Page 17

Chapter

Seventeen

Nana Jolie and Great Aunt Leona sat across from me in Leona’s house. Both were stone still after I explained everything to them about the darkness, the anger, the bloodlust, and the trio. My face burned as I explained what had happened yesterday with Kayden, but I needed to explain how I’d watched my darkness bleed into his aura.

I had left out the demons and the necklace, not wanting to admit anything about that for now.

After almost thirty seconds of silence, Nana Jolie leapt from her couch to mine and hugged me tight while petting my hair. “You poor thing! I can’t believe you’ve kept this in for so long. Oh, baby!”

I would not cry. I would not cry. I would not cry!

She released me and Great Aunt Leona reached across to take one of my hands. “Sweetheart, I wish you had come to us sooner.”

“Honestly, it was realizing the guys had been infected that really sent things over the edge for me.”

“You’ve been struggling with this darkness on your own even though we told you to talk to us. Why?”

“It’s very rare that it gets out of hand,” I explained. “Like I said, I’m more worried about the guys.”

“Well, we know your darkness isn’t contagious or your family would have it as well,” Great Aunt Leona said. “Jolie and I would have it with how much we interacted with you after you absorbed the spell.”

Nana Jolie nodded her agreement.

“And the heat yesterday, that’s something females experience sometimes when surrounded by males during highly fertile times. It’s very rare to happen, but it can. You should be fine and not have to deal with it soon, but if you do, you definitely need to get away from any alphas you don’t trust,” Nana Jolie explained.

“Do you think there’s a way to remove the darkness from the trio?” The chance it would change their feelings for me were high, but I would deal with whatever repercussions there were so long as they were safe.

“We need to inspect one of them,” Nana Jolie said. “Do you know if any of them are available today?”

“I think they all went on a demon hunt this morning,” I said and pulled out my phone to check the group chat they had started. They’d said the group chat was necessary so I could notify all of them if I encountered demons and needed their help. I hadn’t argued. Messaging, I asked how the hunt was going. They immediately responded it was done and they were home. “They’re all home,” I answered.

“Let’s ask them all to come so we can inspect each of them,” Nana Jolie said. She turned to Great Aunt Leona and asked, “Do you want us to do this somewhere else?”

She shook her head. “Here is fine.”

“I’ll text them,” I said.

Me: Can you come to Great Aunt Leona’s?

Mason: Demons?

Me: No, not demons.

Trey: Is something wrong?

Me: That’s what they want to determine.

Kayden: We’ll be there in twenty.

“They’re on their way,” I said, sighed, and leaned back with my eyes closed.

“You’re worried they’ll change how they feel about you?” Great Aunt Leona asked.

I nodded.

“We’ve known those boys their entire lives and I am pretty certain this won’t change anything between you four,” Nana Jolie said and patted my shoulder.

She didn’t know that, but I appreciated her trying to ease my worry.

“Let me get some snacks,” Great Aunt Leona said and went into the kitchen. “Anytime there are multiple alpha males, they need snacks or they get grumpy.”

Keeping my eyes closed, I tried to stay calm and collected, to keep the darkness from activating at all.

Everything would be fine.

We would find a way to extract the darkness from the guys, they’d still be friends with me, and we’d move on with our lives with them in a better place.

We snacked on a charcuterie board of salami, cheeses, crackers, and some delicious jellies and mustards while we waited for the guys. It always amused me how simple snacks like this could be so enjoyable.

Kayden threw open the door and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Great Aunt Leona rolled her eyes. “Always the dramatic one. Sit down and relax, Kay.”

Kayden and Mason rushed over to sit on either side of me.

“I apologize for him barging in like that,” Trey said and kissed them each on the cheek before he sat next to Kayden.

“We brought you here because Lily is worried that she somehow infected you guys with the darkness that she has from the spell she absorbed,” Great Aunt Leona explained. She squinted her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and a second later, her eyes widened. “Well, you do have some, too.”

“We’ve had it since we made the mating promise,” Mason said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“What?” Kayden asked.

“I can see auras. Not all the time, but when I try, and I noticed it appear after that night,” he explained. Shrugging, he added, “Since it didn’t change anything, I figured it was fine and didn’t mention it.”

Great Aunt Leona tapped her lips. “Interesting.”

“We’re going to have Lily try to extract it from you,” Nana Jolie said.

“Why?” Mason asked. “If it doesn’t harm us, why remove it?”

“Because it’s not supposed to be there,” I snapped. “Because it could have changed you without you realizing it if it happened that long ago.”

“I have a theory,” Kayden said. “What if you sharing the darkness with us, giving us part of it, is helping you deal with it since you don’t have as much now?”

“How do I extract it?” I asked Nana Jolie, ignoring his theory.

“You have to consider it,” Kayden said.

“You aren’t supposed to have it, so it needs to be extracted,” I said. “End of story.”

“What if taking it back causes you to have more issues?” Trey asked.

“Then I’ll deal with it.”

“To extract it, you have to focus on the darkness in them, and the darkness in you, and pull theirs back into you. Imagine it drifting like smoke to you,” Nana Jolie explained.

“Okay, let’s try,” I said and turned to Kayden.

“What if we don’t want it extracted?” Mason asked. “What if we’re fine holding it?”

Taking a deep, cleansing breath, I closed my eyes and focused on the darkness within me. Opening my eyes, I saw my hair was glowing and casting rainbows around the room. Eyes focused on Kayden’s aura, I imagined his darkness drifting from him to me, to join the rest of it in my center.

