The Dark Rising (The Hidden of Vrohkaria Book Two)
The Dark Rising: Chapter 30

I side eye Darius as I eat the meat and vegetables on my plate. His mouth is set in a hard line as he stares at the empty wall at my back, the one where his father was, and I refuse to ask him about it. I don’t want to know his thoughts, I don’t want to know why all the pictures were removed.

We haven’t spoken about anything in detail. Him whipping me, my past, his father being involved. Nothing. It’s all just surface level, and I’m not sure I even want to go deeper.

He seems to refuse to acknowledge what he did to me. Either ignoring it completely or changing the subject. Does he really not care?

We know why we need to be around each other, but does he not feel… regret?

I can’t help but wonder if the Highers had given me to him to punish had I not escaped, would he have been just as bad as those that hurt me? It’s stupid considering he whipped me, so I should think that’s enough to show me who he is, but emotionally is where I hurt the most with him. I understand why he hurt me in that hall, I understand he was following his orders to protect his men, if what Leo said was true, and that I was believed a traitor to the lands. I would do the same for my pack, but he hasn’t come out and said so himself. Though deeper, so deep down inside of me, I want to scream at him about why he didn’t choose me. Why, for once, couldn’t someone just choose me. None of these thoughts make me feel any better.

I sigh and pick up my mug of fruity water, gulping it down my suddenly dry throat. Sweetness explodes over my tongue and I enjoy every swallow. We never had anything like this back at Eridian, and I empty my mug. I rub the back of my neck when I’m done, my body feeling achy. The battle within me is starting to really take its toll and the only explanation is what I have been told. About not being one with Runa. No matter how many hours I sleep, I still feel tired and drained. I don’t know how much longer this can go on for, but Runa still won’t budge.

I’ve gone with Darius to the willow trees one other time to try and get Runa out with no luck. She’s so stubborn, but I think it’s more than that.

She’s afraid of what will happen when she comes out, traumatized by the one and only time she did. We both were. Now is the time to overcome that though, so much is at stake, and I have no idea how to make it happen. I hate the fact that either he or I are going to have to use force to get her to come out. I can feel the resistance weakening every time, but time isn’t on our side. We can’t move forward and plan to save my pack, the people Charles has taken, and take care of the rogures if I can’t even use my power without being controlled or it draining me.

Charles is stronger than most, you can feel it from him when he lets you, and he let me know a lot when he would come down to the basement. His dominance, his strength, his cruelty. Then there’s the other Highers and his supporters to also take into account. What good would it do to storm the castle only to get killed before we even got started. I also can’t risk Kade, I have no doubt he would use him as a shield if he needed to.

I clench my hands on the table at the thought.

It’s been too long since I’ve seen him, since he spewed hurtful words at me and refused to come with me. Every time I think about him my heart cracks open all over again. I know it’s not him fully, his mind has been messed with, but it still hurts nonetheless. When Darius told me he’s still at the castle, I don’t know if I’m relieved that he’s there rather than back in Zakith in our old home. Then there’s the rest of my pack being Gods knows where. I need to get them, need to make sure they are safe and take them to Witches Rest. I have no doubt Belldame will take them in, keep them safe.

“Are you going to your father’s?” Leo asks out of nowhere, and I look up and see him looking at Darius.

My eyes move to him just in time to see his jaw tick. “Yeah, I’ll leave soon.” I swallow, wondering why he’s even going there and look back down at my food, not hungry at all anymore. “Rhea will be coming with me.”

My head snaps up. “The fuck I am.” My voice raises, an edge of panic in it, and I hate how his eyes turn sharp at the sound.

“You are, there may be some things there that may help us show Vrohkaria what the Highers have been up to. My father was very close with Charles. I haven’t been to that house since the day my family passed. He liked to store information and collect things. There will be something there, no matter how small.”

“Then just go, grab what you need and come back, I don’t need to be with you,” I argue.

“You’re coming.” The finality in his tone makes me bristle.

