Tasting Drakness

Chapter 21

Darius POV

Aleera was lithe on her feet; I will give her that. She could move when needed making me wonder how much time on the run she actually spent running. She moved quicker without magic than some of my men here who had been in training for years. It was like she anticipated where the next attack would come from, like she could sense it, and I found myself absorbed as I watched her.

Even some of the men had stopped to watch. Most laughed, but most of them were floored with how she moved and she remained almost in the same spot, never stepping out of the barrier. This class was a defense class. You had to block your opponent, yet she had no magic to block with, but she watched. I figured out pretty quickly she studying the flick of his fingers; the way he stood. And it was almost as if she knew what he would do before he did it just by his stance.

Mikhail was one of our best; he never missed a target, and at first, I thought he was holding back, but the longer it went on, I could see his frustration. He really was trying to hurt her; he just couldn’t touch her.

I knew I should have stepped in; a pit formed in my stomach when he decided to partner up with her. I initially was going to be partnered with her when he stepped forward, eyes locked o n his target, but I was ready to step in if needed.

I wouldn’t have hurt her knowing it would upset Kalen and Lycus, scared her, yes but hurt her probably not with how this stupid bond was growing stronger with each day. Ignoring the pull was becoming harder until I remembered what she inflicted. Which infuriated me even more feeling the pull to her, feeling my mates pull to her. But she deserved it, god did she deserve pain for what she has caused us, but when I noticed her becoming tired, I knew I needed to stop it.

The bond called me to protect her, going absolutely haywire when I saw her get boxed in. Just like that night we found her i n her burning room. The entire place was a raging inferno; she had tried to escape but was passed out on her bedroom floor. The moment we stepped into her room, we knew something was amiss. We tried to get back out, but a barrier had been placed on her door and window. Tobias and I only just got her out in time before the roof caved in. Tobias had used his body t o shield her and sustained severe burns while I broke the damn barrier spell placed on it.

the cloaking spell on her and her grandmother

was destroyed and he refused to let Lycus and Kalen heal him, knowing our

an option. She was too young, and her powers hadn’t manifested, and none us were comfortable with knowing what that meant for her to power share and transfer our power amongst all of us, and it would have been plain disgusting. We were monsters but, not

tell her parents she was our mate and that w e would wait for her to come of age. We never thought they would try to kill her. But as the flames got nearer, I could see her panicked state as she gasped and I knew that was where her mind took her. I could almost feel her panicked state even without marking her. I heard her heart racing, so I extinguished the flames just as she collapsed on the ground. Mikhail was warned, so

flames away, I looked down at

away with defying me. Yet as I picked up her limp body, damn, she smelt good, felt

stirred, blinking up at me dazedly, stuck wherever her mind had taken her. I needed to get out of this room, away from her when she rolled on the bed, and I saw something in her back pocket, just an outline and something steel poking out the top. Walking back to the bed, I fished it out to find it was a pair of scissors. My

matter if she knew earlier. I may be the last o fmy kind in more ways than one,

gifts, she wouldn’t be the first not to have any, but I still wondered briefly before shaking that thought away, who cares we

shared bathroom, I open the door only to bump into Kalen. He clearly wasn’t expecting to find me in her room. He glances past me before tilting his face toward mine. His hands connected with my chest, and his magic fizzled out a s he tried to use it. If

he demanded, trying to shove

before locking the door. I glanced at him. His aura was all over the place, his anger being the strongest to come through, but I could see the madness lurking through it. Lycus warned me this morning he was too upbeat

“Where is your medication?”