Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 304: A trap.

Kael.

For a moment, all I felt and wanted to feel was anger. Anger at Zevran for stubbornly reaching out to that mad Lycan despite all our warnings. Anger at myself for not being able to do anything besides stand here and watch Lani deteriorate further with each passing second.

And do you know what was most annoying?

The fact that there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing at all besides wait for a miracle...

A miracle which now was in the form of a possessed looking man dressed in a shiny three piece suit with glitters all over his slick black hair and the most menacing look to ever exist on his face.

His spread out both of his hands as his eyes raked from the tops of our heads to our feet. Then he drawled; "What did you say you needed me for again?"

I gulped. I could swear that I had heard him speak. I could swear that his deep voice had reverberated across the room, but I could also swear that I never saw his lips move.

He had spoken in my head. In our heads.

"How is that possible?" I found myself asking softly, unable to raise my voice any more than it already is. "How can you get into my head? I am an alpha and..."

"I do not think that this is the time to ask such questions. Your main concern should be what to do about her."

Her.

I turned to Leilani without a thought, cocking my eyebrows when I found Darius watching me like a predator would do to its prey.

Something about his swirling purple eyes nearly reminded me of Leilani— nearly— until he smiled at me.

"What did you say was injected into her?" He asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

"We don’t know. That’s exactly what I told you over the phone—" Zevran began to say but stopped when Darius flippantly waved him off.

He didn’t for once turn to look at him, and at the same time, never stopped looking at me as he asked; "Kael Luciano Stormborn, what did you see the strange girl inject into Leilani?"

For a moment, I was stunned into silence. Shocked that he knew my middle name— a name I rarely used, and equally shocked that he knew without being told that I had been the one to witness it happen.

I wanted to meet his eyes defiantly, wanted to talk to him like an Alpha would to another Alpha. But one look at his swirling eyes and it wasn’t him I saw anymore.

It was Leilani.

She was smiling at me. Waving slightly at me. Her silky silver hair floated around her head like a curtain, and her lips—pink and full pouted slightly as she blew a kiss at me.

Heat rushed to my groin when that happened and I do not know what happened next, but when I finally came to, I was standing right in front of Darius with my hands held out and my eyes slightly closed.

I whispered; "Beautiful."

"Was beauty what she injected into her?" Caelum’s snarky voice was what snapped me back to the present. I blinked like a man in a trance and shook my head.

"No... no. It was a clear substance. It smelled metallic and looked... I don’t know... oily."

But as I talked, I noticed Darius watching me closely, his eyes darting from my eyes to my lips and then back again.

"That doesn’t sound like any organic substance that I know of."

"And that was exactly what we thought too!" Zevran cut in, but still, he didn’t turn to regard him. He didn’t even act like he’d heard him speak.

His eyes thinned as he walked away from the three of us towards Leilani’s bed and then he leaned closer and closer... and closer until his nose was touching hers; and until they were so close, I began to feel my heart race uncontrollably.

"Can you step away from her?" I asked him coldly, but he didn’t respond right away. He didn’t even lift his head.

And to my utmost bewilderment, he slowly began to trail his fingers over her forehead, swiped at whatever he swiped at there and licked it.

I gasped.

"Ughh!" Caelum groaned.

Zevran simply looked away.

"She has been poisoned. But it isn’t silver or wolfsbane like I would have expected. It’s drocǒrnth, an old elixir used by witches to cast dark spells..." he said slowly, his voice trailing off as he began to lace his fingers between her coarse hair, "...and the spell has taken root. It is eating quickly into her..."

"What kind do spell is it?" I rushed out before I could stop myself. And truthfully, I had half expected him to ignore me like he’s ignored my brothers, but he didn’t.

His eyes raised slightly to meet my gaze and then he shrugged; "A soul swap. Someone is trying to swap bodies or souls... whatever they want, with her."

Chalice.

I knew that I may be wrong but I couldn’t help but think about her; because come to think of it, she was the only one I knew that was jealous of Leilani enough to do something like that. She was the only one who could go to these lengths just to commit evil.

She had dyed her hair in the shade of Leilani’s, had worn purple contacts on several occasions just to pass as Leilani; even in that one occasion, she’d worn the same clothes as her to attend Gavin’s engagement party... so forgive me when she’s the only one who I could think of right now!

A sensation akin to several needles pricking my skin spread across my body, causing me to cry out slightly; And it wasn’t until then that I noticed Darius pointing at me, his lips moving slightly as the sensation increased, spreading even down to my bones.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I cried out in pain, "...do you not know that that hurts?!"

"I know it does," he drawled in that deep monotone that I have begun to hate now, "...but I fear that you know something, and I’d love to know what it is."

Again, my mouth hung open when I heard those words and I couldn’t help but wonder if all dark knights were also sorcerers in a way. Before I could ponder over it further, the prickly sensation spread even to my head and I screamed, holding my temples as if to stop it from exploding.

"I suspect that her sister, Chalice, may have something to do with this!" I cried out and Darius frowned.

"Chalice?" He asked incredulously and I nodded.

"Yes."

"So she isn’t dead? Why isn’t that wench dead yet?"

I swallowed. "She is pregnant with a child and we cannot condemn her and an innocent child to death."

"Well, I can." Darius snapped irritatedly, "...else, she would continue to pull stunts like this... and I would continue to be forced out of my resting place to put a stop to it!"

"But Chalice isn’t the girl he saw yesterday!" Zevran cut in, and as usual, Darius didn’t look at him as he snapped, waving dismissively;

"Yes, I know that. And it is why we would set a trap."

"A trap?"

"Are you guys perhaps dense in any way?" He snorted, "yes, I said: a trap!"