57: Darius' POV

Over the last week, I'd made plenty of mistakes. It all started when I stepped off of that train and kissed Elizabeth so brazenly and told myself it was only to sell the engagement. I'd thought my hatred ran deep enough for her to not fall into old habits, but I'd been wrong. She'd always been good at convincing you she was sweet, gentle, just to get what she wanted. Then she'd toss you aside like you were garbage when you no longer served her purpose. Much to my shame, I had far too much personal experience with all sides of her. I should have known better-- and I should have been upfront with Ada about Elizabeth and I's past as soon as my father had announced his plans for her. As soon as I'd known I was engaged to her.

The second mistake was fucking Elizabeth. The timing was poor, given that Ada had reconnected with her wolf and I hadn't been there so I couldn't know. She could feel everything I did to Elizabeth and everything I let her do to me. I didn't know, but it didn't change the fact that's what happened. The mate bond my brother's and I had suspected for weeks snapped into place for her and it was over. She knew and I couldn't lie about it.

The third was acting on the rage I felt when Ada told me what she was going to do to me. I had felt what had happened the night before-- hell, I'd pretty much been sent a porno in my mind. My brothers ravaged her. I heard her thoughts about Nik because she'd blasted them down the bond. She wanted him to own her. She'd cum like he and Phoenix *did* own her. My wolf had gone insane. The arousal burning through my body had been too much to handle. When she'd threatened to make me feel that every night, I broke. I set up transport for them and did the only thing I could think of that would hurt her as much as that would have hurt me: ran to my father and gave him what he wanted. I married Elizabeth.

Now I was tied to the insufferable, vile, mouse-faced woman that was my cousin and now my wife. For all eternity. I'd denounced our mate-bond without rejecting it properly. She would feel every time I laid with Elizabeth, which was often in the three days we waited for them to arrive at Oberon Castle. In those three days, I let myself get lost in how amazing it felt. Elizabeth wasn't bad in bed. I'd laid with her plenty of times previously so we were used to each other. We knew what made the other one tick. With each time we fucked, I became more attentive to her. I went from using her as a release to using her as revenge to *wanting* her to cum, wanting her filled with my cum as she screamed my name.

All of those feelings went out the window when I saw Ada. I knew as I approached my father that I was going to receive the full wrath of both of my brothers, and expected the same from Ada. When Nik had to cloud her in shadow because her response was not rage, but a heartbreak so vast that it shook the bonds between the four of us... I felt a part of me break. Then I heard the words she'd said to me on the night of our first union: *You are the one I would have chosen.*

I'd wanted to fall to my knees and beg for her forgiveness, but doing so would bring the wrath of my father down on all of our heads. He would kill her. He'd wanted to kill her simply for being our destined mate and I'd managed to talk him out of it. Did that particular solution involve marrying Elizabeth? Yes. Did I mind it at the time? Not so much. Did I *have* to claim that she couldn't sleep with either of my brothers, her other mates? No. But I also didn't think I could stand her being with them while she hated me so much.

Then this morning, Ada had shown up in that dress, which was really just a piece or two of fabric. She was beautiful, majestic. Her body was so curvy now and she was so healthy. She looked as if she wanted to slit my throat, which is why I'd made the demand I had. She would come with me once this meeting with Finn was over. The irrational part of me had won out when I'd seen her. It was the part of me that claimed her without thought, leaving bruises and bite marks all over her body. It was the part of me that would never have enough of her and never be enough for her. I'd spent the walk to the garden thinking about the way her pussy feels around my cock when it quivers as she cums.

The second I'd seen Fane Rosu walking towards us with my father and my wife, all of those thoughts had gone out the window. I'd felt an instant need to protect her from what was coming. Then to find out that she knew him, that Nik knew him... I'd felt betrayed. Not nearly as much as I'd felt blast down the bond in the days leading up to this meeting, but still enough to make me uncomfortable. But I knew we needed him to win. If he chose to join forces with the ever-growing Midnight Pack instead of fight against them, we were as good as dead.

And now I had to kill my father because of it.

When Fane had disappeared-- as in literally *vanished--* I had grabbed Ada's hand and ripped her away from Phoenix. She'd stumbled behind me, somehow staying on her feet while she kept pace with me. As I led her down the winding halls of Oberon Castle, I hoped that me agreeing to murder my father would somehow start to heal the hurt I'd given her. Right now, it was all I had to give. And as much as I loved her, even if it wasn't enough, I would still have her. She would still be mine for awhile. I would rip that flimsy fabric off of her and make her writhe with pleasure.

After all, a King stays true to his word.