Tempting Darkness

Lycus

I truly believed Darius would have to knock her out before she handed my magic back to me. Aleera gripped the front of my 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 he wouldn't hesitate to snap her neck if she did anything.

That would kill Kalen, but I knew Darius wouldn't allow harm to 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 me backward. Although, when she returned it to me, I felt it was different. 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 toward Aleera, who was 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 had 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 faded, 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! F*****g 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 as life drained from her when Tobias leaned down.

"Tobias, no!" Darius snarled as he rushed to get to his feet just as Tobias sank 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 he 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 us. Doing that turned him cold. He hadn't always been 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 us could deny the pull we had toward her. He blamed her because he wouldn't have had to kill his father if she hadn't run. His father would still be here with him.

Tobias gripped Darius's pant leg, and Darius looked down before growling. Darius was a demon, the shadows affected him, but he 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 kneeled 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. It cost Tobias and Darius the most since they were both straight before she left us. Tobias was also next in line to become Vampiric King. His entire family shunned him except his twin brother.

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.

Color returned to her face, and her eyes turned blue again. Darius stumbled back on his hands, gasping before wiping his hand across his mouth and glaring at her. 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, who had taken the most, was rippling with anger that usually came with absorbing the darkness. He rose to his feet before storming off, and I knew it was to stop himself 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 kissing her face while Aleera stared vacantly at the pointed ceiling.

"Kalen, we should get her back to her room," I told him, touching his shoulder gently.

"She could have died, but she still did it."

"But she is alright now."

"Darius, he was going to kill her," Kalen told me, and I pressed my lips in a line. I hated how much Kalen cared for her, but she did just help Kalen and gave my power back. My brows furrowed, wondering why she would still help after everything we had done or maybe it was just a ploy to get us to trust her so she could escape.

"You all hate her. Just get away from us," Kalen snapped, and jealousy flared through me that he would choose her over me after everything we had been through together.

"I don't hate her, Kalen," I told him, and as I spoke the words, I realized it was true. I didn't hate her, but I didn't lose as much as Tobias and Darius had, only Kalen. Although if she had taken him from me, I probably would have told Darius to let her die. Kalen was mine, always had been since my father abandoned me in the orphanage.

Kalen was the only pure dark fae in the place, the weakest, and he had been tormented relentlessly and even abused by the teachers. My parents were both pure dark fae. I should have been like Kalen, the weakest of the fae. That was until my mother died, and with my grief, I shifted. I was my mother's bastard. My father soon realized I wasn't his and dumped me on the orphanage doorstep. Literally tied a leash around my neck because I didn't know how to shift back yet. He tied me to a chair like a dog until the orphanage opened the following day and found me curled in a ball on the footstep covered in snow.

Looking at Kalen now, I saw the same thing in his eyes that I felt the first time I saw the other kids kicking the crap out of him. The same way my father kicked and punched me when I shifted. I wanted to protect him. He was so small compared to the other kids. So I did. No one dared touch him when I was near after that, and I made sure to stay by his side until we ran away. Kalen had that same look. He wanted to protect her, but he also knew he couldn't. Not against Darius or Tobias. "Kalen?"

"No, Lycus. You need to choose a side. I won't lose her."

"And I won't lose you. You know what she has done. They won't just forgive her."

"She doesn't know. No wonder she hates us. We don't deserve her," Kalen told me. I looked at her limp body in his arms.

"She is cold," I told him, and he looked down at her. Her lips were blue, and her breathing was shallow.

"You don't want her to freeze to death, do you?" I asked him, and he shook his head.

"But, Darius..."

I gritted my teeth, already hating what I was about to say. "We will stay with her until she comes to."

Kalen turned his head to look at me. His eyes scanned mine for any deceit. "You will help me?"

I nodded, looking away from her. Darius would be furious about me letting Kalen near her, but she'd just risked her life for him, and maybe Tobias was right. Perhaps she wasn't a threat to him. Until we were positive, I would speak to Darius about letting him near her under supervision.