Alpha's Dark Desires-Chapter 198: Back To The Begining

Elena POV

The night didn’t end.

It just folded into another, darker day.

Kane had stopped trying to talk to me hours ago. Maybe he finally realized I didn’t want his apologies or explanations—I wanted Dean. I wanted answers that didn’t sound like cages. And I wanted my rage to stop eating me alive.

He thought I was sleeping. I wasn’t. I hadn’t slept since that scream was torn out of Dean’s throat.

I waited.

Waited until Kane’s footsteps faded down the hallway, his aura dimming, the house falling into silence. He was giving me space—good. Because I didn’t want him near me. Not right now.

I moved slowly. Quietly.

Every floorboard felt like it would give me away, like the house itself was trying to stop me.

But I didn’t stop.

The corridor that led to the playroom was colder than the rest of the house. The air felt heavier the closer I got, like it was pushing me back. My skin prickled. My instincts screamed at me to turn around.

I didn’t listen.

I reached the door.

Locked.

Of course.

But Kane had always been the forgetful one. And in his rush, he’d left the key in the lock.

My fingers trembled as I turned it.

The door creaked open slowly.

And there, behind me—of fucking course—was Kane.

"Elena," he said sharply, his voice catching like a snapped wire. "Don’t."

I ignored him.

"Elena," louder now. "You can’t go in there. It’s not safe."

"I need to see him," I whispered.

"He’s gone." His voice cracked, a tremor in his chest.

"Then let me say goodbye." My eyes were already welling.

He stepped forward, trying to block the door, but I shoved him with all the fury in my bones. He didn’t move.

"Don’t make me hurt you," I hissed.

"You can’t—"

I reached for the door handle.

"Elena—"

Too late.

The door burst open.

And what I saw inside—

Nothing.

No Dean.

Only his clothes, torn and blackened, lying crumpled on the bed.

And above them—something that should not exist.

A cloud of darkness.

Not smoke. Not fog. Something alive.

It pulsed.

It breathed.

It watched.

Before I could even scream, the black mass lunged.

Straight for Kane.

"KANE!"

He didn’t move in time.

The darkness slammed into him, wrapping around his head like a noose of shadow. It was horrifyingly fast—rushing into him through every opening it could find.

His mouth opened wide in a silent scream as it forced its way down his throat.

His eyes rolled back.

Blood trickled from his nose.

And then his body—

It arched violently as though strings were being pulled inside him, convulsing, slamming against the doorframe.

"No—no—NO—" I screamed, lunging forward, trying to pull him back, but the coldness of the dark cloud bit into my skin like ice and fire at once.

Kane’s body jerked again—his arms flailing like a puppet being possessed—and his eyes snapped open for a moment.

Pitch black.

No iris. No white.

Just darkness.

"GET OUT OF HIM!" I sobbed, clawing at his arms, trying to shake him, trying to wake him up.

The black smoke kept pouring in—endless.

As if Kane’s body had become a vacuum, sucking in the evil I thought had died with Dean.

But Dean hadn’t absorbed all of it.

No.

He’d only contained it.

And now it needed a new host.

And Kane—

Kane was the nearest vessel.

His back slammed against the wall behind him, the wood cracking.

His mouth moved, like he wanted to say something, but no words came—just black mist leaking from his lips before being reabsorbed through his skin.

I cried harder, shaking him.

"KANE, PLEASE—FIGHT IT! DON’T LEAVE ME TOO!"

No answer.

The smoke didn’t even acknowledge me now.

It was in him.

Like it had always been waiting.

Like this was its plan all along.

Kane finally collapsed forward, his knees hitting the ground. His body folded in on itself like a marionette with its strings cut. Limp. Still.

But I could see the veins beneath his skin already turning black. Just like Dean. Crawling like ink beneath the surface, growing thicker with each heartbeat.

I dropped beside him, sobbing into his chest, pressing my ear to his heart.

It still beat.

Fast. Too fast.

"Please, please, come back," I whispered, my tears soaking into his shirt.

He twitched.

Slightly.

I backed away instantly.

And his hand snapped up, grabbing my wrist with bone-crushing force.

I gasped.

"Kane?" My voice was barely a breath.

His head tilted slowly, unnaturally slow, until his gaze met mine.

And the thing looking back at me—

It wasn’t Kane.

His lips curled into a smile that wasn’t his. Too wide. Too cruel. Too knowing.

"Elena," he said.

But it wasn’t him.

It was the darkness wearing him.

My body went rigid.

He stood, still holding my wrist, dragging me up with him like I weighed nothing.

And then he leaned in, his lips brushing my ear.

"You should’ve let him die alone."

My blood ran cold.

I ripped away from him, stumbling backward, heart hammering in my chest, vision swimming with horror.

He didn’t chase me.

He just stood there.

Watching.

Smiling.

Waiting.

