CHAPTER 7
1028 Words
Lucien’s laughter echoed long after the sound should have died, the metallic tang of blood thick in the cave air.
Darius stood over his brother’s broken body, chest heaving, golden fur dripping red. Every instinct screamed to finish it—to rip out his throat and end this—but the words still burned in his skull.
He’s gone. Taken.
The world tilted. His wolf snarled in protest, demanding the kill, but Darius forced the shift back. Bones cracked, flesh tore, until he stood naked in the dim light, shaking with more than exhaustion.
“Where is he?” His voice was a growl dragged over glass.
Lucien smirked through the blood matting his jaw. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Darius lunged again, his hand closing around Lucien’s throat like an iron vise. “Don’t play games with me.”
Lucien coughed a laugh, blood bubbling on his lips. “You’ll never get to him in time. The Eclipse will bind him. Make him mine.”
Behind them, Seraphina’s dagger clattered to the stone. “Eclipse?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Lucien’s gaze slid to her, sharp and cruel. “You didn’t tell him? Tsk, tsk, little witch.”
Seraphina went pale, her breath stuttering.
Darius’s grip tightened. “What. Does. He. Mean?”
Lucien’s grin was slow, venomous. “Ask your mate. She’s the one who made the bargain.”
The words dropped like a guillotine.
Seraphina flinched. “He’s lying.”
Darius’s head snapped toward her, eyes blazing. “Seraphina—”
“I said he’s lying!” She stepped forward, fury and fear twisting her features. “Do you honestly think I’d—”
“Would you?” Darius’s voice was low, lethal. “Would you make a deal to keep him safe? Even if it cost me everything?”
Her silence was louder than any scream.
Darius’s jaw locked, the betrayal clawing through his chest. He turned back to Lucien, voice raw. “Where is he?”
Lucien laughed again—mad, broken—and spat blood in Darius’s face. “You’ll see him… at the Eclipse.”
Something inside Darius snapped. One brutal twist—and Lucien’s neck broke with a sound that silenced the storm outside.
The cave was suddenly too quiet.
Seraphina stared at him, eyes wide, hands trembling. “You—”
“He wasn’t going to talk,” Darius said, his voice hollow. He wiped the blood from his face, not meeting her gaze. “And now we know one thing. We’re out of time.”
She swallowed hard. “You believe him.”
His golden eyes finally met hers, blazing with fury and something worse—hurt. “Shouldn’t I?”
Her breath caught. “Darius—”
“Don’t.” He held up a hand, trembling slightly from the weight of everything. “Not now. Not when every second counts.”
He turned toward the cave mouth, the storm raging beyond.
“Where are you going?” she demanded.
“To get him back,” Darius said without looking at her. “No matter what it takes.”
She stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop. “You think you can do this alone? You can’t. He’s my son too.”
His gaze dropped to hers, sharp as a blade. “Our son.”
The words hung between them like an exposed nerve.
Seraphina’s chest rose and fell fast, her magic still humming under her skin. “Yes,” she whispered. “Our son. And if you think I’ll let you tear through half the continent without me, you’re out of your damn mind.”
His eyes darkened. “You don’t get to tell me what I can or can’t do. Not after—” He stopped himself, jaw grinding.
“Say it,” she dared, stepping closer until her chest brushed his. “Not after what?”
He loomed over her, the storm outside no match for the one in his gaze. “Not after you kept him from me.”
Her breath hitched, heat and rage tangling in her veins. “You think this was easy? You think I wanted to hide him?”
“Then why?” His voice cracked, rough with something raw. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you rejected me!” The words tore from her throat like glass. “You made me feel like nothing. Like I wasn’t worth you. How could I trust you with him when you didn’t even want me?”
The silence that followed burned hotter than fire.
Darius stared at her, chest rising and falling like he’d been gutted. And then—slowly—he reached out, his fingers brushing her jaw.
“Seraphina,” he said hoarsely, “I was wrong.”
Her eyes shimmered, silver bright with fury and tears. “That doesn’t change what you did.”
“No,” he admitted, his thumb tracing her cheekbone like a man starving for something he’d lost. “But it changes what I’ll do now.”
Her pulse hammered as his scent closed around her, dark and wild and achingly familiar. “And what’s that?” she whispered.
His lips curved, dangerous and desperate. “Anything. Everything. Whatever it takes to get our son back.”
For one charged moment, the storm outside didn’t exist. The air between them crackled like fire on snow, too bright, too hot. She hated him. She wanted him. And when his forehead dropped to hers, both of them trembling, it felt like a vow written in blood.
But then the thunder cracked again, and reality slammed back in.
“We need a plan,” Seraphina said, voice unsteady as she pulled back—just barely.
Darius’s eyes burned gold in the darkness. “We’ll make one. But first—” His gaze swept the cave, lingering on his brother’s corpse. “We need to burn this place to the ground.”
And with that, he stalked out into the storm, leaving Seraphina to wonder if the fire between them would save them—or destroy them first.
- Writer