“Were do you get off thinking you can just pull a leash and I’ll follow.”

His smirk turns seductive, and I resist the urge to clench my thighs together at the sight.

For fuck’s sake.

“Don’t give me ideas, little wolf, it would be a sight to see you with a collar around that pretty little neck of yours.”

My cheeks heat and Sebastian chokes on his food. “Hot damn, do I get to see this?”

Darius snarls at him while Josh clips Seb around the back of the head.

“Give it up,” Taylor gripes.

“It was worth asking.” Sebastian shrugs and goes back to his food as Colten snorts. Anna sighs.

“What do you want us to do in the meantime?” Leo asks Darius as I watch Josh carefully put more food on Sarah’s plate, getting a small, shy smile from her in return.

I look away.

I’m glad Sarah is able to come down and eat with us, but I still feel betrayed by Josh on how we got here, and then I feel guilty because Sarah may not even be here if he didn’t push me. Then we also wouldn’t have the Elites seemingly on our side.

I’m still not sure I can trust them.

“I want you to continue going through the Elite’s records and see who has ties to the Highers,” Darius tells Leo. “If their family pack has an alliance with them, if their parents have a relationship with them.”

“You don’t know who to trust?” Hudson asks, sitting back in his seat.

“If the Elites were made solely for the reason of hunting Heirs, and with two of them under one roof, one being known and one not, I expect a knife will be in my back at some point. We can’t let them know Rhea or any of you are here at the moment until I know for certain whoever is under my roof is trustworthy, otherwise they will run their mouths to the Highers.”

“Do you not have protection around the keep?” I wonder.

“Protection arranged by the Highers,” he tells me.

“Well shit,” I mumble.

“Definitely,” Jerrod says.

“We are changing it to Darius’s barrier instead, but he has to do it slowly so it doesn’t tip off the Highers witches,” Leo says, taking a drink. “What do we do if any Elites have close ties to the Highers.”

Darius’s lips peel back. “Then we watch, listen and learn. The outcome of their life depends on what we replace.” He stands and walks around the table to me, nodding his head in the direction of the door. “Come.”

I raise a brow at him and fold my arms. “I told you, I’m not going—“ I’m picked up and thrown over a large, muscular shoulder, an arm clamped around my thighs. Before I know what’s happening, we are walking out of the large room. “What the hell? Put me down right now!” I shout, wiggling for him to release me. My hair hangs as he moves, the strands hindering my vision. I claw at his back and his hisses.

“Hush.” A sharp pain comes from one of my ass cheeks through my shorts and my mouth drops open.

The fucker just bit me.

I’m too stunned to do anything but blink as we walk down the hallway and step into another room. He closes the door behind him with a kick of his boot and then walks forward. I’m suddenly upright, then my ass hits a solid surface. I shake my head as dizziness overcomes me and blink a few times until I see I’m sitting on a desk. Darius is rummaging through the shelves to my right, moving books and objects.

“I can walk you know,” I grumble, taking a hair tie out of my pocket and putting my hair up in a high ponytail.

“I never said you couldn’t.”

“So don’t pick me up like a sack of grain.”

He looks at me over his shoulder, his smirk devious. “Why would I stop doing that when I can throw you around and put you where I want you. Next time I’ll put you on my cock.”

Uhhh. What?

“The fuck, Darius,” I sputter, eyes wide and trying to banish the memories of him moving inside of me. What is wrong with me?

“Fuck being the word, yes. We will fuck, a lot.”

“I don’t want to fuck you.” Oh what’s that, ha yeah. Hello, denial. Gods dammit.

I hate that he’s the only thing at the moment that could make me feel good if I allowed it, even for a few moments. When he touches me, my worries are non-existent and I can’t replace another way to let go.

