Tempting Darkness

Tobias

We had just finished eating dinner, yet I was craving something else. Someone else. I should never have fed on Aleera. I was only allowed to feed on Lycus and Darius, and I knew the reason for it but her blood had been calling me from the moment I laid eyes on her. I told myself just a taste, but I knew I was done for when I fed on her and tried to take the shadows from her.

Lycus watched me; he had been looking at me strangely all day since he found me arguing with Aleera.

"I need to check the wards in the forest. Do you want to come?" Darius asked, getting up from his seat.

"No, I will wait here," I told him. He tilted his head to the side, examining me. I always went with him, and I knew he was suspicious of me, too. They all were. My hunger was insatiable, one of the reasons I was only to strictly feed on Lycus and Darius. They could fight me off. Kalen and Aleera, not so much if I lost control.

"When did you last feed? You seem to be in a mood," Darius asked before his eyes flicked to Lycus.

"Earlier off me, twice actually," Lycus answered, and Darius turned his gaze back to me. I noticed Kalen get up to head towards the bathroom, and I growled in warning at him.

"Sit, Kalen. I will take you to see her later," I told him. He sighed but sat back on the bed, yet Darius still didn't leave.

"Are you struggling since feeding on her the other night?" Darius asked me, and I shook my head.

"No, I am just drained," I lied. He didn't look like he believed me, but I also knew Darius had an obsession with the wards, and my mood wouldn't keep him here much longer; I just needed to wait him out.

"Lycus, do you want to come?" Darius asked him.

"Can I?" Kalen asked excitedly.

"I thought you wanted to see Aleera?"

"I can't until you come back anyway," Kalen huffed.

"Lycus can go. I will see if Aleera is back and take Kalen to see her," I told them, and Kalen's eyes lit up. My lips quirked in the corners, loving his excitement, and I wished he always looked so happy. Why couldn't we be enough for him? Why did she bring out this more optimistic side of him? "No, Tobias. He needs to wait."

"I will be with him," I told Darius, and he sighed and rubbed his temples. Kalen pouted at him and gave him a pleading look, and I knew Darius was going to sway. He had trouble denying Kalen unless it was going to harm him. Darius knew I wouldn't allow her to hurt him. Understanding that, he sighed and turned to me.

"Don't leave him with her, and don't let her touch anything."

"What, you still want to bring her in here?" I asked him. I didn't think he was serious about that. Darius looked away, and I knew he was just as affected by her presence as we all were. He was just better at hiding it.

With me, her scent was all I could think about and the taste of her blood. I hated her more for wanting her, and I couldn't help but glare at the floor.

"Fine, we won't be gone long, but stay with them. Don't leave them alone together," Darius snapped before opening up a portal.

Lycus groaned, and I knew he hated leaving Kalen. Nighttime was pretty much the only time we were all together in one place, and I knew he missed Kalen most.

We all did; he was our glue. But Lycus and Kalen were together long before Darius and I joined the party. At first, the idea of marking them disgusted me, and I could have lived without the power-sharing. I could retrieve magic by drinking blood alone in little dribs and drabs, but I wasn't sure I could part from them after finding them.

After the fire, Darius and I cloaked her, which was stupid on our part. We cloaked her so well we couldn't even find her if we wanted to. If she left, the chances of finding her again were pretty slim. The cloaking spell had turned into a permanent shield on her. The only way to break it was by marking her, which Darius would never allow.

And damn how we had searched for her, following lead after lead. We weren't sure power-sharing was possible without our keeper, not until we witnessed it ourselves.

Kalen and Lycus were sleeping on the streets when we found them, and Lycus had become sick after accidentally ingesting wolfsbane, which made Kalen call on us. I still remembered how filthy and skinny they both were, and Darius and I were furious at how they were living. Finding out they had been living on the street for two years together startled us.

So when they called on our eighteenth birthday, we came to them and brought them back here. Just before learning Aleera's parents had tried to kill her, we sensed her distress. How we sensed her was beyond all of our reasoning. It was almost like she had called on us. She wasn't bonded to us yet, but we all had an inkling she was in trouble, and our marks burned our wrists.

I shook that memory away and watched Lycus grab Kalen's chin and kiss him. I smirked, watching them before Lycus let him go and followed Darius through the portal. That was also how we realized we could power-share. We walked in on Lycus and Kalen f*****g and felt the magnitude of power in the air, so Darius did some research, and we learned that we could share our energy by marking each other.

