Chapter 31
957 Words
The cavern went deathly still.
Midnight’s pulse stopped for one horrible second.
Then everything inside her reacted at once.
The wolf surged. The demon awakened. The shadows trembled violently around her feet.
Malakar.
Her father.
Coming.
The Hollow King watched her reaction with open satisfaction.
“Yes,” it purred. “Now you understand.”
Kael stepped closer to Midnight immediately.
Not in front of her.
Beside her.
The mate bond pulsed hard against the chaos inside her chest, grounding her before panic could fully take hold.
But the demon inside her—
the demon was not panicking.
It was anticipating.
Midnight hated that most of all.
Lucien looked genuinely pale now.
“We need to leave the cavern.”
Kael didn’t move.
His silver eyes stayed locked on the Hollow King.
“When?”
The creature smiled wider.
“Oh, little wolf.”
Its crimson gaze flicked toward the ceiling far above them.
“He’s already here.”
The mountain exploded.
A deafening crack split through the cavern ceiling as black fire erupted downward in violent waves. Stone collapsed around them while ancient abyss energy flooded the chamber like a storm finally breaking loose.
Wolves above the estate began howling.
Not battle cries.
Warnings.
Midnight staggered backward as the demon inside her surged violently toward the new presence entering Black Hollow.
Recognition slammed through her so hard it hurt.
Blood calling to blood.
Kael grabbed her wrist instantly.
“Stay with me.”
The command in his voice cut through the pull enough for her to breathe again.
But then—
a voice echoed through the mountain.
Smooth. Deep. Ancient.
“Midnight.”
Her name sounded wrong coming from him.
Too intimate. Too familiar.
The shadows around the cavern responded instantly, curling upward like smoke reaching toward a king.
Then he stepped through the fire.
Malakar looked nothing like the monster Midnight imagined from her nightmares.
That was the problem.
He looked beautiful.
Terrifyingly beautiful.
Tall and dressed entirely in black, with dark hair falling across sharp features and crimson eyes glowing faintly beneath the collapsing cavern light.
He looked more human than the Hollow King ever had.
And somehow that made him infinitely more dangerous.
The demon inside Midnight reacted instantly.
Home.
Midnight physically recoiled from the feeling.
Kael moved closer to her immediately.
Protective rage rolled off him in suffocating waves.
Malakar noticed.
And smiled.
“Well,” he murmured softly. “That explains the disruption.”
His crimson gaze slowly dragged over Kael.
Assessing.
Displeased.
The mate bond snapped violently tight.
Kael’s claws extended instantly.
“You’re not touching her.”
Malakar looked amused by the threat.
“Little wolf,” he said calmly, “if I wanted to touch my daughter, there is very little you could do to stop me.”
Kael stepped forward instantly.
Silver energy exploded through the cavern.
Midnight grabbed his arm before he could launch himself directly at the demon lord.
The contact sent another pulse through the bond.
Kael froze.
Barely.
Malakar watched the interaction carefully.
Then his expression slowly darkened.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
“The bond is stronger than I expected.”
Midnight forced herself to speak despite the pressure crushing the cavern.
“You stay away from me.”
Malakar’s gaze shifted toward her instantly.
And immediately softened.
It made her stomach twist violently.
“You sound like your mother.”
The room went silent.
Midnight’s chest tightened painfully.
Kael’s expression turned murderous.
Malakar noticed everything.
The pain. The rage. The confusion.
And still he smiled gently.
“I wondered how long they would hide the truth from you.”
“You don’t get to talk about her.”
The shadows around Midnight exploded outward with the force of her anger.
Malakar’s eyes glowed brighter.
Proud.
Actually proud.
“There she is.”
Kael snarled instantly.
“She’s not yours.”
Malakar’s gaze slowly shifted back toward him.
Cold now.
Ancient.
Dangerous in ways that made the Hollow King look tame.
“You continue saying that,” he said quietly. “As though the abyss itself did not form her from my blood.”
Kael moved slightly closer to Midnight.
Territorial instinct radiating through the bond.
“And yet she still chose me.”
Silence hit hard.
Malakar’s expression finally changed.
Not rage.
Worse.
Interest.
The demon lord slowly tilted his head.
“She did, didn’t she?”
The abyss beneath the mountain trembled.
Midnight’s pulse quickened.
Something about the way Malakar looked at Kael now felt dangerous.
Like he’d found a puzzle he intended to take apart.
“You altered her corruption,” Malakar murmured.
Lucien looked deeply uncomfortable.
Kael looked ready to kill him.
Midnight just wanted everyone to stop talking about her like she was an unstable science experiment.
Malakar slowly stepped closer.
The shadows parted for him instinctively.
“You should hate him,” he said softly to Midnight.
The demon inside her reacted immediately.
Not because it agreed.
Because it was listening.
Midnight clenched her fists hard.
“I don’t.”
Malakar stopped moving.
The cavern itself seemed to hold its breath.
Kael’s hand brushed lightly against the small of Midnight’s back.
Grounding her.
Steadying her.
Malakar’s eyes dropped to the touch.
And suddenly the temperature in the entire cavern dropped.
“You love him.”
Not a question.
A realization.
The mate bond exploded violently between Midnight and Kael.
Warmth. Possession. Fear. Need.
Every emotion slammed through her chest at once.
Midnight’s silence answered for her.
Malakar stared at her for a very long time.
Then finally—
he smiled.
But this time there was no warmth in it.
Only something ancient and deeply dangerous.
“Well,” the demon lord said softly.
“That complicates things.”
- Writer
