“But she has no magic,” Lycus said, and Tobias chuckled, dropping his hand on his shoulder.
“Exactly, we don’t have to make her suffer. They will do it for us,” Tobias said before stalking off toward the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Lycus asked him.
“To get Kalen away from her before he does something stupid, like confessing his undying love for her,” Tobias tossed over his shoulder.
“So, what will you tell the men about her?”
“No, we will tell them nothing, only that she is our prisoner. Let them think what they want about her. I will just tell them she is an enemy we want to be kept close,” I told Lycus.
“Good. I don’t want them following her orders just because of what she is to us,” Lycus replied while watching Tobias walk up the stairs to our mates.
“No, I have a better idea. Whoever breaks Aleera first wins the ballad for a ranking officer,” I told him, and he smirked.
“Well, that will be enough motivation for them, but she is not to be in any of Kalen’s classes,” Lycus said, and I nodded my head in agreement.
“I know you’re worried about him—” He raised his hand, silencing me.
“Don’t. You didn’t find him. You didn’t have to cut his body down from the rafters. Worried is not the word I would use to describe how I feel about Aleera being near him,” Lycus growled before turning on his heel and walking away from me.
My jaw clenched at his words. I wasn’t there, but luckily we got back in time. Luckily, Tobias could revive him and heal his broken neck. A few seconds later, he would no longer be with us. We would have never let him die, but resurrection could be tricky. It tainted the soul, and not in a good way. She wouldn’t destroy us this time. No, she would break and when she did, she would understand the torment she had caused us.
Chapter 8
Aleera
My head throbbed, andthe back of my eyes ached but not nearly as much as my jaw did. I groaned, forcing my eyes open when I realized I wasn’t on the hard concrete floor of the dungeon. No, I felt warmer and more comfortable. I blinked, trying to clear the blurriness of my vision to find a man sitting next to me. I was in a bedroom… on a bed.
The man stared, like he was looking through me as I jerked upright and pulled away from him. He had blond hair that looked like he had just run his fingers through it only moments before. His blue eyes were the lightest shade I had ever seen, so pale they were almost white. If it weren’t for my enhanced eyesight, I would have assumed they were until he blinked. The color returned to them. I wondered where his mind had gone as the color returned, and his eyes were now a startling cerulean blue.
“Drink, please,” he said, reaching beside me for the tall glass of water. He handed it to me, and I clutched it with shaky hands. “Please,” he repeated, and for some unknown reason, I didn’t like the idea of upsetting him, so I quickly obeyed, bringing the glassto my lips. The icy liquid poured into my mouth, which was so dry that I gulped it down before nearly choking on it.
“Slow. Not so fast,” he murmured, gripping the glass. My fingers tingled where his bumped mine. He slowly tipped the cup up, allowing me to drink what was left in it.
He went to open his mouth to say something else when the door opened suddenly. He turned his head to look at who had entered, and so did I. Tobias was leaning on the doorframe. I quickly looked away from him, back to the man sitting beside me, and I knew who he was.
“You are Kalen?” I whispered, and his face turned back to me. He studied me for a second before shifting closer to me, his hand outstretched, and I wondered if he would hit me, but he didn’t seem like he was going to. I didn’t have time to find out when Tobias spoke from the doorway.
“Kalen, Darius wants to speak with you,” Tobias said while pushing off the doorframe. Kalen dropped his hand and sighed.
“Why?” he asked, turning to look back at Tobias. His voice was deep yet not cruel, and it didn’t make me want to cringe upon hearing it, like Darius and Tobias’s voices did.
“You know why. Now, don’t make him wait. You know he hates waiting,” Tobias told him, his voice different, softer as he spoke to Kalen. Kalen’s shoulders dropped as he got up off the bed. I didn’t want him to leave. He was the only one that didn’t appear to want to kill me. Yet as he moved around the edge of the bed and toward the door, I noticed Tobias would not follow him.
“Close the door,” Tobias said, and my heart rate picked up at his words. I glanced toward Kalen, who nodded before giving me a sad smile and shutting the door behind him as he left. Tobias stepped slowly around the edge of the bed, and I moved to the other side, getting ready to run if needed.
He chuckled as if he found my fear of him amusing. He stopped next to the dresser that sat along the wall.
“I would remain where you are, Aleera. Don’t tempt me because it will only end in pain for you,” Tobias said, the softer, kind voice he’d used with Kalen now replaced with a harsh cold one that held a warning. I hesitated to place my foot on the gray carpet. He turned his head to the side, and I brought my leg back onto the bed before tucking both to my chest.
“Good. You can listen,” he said as the door opened again. My other three mates walked in. Darius was the most imposing among them. The second was Tobias, but they were all intimidating. Darius and Tobias commanded your attention effortlessly just by their presence alone, and if looks could kill, Lycus would have turned me to ash.
He had changed his shirt to a white one. Darius had black slacks and a white button-up shirt, the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Not only was he menacing, but he also looked the part, with the way the shirt hugged his body like it was tailored to him. The fabric did nothing to hide the bulk of muscle beneath it.
Kalen had on jeans and a black shirt. He was leaner than the others yet still muscular from what I could tell by his arms and the ridges of his abs pressing against his shirt. Lycus, however, was all muscle, having werewolf genes mixed with his fae ones—typical shifter genes.
Lycus’s eyes had changed again, making me wonder if they changed with his temperament. He looked pissed off, yet his eyes’ color was now amber. Maybe it was the light down in the dungeon. I knew werewolf shifters had deep silver eyes in a semi-shifted or shifted state, so it must have been a trick of the light, which meant this had to be the natural color of his eyes.