CHAPTER 154

CHAPTER 154
DARIUS 

I stood with my arms folded across my chest, eyes locked on the crooked cottage door like it had personally insulted my ancestors. 

Fifteen minutes. 

That was all I'd agreed to. 

Fifteen fucking minutes of letting my mate be alone with a witch who hated my kind on principle and probably kept a collection of vampire teeth as paperweights.

Every second felt like a blade dragging across my nerves.

The bond thrummed steadily between Selene and me - warm, alive, reassuring - but it wasn't enough. 

I wanted her back in my arms. I wanted to feel her heartbeat against mine. 

I wanted to know that sarcastic, unpredictable witch wasn't filling her head with anti-vampire propaganda or, worse, trying to talk her out of us.

Roxy leaned against a tree a few feet away, legs crossed, chewing on a piece of dried blood cube like it was popcorn at a theater show. 

"You're going to burn a hole through that door if you keep staring at it like that," she said. 

"Let the poor girl breathe, you big possessive refrigerator. She's not going to spontaneously combust just because you're not looming over her shoulder like a very jealous shadow."

I didn't look away from the door. 

"She's alone with a witch who hates our kind. Forgive me if I'm not relaxed."

“She’s alone with a witch who hates you specifically,” she said, clapping once, slow and theatrical. 

“There’s a difference. Morgana might actually like Selene. You? You’re one wrong word away from becoming a very dramatic garden gnome. And not the charming kind — the kind that gets a tiny plaque: ‘Here lies Darius, victim of his own anger.’”

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. 

Roxy kept going, voice syrupy with mock concern.  

“You look like you’re two seconds away from kicking the door down and growling ‘mine’ like some tragic rom‑com extra. Breathe, Darius. Give her some space. She survived you. She can handle one cranky witch with a superiority complex and a stupid black cat. If anything, she’ll probably lecture the witch into submission and then make tea for everyone while you brood artistically in the corner.”

“Try not to brood so hard you create a new weather pattern. Selene doesn’t need a rescue; she needs you to stop being a walking storm cloud for fifteen minutes.”

Xander, sitting on a fallen log with his elbows on his knees, let out a low grunt. He still looked half-dazed from the Elara situation earlier, which only made Roxy's grin widen like a predator spotting fresh blood.

"Roxy's right," Xander muttered. 

"You're wound tighter than a virgin on his wedding night. Give the girl some space. She survived you. She can handle one cranky witch."

I finally tore my eyes away from the door and turned my head slowly toward him, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh?" I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

"You can talk when Elara has you wrapped around her little finger like a lovesick fledgling."

Xander's head snapped up. 

"I do n-not-"

Roxy howled with laughter, nearly falling off the tree she was leaning against.

"Oh my.., he's stuttering again. Darius, you broke him. He had a whole romantic staring plan and you just murdered it. I'm crying. This is the best day of my immortal life."

"Shut up, Roxy," Xander growled, ears turning red.

"Make me, big guy," she shot back cheerfully. 

"Or better yet, go inside and ask Morgana for relationship advice. I'm sure she'd love to give you tips on how to talk to women without looking like a constipated gargoyle."

Xander shot her a murderous glare. 

"Roxy, I swear on every drop of blood I've ever spilled-"

"You'll what?" she taunted, grinning like a demon. 

"Stare at me? Brood at me? Threaten my tongue again? Face it, big guy. You're down bad. The unstoppable Xander has been stopped by fresh linens and a shy smile. I'm never letting you live this down. Never."

I couldn't help the low chuckle that escaped me. The familiar bickering was almost comforting. Almost.

"Spill," I said to Xander without turning around. 

"Tell me what I already think I know."

The clearing went quiet for half a second.

Roxy's eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. 

"Finally! The answer we've all been waiting for. Spill it, Xander. We're dying out here."

Xander rubbed the back of his neck, looking more uncomfortable than I'd seen him in centuries. He stared at the ground for a long moment before muttering, barely audible:

“She’s my mate.”

The words hit the clearing like a thrown dagger — 

Roxy let out a delighted shriek.

“I knew it! I fucking knew it!” she howled.

“The big bad warrior, slayer of armies, terror of the battlefield — brought to his knees by a human mate who folds laundry and says ‘excuse me’ to furniture. This is the greatest day of my immortal life. I’m framing this moment. I’m carving it into stone. I’m telling future generations.”

Xander groaned, but the tips of his ears were red.  

I couldn’t help the smile tugging at my mouth.

“I’m happy for you, man,” I said, and meant it. 

“Truly.”

He nodded once, stiff as a board. 

“Yeah… if you hadn’t brought her to the castle, I might never have found her.”  

Xander scrubbed a hand over his face, looking like a man personally victimized by his own emotions.  

“But fuck, I don’t know what happens to me when she’s around. One look and my brain just—” he snapped his fingers, 

“—short‑circuits. Completely. And she’s wandering around thinking she’s Alice in Wonderland instead of trapped in a castle full of vampires. What happens when she figures out I’m a fucking vampire? What if she doesn’t take it half as well as Selene did?”

