Chapter 85: The Temptation
Melissa’s POV
Like a living creature, the shadows coiled about me, whispering truths I couldn’t fully comprehend. I had the sensation that my body was weightless, as though I were floating in a space between reality and another dimension.
Darius was standing in front of me, dark pleasure shining in his silver eyes. “You feel it, don’t you?” He had a silky, almost hypnotic voice. “The power that has always been meant for you.”
I balled my fists up. “I don’t want anything from you.”
He laughed. “Oh, Melissa… However, you do. You have fought all your life for a place in a world that has never really noticed you, for shards of freedom. Yet here you are, still subject to their regulations. Nothing more than the mate of an Alpha.
A shiver went down my back. “That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” He moved closer, slowly. “Do you think their belief in you is the reason they follow you? Or because you’re Kane’s partner of choice? When they see what you are turning into, do you think they will still support you?
I took a deep breath. “I’m not becoming anything.”
Darius grinned. “Denial, huh? It’s cute, but superfluous. His tone grew softer, even enticing. Melissa, you were never intended to be an Alpha’s mate. You are far more than that. “Don’t you know it?”
I felt a surge of heat as the mark on my wrist burnt once more. I briefly saw a vision of myself standing tall, with a kingdom at my feet and shadows bending to my will.
A monarch.
I gasped.
With his voice almost audible above a whisper, Darius drew closer. “I can grant you that authority. No more suffering. No more being weak. No more terror.
The darkness grew closer to me, encircling my limbs like shackles.
“All you have to do is accept it.”
Scene 2: Kane’s Valiant Battle (600 Words)
The refuge was torn by a snarl.
Kane.
His claws slashed through the air as he leaped at Darius before I could respond. Darius sidestepped with ease, without flinching.
Kane growled out of sheer anger. “Get away from her!”
Darius let out a sigh. “Always so predictable.”
Dark tendrils emerged from his hands with a flick of his wrist, encircling Kane’s arms and legs before he was slammed to the ground.
With his muscles straining against the enchantment, Kane let out a roar.
I reached forward out of reflex as I gasped. “Stop!”
Darius’s eyebrow went up. “Why? Melissa, he’s holding you back. He worries about what you might become into. I’m afraid.
Kane’s teeth were exposed. “The only thing I fear is losing her to a monster like you!”
Darius laughed and clenched his fist. “Are you still not understanding? Alpha, you’ve never been able to prevail in this battle.”
Shadows threw Kane across the room with a sweep of his hand. With a terrible thump, he struck the stone wall.
I yelled, “Kane!”
He let out a groan as he fought to stand. His eyes, wild and angry, never left me, even while blood flowed from his temple.
“Melissa,” he lungs out. “Don’t… let him… in.”
My heart was racing.
Darius let out a loud sigh. “So stubborn.” His face softened as he turned back to face me. “Melissa, he will never get you. Not as I do. He wants you to remain little. Keep you subdued.”
I backed off a little unsteadily. “You’re lying.”
Darius grinned. “Aren’t I?”
In my chest, a glimmer of doubt twisted.
Kane let out a grunt and slowly stood up. “Listen to me, Melissa. You’re not his. You won’t be.
Darius reached out to shake my hand. “The choice is yours, my dear.”
Around me, the shadows surged.
Moreover, for the first time… I was at a loss for what to do.
Scene 3: The Internal Conflict (600 Words)
I stumbled back, my thoughts racing.
Like a black cloud, Darius’s words hung over my mind and seeped into my uncertainties.
I had fought to be more than a pawn in someone else’s game all my life, striving to establish my value. He was here now, giving me all I could want.
Authority, command, and liberty.
But at what price?
I balled my fists up. “I don’t need you.”
Darius remained smirking. “Don’t you?”
The surrounding shadows shifted.
My veins began to heat up once again as the mark on my wrist flared. Images of a world in which I ruled, unopposed and unstoppable, flashed through my thoughts as I took a fast inhale.
I had a profound, underlying desire for it.
I tightened my jaw. “No.”
Darius’s eyes became piercing. “You’re resisting your destiny, Melissa.”
I gave a headshake. “You don’t get to decide that for me.”
There was a faint sparkle in his silver eyes. “Neither does he.”
I winced. I quickly glanced at Kane, who was upright despite his injuries and had ragged breathing. I looked into his piercing, determined gaze.
He said, “Melissa,” in a more steady tone. “Come back to me.”
My throat constricted.
Darius took a step forward. “Or step forward into your true self.”
Like a blade, the decision hung in the air.
I also had no idea which way to go.
Scene 4: The Mirror’s Truth (600 words, Cliffhanger)
The air suddenly became cold.
The flames of the torches around the sanctuary flickered erratically, creating unpredictable shadows on the stone walls.
Then I caught sight of it out of the corner of my eye.
The mirror.
It drew me in with an invisible force as it stood tall, its surface rippled like water.
Darius’s head cocked. “Ah… the truth reveals itself.”
With a forceful gulp, I pushed my feet forward. It was not the reflection I had anticipated seeing looking back at me.
I was the one. Not exactly, though.
A sinister sneer played on her lips as her eyes sparkled with an unsettling silver light. Waves of dark, intoxicating power pulsed off her.
She reminded me of myself.
However, she wasn’t.
Her smirk grew as she leaned in. “You already belong to us.”
My breath caught.
No.
This wasn’t real, sorry.
I could no longer hear Kane’s voice over the increasing hum in my mind. A hand was raised by the reflection and pressed on the glass.
When I realized that her hand was not touching mine, I shuddered.
It was extending its hand.
A piercing, bone-chilling murmur crept into my ears.
“Let go, Melissa.”
The surface of the mirror rippled again.
Then she entered the room.