Alpha's Dark Desires-Chapter 194: Dark Claws

Dean’s POV

It took Elena getting possessed—and me dying—for Kane and I to finally stop the damn pissing contest and agree on one thing:

She was ours.

Equally.

Our mate.

Not his. Not mine. Ours.

And we could share her—love her—without tearing each other apart trying to outdo the other.

My plan worked.

Twisted? Yeah. Manipulative? Maybe. But it worked.

I have to give credit where it’s due. The witches, with all their conniving, planted the seed. Their plan was cruel—strengthen the darkness in Elena by feeding it, until it consumed her entirely. Until we both died in the process, leaving her a perfect vessel for whatever the hell they’d summoned.

But I flipped the script.

They underestimated me.

I figured it out.

The key wasn’t resisting her or fighting the darkness—it was not finishing inside her.

Because when she climaxed without receiving our seed, it reversed something in the bond. Instead of us feeding her darkness, she was losing something. That’s when I felt it shift.

The first time I spilled outside of her, I felt the darkness loosen. Just slightly. But it was enough.

And in that moment of weakness, I took it.

I absorbed it.

Just like I’ve been secretly absorbing Kane’s darkness all along.

He doesn’t know.

Or didn’t.

That’s why I let Kane fuck her. Why I didn’t fight him when he pressed up behind her and made her scream. I let him take her while I held her, worshiped her, praised her. And neither of us came inside her. Not once. freewebnøvel.coɱ

We made her cum over and over—until her body trembled, until the darkness began to crack. And each time, I absorbed a little more.

Until she finally collapsed. Her body limp, her energy spent, her eyes clear again for the first time in what felt like forever.

She was herself again.

And me?

I dropped next to her, barely able to breathe. My body burning. My veins humming. The darkness I’d pulled into myself howling like a beast caged just under my skin.

And Kane...

When he looked at me?

I knew.

He knew.

He saw what I did.

The question now is—will he thank me?

Or hate me for it?

The witches said it would kill me.

And I think... it is.

The moment the last of Elena’s darkness bled into me, I knew something inside me had snapped. Broken. Maybe beyond fixing.

I barely had time to think—to breathe—before I grabbed Kane and told him to lock me up.

Immediately.

No arguments.

As he half-dragged, half-carried me to the playroom, I caught a glimpse of myself in the hallway mirror—and it nearly brought me to my knees.

My eyes were black.

Not dark. Not shadowed.

Pure fucking black—the same way Elena’s had looked when the darkness took her.

Only mine were worse.

The veins in my body were turning black, bulging against my skin, pulsing like they were alive. I could feel them growing, twisting under my flesh like snakes. It was like molten lava was flooding through me, burning everything in its path.

And inside?

It felt like lava was flowing through me.

Burning. Boiling. Eating me alive from the inside out.

By the time Kane got me to the playroom, laid me down on the bed, and started tying me down, I was barely conscious. Barely human. My muscles spasmed under my skin. My mouth opened in a raw scream I couldn’t stop, the sound ripping out of me like a dying animal.

I was barely hanging on. He tied me down quickly—thank fuck for that—because I wasn’t sure I could keep myself from hurting someone. Hurting her.

The second the restraints clicked into place, I screamed.

It felt like my entire body was tearing itself apart from the inside.Like my bones were boiling.Like my soul was ripping loose.

I knew, without a doubt, this was my end.

I was dying.

And still, through the haze of agony, my mind was clear on one thing:

Elena.

She couldn’t know.She couldn’t see me like this.

She would blame herself. She would never forgive herself.

So, between ragged, gut-wrenching screams, I forced Kane to promise me:

"Go to her.""Stay with her.""Don’t let her see me like this."

He didn’t want to leave.He wanted to fight me on it, like the stubborn bastard he is.He even stayed the whole fucking night, holding my hand while I lost pieces of myself to the thing eating me alive.

But when morning came, when my strength was gone and my voice was wrecked from screaming, he finally did what I asked.

He left.

Left me to burn.

Left me to die alone.

And that’s exactly how it should be.

Because if Elena saw me like this—If she knew what was really happening—

It would break her.

And I would rather die a thousand times over than ever be the reason she shattered.

I was fading.

Slowly. Painfully.

Like the darkness was peeling me away one breath at a time.

Every heartbeat felt like a hammer, every inhale like fire in my chest. The black veins had spread to my neck now, crawling up to my face like they were trying to consume me from the outside in. I couldn’t even lift my arms anymore—the restraints were meaningless now. I was too weak to fight. Too tired to scream.

The worst part wasn’t the pain.

It was the silence.

That crushing, eerie silence after Kane left. The playroom was dark except for a single dim bulb overhead, casting long shadows across the walls like ghosts watching me unravel. The very bed I’d once tied her to in lust and dominance now held me captive as I died from the very thing I tried to save her from.

I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on.

Minutes?

Hours?

Maybe less.

I wanted to believe I was strong enough to fight it—to beat the darkness like some goddamn martyr. But the truth was, I was slipping.

Piece by piece.

Memory by memory.

I thought of her. Of Elena.

Her smile when she thought I wasn’t looking.

The way she said my name when she came undone.

The sound of her laugh, the taste of her skin, the warmth of her hands—

Fuck.

She couldn’t know.

Not like this.

She couldn’t see me like this: broken, monstrous, dying from something I willingly took inside just to save her. Because I loved her.

God, I loved her.

And Kane? He didn’t say it out loud, but I knew. I saw it in his eyes before he left. He was grieving already, like he’d buried me and walked away from the grave. But I told him to go. I made him promise to protect her, to lie if he had to. Because if she knew the truth—what she’d done, what I’d taken on—she’d never forgive herself.

And I couldn’t let that happen.

I’d rather rot here alone.

I was already halfway gone anyway.

My vision blurred. My breathing slowed.

I was sinking into the dark.

And I didn’t know if I was ever coming back.

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