CHAPTER 160

CHAPTER 160
SELENE 

I stood beside Darius, my hand still laced with his, heart pounding from the adrenaline and the raw power I’d just unleashed.

My fingers still tingled with residual magic, that bright, wild spark inside me humming like it had finally woken up and was proud of itself.

I had exploded a vampire into ash. 

Me. 

With my own power.

The realization hit me again, sending a giddy rush through my chest. 

I had actually done something useful. 

Not just survived — helped. 

The feeling was intoxicating, like discovering a new part of myself that had been waiting to be let out.

Roxy was already complaining as she dragged a rogue toward the growing pile of bodies.

“Ugh. This one’s still leaking,” she grumbled, holding the corpse at arm's length. 

“Why do rogues bleed so much? It’s like they do it on purpose. One last ‘fuck you’ before they die.”

Xander grabbed two bodies by their ankles and started dragging them through the dirt.

“Stop whining and keep moving,” he said. 

“The sooner we finish, the sooner I can stop smelling like a slaughterhouse and get back to the castle...”

Roxy's grin turned wicked.

“Aww. Missing Elara already?”

Xander froze.

Just for a second.

Unfortunately, that second was all Roxy needed.

“Oh my God, you are.”

“Roxy.”

“You want to get back to the castle so you can stare longingly at her while pretending you're not staring longingly at her.”

“Roxy.”

“You probably rehearsed an entire speech while we were fighting.”

Xander dropped the bodies.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

The look he gave her promised violence.

“I swear to God,” Xander growled,

“if you say her name one more time, I'm throwing you on top of the rogues and setting the whole pile on fire.”

Roxy gasped.

“See? That's exactly the kind of thing a man says when he's in love.”

“I'm going to bury you next.”

“Threats. More evidence.”

“Roxy.”

“Xander.”

“I'm serious.”

“So am I. Should I start planning the wedding?”

“I'm going to throw you into a river.”

“See? Passion.”

"Roxy!"

Before she could push her luck any further, Darius's voice cut through the clearing.

“Would the two of you shut the fuck up and clean.”

Darius didn't even look their way. 

He was dragging a body across the grass with one hand while holding mine with the other.

“Every time I think you've both reached peak annoyance,” he said flatly, 

“you somehow find a way to exceed expectations.”

“Now clean up the fucking bodies,” he said flatly, 

“or I'll leave the two of you here and let Morgana decide what to do with you.”

Roxy opened her mouth.

Darius pointed at her.

“Not. One. Word.”

She closed it again.

Xander smirked, and picked up the two he'd dropped.

Neither said a word.

For about three seconds.

Then—

“So what flowers do you think Elara likes?”

"For fuck sake.." Darius mumbled.

Irritated.

Morgana stood on her porch like a displeased queen, arms crossed, surveying the mess with pure disdain. 

Then, with slow deliberation, she dragged out a rickety wooden chair, sat down, and made herself comfortable—like a queen inspecting incompetent servants.

Midnight was sprawled across her lap, a sleek black lump of fur with glowing eyes. 

The cat watched the cleanup with the same expression of disappointment Morgana wore, his tail flicking every now and then as if judging everyone's technique.

Honestly, they looked related.

She took a slow sip of tea.

Then another.

While the rest of us did all the work.

She crossed one leg over the other and sighed dramatically.

“You know,” she called out, her voice carrying easily across the clearing, 

“for creatures who boast about their supernatural speed every five minutes, you're taking an awfully long time to clean up a few corpses.”

Nobody answered.

“I'm serious,” she continued. 

“I've seen glaciers move with more urgency.”

Xander gritted his teeth.

Roxy snorted.

Morgana pointed lazily toward the edge of the clearing.

“And try not to miss that soft patch over there. Yes, that one.”

We all looked.

“There appears to be rogue spleen on my grass.”

Roxy squinted.

“How can you even tell that's a spleen?”

Morgana looked offended.

“How can you not tell that's a spleen?”

“Because it's dark.”

“Amateur.”

Midnight let out a loud meow.

“Exactly,” Morgana agreed, stroking the cat. 

“At least someone here understands proper standards.”

The cat blinked.

“I don't know why I'm surprised,” Morgana continued. 

“Vampires are dreadful houseguests. You destroy property, leave blood everywhere, and somehow require constant supervision despite being centuries old.”

“We just fought an army,” Xander called back.

“And yet,” Morgana replied, 

“here I am teaching immortals how to clean up after themselves.”

She pointed again.

“Bodies in one pile. Limbs with their original owners whenever possible. We are not savages.”

Roxy nearly dropped a corpse laughing.

“Whenever possible?”

“Do not test me, girl.”

Midnight chose that moment to yawn.

“See?” Morgana said. 

“Even the cat is embarrassed for you.”

I couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped me. 

The chaos, the sarcasm, the sheer absurdity of it all — it felt strangely comforting. Like we were a dysfunctional family that somehow worked.

Five minutes had passed.

I looked around the clearing and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Bodies were being dragged into piles. 

