CHAPTER 172

CHAPTER 172
SELENE

I watched Darius close his eyes and drag in a slow, deep breath, like he was desperately trying to drag his temper back under control.

When his eyes opened again, whatever fragile restraint he'd managed to find was gone. He looked fucking furious.

“Selene,” Darius said, his voice dangerously calm in a way that only made the fury underneath it more obvious, 

“you are not handing yourself over like some fucking sacrificial lamb because you’ve suddenly decided throwing yourself at death is a brilliant solution.”

I held his gaze, refusing to let the anger in his eyes shake me. Shadows still coiled tightly around Lazarez’s throat in one of his hands, while the other remained outstretched, pouring power into the barrier that kept Xander from charging forward like a madman. 

He was stretched thin in every possible way—physically, magically, emotionally—and it showed in the rigid set of his shoulders and the barely controlled violence in his eyes.

“I’m not trying to die,” I said.

“Could’ve fooled me.” The words came out sharp, bitter. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks a hell of a lot like you’re volunteering to walk straight into Eron’s hands with a pretty bow on top.”

“I’m trying to save her.”

His jaw tightened so hard I heard something crack. “And I’m trying to save you. In case that somehow slipped your notice while you were busy planning your martyrdom.”

“I know.”

“Then stop.” The command landed like a physical weight. “Stop walking. Stop negotiating. Stop deciding that your life is the acceptable price for someone else’s. Get back here before I lose what little patience I have left.”

I shook my head. “No.”

The word came quietly, but I meant every letter of it.

I looked back at Elara. Her face was streaked with tears, her body trembling beneath the rogue’s grip. 

Every second we spent arguing was another second she spent with his fangs against her throat, another second closer to the moment he decided she was no longer useful.

"We've had this conversation already," I said. "I'm not doing it again. I won't stand here and watch her die when I have a way to stop it."

“Of course,” Darius muttered, throwing his hands up in disbelief. “Why would I get a mate who actually listens to reason?”

He gave a humourless laugh.
“No. Apparently, I get you.”

He pointed at himself. “Me. Centuries of experience. Enough power to level half this fucking forest. A survival instinct that’s kept me alive through wars, curses, and enough bloodshed to fill a damn ocean.”

He stared at me incredulously. “And somehow, you’ve looked at all of that and decided, ‘You know what? Fuck centuries of experience. My suicidal plan is definitely the better option.’”

He shook his head, muttering under his breath. “I finally get a mate, and apparently my reward is watching her volunteer for death because she thinks martyrdom is a personality trait.”

“Darius—”

“No.” He pointed at me. “Don't ‘Darius’ me. I'm still processing the fact that I apparently bonded myself to the world's most determined fucking idiot.”

Despite everything, the corner of my mouth twitched.

His eyes narrowed further. “Don't fucking smile. I'm trying to save your life here.”

Darius took a step toward me, shadows flaring harder around both of his occupied hands. The effort of holding Lazarez and restraining Xander at the same time was written in every tense line of his body. He looked like a man being pulled apart in three different directions at once.

"You don't know that handing yourself over stops anything," he said, voice climbing. 

"You don't know if they'll honor a word of it. You don't know if the second you're in reach he doesn't kill her anyway, just to watch you break, and take you regardless. You're betting your life on the hope that a monster develops a conscience in the next thirty seconds."

I stopped, but didn't look back at him “Maybe it won’t work,” I admitted.

His expression hardened into something almost desperate. “Selene—”

"But doing nothing definitely won't." I forced my eyes to stay on Elara, because if I looked at him — really looked — I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep my feet moving. 

“I don’t know what happens next. I don’t know if Lazarez will keep his word. I don’t know if I’ll even survive this. But I know she’s innocent. And I know I can’t live with myself if I stand here and let her die because I’m too afraid to make the choice.”

Darius’s shadows lashed violently against the ground. For a moment I thought he might actually drop everything—Lazarez, the barrier, all of it—and come after me by force.

Instead, he stayed exactly where he was, trapped by the very situation he was trying to control, eyes burning with a fury that was equal parts rage and terror.

“You’re going to be the fucking death of me,” he said quietly. There was something different in his voice now. Not anger.Fear.

“You don’t get to do this,” Darius snarled.
“You don’t get to decide you’re expendable. You’re my mate. Do you understand what that means, or do I need to carve it into the ground in front of you?”

A bitter, humorless laugh tore out of him.
“Apparently not, because you’re about to walk straight into a fucking trap and expect me to stand here and watch like a well-trained dog. Get your ass back here before I personally drag you back and piss off every magical creature in this forest doing it.”

He sucked in a sharp breath, shadows coiling tighter around both Lazarez and the barrier still holding Xander.