He’s in front of me in the next second, his lips a touch from mine. “Little liar.” He feathers kisses along my jaw to my neck, and I grip the sides of the desk tightly, trying to keep my breathing even. Gods damn his mouth. His hands land on my thighs and spread them roughly. I let out a squeak in surprise. Unable to resist with him touching me. He puts himself in between them as he nips below my ear, and I shiver. He growls low, licking and biting and I’m damn near panting. “You were happy enough to get off on my fingers, let’s see how much you want to come on my tongue.”

My stomach pools with heat.

His hand comes to the back of my neck in a firm hold, keeping me where he wants me as he licks from the bottom of my throat, to the swell of my breasts above the neckline of my tank top. I feel his power come to my nape, and my body relaxes at the touch instantly, the feeling of rightness flowing through me. His free hand comes up, pulling my top down at the front and biting my nipple through my bra. I whimper, resisting the urge to burrow my hands in his hair to keep him there, to keep this feeling of being wanted by my enemy that seems to be the only one who can make me feel alive.

I begin to wonder how this is even happening, but then thoughts leave me as he continues to lick and bite and I don’t care anymore. I just don’t care.

“Are you wet for me, little wolf?” he murmurs against my flesh. I squirm, unable to keep still. “If I pull these shorts down, would I replace your panties wet? When I run my tongue over them, would I taste you?” His groan is low. “Do you know how much I want to taste you? To have you directly on my tongue, down my throat and inside of me?” I pant. “You have no fucking idea how much I crave you.”

I moan at his words, unable to help the arch in my back. The hand on the back of my neck tightens, and then he’s pulling me down until my back is flat on the desk. I peer up at him, the heat in his eyes making me squeeze my legs at either side of him. He licks his lips, trailing his gaze over me until he zeros in between my thighs. His eyes flick up to me as he reaches down and unties the string on my shorts, dragging them down my legs and throwing them off to the side. His nostrils flare as I’m sure he sees the dampness on my underwear, and he growls huskily before he dips his head without a second thought and inhales.

I jolt at the small touch as he runs his nose up and down my panties, and then he moves to lick on either side of my underwear as I tremble. He groans, his hands gripping my waist tightly, his fingers digging in as he stops my squirming when he moves his tongue in circular motions over my clit through the material. I suck in a breath at the feel of heat, wanting more of it, not caring that this is insane. As if hearing me, my underwear is suddenly gone and he stares at the space between my legs.

“Fucking dripping,” he growls, and then his mouth is on me, devouring me, tasting me.

“Oh fuck.” I let out a long moan, my fingers going to his head and gripping his hair tightly as I tip my head back and close my eyes, feeling everything he’s doing to me. What only he can do to me.

No one has done this to me before, and this new feeling of his mouth on me, the heat of it, the smooth glide of his tongue as he tastes me has me opening my eyes to look at him. The sight of him between my thighs, the sounds he’s making as if he’s been needing this more than air sends something feral unfurling inside of me. His gaze clashes with mine, his so dark, dominant, and possessive, it just adds to the pleasure building within me. I could stop this, I could let my power out and shove him off me, I could tell him to stop and I know he would. But I don’t want this to stop, I want more.

“Darius,” I breathe as he moves lower to my entrance, and then his tongue is inside of me. The noise he makes is more animal than male, and he groans as he tastes me properly for the first time. I whimper as he continues to use his tongue to get me closer to the edge.

He moves back up to my clit, and his tongue moves in a circular motion that has my breath hitching, my legs shaking. He wants me to come, I can see it in his eyes, they way they glint as he keeps them on me.

“Has anyone ever tasted you like this?” he growls, his power floating from his hands and over my stomach.

I shake my head. “Never.” My reply is a breathy whisper as more heat pools in my stomach.