Blood was being scrubbed off the grass with all the enthusiasm of people who’d rather be anywhere else. 

Morgana was supervising from her rickety chair like an evil headmistress who’d caught her students vandalizing the school.

Midnight was still curled in her lap, watching us with the same judgmental stare he probably reserved for mice that dared to exist near his food bowl.

And somehow, nobody was talking about the fact that I had literally exploded a vampire into ash.

Honestly. 

Rude.

I planted my hands on my hips.

“Well?” I demanded.

No one looked up.

I frowned.

“Seriously? Is nobody going to praise me?”

That finally got their attention.

Roxy paused mid-drag, one rogue’s leg still in her hand. Xander looked over his shoulder. 

Even Morgana lowered her teacup with exaggerated slowness.

I pointed at myself.

“Hello? Did everyone miss the part where I was fucking amazing? I zapped a vampire. Just like that.” I snapped my fingers for emphasis. 

“Poof. Ash. Gone. I deserve a round of applause. A trophy. At least a sarcastic ‘well done’ from the resident witch.”

Roxy barked out a laugh. 

“Oh, absolutely. Very impressive. Ten out of ten. Excellent vampire-zapping form. The wrist technique alone was inspirational. I’m taking notes for my next murder spree.”

I narrowed my eyes. 

“You are being sarcastic.”

“I am,” she grinned. 

“But I am also proud of you. A little. Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too late,” I said smugly.

Xander tossed another body onto the pile with a grunt. 

“She has a point. What you did was… impressive.”

The grin that spread across my face nearly hurt. 

“Thank you.”

I turned immediately toward Darius.

He was watching me with that look he got sometimes — the one that made me feel like I was the only person in the world. 

His dark eyes were warm, the gold flecks catching the faint moonlight, but his mouth was twitching like he was fighting a smile.

“Well?” I prompted.

One dark eyebrow lifted. 

“Well what?”

I stared.

“Seriously?”

His lips twitched again. 

“What am I missing?”

I gasped dramatically. 

“The praise. The compliment. The admiration. The dramatic speech about how amazing, talented, and devastatingly beautiful I am for single-handedly saving your royal ass from a rogue’s attack.”

Roxy snorted so hard she nearly dropped the leg she was dragging. 

Xander groaned and turned away like he was embarrassed to be associated with any of us. 

Morgana looked deeply disappointed in the entire species.

Darius finally laughed — that low, rough sound that always hit me right in the chest. 

He stepped closer and hooked an arm around my waist, pulling me against him.

“You want praise?” he murmured, eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Yes.”

“Desperately?”

“Yes.”

“Shamelessly?”

“Absolutely.”

His expression softened, the teasing fading into something warmer, more sincere. 

“You were brave,” he said softly. 

“Reckless as hell, but brave. You stood your ground when most would have run. You saved my ass back there. You took control of your power in the middle of a fight and turned a rogue into ash like it was nothing. You were incredible, Selene. Terrifying and magnificent and incredible. I’m fucking proud of you.”

His voice dropped lower, rough with something darker and hotter.

“And watching you explode that rogue into ash… it was one of the sexiest, most terrifying things I’ve ever seen. I’m thinking later we can go back to the cave and finish where we left off.”

Heat rushed to my face so fast I was surprised I didn’t spontaneously combust.

Did he just say that out loud?

Roxy made a disgusted noise from across the clearing, loud enough to echo. 

“Ugh, gross! I’m right here! Some of us are trying to clean up vampire guts without hearing about your filthy cave plans. Get a room. Or better yet, get a different continent.”

I buried my face in Darius’s shoulder, mortified and pleased at the same time, my cheeks burning against the cool fabric of his shirt. 

The traitor had the nerve to laugh softly against my hair, the low rumble vibrating through his chest and straight into me.

“Shut up, Roxy,” I mumbled, voice muffled.

She wasn’t done.

“No, you shut up. Or better yet, both of you shut up. I’m scarred for life. I just watched you explode a vampire and now I have to listen to Darius talk about how hot it was? I need brain bleach. Industrial strength.”

Darius’s arm tightened around my waist, pulling me closer despite the audience. 

“Jealous?” he called back, clearly enjoying himself way too much.

“Traumatized,” Roxy shot back. 

“There’s a difference.”

Morgana’s voice drifted from her chair on the porch, laced with pure disdain. 

“If you two are done with your disgusting public foreplay, some of us would like to go back to bed without vomiting. Honestly, the romance in this group is worse than the corpses. At least the corpses don’t make me want to bleach my eyeballs.”

I groaned, pressing my burning face harder into Darius’s shoulder. 

“Can we please go back to the cave before I die of embarrassment?”

Darius chuckled, the sound warm and low.

“As you wish, my fierce, exploding mate.”

He kissed the top of my head one last time, then reluctantly let me go so we could help finish cleaning. 

But the promise in his eyes — dark, hungry, and full of wicked intent — made it very clear that the moment we were alone again, he intended to finish exactly what we’d started.

And despite the embarrassment, despite the sarcasm flying around us like sparks, I couldn’t wait.