Tempting Darkness

Aleera

My head throbbed, and the back of my eyes ached but not nearly as much as my jaw did. 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 more comfortable. I blinked, trying to clear the blurriness of my vision to find a man sitting next to me. I was 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 blond 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, 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 to them. I wondered where his mind had gone as the color returned, and his eyes were now a startling cerulean blue. "Drink, please," he said, reaching beside me for the tall glass of water. He handed it to me, and I clutched it with 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 poured into my mouth, which was so dry that I gulped it down before nearly choking on it.

"Slow. Not so fast," he murmured, gripping the glass. My fingers tingled where his bumped mine. He slowly tipped the cup up, allowing me to drink what was left in it.

He went to open his mouth to say something else when the door opened suddenly. He turned his head to look at who had entered, and so did I. Tobias was leaning on the doorframe. I quickly looked away from him, back to the man sitting beside me, and I knew who he was.

"You are Kalen?" I whispered, and his face turned back to me. He studied me for a second before shifting closer to me, his hand outstretched, and I wondered if he would 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 said while pushing off the doorframe. Kalen dropped his hand and sighed.

"Why?" he asked, turning to look back at Tobias. His voice was deep yet not cruel, and it didn't make me want to cringe upon hearing it, like Darius and Tobias's voices did.

"You know why. Now, don't make him wait. You know he hates waiting," Tobias told him, his voice different, softer as he spoke to Kalen. Kalen's shoulders dropped as he got up off the bed. I didn't want him to leave. He was the only one that didn't appear to want to kill me. Yet as he moved around the edge of the bed and toward the door, I noticed Tobias would not follow him.

"Close the door," Tobias said, and my heart rate picked up at his words. I glanced toward Kalen, who nodded before giving me a sad smile and shutting the door behind him as he left. Tobias stepped slowly around the edge of the bed, and I moved to the other side, getting ready to run if needed.

He chuckled as if he found 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 said, the softer, kind voice he'd used with Kalen now replaced with a harsh cold one that held a warning. I hesitated to place my foot on the gray carpet. He turned his head to the side, and I brought my leg back onto the bed before tucking both to my chest.

"Good. You can listen," he said as the door opened again. My other three mates walked in. Darius was the most imposing among them. The second was Tobias, but they were all intimidating. Darius and Tobias commanded your attention effortlessly just by their presence alone, 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 tailored to him. The fabric did nothing to hide the bulk of muscle beneath it.

Kalen had on jeans and a black shirt. He was leaner than the others yet still muscular from what I could tell by his arms and the ridges of his abs pressing against his shirt. Lycus, however, was all muscle, having werewolf genes mixed with his fae ones-typical shifter genes.

Lycus's eyes had changed again, making me wonder if they changed with his temperament. He looked pissed off, yet his eyes' color was now amber. Maybe it was the light down in the dungeon. I knew werewolf shifters had deep silver eyes in a semi-shifted or shifted state, so it must have been a trick of the light, which meant this had to be the natural color of his eyes.

Darius folded his arms across his chest, glaring down at me, and I dropped my gaze, unable to handle its intensity; it burned into me with a hatred that made my stomach twist.

"Nothing to say, Aleera?" Darius asked. What could I say? What excuse would he accept that was good enough because clearly 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 me to destroy the world as their personal power source.

Movement caught my eye, and Darius suddenly appeared next to me before gripping my face. His fingers dug into my cheeks as he forced me to meet his demonic eyes. Darkness was all I saw in them. He was evil incarnate.

"I asked you a question," he said, his voice deadly calm when he shoved my face away. I rubbed 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 asked.

"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 said, and Lycus walked over to a door I hadn't noticed before. He opened it, and I saw it was a bathroom. There was another door on the other end, which I guessed led into the room next door.

His words suddenly registered. Did they all share the same room? I stared at them but said nothing when Darius leaned down, making me tilt backward as his hands dropped on the bed on either side of my hips.

My eyes went to the faint outline on his neck, three marks overlapping each other. I blinked in shock, wondering if I'd imagined it. No, it couldn't be. I was their keeper, and mates didn't mark each other; usually, they only marked their keeper. I was the link between them, yet why did he have all three of their marks on his neck? I wanted to know if they all shared each other's marks.

"Is that understood, Aleera?" Darius asked, and I tore my eyes away from his neck to look at his face. I quickly nodded.