Dean’s POV
It took Elena getting possessed—and dying—for Kane and I to finally stop the damn pissing contest and agree on one thing:
She was ours.
Equally.
Our mate.
Not his. Not mine. Ours.
And we could share her—love her—without tearing each other apart trying to outdo the other.
My plan worked.
Twisted? Yeah. Manipulative? Maybe. But it worked.
I have to give credit where it’s due. The witches, with all their conniving, planted the seed. Their plan was cruel—strengthen the darkness in Elena by feeding it, until it consud her entirely. Until we both died in the process, leaving her a perfect vessel for whatever the hell they’d summoned.
But I flipped the script.
They underestimated .
I figured it out.
The key wasn’t resisting her or fighting the darkness—it was not finishing inside her.
Because when she climaxed without receiving our seed, it reversed sothing in the bond. Instead of us feeding her darkness, she was losing sothing. That’s when I felt it shift.
The first ti I spilled outside of her, I felt the darkness loosen. Just slightly. But it was enough.
And in that mont of weakness, I took it.
I absorbed it.
Just like I’ve been secretly absorbing Kane’s darkness all along.
He doesn’t know.
Or didn’t.
That’s why I let Kane fuck her. Why I didn’t fight him when he pressed up behind her and made her scream. I let him take her while I held her, worshiped her, praised her. And neither of us ca inside her. Not once.
We made her cum over and over—until her body trembled, until the darkness began to crack. And each ti, I absorbed a little more.
Until she finally collapsed. Her body limp, her energy spent, her eyes clear again for the first ti in what felt like forever.
She was herself again.
And ?
I dropped next to her, barely able to breathe. My body burning. My veins humming. The darkness I’d pulled into myself howling like a beast caged just under my skin.
And Kane...
When he looked at ?
I knew.
He knew.
He saw what I did.
The question now is—will he thank ?
Or hate for it?
The witches said it would kill .
And I think... it is.
The mont the last of Elena’s darkness bled into , I knew sothing inside had snapped. Broken. Maybe beyond fixing.
I barely had ti to think—to breathe—before I grabbed Kane and told him to lock up.
Imdiately.
No argunts.
As he half-dragged, half-carried to the playroom, I caught a glimpse of myself in the hallway mirror—and it nearly brought to my knees.
My eyes were black.
Not dark. Not shadowed.
Pure fucking black—the sa way Elena’s had looked when the darkness took her.
Only mine were worse.
The veins in my body were turning black, bulging against my skin, pulsing like they were alive. I could feel them growing, twisting under my flesh like snakes. It was like molten lava was flooding through , burning everything in its path.
And inside?
It felt like lava was flowing through .
Burning. Boiling. Eating alive from the inside out.
By the ti Kane got to the playroom, laid down on the bed, and started tying down, I was barely conscious. Barely human. My muscles spasd under my skin. My mouth opened in a raw scream I couldn’t stop, the sound ripping out of like a dying animal.
I was barely hanging on. He tied down quickly—thank fuck for that—because I wasn’t sure I could keep myself from hurting soone. Hurting her.
The second the restraints clicked into place, I scread.
It felt like my entire body was tearing itself apart from the inside.Like my bones were boiling.Like my soul was ripping loose.
I knew, without a doubt, this was my end.
I was dying.
And still, through the haze of agony, my mind was clear on one thing:
Elena.
She couldn’t know.She couldn’t see like this.
She would bla herself. She would never forgive herself.
So, between ragged, gut-wrenching screams, I forced Kane to promise :
"Go to her.""Stay with her.""Don’t let her see like this."
He didn’t want to leave.He wanted to fight on it, like the stubborn bastard he is.He even stayed the whole fucking night, holding my hand while I lost pieces of myself to the thing eating alive.
But when morning ca, when my strength was gone and my voice was wrecked from screaming, he finally did what I asked.
He left.
Left to burn.
Left to die alone.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
Because if Elena saw like this—If she knew what was really happening—
It would break her.
And I would rather die a thousand tis over than ever be the reason she shattered.
I was fading.
Slowly. Painfully.
Like the darkness was peeling away one breath at a ti.
Every heartbeat felt like a hamr, every inhale like fire in my chest. The black veins had spread to my neck now, crawling up to my face like they were trying to consu from the outside in. I couldn’t even lift my arms anymore—the restraints were aningless now. I was too weak to fight. Too tired to scream.
The worst part wasn’t the pain.
It was the silence.
That crushing, eerie silence after Kane left. The playroom was dark except for a single dim bulb overhead, casting long shadows across the walls like ghosts watching unravel. The very bed I’d once tied her to in lust and dominance now held captive as I died from the very thing I tried to save her from.
I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on.
Minutes?
Hours?
Maybe less.
I wanted to believe I was strong enough to fight it—to beat the darkness like so goddamn martyr. But the truth was, I was slipping.
Piece by piece.
mory by mory.
I thought of her. Of Elena.
Her smile when she thought I wasn’t looking.
The way she said my na when she ca undone.
The sound of her laugh, the taste of her skin, the warmth of her hands—
Fuck.
She couldn’t know.
Not like this.
She couldn’t see like this: broken, monstrous, dying from sothing I willingly took inside just to save her. Because I loved her.
God, I loved her.
And Kane? He didn’t say it out loud, but I knew. I saw it in his eyes before he left. He was grieving already, like he’d buried and walked away from the grave. But I told him to go. I made him promise to protect her, to lie if he had to. Because if she knew the truth—what she’d done, what I’d taken on—she’d never forgive herself.
And I couldn’t let that happen.
I’d rather rot here alone.
I was already halfway gone anyway.
My vision blurred. My breathing slowed.
I was sinking into the dark.
And I didn’t know if I was ever coming back.
Reviews
All reviews (0)