Chapter 210 Damian's POV

Chapter 210 Damian's POV


"What is it?"

"I found her three nights ago in the forest. Covered in blood, standing over dead rogues.” 

“She said she didn't remember how she got there. Didn't remember killing them. I helped her clean up and hide the evidence."

My blood went cold. "You what?"

"I know, I know it was wrong but she was terrified, confused. I thought maybe it was a one-time thing. A blackout from trauma or the lunar pulse but now with this-" 

She gestured to my phone with the rogue's photo. "Now I think it is a systematic pattern, something systematic."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Because she begged me not to. Because I thought I was protecting her. But I'm not protecting her, am I? I'm enabling something dangerous."

I sat down heavily. "We need to figure out what's happening to her, the blackouts. The dark magic in her blood, the nighttime appearances, it is all connected somehow."

"How do we do that without telling Kaden?"

"I don't know but we need to act fast. Before someone else gets hurt. Or before Elara does something she can't come back from."

Kira sat beside me. "There is something else. Something I'm almost afraid to say out loud."

"What?"

"What if it's not Elara? What if someone is impersonating her? Using magic to look like her and causing trouble to frame her?"

"That's possible. But the photo shows the crescent mark, the lunar pulse only Elara has that."

"Then what? What could make her do these things without remembering?"

I thought about the dark magic in her blood. The inconsistent test results. The way it appeared and disappeared.

And suddenly, a terrible possibility occurred to me.

"What if Elara isn't alone in her body anymore? What if something else is sharing space with her consciousness? Taking over at night while she sleeps?"

"Possession?"

"Or something like a consciousness that emerges when she's vulnerable, when her guard is down."

"That is terrifying."

"It is the only explanation that fits all the facts."

We sat in silence, both contemplating the implications.

If I was right, if something was possessing Elara or sharing her consciousness, then she was in serious danger. And so was everyone around her.

We needed to tell Kaden needed to get Elara help, needed to stop whatever this was before it consumed her completely.

But first, we needed more proof. Something concrete that would convince Kaden without making us look like we were turning on his mate.

"We will investigate," I said finally. 

"Carefully, quietly, gather evidence. Then we tell Kaden everything and let him decide how to proceed."

"And if we are wrong? If it really is just Elara having blackouts and doing these things?"

"Then we help her get the treatment she needs to keep her safe from herself."

"And if we are right? If it is possession or something sharing her body?"

"Then we do whatever it takes to save her. Even if that means going against her wishes. Even if that means making difficult choices."

Kira nodded. "Together?"

"Together."

We sat there planning our next moves. How to investigate without alerting whoever was watching. How to gather evidence without compromising Elara's safety.

But in the back of my mind, one question kept repeating.

What if we were already too late? What if whatever was happening to Elara had already progressed too far to stop?

And what would we do if the only way to save her was to destroy the thing living inside her even if that thing was now part of who she was?

I didn't have answers, only fear and determination.