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?