I huffed a low laugh, because watching Xander unravel was… honestly therapeutic.

“You’re overthinking it,” I said, leaning back against the tree. 

“Humans aren’t as fragile as you think. Selene didn’t take it well because she’s brave. She took it well because she’s Selene.”

I tilted my head, studying him.

“Elara’s the same. Soft doesn’t mean weak. And if your brain shuts off every time she looks at you?” I shrugged. 

“Welcome to the club. It’s humiliating, but survivable.”

Roxy snorted behind us, but I ignored her.

“And as for her finding out you’re a vampire…” 

I let a slow, wicked smile curl at the corner of my mouth. 

“You’re acting like she’s going to run screaming. Xander, she folds laundry for fun. She’s not going to faint. She’s going to ask if you need your coffin fluffed.”

He groaned into his hands.

I clapped his shoulder.

“She’s your mate. She’ll handle it. Even if you don’t.”

“Oh, this is delicious,” Roxy purred, practically vibrating with malicious joy.

“The universe really said, ‘Let’s give the two most emotionally constipated vampires in existence mates who will absolutely wreck them.’ Darius gets a fae sparkplug who can literally set him on fire if she’s in a mood, and Xander gets a soft‑spoken human who breaks him with eye contact.”

She pointed at me like she was presenting evidence in court.

“Darius brooding in the corner like a gothic statue while Selene accidentally grows an entire forest in the ballroom.”

Then she swung to Xander, eyes gleaming.

“And you — staring at Elara like she hung the moon while she innocently asks why everyone has such sharp teeth. Meanwhile you’re over there having a full existential crisis because she smiled at you.”

She clapped once, delighted.

“Ten out of ten. No notes. The gods are comedians and you two are their favorite punchlines.”

“Roxy,” Xander warned.

“No, no, let me enjoy this,” she said, waving him off. 

“You’ve spent centuries mocking me for my ‘poor taste in men,’ and now look at you. One polite human mate says ‘good morning’ and you forget how to speak.”

Xander looked like he was seriously considering throwing her into the nearest river.

I stepped in before he did.

“When did you find out?” I asked.

Xander rubbed his face with both hands. 

“I don’t even know. One moment she was just… there. Smiling at me. And something clicked. Like the bond recognized her before I did.”

I knew that feeling all too well.

The bond between Selene and me pulsed warmly, as if agreeing. I glanced back at the cottage door, impatience rising again.

Five minutes had come and gone. If Morgana didn’t let Selene out soon, I really was going to kick the door down.

Roxy noticed my stare.

“Still not over the fact that you’re letting her go in there alone? I thought you were going to chain her to your side for the next three days. Maybe tattoo ‘Property of Darius’ on her forehead just to be safe.”

“She’s not a prisoner,” I said, even as every instinct screamed otherwise. 

“She’s my mate. She makes her own choices. I just… don’t trust Morgana not to fill her head with anti‑vampire nonsense.”

“Or turn her into a toad,” Roxy added helpfully. 

“Or give her tips on how to dump your brooding ass. Honestly, both are possible.”

Xander grunted. 

“Morgana hates us, but she owes Elias. She won’t do anything stupid. Probably.”

“Probably,” I echoed darkly. 

Roxy tilted her head, studying me like I was a fascinating new species of idiot.  

“You’ve got it bad, you know that? Like, disgustingly bad. The rest of us are out here making fun of Xander for staring at Laundry Girl, and you’re ready to burn down a witch’s cottage because your mate is five feet away and you can’t hover over her like a possessive shadow.”

I didn’t deny it. 

“She’s everything. Light in my night. The only thing that’s made eternity feel worth it. If Morgana so much as looks at her wrong—”

Roxy gagged loudly. 

“Oh my god, I’m going to barf right here. Please, no romantic shit. I’m too young for this.”

I ignored her. My eyes were glued to the door.

“Three days,” I said quietly. 

“Then the eclipse. Then the binding. Then we deal with Eron. Until then, we stay close. All of us.”

Roxy saluted lazily. 

“Yes, sir.”

I allowed myself a small, rare smile. Our group was a mess — sarcastic, overprotective, emotionally stunted, and half in love with a human who folded sheets — but they were our mess.

And for Selene, I would walk through fire, endure a thousand sarcastic witches, and face down whatever the next three days threw at us.

Because she was mine.

And I was hers.

The cottage door finally creaked open. Selene stepped out, looking equal parts triumphant and exhausted. The moment her eyes met mine, the bond sang between us, bright and warm.

I moved before I could think, pulling her into my arms where she belonged.

“Everything okay?” I murmured against her hair.

She smiled up at me, eyes sparkling. 

“She’s terrifying. And sarcastic. And she called you a jealous refrigerator.”

I groaned, but held her tighter. 

“I hate that witch.”

Three days.

We had three days.

And somehow, with a sarcastic witch, two bickering immortals, and the woman who held my entire eternity in her hands…

I didn't know we would survive them.

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