Cursed Fates: Supernatural Bullies and Beasts

“The stars might have decided that you can never be mine,” Darius said roughly, refusing to move away from me. “But I am yours. No matter what. I don’t care where we end up or who we’re with, I’ll always be yours. And I’m going to fix the damage I did to us even if the stars don’t care. I’m going to prove to you that I could have been worthy of you if I’d just listened to my heart sooner.”
“It won’t change anything,” I said, my voice cracking as I bit down on my bottom lip and tried to force the tears to stop.
“If it changes the way you look at me then that’s enough,” he replied, his eyes full of pain as I took a step back.

“What else don’t I know about you?”
He laughed, moving forward and cupping my cheek. “I’m nothing but an open book now, I promise. This is my last secret.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” I whispered and he stamped his mouth firmly to mine.
“You will,” he promised and I tasted that promise on my lips. “I’ll give you the play by play of my entire life when we get back if that’s what you want, but we’ve gotta go.”

“Do you want to be the favourite, Roxanya?” Lionel purred as he released Clara’s hand and took a step towards me.

The shadows shifted within me, aching to feel that with an urgency I couldn’t comprehend. “Yes,” I breathed, taking a seat on the chair and waiting as he strapped me in.

“Then tell me who you love.” He walked away from me as I frowned at the question, the shadows wild and seething beneath my skin.

I closed my eyes as I tried to answer, searching the deep chasm of nothing within me until I caught a glimmer of something which I’d lost.

“A girl with blue hair,” I breathed as the echoes of memories stirred within my heart. “And a man with a dark soul.”

Something slammed into my gut and the electric slice of pain that crashed through my body shattered me into a million pieces as agony ruled my flesh and the shadows reared up hungrily to feast on it.

I moaned in pleasure as the torture lingered in my body and my vision blacked out as the shadows veiled my eyes for a moment.

I sagged forward in the chair, panting and heaving as my heart raced and the bliss in my limbs threatened to ruin me as I bathed in the pure power of the shadows. It was so much pain and so much pleasure. I didn’t know if I was screaming in agony or ecstasy.

“Wrong answer, Roxanya,” Lionel growled as he moved to stand before me, my gaze landing on his expensive loafers as I tried to catch my breath. “Who do you love?”

I tipped my head back slowly, my gaze moving over every inch of him until I finally met his eyes and the bottomless depths that were waiting for me within them.

The Aries brand on my arm burned with the need to be closer to him and I whimpered as the shadows let me feel that ache for a moment before burying it again. But it was enough to give me my answer.

“You,” I breathed as I stared up at him and the darkness in his eyes blossomed like the shadows in my soul. “Only you.”

“Come on, Dragon boy

A laugh tore from my throat as Darius’s eyes widened in surprise and he was thrown back

“Because that’s what love is,” I said in a low voice, running my finger over a bare patch of skin on my right forearm thoughtfully. “It’s giving everything without expecting anything in return. It’s sacrificing your heart and happiness for someone else and it’s owning all of your mistakes and trying to make them right. Not because you expect to get something in return for it. But because the person you love needs to know how you feel.”

“Yes it is! You’re so caught up in proving how strong you can be and improving your magic that you’re forgetting that true strength comes from facing down the things you’re most afraid of. So Fae up, Tory. And go face your problems.”

over all the old wounds. So when you said no to him in that snow storm, you weren’t even hurting him. You were hurting yourself. And that’s what kills me the most about all of it.”

You know why I couldn’t just offer up my heart to him,” I said in a low voice as her words cut through me like gunfire. “I couldn’t just give him the chance to hurt me with it. I couldn’t-”
“That’s what love is, Tor,” Darcy said in exasperation. “It’s taking a leap of faith. It’s opening yourself up and letting your walls down and allowing someone to see every dark and broken corner of your soul. It’s truth and honesty with yourself and them. It’s raw and brutal and terrifying and real. You can’t just claim to want it, but refuse to allow yourself to be vulnerable to it. That’s not how it works. If you love someone, truly love them, you’ll bear your soul to them and let them be the keeper of your heart no matter how fragile or damaged it might be. And if they love you then they’ll do everything in their power to keep it safe, to nurture and protect it and heal

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he growled in a low voice that sent a shiver dancing down my spine.