Page 7 of Night Fae

Zev's starved magic stirred at the waves of terror rolling off Malik. His mouth watered.

If he just reached out…

No.

There was a reason he'd never fed on Malik.

Though he had been tempted more than once. His father was right about one thing; Malik cooked up the most delicious dreams all by himself.

Darius's voice softened. "You can feel it, can't you? The power waiting to be claimed?" He stroked Malik's cheek almost tenderly. "I won't even make you hunt for it. Here's your prey, helpless and afraid. All you have to do is take what's offered."

Malik curled in on himself. Tears leaked from beneath his closed eyelids.

Zev remained firm. "I won't."

"Such noble restraint." Darius rose from the cot, leaving Malik twitching in the grip of his nightmares. "But nobility won't save him. You know what I'm capable of." He approached Zev. "What I taught you to be capable of."

"I won't help you."

"You will." Darius stepped back. "Because every time you refuse, every time you cling to your pathetic moral high ground, I'll be here. Feeding on his fear. Shaping his nightmares." His smileturned razor-sharp. "How long before you break, watching me take what you deny yourself?"

"No," Malik called out weakly. "No. Not Maya."

Darius drifted back to Malik's side. "What was that, little human?"

Malik shuddered under Darius's touch. "No... should've been me..."

Something shifted in Darius's expression. His eyes narrowed, and then a knowing smile spread across his face. "Ah." He looked at Zev. "Now I understand why you won't feed on him." He traced a finger down Malik's cheek. "This guilt, this certainty that he should have died instead of others—it reminds you of yourself, doesn't it? After you ran away and left poor Rhys to die?"

Cold fury enveloped Zev. "Don't say his name."

"Such similar pain." Darius's voice dripped with false sympathy. "Is that why you protect this human? Trying to save him when you couldn't save your wolf?" He leaned closer to Malik, inhaling his fear like perfume. "Or are you afraid that tasting his guilt will make you remember your own?"

"You don't know anything about it."

"Don't I? I know you blamed yourself. Still do." Darius straightened. "Just like this one thinks about his own dead loved ones. Is that what confused you into thinking you need to feel sympathy for a mere human?"

Zev refused to look at his father and looked at Malik instead. His whimpers had quieted to shallow, uneven breaths. The silence felt worse somehow.

"I'll give you time to think about your choices. The potion I gave him will wear off in a few hours." Darius moved toward the exit. "You know what you have to do if you want to get out of those chains." The door closed behind him with a heavy thud.

Malik's breathing hitched.

His fear saturated the air still, rich and oh so tempting.

Darius was right; Zev knew exactly what he had to do to gain the power to free himself from the chains that bound him.

But he'd be playing into his father's hands, unleashing something inside of himself that would be difficult to contain, and his family would be right there to shape the hungry monster inside of him into whatever formtheywanted.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Zev wouldn't become what his family wanted him to be. Not after they'd killed Rhys.

If that meant going hungry while he breathed in the scent of a delicious meal… so be it.

A broken sound escaped Malik's throat, punctuating the silence between them, reminding Zev that once again, someone was suffering because of him.

Zev closed his eyes.