His darkness swirled higher and higher, moving until all of it was near his head. His eyes glowed a deep purple and his pupils became slitted, like snake eyes.

“Don’t do it, Lily,” he whispered. “I can feel how much it is. It’s only going to hurt you to take on more.”

“It was mine to begin with,” I whispered back and imagined the smoke turning into a rope so I could pull it into me. Immediately, it all zipped out of him and into me, making me gasp and my back arch as it filled me. His darkness merged with mine and it swirled higher within me.

“How do you feel?” Nana Jolie asked Kayden.

He leaned back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “Lighter and also like I’m missing something at the same time.” Clutching at his chest, he said, “Much calmer than I’ve felt in a long time.”

“See,” I whispered as I grit my teeth, “it changed you. You’re not supposed to have it.” Focusing on Trey, I said, “Your turn.”

“Are you sure?” he asked with a scowl.

Instead of answering, I started the extraction process. When I pulled his from him, he moaned as he fell back against the couch. “So much lighter, but … I feel like Kayden, that I’m missing something.”

My teeth ground together and I had to close my eyes against the darkness surging within me, begging for an outlet already.

“Don’t do it, Lily,” Mason whispered and stood off the couch. “You’re already glowing super bright and I can see you straining against it. I’m known as a loose cannon. Just let me keep mine. I don’t care if it’s altered my personality. I am who I am.”

Opening my eyes, I looked at him and said, “You have the most of the three. At least double what the others had. You deserve to be who you are truly supposed to be. Who you should have been had I not infected you.”

He knelt in front of me, took my face in his hands, and said, “I am who you need, and who you need is someone to help you deal with the darkness.”

Setting my hands on top of his, I said, “I need you to be who you’re supposed to be, Mason.” Before he could pull out of my hold, I began extracting the darkness.

“No,” he whispered as it slipped out of him. “Lily, stop. Please.”

“Almost done,” I whispered and grunted at the strain I felt trying to get his. There was so much in him and as I merged it with my own, I felt full of darkness. There was so much I didn’t think I would be able to suppress it.

He whimpered as I released him.

Standing, I headed out of the house through the backdoor. “Stay back!” I ordered everyone as I stumbled across the grass towards the field. I wanted blood, no needed blood. The more the better. Rivers of blood. A deep pulse thrummed within me, growing louder and louder by the second.

“Nana, shield around me!” I screamed.

“Lily, what’s wrong?” Great Aunt Leona asked.

“It’s going to explode,” I gasped and clutched at my chest, trying to keep it inside of me, but I knew it was in vain. “Nana! Shield!” If she didn’t put a shield around me, I wasn’t sure what would happen to anyone who got hit with the blast.

“Give it back!” Mason shouted. “Give it back to us so we can help you!”

I shook my head and continued to stumble away from them, trying to get farther away.

Mason tried to follow me, but Great Aunt Leona grabbed his arm, stopping him.

Nana Jolie put the shield around me, a translucent bubble that would keep others from getting to me and would contain the power. “Are you sure, Lily? Are you sure you don’t need something else? What if it hurts you?”

It was possible the power exploding out of me would hurt me, I knew that, but there was no other way.

Mom teleported into the yard, surveyed the situation, and asked, “What’s going on?”

“She took it from us,” Mason snarled. “She took it and now it’s going to hurt her! Give it back, Lily!”

“She said it feels like it’s going to explode,” Nana Jolie informed Mom.

Dropping to my knees, clutching at my chest, I could barely breathe. My heart hammered in my chest and my lungs ached for more air. The pressure from the darkness built higher and higher, spreading all throughout my body. Looking at my arms, I could see it leaking out of me, like steam off my skin. There was so much darkness in the shield that I couldn’t see out of it anymore.

“Lily!” Mason, Kayden, and Trey screamed.

The build reached a crescendo and I screamed as it exploded outward. A feeling of weightlessness filled me, a sensation of being underwater.

Darkness surrounded me, pulsed within me, was me.

I was the darkness. The darkness was me. One and the same.

Someone pounded on the shield around me, several voices screamed, but I couldn’t understand any of it.

My necklace warmed against my chest.

“Accept the darkness,” a deep, unfamiliar voice said. “Accept it and make it yours. Once you’ve made it yours, forced it to accept you as the one in charge, you won’t have to fear it. Once it’s yours, you will be its master and it will do as you order.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“A friend,” the voice replied. “Now, accept it, force it to submit to you. Become the person you are supposed to be.”

“Who is that?”

“A goddess,” the voice whispered.

The necklace cooled and the cool feeling gave me a bit more control.

Doing as they said took a lot longer than I liked, but once I got the power under control, I was able to absorb it back and extinguish it.

With the smoke gone, I could see out of the shield.

Trey, Mason, and Kayden were on their knees in front of the shield, staring inside. All three looked terrified.

Grandpa Nico, Mom, Caleb, Riddick, Triston, Branson, Nana Jolie, Great Aunt Leona, and Great Uncle Silverowl all stood around the shield as well.

Getting to my feet, I stretched my arms out to my side, drew in a deep breath, and summoned the darkness. It swirled and wrapped around my arms and morphed into a black smoke snake with red eyes. The smoke snake looked at me with reverence. “You will do as I say,” I told it.

The snake dipped its head in acknowledgment.

Closing my fist, the snake disappeared, the darkness went back within me, swirling in my body, but calmly, and I realized I no longer felt the bloodlust like I normally did when it was moving within me.

Looking up at the trio, I smiled and said, “New power unlocked.”