“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 suck 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.
Chapter 25
Lycus
Itruly believed Darius wouldhave 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! Fucking 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.