Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Aleera POV
I was sitting huddled under the nkets trying to get warm. The room was freezing since someone had
opened a window, and the bloody thing was jammed open. I had asked Tobias if h e could shut it. He
even watched me struggle with the damn thing as I tried to pull it closed, giving up when it hurt too much
to stand. So I had gone and climbed in bed, wrapping the nkets around me like a cocoon.
–
He said not one word and had ced my food in the room and left. I was starving, and I was pretty sure I
inhaled my food without tasting it. I was that hungry from barely eating all day and starting to feel shaky.
Darius walked in, and I was too cold to be scared. Freezing as the frosty night air seeped into the room
and my aching bones. Darius walked over, gripping the handle on the window and yanking it shut. I
watched his every movement carefully while wondering what he wanted now. Was he here because he
didn’t get to punish me earlier for skipping sses? I didn’t doubt it. He hated me. They all hated me,
and I didn’t believe me running was an eptable excuse, as if they wouldn’t have done the same.
Yet despite me hating him too, I also couldn’t deny the bond. The bond made me crave them. My entire
body told me I needed them even if I didn’t want them, and I hated myself for it. Yet also longed for
interaction after so much solitude, longed for touch and to feel some semnce of normality. I wanted
rest without having to look over my damn shoulder. I wanted for once to feel wanted.
I haven’t had any of that since nana died. I missed my nana terribly, missed when she was alive, and I
had somewhere to call home before I was tossed into the care of the Fae Authorities and institutionalized
at boarding school with nothing left but memories of what I once had and lost.
Darius’s entire body was tense as he moved toward me. I was too cold to care what he did to me at this
point. I watch as mes spurt from his fingertips and form a sphere in his hand. Darius then tosses it at
the small firece; the wood instantly caught alight. The mes erupt up the chimney before dying down
and crackling loudly.
Darius’s hands were fisted at his sides as he approached the bed. Now I couldn’t me the cold for all
my shaking as his
intimidating frame stood over me. It made it more obvious how easy it would be for him to hurt me or end
me. His lips turned up as he snarled down at me.
He reached for the nket and yanked it off. My body jerked forward, and I nearly toppled off the bed
headfirst. He growled, gripping my shoulder and tossing me backward on the bed. My eyes widened as
he reached toward me again. His hand grabbed my ankle as he yanked me toward him, a shriek left my
lips, and I kicked my legs out, trying to free myself as h e trapped my ankles on the bed.
My knee came up as I tried to break free, he snarled, and it connected with his mouth. Darius’s nails
sunk into my skin when his aura rushed out, halting my breath as I began to choke on it. Like invisible
hands gripped my throat, and I wed at it. His aura is so much stronger than anything I had ever felt. I
couldn’t ce where I felt something simr. Tears welled in my eyes as my hands pawed at my neck; he
ripped the bandages covering my feet off.
His hand sped over the bottom of my foot when he dropped his aura, leaving me gasping for breath.
My heart was pounding painfully against my ribs as I sucked in much needed air. He lifted my foot,
examining it before growling and cursing under his breath. He dropped my foot, I scrambled away from
him on the bed, and my back smacked the headboard with a thud in my haste.
“You really like causing issues,” he sneered, wiping his bleeding lip. His tongue darts out. It ran across
the split where my knee connected with his face, and my eyes widened as he rubbed his fingers
together. His eyes dart to mine, and the anger behind them made my throat thicken like something had
lodged in it. I swallowed in horror as he moved towards m e, awaiting the blow I was sure woulde
when he stopped i n front of me.
His lip still bleeding, and his blood dribbled down his chin again, and he wiped it again.
“Kalen wants me to heal you,” he spat venomously, it was evident he didn’t want to when his eyes darted
to my feet briefly, and he sighed before they flicked to me, his lips tugged in the corners briefly.
N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.
“Kiss me,” I blink at him.
“Wh..a..t?” I spluttered at his words, confused.
“You need my blood to heal, so kiss me,” I shake my head, horrified at what he asked. He couldn’t be
serious.
“So you would rather walk around with your feet like that?” M y eyes dart to my throbbing feet that
seemed to now have their own pulse. My blood-stained the cream-colored sheets from m y thrashing.
“Maybe you could get one of the others,” I didn’t want to get that close to him, just being in his presence
was bad enough, let alone close enough to touch him. Darius growls at my words.
“Then forget it,” he says, turning on his heel to leave the room. My feet ached, the swelling making my
skin shiny, and I would have to walk around on them. But why did I have to kiss him for him to heal me?
“Wait,” I blurted out.
He was my mate, so it wouldn’t be that bad. Although I didn’t want to waste my first kiss on this monster,
but my feet ached,
and surely it wouldn’t be that unpleasant, right? The bond zapped to life as my thudding heart pumped
faster at what I agreed to do. Darius stopped and looked over at me. He smiled before walking back
toward the bed. He stopped looking at me. I stared at him. Why was he making it more awkward?
“Haven’t got all day Aleera,” Darius said in tauntingly. My eyes dart to his full lips as his tongue darts out.
He smiled, and I hated how my heart skipped a beat at the sight. I hated that h e could hear it too.
“Aleera,” He says, annoyed; my face heats, and I hesitantly knelt on the bed. Darius just stood there
waiting. Couldn’t he bend down or something. He sighed and raised an eyebrow at me. Moving off the
bed, I stood before him. I hissed as pain rippled across the bottoms of my feet that felt spongy to walk o
n. The bond zinging in my blood urged me to go to my mate, wanting me to touch him even though he
hurt me.
Yet he was still too tall, so I looked up at him. I chewed my lip feeling very ufortable despite the
bond urging me closer. Stupid bond. cing my hand on his shoulders, I stood on my tippy toes, and
Darius gripped the back of my neck, and I sighed, relieved that he wouldn’t make me humiliate myself
more as he tilted his face toward mine. I feel his breath fan my lips, and his fingers tangle in my hair. His
nose brushed mine softly, my heart hammered harder as his scent overwhelmed m e, and I leaned closer
when he startedughing.
My head was yanked back painfully by my hair. My hair tugged so hard I cried out, clutching his hands as
I tried to lessen the pain.
“I wouldn’t kiss you if you were thest person on this earth. You don’t deserve love, only pain.” .
Hurt rippled through my chest as the bond went berserk at his rejection, and my stomach sank at his
words. I didn’t want to d o it in the first ce, yet his words stung more than they should; like he just
reached into my chest and crushed my heart in his hand.
“But it was entertaining watching you struggle with the bond that you ignored for 6 years,” he snarled at
me. He bites his wrist before jamming it over my mouth. His blood flooded into my mouth, and I choked
when I couldn’t swallow fast enough.
Sputtering, he shoves me away andughs before turning away and heading to the door.
“All meals from now on are in the mess hall. The less we have t o see you, the better,” he spits at me.
Leaving me upset due to the stupid bond. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand, and he mmed
the door, locking it and leaving me gasping for air, clutching my chest as pain rippled through me. The
moment he was gone, hot tears flooded my eyes and spilled
over, running down my cheeks. I hated him.
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