Tasting Darkness

Chapter 9

Aleera POV

My head throbbed, and the back of my eyes ached but not nearly as much as my jaw does.

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 comfortable. I blink, trying to clear the blurriness of my vision to find

a man sitting next to m e, and I am 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 blo

nde 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, almost 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 t

o them. I wondered where his mind went as the

color returned, and his eyes were now a startling cerulean blue.

“Drink, please,” he says, reaching beside me for the tall glass o f water. He hands it to me, and

I clutch it in 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 glass to my

lips. The icy liquid pours into my mouth, which is so dry I gulp it down before nearly choking on it.

“Slow. Not so fast,” he murmurs, gripping the glass. My fingers tingle where his bumped mine.

He slowly tips the cup up, allowing me to drink what is left in it.

He goes to open his mouth to say something

else when the door opens suddenly, and he turns his head to look at who entered, and so do I. Tobias le

ans on the doorframe. I quickly look away from him, back to the man sitting beside me, and I know who h

e is.

“You are

Kalen?” I whisper, and his face turns back to me. He studied me for a second before shifting closer to me

, his hand outstretched, and I wondered if he was going to 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 says while

pushing off the doorframe. Kalen drops his hand and sighs.

“Why?” He asks, turning to look back at Tobias. His voice was deep

yet not cruel sounding and didn‘t make me

want to cringe at the sound of it like Darius and Tobias‘s voice makes me.

“You know

why now don‘t make him wait. You know he hates waiting,” Tobias tells him, his voice different, softer as

he spoke to Kalen. Kalen‘s shoulders drop as he gets up off the bed. I

didn‘t want him to leave. He is the only one that didn‘t appear to want to

kill me. Yet as he moved around the edge of the bed and towards the door, I noticed Tobias would not foll

ow him.

“Close the door,” Tobias says, and my heart rate picks up at his words, and I glance toward

Kalen, who nods before giving me a sad smile and shutting the door behind him as he leaves. Tobias ste

ps slowly around the edge of the bed, and I move to the other side, getting ready to run if needed.

He chuckles like he finds 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 says, the softer kind voice he used with K

alen gone, replaced with a harsh cold one, that held a warning. I hesitate to place my foot on the grey car

pet. He turns his head to the side, and I bring m y leg back onto the bed before tucking both to my chest.

“Good, you can listen,” He says as the door opens again. My other three mates walk in.

Darius is the most imposing out of them. The second was Tobias, but they

were all intimidating. Darius and Tobias commanded your attention effortlessly just by their presence alon

e, 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 tail

ored to him. The fabric did nothing to hide the bulk of muscle beneath

1. it.

Kalen had on jeans and a black shirt. He was leaner than the others, yet still muscular from what I could t

ell by his arms and the ridges of his abs pressing against his shirt. Lycus, however, was

all muscle with having Werewolf genes mixed with his Fae ones. Typical shifter genes.

Lycus‘ eyes had again changed, making me wonder if they changed with

his temperament though he looked pissed off, yet his eyes color was now amber. Maybe

it was the light down in the dungeon. I know werewolf shifters had deep silver eyes i n a semi–

shifted or shifted state, so it must have been a trick o fthe

light, which means this must be the natural color of his eyes.

Darius folds his arms across his chest, glaring down at me, and I drop my gaze, unable to handle

the intensity of it; it burns into me with a hatred that makes my stomach twist.

“Nothing to say, Aleera,” Darius asks, and what could I say. What excuse would he accept that is good en

ough because murdering my parents and burning my family home down wasn‘t a good enough reason to

run from them? If I told them the other reason, they would probably pin me down and use m e to destroy

the world as their personal power source.

Movement catches my

eye, and Darius suddenly appears next t o me before gripping my face. His fingers dig into

my cheeks a s he forces me to meet his demonic eyes. Darkness was all I saw in them. He

is evil incarnate.

“I asked you a question,” He says, his voice deadly

calm when he shoves my face away. I rub my cheek where his nails

dug in a little too hard, breaking the skin.

“You will remain in this room between classes if you leave this castle without permission. You will

find yourself back in the cells, understood?” Darius asks.

“Don‘t try to run Aleera, our room is right next door, and

I will have guards stationed on the stairs. They have permission to

use force if necessary,” Tobias says, and Lycus walks over to a door I hadn‘t noticed before.

He opens it, and I see it is a bathroom. Another door on the other end, which I

am guessing, leads into the room next door.

When his words suddenly register, did they all share the same room? I stare at them

but say nothing when Darius leans down, making me

tilt backward as his hands drop on the bed o n either side of my hips.

My eyes go

to the faint outline on his neck, three marks overlapping each other. I blink in shock, wondering if I imagine

why did he have all three of their marks on his neck, making me want to know if they all shared

each other‘s marks.

“Is that understood, Aleera?” Darius asks, and I tear my eyes away from his neck to look at his face. I quic

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