Chapter 161

Chapter 161: Chapter 161

Darius’s pov

Beside me, Gideon stood like a towering wall of silent, reanimated muscle, his dark eyes locked onto the shivering Lysander collapsed on the rug.

Lysander didn’t move for a long moment. He lay on his knees, his wet hands digging into the dark wool carpet, his chest heaving in short, shallow hitches. The shock of seeing his former nemesis alive, standing in the flesh beneath the soft amber light of my wall sconces had completely shattered whatever fragile composure he had left.

"G-Gideon..." Lysander whimpered again, his voice barely a thread. He pushed himself backward, his boots slipping against the polished floorboards, scrambling away until his spine hit the carved mahogany base of my bookshelf. "No... no, stay away from me..."

He placed his hands over his ear and closed his eyes, mumbling and shaking his head to himself.

"No, no, you are not real. You are just a figment of my imagination."

"Yeah, keep saying that." I mumbled, I chuckled to myself. He was incredibly stupid, I thought I had to lay down the law and go to the extreme to get him again but he just walks in. What a stupid boy, Drake won’t be able to save him this time.

I slipped the key into my suit pocket and walked slowly toward him, my hands folded loosely behind my back.

"Look at him, Gideon," I purred softly, stopping just out of the hybrid’s reach. "So fragile. So completely undone by a ghost."

Gideon didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. The dark, coercive compulsion Julian had woven into his reconstructed mind dictated his every movement, but the raw, possessive hunger in his eyes was all his own. He took two broad, heavy strides forward, his shadow completely swallowing Lysander’s small frame.

If only Julian knew his plan was working, he would be extremely happy.

Lysander scrambled to his feet, panic wild and frantic in his dark eyes. He lunged toward the tall glass terrace doors on the far wall, his hands reaching for the brass latch.

Before his fingers could touch the glass, with terrifying speed, Gideon caught Lysander by the shoulder, spinning him around and slamming his back flat against the heavy oak paneling beside the window. The impact rattled the small glass panes, taking the air straight out of his lungs in a breathless gasp.

"Let me go!" Lysander screamed, thrashing violently against Gideon’s grip. He drove his fists against Gideon’s heavy chest, "Get your hands off me!"

Gideon didn’t flinch. He leaned in close, pinning both of Lysander’s wrists above his head with a single, iron-clad grip, his massive chest pressing flat against the boy’s ribs. The dark, unnatural energy radiating off Gideon’s skin seeped directly into Lysander’s pores, numbing his muscles and suffocating him.

Lysander’s thrashing instantly slowed, his head falling back against the wood, his dark eyelashes fluttering as the coercive magic forced his body to quiet down.

"You belong in the dark, little bird," Gideon rumbled into his ear, his deep, raspy voice sending a visible tremor straight down Lysander’s spine. "You always did."

I stepped closer, watching the boy’s resistance crumble with a dark, satisfied pleasure.

Gideon’s tongue darted out to lick the shell of Lysander’s ear, "I have missed you, brother."

Lysander sobbed and shrunk back, "Please no, don’t do this."

I reached out, my long, pale fingers cupping Lysander’s jaw. His skin was burning hot, flushed from the feverish shift in his blood and wet with rain and tears. He tried to turn his face away from my touch, but I tightened my grip, forcing his dark, glossy eyes to meet mine.

"You ran back to me because you thought I poisoned you," I murmured, my thumb dragging over the sharp line of his lower lip, pressing hard enough to force his mouth open a fraction. "You thought I used dark blood rites to ruin your body."

"Did you...?" Lysander choked out, a fresh tear spilling over his lash line, dragging across my thumb. "What did you... do to me...?"

"I didn’t need to poison your blood, Lysander," I whispered, leaning down until my lips were brushing the shell of his ear. "I simply laid the trap. You walked straight into it, and now you are locked in this room with the very man Drake killed."

I signaled Gideon with a slight tilt of my chin.

Gideon’s hand tightened around Lysander’s wrists, pulling him an inch higher off the floor. With his free hand, Gideon caught Lysander by the chin, forcing the boy’s head back as he projected a dark, crushing thread of coercive influence straight into his mind.

Lysander let out a hoarse, suffocating moan, his eyes rolling back slightly as the mental pressure hit his brain. The terror in his posture melted into a heavy, paralyzed compliance. His arms went limp in Gideon’s hold, his chin resting uselessly in the large palm holding him up against the wall.

"Listen to me very carefully," I purred, stepping into his personal space, my body pressing him flat between Gideon and myself. I reached down, my hand sliding under the damp wool of his heavy sweater, my palm resting flat over the quiet, pulsing heat deep in his lower abdomen. "Drake is probably at your estate right now. He knows you are gone. He knows you bypassed his security a second time."

Lysander gave a weak, shuddering gasp, his fingers twitching against Gideon’s arm, but he couldn’t break the mental haze locking his vocal cords shut.

"When he comes through those gates," I continued, my voice dropping into a low, lethal purr that vibrated directly against his skin, "he will not find a victim. He will find you here, trapped between two monsters, reeking of our cum, completely broken."

"Drake..." Lysander whimpered into the quiet room, the name a broken, pathetic plea that carried no power.

"He won’t save you this time," I whispered, my fingers digging lightly into his hip, asserting an absolute, inescapable dominance over his trapped frame. "You belong to the shadows now."