His eyes darken further, a possessive rumble coming from his chest. “You taste of wildness,” he murmurs against me. “Of sweetness, power. Mine.” Two fingers are suddenly inside of me, then curling as he bites down on my clit, and I’m soaring. Long groan comes from me as my back comes off the desk. I feel myself clenching around his fingers, hearing how wet I am as he thrusts them in and out of me. He removes his fingers suddenly, his tongue replacing them as he lets out a low groan as he cleans up every bit of me. His fingers will leave prints with how hard he’s grabbing my waist as he pulls me closer to his mouth, licking me everywhere and making sure he gets every last drop. “Delicious,” he growls into me, giving my clit one last lick that makes me jolt with how sensitive it is.

I slump back against the desk, vaguely aware that something is digging into me, but I’m too relaxed to care. Darius’s mouth is gone from me, then he moves until his lips are on mine. I give in and open for him. I can taste myself on his tongue as it devours me, and it makes me moan, loving and hating that I’m inside of him in some way, just like he said.

“Now we are ready to go,” he whispers against my lips, and I watch him with half-lidded eyes as he nips my jaw and gets up. He gathers my shorts, gently pulling them up my legs before lifting me by the waist in one arm, pulling them back on me. With no underwear in sight, I raise a brow at him. He lifts them and shows me the material before he puts them in his pocket, like they are his to keep.

“They’re mine,” I tell him, my body still high on the pleasure he just unexpectedly gave me. He takes a hold of my arms and pulls me up.

“Not anymore, little wolf.” I huff, and his smirk is down right dirty as he licks his lips. “Nothing is solely yours anymore.” I scowl at him, but he chuckles and moves over to the shelf as I right my clothes, ignoring how my bra scrapes against my sensitive nipple where he had his mouth on it.

“What was that about,” I mutter, still catching my breath.

He doesn’t turn around as he speaks. “I knew going to my father’s wouldn’t exactly be what you would call a ‘good time’, for either of us.” he says, his voice low. “I wanted to taste you before we went there.”

“Why?” I ask, tilting my head.

He walks back over to me, sliding his hands up my bare thighs and I shiver, ignoring how his lips tip up at my reaction to him. “Because with the taste of you still on my tongue, with you less tense because of me.” His eyes are full of smugness at that. “I can take you in there knowing that you don’t belong to him, or anyone who came before me. Or anyone who had ever put their hands on you, or watched you.” He growls the last word, his eyes flashing black and I swallow roughly. “They don’t own any part of your body, Rhea. You didn’t give it to them freely, you didn’t let them see you freely. You will never be in that position again, little wolf.”

“Like I was outside Witches Rest?” I snark, trying to deflect how his words settle something deep inside of me. He lets out a deep breath, his jaw ticking, like he hates what he saw. My eyes slip away. “So you wanted to claim some sort of ownership instead?”

“You already know I own you.” I scowl and he chuckles like it’s funny. “You wanted what I gave you, even if you are too stubborn to ask.” I wouldn’t even know how. Gods, my cheeks heats even thinking about it, but he’s right. If he can take me out of my own head for a few moments, give me something other than the pain I feel after everything that has happened, I’ll take it. Even from the enemy. “We don’t have to like each other to give pleasure, but it isn’t a chore for me to be between your thighs, little wolf. I wanted my mouth where it hasn’t been before, and I would gladly suffocate from it. Owning you, tasting you, making you squirm until you come on my face again and again,” he whispers in a low tone, and I squeeze my thighs together, my sensitive flesh throbbing. He smirks, dipping his head and nipping at my neck. “I would gladly keep you in my bed, sated, satisfied, clawing at my back as I make you beg for more. That day will come, little wolf. My cock will be back where it belongs.”

“You can’t say things like that,” I tell him. Does he want me mindless? Because my body seems to like his words and I haven’t got a Gods’ chance in Vrohkaria of stopping my reaction to them.

“You don’t like hearing the things I want to do to you?” I look away from him, my cheeks now on fire. He presses his hard cock into me, letting me know just how he feels about where his cock should be. “I thought so.” I huff as he runs a finger down my cheek, before rubbing his nose with mine. “Adorable,” he chuckles. “Time to go.”

“Adorable?” I ask, my eyes wide but we are already porting out of there.