"You're glowing," Kalen murmured, and I chuckled, yet his words made me stop. "You have color in your aura."

I swallowed, wondering what gifts he had that he could see it. I focused on the power running through me, fighting the urge to let the bond change it, trying my best to ignore it as it tried to seep in deeper and mingle. I felt like I was back in school, fighting to keep my secret. Fighting myself so no one would notice, I forgot how much strain it was to stop the light from mixing with the dark and morphing into something else entirely. I couldn't control my aura for those who could see it, but only one other person I had come across could see someone's essence within it.

Yet this other person died when we were attacked. I didn't even know his name, but he saved me and sacrificed himself to do it. I still remembered the look on his face. "Well, don't you burn brighter than the sun? The first time I have seen a rainbow aura. I knew there was something special about you," he had said, then smiled before the bloodhounds came for us.

I tried to save him, but he shoved me through a portal when we couldn't run anymore.

"They will come for you!"he screamed when the portal sucked me in. When I tried to portal back, I couldn't; it was as if he'd blocked me from returning to help him.

"Why did you do that?" Kalen asked, pulling me from my memory.

"Do what?" I asked him without thinking.

"Change it to dark. Can you make the color come back?"

I ignored his question but could feel everyone's eyes watching us when Kalen reached his hand, brushing the air around me, his fingertips touching my aura. I could feel him through it. I couldn't see my own, but I could feel him touching it; it was an odd sensation. "What are you?" he asked suddenly. "I'm like you," I told him, and I noticed Tobias tilt his head to the side, observing me. I swallowed, wondering if he could tell I lied, but I hoped I had cloaked it enough. Kalen went to say something, but I cut him off. I needed him to be quiet. It would raise suspicion if he kept talking of my aura or whatever he sensed. He wasn't of sound mind right now, so I could play it off by letting them think it was his ramblings.

"We should get you back to your room, Kalen," I told him.

"They will take it away."

"Take what away? I am right here?"

"He means his power. We won't have a choice now. Not until he is stable enough to have it back," Lycus explained.

"I don't understand," I admitted.

"Of course, you don't. How could you when you weren't here?"

"Darius, not now," Lycus warned him. Darius's grip on my arm was tight still when a thought flicked through me, and I realized why Kalen's aura was so cold and dark.

He had died. It wasn't darkness but shadows of death. I suddenly remembered doing classes on it in school. The more someone was brought back, the more fragile they became mentally. It was also why the keeper of mates was so important. They could cleanse the shadows or share them with their mates until they dissolved.

"I... could..." I stopped, knowing they would disagree. I already had Lycus's power running through me, and I knew that made them nervous since they weren't sure exactly what my gifts were.

Darius growled as I moved and gripped Lycus's shirt while he tried speaking to Kalen. Everyone froze at my actions. Darius's hand was suddenly wrapped around my throat in warning. Not tight, but like he was seeing what I was going to do.

Lycus's eyes were on mine, and Tobias was on his feet faster than any other. My hands shook as I let his shirt go before touching his face. I gave it back; I couldn't believe I just willingly handed his magic back to him like I was giving him a piece of paper. He gasped as it rushed out of me, my hand glowing with the darkness of his magic before it fizzled out of me, leaving an emptiness inside me.

They all looked at me dumbfounded. Kalen tilted his face up, and I could feel his confusion at the sudden deadly tension in the room. I knew I only had a second before Darius ripped me away from all of them. I wouldn't have time to take it without him willingly giving it to me via touch. I knew that. So I acted quickly.

My lips crashed against Kalen's hard, so hard I hurt myself, but the moment they did, the bond flared to life, devouring the shadows tainting his magic completely. So cold, and I took it way too fast. Darius ripped me away and tossed me to the ground within seconds of touching him. I choked, gagging on its taste as I crawled to my hands and knees. My back ached, yet the pain running through me from his magic hurt way more. Smokey and twisted, I had never felt anything colder before in my life.

A scream left my lips, and I didn't know how Kalen coped with it as I gasped for air, feeling like I was dying. The air in my lungs turned ice cold. I tried to s**k in a breath, but I couldn't get my lungs to work; I didn't know how to function anymore. My vision tunneled as the room darkened around me. Everything was numbing with the coldness of it.

"Wait, he still has his magic. She didn't take it, Darius!" Lycus screamed. I passed out just as he grabbed my hair. My body fell limply on the hardwood floor. I needed air. I couldn't breathe; I needed to breathe. These were my last thoughts as I succumbed to the darkness.