It was taboo and only accepted if the keeper was dead. Ours wasn't, so it caused a lot of issues. Mostly with mine and Darius's family.

So, we marked each other, but it didn't work. We were back to square one, but Lycus and Kalen continued having power somehow when we realized how they were transferring it. Emotion. It repulsed Darius and me when we figured it out.

We realized that if we wanted to remain strong, we actually had to bond, which meant mate each other and commit to an actual relationship. Lycus and Kalen had no such issues, but Darius and I were straight. Completely straight. She gave us no choice when she ran, and we were forced to forge the bond. Kalen and Lycus were both patient, and they never pushed us past our comfort zones. When Darius got injured, protecting me from bloodhounds, we had refused for years to share power the way Lycus and Kalen did. But while hunting for her, we were set upon by the hounds, and neither of us had enough ability to take them down, forcing us to run.

He had sacrificed his life for mine, and, in turn, I kissed him. Didn't even think twice about it. He saved me, and I owed him, and I realized it worked better than feeding him my blood. After that, it became a non-issue. I was okay with it as long as nothing went near my a*s. Well, for the first few years until the bond was forged, and I started craving them all. That craving extended to any way I could have them.

Darius was the most powerful. His power was potent, and I had never met anyone that yielded or controlled magic the way he did. Darius sort of became our keeper. He had particular gifts. We all found ourselves more inclined toward him. When we needed power, we usually went to him for it. His was the most potent and charged us quicker. Good thing he had good stamina. I chuckled, not realizing I did out loud.

"What are you laughing at?" Kalen asked, making me look up at him.

"Nothing, just when we all first got together," I told him, and Kalen smiled deviously before crawling to the edge of the bed. I could see he also remembered the orgy fest it had turned into.

His eyes sparkled. "I was wondering why your aura changed."

"Changed? How so?" I asked him while getting up from my seat. I walked over to him, and he leaned back to look up at me. He shrugged with a coy smile on his lips.

"More color in it?" he said before his brows pinched together.

"Well, that is new. Since when do I have color in my aura?" I asked him, knowing mine was usually a smokey gray color.

"Since you took the shadows from Aleera," he shrugged.

"Well, she is our keeper. I suppose her aura would be vastly different."

"I swear I saw something in hers, though. Hers was different, something about it—"

"You were manic, Kalen. You know you see weird things when you are like that."

He nodded when I tried to feel for his aura. His was surprisingly stable. I couldn't see it but felt it was the most transparent it had ever been. Like he was before he tried to kill himself the first time... before the shadows clung to him. "You took your meds?" I asked him, and he looked down at his hands. I placed my knee on the bed beside him, forcing him back as I crawled on top of him.

"Is that a no?" I asked, nipping at his lips. His hands went to my sides and under my shirt. Sparks rushed across my skin when he tugged me closer, so I was pressed between his legs. His breathing became heavier, and I inhaled his scent deeply before kissing him. He tasted sweet, not as sweet as Aleera's blood, but I swear I could taste her on him.

Like she had tainted him in some way. Kalen responded to my kiss instantly. His tongue played with mine when I pulled away and kissed down his jaw and neck. I could feel his pulse under my tongue as I licked his mark, and I pressed my lips together when I felt my fangs slip out.

"Tobias?" Kalen murmured, and I heard his heart rate pick up, sensing the cologne of his fear seep from his pores. I shook my head and pulled away. He stared at me worriedly, and I pushed myself off him.

"I will go get Aleera for you," I told him before hopping off the bed and walking out. What was wrong with me? My fangs refused to retract as I moved toward her door. I could hear her cursing under her breath through the door, and I sucked in a breath, trying to will my hunger down, trying to control the bloodlust as it tried to consume me.

Thinking it was under control, I pushed her door open and closed it behind me, but the moment her scent hit me, a growl escaped me. Aleera looked at me startled and stood up, yet all I could hear was her blood pumping through her veins. She gasped as I pinned her against the dresser and buried my face in her neck. A hungered growl escaped me when she dropped her chin, trying to stop me from getting to her neck. Her words were not registering as she spoke in what I could tell was a panicked tone. My fangs grazed over her skin, and my mouth watered at the delicious scent permeating her.

"Tobias!"