Tasting Darkness
Tempting Darkness Chapter 8: Lycus POV

One thing I loved and also hated about the bond was feeling everyone’s emotions. I had marked her, and our bond was forged. Sure, she hadn’t marked all of us, but I knew she would feel us, so I kind of felt bad. I just stood there. However, I was shocked. Darius had finally come to accept her, and I knew he wanted to be with her. We all did. The guilt that washed through me at how we had treated her was stomach-turning.

So when her feeling of embarrassment and rejection hit me, it was like Darius had rejected all of us. I just don’t understand what happened. ”What the f**k just happened?” I asked Kalen after I watched her leave in a rush without looking back. Darius had been in a mood for the last day or so since she had marked Kalen. He and Tobias had been constantly at each other’s throats, and the dramatics were really bothering me. But he might as well as just slapped her, teasing her bond out like that only to push her way stung even me.

Kalen makes a strangled noise as her pain rattles through us. ”I have no idea,” Kalen says with a sigh. I watch as he runs a hand through his hair before tugging his shirt on. ”Where are you going?” I asked him. ”To replace her, of course,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling his shoes on. ”Just give me a second. I’ll come with you,” I tell him. ”I don’t need a babysitter, Lycus,” ”Ah, maybe I just want to help replace her. She is my mate, too. I said nothing about babysitting you,” I tell him.

”Kalen rubs his fingers over his infinity mark, trying to gauge where she is, we should be able to replace her instantly with one touch, But when he rubbed his thumb over it, all we got was a cold feeling running up my arm as he brushed her name etched into his skin. My brows furrow and I look at Kalen. Kalen was the only that could hide from the bond.

He could manipulate it, which is precisely how he managed to kill himself repeatedly. Controlling auras came in handy but also a nuisance for us over the years when he would go missing because, with it, he manipulated our thoughts and emotional patterns. Keepers usually harness their mate’s magic, so it made me wonder if she was blocking us without knowing it.

We searched the entire castle grounds when we suddenly got the first flicker of emotion back from her. It had moved us toward Tobias’s classroom. We spent hours looking for her, and I missed two of my classes by canceling them. Moving toward where Tobias was teaching, I stuck my head in the doorway.

Aleera sat at a desk at the back of the room, a pen in her hand, nibbling on the end as she concentrated. Tobias watched her curiously as he sat at his desk. Walking in, Kalen goes toward her while I make my way to Tobias. ”Care to explain what the f**k happened?” Tobias hissed in a hushed voice. ”Darius, who else? How long has she been here for?” I asked him.

”About an hour. She hasn’t said a word,” Tobias says. ”I didn’t even know she was in here until I finished casting and noticed her sitting at the back. She should be in Darius’s class,” he says. ”She portaled?”

”I ask, and he shrugs, glancing at her and biting his l*p. I looked over at Kalen, who was whispering to her before he took her pen from her, scribbling something on the page she was working on. Her brows furrow as he explains something to her about wayward casts.

”I have a class to teach, so either sit in or get out,” Tobias says, and I glance around to see the demons waiting for Tobias to continue. I wander to the back, pulling a chair out on her other side. I sit down in it heavily and my hand goes to her knee under the table. ”Are you okay?” I whisper to her.

”Never better,” she says, watching as Tobias teaches, and I lean back in my chair and peek over at Kalen, who gives her a strange look but says nothing as he leans back.

”Did she say anything to you about where she went?” I mouth to him, and he shakes his head, dropping his hand on the back of her chair and fiddling with her hair while she jotted stuff down in her notebook. ”Aleera?” Tobias calls to her, and her head snaps up to look at him. He waves her to come to the front of the class, and I sit up straighter, wanting to see what he would get her to do, especially since this was an advanced class; she wasn’t even supposed to take this class.

Her bond flops giddily inside her as she moves closer to him when she suddenly stamps it down so abruptly that Tobias gives her a questioning look before he looks over at us. Turning, I looked at Kalen, who was observing her aura. Kalen tilts his head to the side and leans forward curiously, watching her. I slide into Aleera’s seat next to him.

”What is it?” I whispered, and I saw Tobias glance in our direction, so I knew he was listening; I could also feel Tobias‘ worry about why she was acting so strange, almost indifferent like nothing happened. ”She forced her bond back,” he whispers, and I look at her, noticing how Tobias’s jaw clenched and his eyes flickered, Great, whatever is going on with her, we have Darius to thank.

Just when I thought we were getting somewhere. Now we were back to square one. Darius had some f*****g answering to do. Tobias turns his attention back to her. He asks her to hold out her hand, and a devious smile plays on his lips.

She does looking up at him curiously with bright eyes, excitement filling her at using her magic. As if she was excited to use it, having been deprived for so long, to her, it felt freeing that she didn’t have to hide what she was. At least not here, well, until Darius walked into the room.

She looks over her shoulder at him, and her eyes flicker strangely, turning glassy before she swallows and turns her attention back to Tobias. Her embarrassment came back and zapped through the bond before it turns to anger.

She stamped it down, blocking us back out. Darius leaned on the doorframe with his arms folded staring at her. Everyone in the room watched him as his intimidating aura filled the room. He commanded attention without even trying, and right now, whatever was going on with him, he appeared to be angry with Aleera for ignoring his presence. But Aleera looked just as angry making me worry with the determined glint in her eyes.