“Because I swear to every god that ever abandoned me… if he touches you, there won’t be enough left of this forest to bury what’s left of him.”

I could feel his fury and terror crashing down the bond in waves, but stopping meant watching Elara die. And I couldn’t do that.

Darius’s head snapped toward Roxy, eyes blazing. “Do something!” he barked. “Stop her!”

Roxy stared at him like he’d lost his mind.
“What exactly do you want me to do?” she shot back, voice sharp with a mix of sarcasm and genuine worry.

“Tackle your mate in the middle of a hostage negotiation? You’ve got centuries of power, a bond, and actual authority, and you still can’t get her to listen to you—but somehow I’m supposed to be the one who makes her behave? Be serious.”

She glanced at me then, and for once the usual mocking edge in her expression was gone. Just worry. Real, unfiltered worry.

“Selene,” she said, quieter. “He’s not wrong. This is a really bad idea.”

I shook my head. “I know it is,” I said. “But standing here and watching her die is worse. I can’t do that, Roxy. I won’t.”

I started walking again. Because listening had never been one of my stronger strengths, and apparently near-certain death wasn’t enough to change that.

“Selene, get back here right fucking now,” Darius snarled. “One more step… and I’ll—”

“Stop yelling, Darius,” I called over my shoulder, as i kept walking

“I know how possessive you are right now, and how inconvenient and irritating it must be for you when I refuse to stand still and watch someone die for me. But this time, it’s going to be my way. I’ll try to be a more obedient little mate next time there’s a hostage situation.”

“You don’t get to do this,” Darius snarled as his hand tightened around Lazarez's throat.

Lazarez wheezed. Then, somehow, the bastard still managed to look amused.

“Well,” he rasped, “now I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but do you two mind hurrying the fuck up?”

His gaze flicked between Darius and me. “I've been hanging here by my throat for what feels like an eternity, and while your little lovers' quarrel is admittedly entertaining, I'd quite like to breathe again before sunrise.”

I ignored him..I closed the last few steps between myself and the rogue, hands slightly raised.

“I’m here,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. “Let her go.”

“Not so fast,” the rogue said, looking straight past me. “First tell your fucking mate to let Lazarez go. Then I release the human. That’s the order, Prince.”

I twisted toward Darius, heart slamming against my ribs.

“Darius. Let him go.”

“No.” The word came out flat and final, the same wall he’d been throwing up for the last several minutes. Shadows still coiled tightly around Lazarez’s throat. “You do not get to hand yourself over. Get back here. Now.”

“You’re not listening—”

“I am listening,” he snarled. The ground beneath his feet cracked as his power surged.

“If I still have him, both of you are alive. The second I let him go, I lose every scrap of leverage I have left. Don’t you fucking understand that? While I still hold him, they can’t afford to kill either of you. The moment he’s free, you’re both expendable.”

“Enough time wasted,” the rogue cut in, voice suddenly cold. He pressed his fangs harder against Elara’s neck. A fresh bead of blood welled up and slid down her skin.

“Release Lazarez, or I kill the human girl right now.”

Xander’s roar tore across the clearing, raw and broken.

“Touch her and I’ll rip your fucking spine out through your throat!”

“No one is touching her,” I said, loud enough to cut through the chaos. My spark flared hot under my skin, bright and defiant.

“Not while I’m still breathing.” I locked eyes with Darius, pouring every ounce of urgency I had down the bond. “Let him go. Now. Before this gets any worse..for my fucking sake.”

For a long, terrible second he just stared at me. I felt the exact moment the fight went out of him—not the anger, not the fear, but the last stubborn thread of refusal. It tore through the bond like something vital giving way, leaving only raw, helpless fury behind.

With a snarl of pure hatred, Darius opened his hand.

Lazarez dropped to the ground in a heap, gasping and clutching his ruined throat. He scrambled backward at once, that same mocking smile already stretching across his bloodied face.

“Wise choice,” the rogue said smoothly.

He shoved Elara forward hard. She stumbled, nearly falling, and Xander tore free of the last remnants of Darius’s shadows to catch her before she hit the ground. He pulled her against his chest with a broken sound, one hand cradling the back of her head as she sobbed into him.

The second she was clear, the rogue yanked me fully against him. One arm locked around my waist like a steel band, the other still gripping my arm hard enough to bruise.

“There,” he said lightly. “A deal’s a deal.”

“Selene!”

Darius’s voice ripped across the clearing, raw and shattered. I twisted just enough to meet his eyes. The bond between us screamed—fear, apology, love, and a grief so sharp it nearly dropped me to my knees.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Then the trees closed around me.

The last thing I felt was his fury and grief crashing after me like a storm that had nowhere left to go.