Tempting Darkness
Chapter 2

They could kill me, and I felt like they genuinely wanted to crush me like a bug beneath their shoes. I have never felt so small in all my life.

"Six years, Aleera. Six f*****g years, and you have the guts to ask for our help? We should have let them f*****g kill you. Have you got any magic left? Because I can't feel it," one of them screamed at me.

I have never feared anyone more than my mates. I knew who they were and what they had done. Now, I was second-guessing my decision to call them.

One of them grasped my hair, my head ripped back, forcing me to stare at the eyes of the one I feared most. Darius Wraith. His name was constantly in the media; nobody in the world feared anyone more than they did Darius Wraith.

And to think he was one of my mates-not that the three others have stellar reputations. No, they were just as dark and twisted as he was. I never understood how I could be fated to be theirs. They were pure dark magic while mine was not like theirs; mine was... well... I wasn't exactly sure, but it was both, yet I felt a far stronger urge to my pure white magic. It made no sense why the fates chose to punish me this way.

They could not get their hands on my magic. It would be dangerous in the wrong hands, and their hands would be the worst. They didn't need more power, especially Darius. He was a demonic fae, and they were the strongest of our kind. He, too, like myself, was the last of his species.

Demon and fae, and here I were, the last of my kind, and mates with the last of his. What were the odds, two dying species fated to each other as if we should create a more incredible monster?

“F*****g answer me, Aleera! Say something!" he bellowed as I clutched at his hand, trying to free his tight grip. He yanked my head back harder by my hair, and I cried out, my hair ripping painfully from my scalp.

"Please, just let me go," I begged him, now wishing I'd chosen death. I was an idiot for even calling on them. A fate with them would be worse. Darius laughed at my pleading, but he let go, shoving me back to the ground. His presence was suffocating me already. "Never, you belong to us, Aleera. We gave you time, and we could have come for you when you were thirteen, but we didn't. You ran from us. We are your f*****g mates!" he yelled. His hands glowed with anger, and I watched as he clenched them into fists. I was readying myself for the blow.

"Bloody monsters," I whispered before I could stop myself. Stupid no brain-to-mouth filter. I instantly regretted the words I never intended to speak out loud.

"What did you say?" Darius snarled. I shook my head, not wanting to repeat myself, knowing that it would be a mistake, when someone suddenly nudged me from behind. His foot connected with my thigh hard, and I could feel my thigh bruising. "Darius asked you a question. Answer him," someone said behind me, his voice velvety smooth, but its coldness sent chills down my spine.

My hair was yanked again, my head jerked back painfully at an odd angle, and I saw the man behind me. His dark hair fell into his green snake eyes when he glared at me. If he weren't so homicidal-looking, I would say he was hot, but the look of rage on his face made me want to cringe away from him. So... he must be Tobias Wraith. I could tell by the fangs protruding from his mouth and, from what I know of him, he is vampiric fae, a f*****g bloodsucker. Nice to meet you too, fuckface. "Answer him now, Aleera. I want to go home, or we will leave you here to rot," he said with a cruel smile, and by the look in his eyes, he'd heard what I said. I said it, and chances were they might leave me here to fend for myself. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I hated that I cried when I was angry. I also cried when happy and sad, too. I just sucked at emotions. Emotions to me were like squirting onion juice in my eye. I guess that's me. Onion girl has a nice ring to it.

"I said, 'bloody monsters," I spat at him through gritted teeth. His smile chilled me to the bone when I felt fingers wrap around my throat, and Tobias suddenly let go of my hair. Darius glared at me, his fingers cutting off my oxygen, and I clutched his hand. His grip only tightened.

"You do not know the sort of monsters we can be. You would have been better off letting those mutts tear you apart because we will never forgive you for what you did. We will make you wish you never called upon us. I will make you wish for death," he snarled before letting go. I sucked in much-needed air, choking on my stolen breath. My throat felt damaged as I tried to breathe through my mangled windpipe.

"Grab her, and let's get out of here," Darius said before a pair of hands grabbed me, and I was tossed over someone's hard shoulder.

The air around me heated and warped, rippling like a stone tossed into a lake, and I was pulled through a portal they had created. The motion and whooshing noise made my stomach turn before being thrown against the concrete floor.

My head bounced painfully off the ground when he threw me off his shoulder. I hit it so hard that darkness swallowed my vision for a few seconds, and I clutched my head in my hands and gritted my teeth through the pain that had just exploded in my skull before hearing creaking and the slam of metal on metal.

Opening my eyes, I looked around to see I was in a cell. Tobias had locked me in with a key. He didn't even glance in my direction before turning on his heel and walking away.