Kane POV:
Have you ever felt your soul wrenched out of your body? Like hot silver searing through your veins, burning you from the inside out?
That’s what it felt like.
That unbearable, gut-clenching pain that only meant one thing—Elena was fucking someone else.
I gritted my teeth, my fists clenched so tightly that my claws dug into my palms. My breath came in harsh, uneven waves as I tried to push the thought away, to stop imagining her beneath another man, her body writhing, her lips parting, her moans—fuck.
I just hoped it wasn’t who I thought it was.
Ace.
My fucking enemy.
Me and him had bad blood long before this. Ever since he came back and found out that Laura—the woman he was supposed to cherish, the one fate had tied to him—had already been broken beyond repair. But fuck, it wasn’t my fault.
It wasn’t my fault that the girl had been obsessed with me.
It wasn’t my fault that she signed the contract knowing damn well what she was agreeing to. She had a choice. No one held a fucking knife to her throat.
She knew the rules.
She knew that when the contract ended, I wasn’t going to renew it. She knew what she was getting into, but still—still, she became too fucking clingy, too desperate, too lost in her own twisted devotion.
It wasn’t my fault that she started stalking me, showing up uninvited, begging for more. It wasn’t my fault that she became fascinated with my desires, with my darkness.
And it sure as fuck wasn’t my fault that she didn’t preserve herself for him.
But none of that mattered to Ace.
To him, I was the villain. The one who ruined her. The one who left her a hollow shell of the girl he once knew. The one who stole something from him that he could never get back.
And maybe that’s why he was doing this. Maybe that’s why he had Elena now—because he wanted to take from me the way he thought I had taken from him.
I sucked in a sharp breath, my claws digging deeper, drawing blood.
Did he force her?
No.
That bastard wasn’t the type.
At least, not from what I’d seen. He had his bitterness, his rage, but he had never been a fucking rapist. If anything, the way he’d treated Laura—the way he’d still tried to love her despite everything—proved he wasn’t that kind of monster.
But I wasn’t naive enough to be sure.
Not when it came to me.
Not when it came to his hatred for me.
What had he told her?
What lies had he whispered into her ear to make her give herself to him?
Because there was no way in hell Elena would do this willingly. Not unless he had twisted her mind, made her believe things that weren’t true, made her hate me enough to let him touch what was mine.
I exhaled sharply, my jaw tight, my vision darkening at the edges.
I could take anything. I could endure any fucking pain the world threw at me.
But not this.
Not Elena.
And whether she had given herself to him willingly or not—whether she had surrendered to him, let him claim her in ways that only I should have—I was still going to rip his fucking hands off for touching her.
And his stupid fucking dick for ever daring to be inside her.
Dean POV:
New fucking development.
Ace was on the verge of going rogue.
And the amount of darkness he was releasing was
excessive.
So much that even
I
couldn’t absorb it all, and that was saying something. The energy was thick, suffocating, tainted with rage, grief, and something deeper—something more twisted.
The worst part?
Some of it was slipping into Elena.
That’s why she was
currently
fucking someone else.
And hell no, I
wasn’t
happy about it.
I hated
every
fucking bit of it.
Hated that she gave herself to another while I was yet to have her. Hated that Ace had his hands on what should have been mine. Hated that Kane—arrogant, selfish Kane—thought he had any
right
to feel betrayed when he’d spent his whole damn life destroying people without a second thought.
If I could, I’d
snatch
Elena away right now.
Take her to the ends of the world.
Leave Kane and Ace to
kill each other
for all I fucking cared.
So yeah, I had to release
a lot
of darkness just to keep myself sane, and with each passing day, I was running out of rogues to
kill and torture.
And nope—nobody knew about it.
Apparently, while
Kane
was in fucking bed, too weak from Elena’s "betrayal" (which, by the way,
served him right
), I was the one actually
doing
something.
I was out here
working,
searching for witches, trying to find someone who could help me out with that
illusion
Elena had told me about.
Because if Ace had
witches
on his side, it meant we weren’t just fighting a
man
—we were fighting
magic.
I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
One second, I was in the middle of tracking down a witch—following the scent of burned sage and damp earth—when a
force
yanked me.