*******

The silence that followed Kane’s collapse was unholy. fгeewebnovёl.com

I stood frozen, mouth agape, eyes wide and unblinking as his body jerked and convulsed on the cold floor. The smoke—no, the thing—had slithered into his body like liquid night, pouring through his nose, ears, mouth, and even his fucking pores.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream. My knees buckled and hit the tiles. I crawled to him, my hands trembling as I reached out—terrified but unable to stop.

"Kane?" I whispered, shaking him. "Kane!"

His eyes shot open. Pitch black.

I screamed.

I ran.

Terror clawed at my throat. I didn’t even know where I was going—I just needed to find someone. Someone who could fix this, stop this, do something.

I failed you, Dean.

Now I’m going to fail him too.

The hallway blurred, a frantic smear of walls and shadow. My bare feet pounded against the wooden floor, heart hammering like a war drum. I turned a corner and slammed full force into something solid. I reeled back, dizzy—

Only to find an old woman standing before me, unmoving.

She was wrapped in a tattered cloak the color of dead leaves, a wooden staff gripped in her hand, the gnarled top shaped like a twisted serpent. Her face was deeply wrinkled, eyes a stormy grey that saw through me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I could only sob.

"Child," she said. Her voice was smoke and bone and time itself. "He’s begun, hasn’t he?"

I choked. "W-What? Please—I need help. Kane—something—something took over him. A smoke, it—it came from Dean and—and now it’s in Kane and he’s—he’s—"

Her lips tightened.

"It was bound to happen. It was only ever a matter of time."

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" I screamed. "Help me! We need to do something!"

She studied me. Then slowly, she turned and beckoned me to follow her into the parlor just off the hallway.

I hesitated. But something about her made my legs move. Like her presence commanded obedience.

The room was lit with candles, smoke curling from incense sticks, strange runes drawn on the floor.

"Sit," she said.

I didn’t.

"Tell me what’s happening," I snapped.

She gave a slow nod. "You’ve earned the truth. It’s far too late for anything less."

She moved to the center of the room and tapped her staff to the floor. The rune circle lit up in a crimson glow, pulsing like a heartbeat.

"Your Kane and your Dean," she began, "are not what you think they are."

I opened my mouth, but she raised a hand.

"Listen now. This is a story hidden even from the boys themselves."

I clenched my jaw, heart galloping, fists tight. But I listened.

"There was once a child born of wolf and vampire—a hybrid," she said. "But the child was too much. Too powerful. The mother, a werewolf. The father, an ancient vampire. When he was born, the child began to show signs of instability. Strength unmatched, hunger insatiable. Bloodlust and rage even as a toddler. His mother got mated to an alpha her mate who loved her and her pregnancy. His parents feared what they had unleashed."

I stared at her, something cold slithering down my spine.

"They called me," she said simply. "To try and end him the part they didn’t want his vampiric side."

I stepped back, shocked.

"But I didn’t," she continued. "I couldn’t. He was still a child. A baby. So instead of killing him, I split him."

"Split—?"

"His soul. His very essence. I severed his vampiric side and sealed it but it evolved into a shadow at first before forming into its own body—a twin born from one."

My hands flew to my mouth.

"Dean," I whispered.

"Yes," she said. "One soul made into two. One light, one dark. One born with the wolf’s instincts. The other with the vampire’s hunger. I thought if I separated them, they would balance each other out. Grow together, and thus... temper the storm."

"But they didn’t grow together," I said hollowly. "They thought they were brothers..."

"They were brothers," she said. "In the truest way. The same soul cleaved in two. Each incomplete. Each desperate for something only the other had. That is why they both bonded with you."

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

"You were the anchor," she whispered. "The bridge. The missing link that allowed them to feel whole—separately. Until..."

"...Until Dean absorbed the darkness from me," I said. "Until he started dying."

She nodded.

"Because he was never meant to exist separately. That split—it was unnatural. The darkness eventually sought to restore itself. When you became a vessel for that same dark force, it recognized what had once been broken. It fed on Dean because he carried the half that had once been cast out."

My legs gave out and I fell to my knees.

"So now..." I whispered. "Now that Dean is gone..."

"Not gone," she said gently. "Returned. The darkness dissolved him back into the smoke—the same smoke I cast out of Kane when he was born. And it has found its way back into him."

I looked up at her, tears burning down my face.

"So... what is he now?"

She looked grim.

"He is whole. Complete. The original version of himself. Unchecked. Unstable. Not Kane. Not Dean. But the Hybrid. The true beast that should have never been."

My blood ran cold.

"And there’s no way to split him again?"

She shook her head slowly. "Not without killing him. This fusion is different—it’s not just soul, but will. There is no line between them now."

"But I—I can talk to him. I can try," I said desperately.

She put a hand on my shoulder.

"Child, the one you knew is buried. You may speak, but it will not be Kane who answers. Nor Dean. Only what they were always meant to become."

I sobbed, the grief of losing one mate now morphing into terror for what the other had become.

Her eyes were heavy with regret.

"I thought I could save him," she said. "But I failed."

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