h4Chapter 137: Protecting In The Dark/h4

strongDean’s POV/strong

So there I was.

A vampire.

Inhabiting a body isimr/i to the kid’s—but not quite.

At first, I wasn’t as isolid/i as I am now. No flesh. No true form. I was more like a shadow—hence the oh-so-creative name iKane’s Shadow./i

A wraith. A ck smoke with a voice.

Drifting. Watching. Lurking just beyond reach, whispering into the night.

I couldn’t itouch/i.

I couldn’t ifeel/i.

I was ithere/i, but not ithere/i. A half-existence. A curse.

Until I learned the truth.

I needed iblood/i.

The moment I drank, I ibecame/i.

The ck smoke condensed, twisted, took ishape/i.

Flesh. Bone. Strength. iPower./i

The more I fed, the more ireal/i I became.

And oh—how ihungry/i I was.

And where else to get the blood, if not from the ipack/i?

I was careful. Precise. A little here, a little there—never enough for them to inotice/i. Just enough to sustain me.

And slowly, I became iwhole/i.

Solid. Real.

At first, they didn’t understand. How could they? One day, I was just Kane’s ishadow/i, a whisper of something they feared. Then suddenly, I had form. Flesh. A face identical to his.

Some thought we were twins. Identical. Two sides of the same coin.

Even his parents... they iallowed/i me to stay. But not because they iwanted/i me. No.

To them, I was nothing more than an iunwanted mistake/i—a parasite they couldn’t get rid of.

They never treated me like a son.

More like a burden. A nuisance. A shadow that refused to fade.

But iKane/i?

Kane saw me differently.

He didn’t see a monster.

He didn’t see a curse.

He saw a ibrother/i.

And that... ithat/i was why I stayed.

But there was something else. Something deeper.

A bond.

It tethered me to Kane, allowed me ess to his mind as if it were my own. His thoughts, his emotions—I could ifeel/i them all.

And for a moment... it felt iright/i. Like this was how it was imeant/i to be.

Two halves of a whole.

But there was more to it than just a connection. There was the idarkness/i.

That malevolent force lurking within us, wing at the edges of Kane’s sanity, whispering vile things into his soul. It was always there. And Kane, in his iinnocence/i, didn’t understand it. Couldn’t icontrol/i it.

So I did.

I took it. Absorbed it. Let it ifester/i inside ime/i.

I made it imine/i.

Because if I didn’t, Kane wouldn’t survive it.

And maybe... maybe a part of me thought that was my ipurpose/i. To be his ishield/i. To bear the burden of the darkness so he wouldn’t have to.

But the problem with darkness?

It doesn’t like to be contained.

Resisting it became... iharder/i.

At first, I fought it. I itried/i. But it was always there—whispering, coaxing, iwaiting/i.

And with everything bashing me down—Kane’s parents, the pack, the constant reminder that I was an iunwanted mistake/i—I found myself leaning into the darkness more and more.

It felt like an addiction.

Anytime I did something wicked—something icruel/i—the darkness would iease/i. Just a little. Like a beast momentarily isated/i after a fresh kill.

But it neversted.

It always came iback/i, gnawing at me with an even deeper hunger.

And the more I gave in, the more it itook/i from me in return.

My joy. My warmth. My ihumanity/i.

Until all that was left was a hollow, reckless shell.

And I embraced it.

Because why the hell ishouldn’t/i I?

The world had already idecided/i I was a monster.

So I became one.

And I made damn sure that if they were going to call me evil—

I would give them something to ifear/i.

Then, of course, there was the ihunger/i.

The need to ifeed/i.

Unlike any vampire, my body was... idifferent/i.

Maybe it was because I had iregenerated/i it, or maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, I found myself possessing abilities no other vampire had.

I could walk in the sun.

I could eat regr food.

I could pass for inormal/i.

But the hunger never left.

I needed blood—at least itwice/i a week—or the darkness inside me would w its way to the surface, twisting my mind, idemanding/i to be fed.

At first, it was easy. When I was still more shadow than flesh, I could sneak around, taking small sips from the pack members while they slept. A little here, a little there—just enough to survive. They never noticed.

But with a iphysical/i body, things changed.

I couldn’t sneak into homes anymore.

I couldn’t go unnoticed.

And the wolves... they were itoo aware/i. Their senses too sharp. If I took from one of them, I’d be caught.

So I had to adapt.

For a while, I lived off animals. It was disgusting. Their blood was iweak/i, barely enough to keep me from spiraling. But I endured.

Until I grew older.

Until I was istrong/i enough.

And then, I ventured beyond the pack’s borders.

There was a human vige miles away—isted, unaware of the icreature/i running through the woods.

With my speed, the distance meant inothing/i.

And humans?

They were ieasy prey/i.

I learned quickly that teenage girls and women were the simplest targets.

All I had to do was pretend to be a ilost child/i.

Innocent. Helpless.

And without fail, some isweet, naive woman/i would stop.

Would kneel down.

Would try to ihelp me/i.

And that’s when I’d istrike/i.

This went on for years.

By the time I reached my teenage years, I was istrong/i. The weak, shadow-like form I once had was long gone. Now, I was isolid/i. A true predator.

Kane and I were the same age in body—twins in appearance—but in mind?

He was still iyoung/i. Na?ve. Soft.

And me?

I was iolder/i. iDarker/i. I had lived through things he never had to.

We were still close then. He still icared/i for me, still saw me as his brother. But that’s when things ichanged/i.

That’s when he started ilistening/i to them.

To his iparents/i.

To the ipack elders/i.

To all the voices whispering in his ear, telling him that I wasn’t ihis brother/i, that I wasn’t even a iperson/i. That I was the ievil inside him/i given form.

At first, he ignored them.

He defended me.

But doubt... doubt is a ipoison/i.

And once it takes root, it spreads.

He started to ipull away/i.

Started to iquestion/i.

And eventually, he began to iblock/i the bond we shared—the bond that had once made us ione/i.

But here’s what he never knew.

What no one iever/i knew.

The reason Kane was considered igood/i, the reason he was able to be their iperfect son/i, their inoble alpha/i...

Was ibecause of me/i.

Because all these years, I had iabsorbed/i his darkness.

All the rage.

All the anger.

All the imalevolence/i that should have consumed him? I took it. I bore it.

I made sure ihe never had to feel it/i.

And now?

Now he was iabandoning me/i.

Turning his back on the very thing that had kept him ipure/i.

And for the first time...

I started to wonder.

What if I istopped/i?

What if I let him feel the ifull weight/i of what he truly was?

Would he still be their igolden boy/i then?