Not physically.
Mentally.
It was sudden, disorienting, and something I
never
expected.
I stumbled into a different plane, a different
space.
It was
her
space. Elena’s.
And fuck—
She was
naked.
I barely had time to register where we were before my eyes landed on her. Wet, glistening under the dim bathroom light, her skin flushed, her chest rising and falling in deep, uneven breaths. Her pupils were
dilated
, lips swollen, her whole body
radiating
something dark.
Something wild.
Something that wasn’t entirely
her.
"Elena," I rasped, my voice rough, strained. My instincts screamed at me—
something was wrong.
This wasn’t just lust. This wasn’t just her reaching out to me because she
wanted
me.
Something was
feasting
on her.
The darkness.
I cursed under my breath, moving so fast that I barely registered closing the distance. My hands found her face, gripping it gently but firmly, forcing her to look into my eyes.
"Elena," I said again, but fuck—she wasn’t
listening.
She wasn’t
thinking.
She was
feeling.
Her arms wrapped around my neck, her lips crashing against mine, and fuck—I was
done.
Whatever darkness was sinking its claws into her had already sunk its claws into
me.
And I wasn’t about to fight it.
Elena POV:
After our morning
activities
in Ace’s office, I had to go back to my room to shower—but not before he reminded me that I still owed him one more kiss.
I didn’t know what it was, but after fucking Ace, something in me felt...
off.
Darker.
There was this strange pull inside me, this restless energy pushing me to be
recklessly wild.
And the worst part?
I
didn’t
feel guilty about betraying my mate.
If anything, it felt like a
thrill.
A dangerous, intoxicating rush, like walking on the edge of a knife and daring it to cut.
Hell, if Ace hadn’t cuffed me, I
would
have choked him as I rode him.
Who the fuck was I becoming?
I didn’t care.
I didn’t
want
to care.
As the warm water cascaded over my body, I leaned against the tiled wall, closing my eyes.
And fuck—
I
needed
to be fucked again.
Ruined.
There was this voice inside me, whispering, urging me on.
Be wicked.
Be insatiable.
The warm water cascaded down my body, steam curling around me like a sinful embrace. My skin was
burning
—but not from the heat of the shower.
Fuck.
My body
ached.
My thighs squeezed together involuntarily, desperate for friction, for
more.
I trailed my hands down my body, over my stomach, up to my breasts, rolling my nipples between my fingers. A sharp gasp escaped my lips as pleasure shot through me. I squeezed, hard—tugging, teasing, my back arching into my own touch.
But it wasn’t
enough.
My free hand slid lower, fingers skimming over my stomach before reaching the slick heat between my thighs. My breath hitched as I parted my folds, my fingertips brushing against my throbbing clit.
So wet.
I circled it, slowly at first, biting my lip as waves of pleasure rippled through me. My hips bucked instinctively, chasing the sensation, but it still wasn’t
enough.
I needed
more.
Sliding two fingers inside, I moaned, my walls clenching greedily around them. I thrust deeper, curling them, pumping them in and out, my other hand still toying with my nipple. The combination sent sparks of pleasure licking up my spine, my legs trembling as I rode my own hand.
But even as my body hummed with sensation, even as my breath grew ragged and my moans filled the steamy air—
it still wasn’t enough.
I wanted to be
ruined.
I wanted to be
taken.
Frustration built inside me, my body aching for something
more,
something
deeper.
And then it
hit
me—
Dean.
My mind
called
for him, my body craved him.
A sudden pull, a tether snapping into place.
And before I could even register what was happening—
He was there.
Materialized right in front of me.
His eyes, wide. Shocked. Confused.
I must have done what he usually did to
me
—slipped into his mind, dragged him into my space.
But fuck, I didn’t care.
Dean’s gaze darted around, taking in the bathroom—the
steam,
the water dripping down my bare skin—before his sharp, dark eyes locked onto mine.
He cursed under his breath.
Then, in an instant, he was
on me.
One hand gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. His pupils were blown, a war raging inside them.
"Elena," he growled. "The darkness... it’s
feasting
on you."
I didn’t call him here to
talk.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and crashed my lips to his.