Tasting Darkness

Chapter 25 

Lycus POV 

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

That would kill Kalen, but I knew Darius wouldn’t allow harm t o 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 m e backward.

Although when she returned it to me, I felt it was different.

f

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 towards Aleera, who was choking, 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 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 left 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

by his magic, forcing him to let her go. Darius smashed against the window before the floor shook as

knees at her side, gripping her face. Kalen wailed as he scrambled across the floor

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

as he tried to force her to take his magic to cleanse the shadows that writhed beneath her skin. The

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

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.

and I looked at Darius, who stared at her

as much as Tobias did, I truly believed he would never forgive her. But right now, she was dying; he couldn’t let

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 for us. Doing that turned him cold. He wasn’t always so bloodthirsty and emotionless. Darius would never admit it but I knew

shadows affected him, but h e could contain them.

he watched Kalen. He knelt beside her, gently taking her from Kalen. He brushed her hair back from her face. Being part

us everything, not that Kalen and I actually had anything before our mates. Tobias and Darius, it cost them the most since they were both straight before she left us. Tobias was also vampiric-King. His entire family shunned him except his twin brother so he gave u p his title for us, gave up

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

her, and her eyes turn blue again. Darius stumbles back on his hands, gasping before he wipes his hand across his mouth and glares at her, but I saw the flicker of relief cross his features

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

He rose to his feet before storming off, and I knew it was

get them back?” Tobias asked me, sounding as breathless as he looked, and I nodded. Kalen was peppering her

back to her

but she still

is

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 t o trust her so she could make an