Tempting Darkness

He gripped my arm, making me stop, and I almost groaned. Was that some bullshit trick?

"About this morning... It never happened, okay?" Tobias said, and my brows furrowed in confusion. Pretty sure it did, but why did he seem so nervous?

"Yeah, whatever," I told him. I was about to stomp off and try to find my next class, so I was not late. There was no way I was going in that mess hall, and I would just wait until dinner.

Tobias grabbed my arm with a growl and yanked me back. "Say it didn't happen," Tobias snapped at me. I thought his behavior was odd, his grip tight when realization dawned on me. He was forbidden to feed on me, and Darius would be the only person I could see him fearing. "Why not compel me to forget?" I asked, and he tugged at the neckline of his shirt.

"Forget it," he said, stalking off.

"Fine, it never happened, but I want to see Kalen," I called out to him, and he stopped. A growl tore out of him, and he moved at blinding speed, gripping the front of my shirt. I gasped at how close his face was to mine, and his fangs protruded. "Don't try to blackmail me," he snarled.

"The way I see it, the only reason you haven't compelled me is that you plan on using me as your blood bag. But by the way, you keep insisting it never happened. You don't want Darius to find out," I snapped at him. He let me go butglared at me.

"If I compel you too much, Darius will sense my magic on you, and so will Kalen."

"So, you do want to continue feeding on me," I told him, and he looked away but nodded.

"Why not use the others?"

"Does it matter? I will let you see Kalen. Once, and that's it," Tobias snapped.

"I see him once while you get to use me as your personal buffet?"

"You aren't in a position to negotiate," Tobias growled.

"And by how worried you are, you aren't in a position to say no to me."

Tobias gripped my throat, clearly not liking me arguing with him, and my hands clutched his.

"What's going on?" Lycus's voice reached my ears, and Tobias let me go. He stepped away from me, and I glanced at Lycus.

"Your next class is with Darius. I suggest you get going, Aleera," Lycus said, although his eyes remained on Tobias. I nodded before I rushed off to the next class.

#

Thank goodness Darius's class was a theory lesson. Although I would have preferred being anywhere else and away from Darius's glares, surprisingly, I was left pretty much alone. Maybe because he insisted on putting a table next to his desk, like I was the naughty student that needed extra supervision. Everyone worked off tablets, and I looked down at the paper in front of me before scouring the pages on elemental magic while everyone did their pop quiz.

How was I supposed to fill it out when I didn't even have a pen? I glanced over at his desk when he suddenly passed me a pencil without even looking over at me. Thankfully, the class was uneventful; not even a murmur while Darius spoke and explained things. Everyone seemed to be nervous around him. Not that I blamed them; he made me nervous, too, with his explosive temperament.

When the class ended, I waited for everyone to leave before getting out of my seat. Darius watched me for a few seconds while I cleaned my desk and handed him the paper. "Tobias messaged me earlier and asked for you to see Kalen this afternoon," Darius told me. He took the paper from me and glanced at it before placing it on his desk. "After dinner, you can come to our room to see him. I don't want you alone with him."

I nodded and walked out, surprised Tobias even asked. Not that I was keen to go into their room. I was hoping Kalen could come to mine, but I would take what I could get. I wandered around the campus grounds, bored. I wasn't supposed to wander off, but I knew their recruits were in the mess hall or recreational rooms, and I didn't feel like sitting in my room. Besides, I wanted to scope the grounds out and see if I could find the road I'd seen from the castle tower.

I was just about to turn the corner when I heard voices. A loud squawking noise reached my ears. The sound was terrible, and I peeked around the corner to see four demons laughing before noticing what was on the ground at their feet.

My heart sank. It was a phoenix, and I ran out to save it but stopped myself knowing it would probably only end up with me getting hurt or having to explain myself to Darius. Luckily, they seemed to get distracted before they inflicted more pain on the poor thing. One of them kicked it, and a sob left my lips, which made me cover my mouth with my hands. I watched them walk off, laughing and chatting among themselves. Once they disappeared, I rushed over to the fallen phoenix. It was only a juvenile. My hands were shaking terribly, and it snapped its beak at me, probably thinking I was here to hurt it some more.

"Shh, shh... I won't hurt you," I said. The bastards burned his feathers off, and one of his wings looked broken.

"You have to be quiet. I will help you," I said, trying to get close enough. Phoenixes hated dark fae, all dark creatures, in fact. Phoenixes, however, loved white fae and also contained magic themselves.

But being a juvenile, he had no such power or healing ability. Phoenixes also could power-share with their bonded. They bonded to their owners, primarily white fae or other phoenixes. I scooped him up, and he squawked loudly, so I grabbed his beak.

"Shh... They hear you and they will kill you," I said while holding its beak closed to stop the noise. Watching my surroundings, I raced back to the castle, making sure to remain unseen. But now what? Where could I hide him until he healed? Phoenixes hunted food, but he wouldn't even be able to fly for god knows how long.

I glanced at the stairs leading to the rooms and the cell door. I could try to hide him down there, but they may hear him if he squawked. However, my room joined my mates', and Darius might sense him. He had no power yet, but he definitely would be able to be felt once he did.

The cells it was. I rushed to the door, escaping inside before getting caught. I flicked the light switch on, lighting up the rancid place before descending the stairs. When I got to the bottom, I looked at the cells. I refused to look at the one I was in. The memory of Darius breaking my leg and hand down there made bile rise in my throat.