“Kneel to your Queen,” I demand, my voice strong despite feeling on the verge of breaking and giving into the darkness. Dominic grits his teeth, trying to fight my command, and I pull on the bond feeling for their auras, and Ezra and Mateo don’t fight me when I take some of theirs, borrowing it to strengthen mine and bringing the Alpha to his knees in front of me.
He growls menacingly, and his neck cracks as he fights the urge to bear it to me. No matter the fight he put up, my command was too strong, and he is forced to submit. Shocked, silence falls, and I feel for what energy I have left, feeling the darkness tainting the edges of my power and snuffing out its light. I know I’ll pay for it when I leave. Ezra and Mateo will have to deal with me because the darkness that swallows me scares me.
Turning, I use my aura, shoving out as far as it would go, and one by one, they fall, every person taking a knee and baring their necks to me as I fight to keep my sanity. I fought to stay calm when all I wanted to do was run from the darkness, eating away at me. I drop the command and let out a breath.
“You may rise,” I tell them.
“Yes, my Queen,” all but one voice echoed back at me. Dominic growls, but he realizes he is beneath me now, yet didn’t speak the words he should have. I haven’t got time to force it out of him, I needed to get out of here before everyone here becomes a casualty of a war with my mind they didn’t sign up for.
“This meeting is dismissed,” I tell everyone, and they get to their feet, rushing off quickly. I stare at Dominic before turning my back on him when Ezra moves in a blur past me as a growl of fury roars from behind me. I turn to see Ezra grip Dominic’s neck as he lunges at me with his claws out.
Ezra’s hand is wrapped around his neck before he slams him to the ground. I hear Dominic’s breath wheeze out of him at the force, and I hear the bones in his neck cracking. Walking over to them, I place my shaking hand on Ezra’s shoulder.
“Apologize to your Luna Queen now,” Ezra commands him. Dominic rushes out an apology, one I know he doesn’t mean when Ezra leans in next to his ear.
“You ever try to attack my mate again? The only place left for you will be 6 feet under, your corpse rotting away in a wooden box. Are we understood?” Ezra growls. Dominic nods, and Ezra growls before shoving off him. Dominic clutches his throat, coughing, and Ezra drapes his arm over my shoulders and escorts us to where Marge and our kids are waiting.
“We need to get you home,” Ezra whispers, feeling the darkness overwhelming me and trying to suck me under. Mateo and Ezra both force their auras over me, and I keep drawing on them. Knowing it is the only thing stopping the Gemini craze from taking over. Something we couldn’t afford with me locked in the car with the kids.
Approaching everyone, I knew they could feel the energy oozing off me. I was a ticking time bomb, we all knew it, and for once, I recognized the crazed parts of me trying to take control.
I stop next to the car and watch Marge and Mateo place the kids in their seats. My fear spiking at the thought of being trapped in there with them.
“Sage, Jonah, do you mind hopping in with Mateo, Marge, and the kids? Andrei, I need you to take Kat and me home,” Ezra tells him, feeling the darkness building within me, my anxiousness only fueling it more. Mateo walks over and grabs my face, kissing my lips.
“Fight it, Kat,” he whispers, and I nod my head, trying my best not to let it in, but it was calling to me, promising to fix everything if I gave myself over to it.
Sage and Jonah climb into our car, and Ezra opens the back door, climbing into Andrei’s car and pulling me in with him. Andrei glances at me in the mirror as he starts the car.
“Tell me if you need me to pull over,” he says, and Ezra nods before I feel the shift in the bond as he hands over control. Looking up, I see Maddox peering back at me.
“I got you, Kitty,” he purrs, holding me tighter. He sweeps my hair over my neck, kissing my mark and warning me not to lose it. I turn my neck, giving him better access if he needs to sink his teeth into me. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, especially those I love, and I trusted Maddox to take me down if needed.
Katya
The drive feels like it is taking forever. Each second is agonizing as I feel the icy dread of darkness creeping in, twisting and warping my rational thought. How have I never noticed this before? How have I never felt this writhing within me?
Of course, I have always been aware of the darkness, but mostly, I only see the aftermath and don’t have to witness what I actually do. I feel like a bystander in my body, yet for the first time, I am fully aware of what it does to me, its coldness, and the way it controls me and my thought patterns.
No wonder I never remember much and would have to go off the word of what my mates said about what has happened.
It makes me feel like a blackout drunk, only this time I am startling sober to watch what becomes of me. My limbs are no longer mine like I become the alter ego of the darkness as it wraps me in its embrace, calling me to the deepest parts of my mind. It whispers that if I just give in to it, it will erase everything that hurts me.
With startling clarity, I realize the darkness I saw the last time was there because I was not fighting, but succumbing to the bliss it offered. If I just shut it off, if I let it have me. I let it have control because I could never identify it before. I couldn’t hear the whispers until it was too late.
This time I feel the rush of its smooth caress, the coldness seeping in and tainting my mind, clouding it and weighing it down like extreme exhaustion. Just give in and sleep, and tomorrow will be a new day. But if I do, what would the storm’s aftermath look like? I listen to the madness of its calling and fully identify myself within it.
The only thing grounding me is the purring from Maddox, the rumble of his chest against my back. His warm embrace holds me here, as I focus solely on him. He is keeping me fighting it, helping me to stay forward and not give in to it. I always confused it with anger, but it is so much more than that.