Free Web NovelChapter 80: Chapter 79: Consequences and Curiosity
The silence stretched like a wire pulled taut, ready to snap.
Eve’s heart hammered against her ribs as Damian stood in the doorway, his gray eyes moving slowly between her and Silas. She instinctively pulled the sheet up to cover herself, though it was pointless....he could see exactly what had happened here.
"Damian....." she started, but he held up one hand, silencing her.
"Don’t." His voice was dangerously quiet. "Don’t try to explain yet. I’m still deciding whether to be furious or impressed."
’’Silas, did you remember what we agreed on’’ freewebnøvel.coɱ
[FLASHBACK - Three Weeks After Eve’s Awakening]
"Absolutely not." Silas’s voice was hard as he stood across from his brothers in Damian’s office. "You can’t just exile me from our bed."
"No one’s exiling you," Damian said with strained patience. "We’re asking you to move back to your room temporarily. There’s a difference."
"Is there?" Silas’s hands clenched into fists. "Because it feels like you’re separating me from my mate."
"That’s not what this is about." Damon leaned against the desk, his usual playfulness absent. "We saw what happened last night, Silas. You damn near lost control."
Last night. Eve had been feeding from all three of them, her succubus hunger insatiable as always. But when Silas’s turn came, something shifted. His eyes had bled to full wolf gold, Cain surging forward with violent need. It had taken both Damian and Damon to pull him back before his fangs broke her skin.
"I stopped," Silas argued. "I maintained control."
"Barely." Damian’s gray eyes were sympathetic but firm. "And it’s getting harder each time, isn’t it? Cain’s getting more aggressive. More desperate to claim her."
Silas couldn’t deny it. Every night he lay beside Eve, breathing in her scent, feeling her warmth against him, his wolf clawed at his control with increasing violence. Claim her. Mark her. Make her ours completely.
"She’s not strong enough yet," Damian continued quietly. "Elder Markov confirmed it yesterday. A full alpha claiming—especially from a wolf as powerful as Cain—could overwhelm her system. The mate bond would slam into place too fast, too hard. It could burn her out from the inside."
"Or kill her," Damon added bluntly. "You know it’s true, brother. You feel how much stronger Cain is than Rex or Kane. Your claiming will be different. More intense. She needs to be able to handle it."
Silas’s jaw worked. "So what am I supposed to do? Just... stay away from her?"
"Not away," Damian corrected. "You’ll still spend time with her. Still feed her when needed—with one of us present to pull you back if necessary. Still train with her, talk with her, be part of her life. But sleeping in the same bed, having her scent wrapped around you all night while Cain screams to claim her?" He shook his head. "That’s torture for both of you."
"It’s about keeping her safe," Damon said more gently. "You want to claim her properly, don’t you? Want her to survive it and come out stronger on the other side?"
"Of course I do," Silas snapped.
"Then give her time to develop." Damian moved closer, his hand gripping Silas’s shoulder. "Let her powers grow. Let her body adapt to being succubus. And when Cain finally says she’s ready, when her system can handle the full force of your claiming—then you can have her in your bed every night. Permanently."
Silas stared at his brothers, seeing the genuine concern in their faces. They weren’t trying to separate him from Eve out of jealousy or cruelty. They were trying to keep her alive.
"How long?" he asked hoarsely.
"As long as it takes," Damian said. "Could be weeks. Could be months. But Cain will know. He’ll feel when she’s strong enough."
Silas closed his eyes, reaching inward to his wolf. Is this necessary?
Yes, Cain’s response was immediate and surprisingly calm. She must be ready. I will not risk our mate for impatience. When the time comes, our claiming will be absolute. She must survive it.
"Fine," Silas finally said, opening his eyes. "I’ll move back to my room. But I’m not happy about it."
"None of us are," Damon assured him. "But it’s the right call."
end of flashback
Silas sat up slowly, positioning himself slightly in front of Eve in a protective gesture that made Damian’s eyes narrow. "She didn’t mean to come here. Something happened with her powers."
"Her powers." Damian’s tone was flat, controlled....which was somehow more terrifying than if he’d been shouting. "And what powers would those be? The ones that apparently pulled her from our bed into yours?"
"It wasn’t like that," Eve protested, finding her voice. "I didn’t choose to come here. I was asleep, and then I was in Silas’s dream. Actually in it, experiencing everything from his perspective."
That got Damian’s attention. His posture shifted fractionally, the alpha’s possessive anger giving way to the strategist’s interest. "Explain."
Eve pulled the sheet tighter around herself, trying to organize her thoughts. "I woke up at 3 AM from what I thought was just a dream. But it felt wrong....too vivid, too real. And I wasn’t experiencing it as myself. I was..." She glanced at Silas, her cheeks flushing. "I was him. Feeling what he felt, wanting what he wanted. Thinking his thoughts."
"Dream-walking." Damian moved fully into the room, closing the door behind him with a soft click that somehow sounded ominous. "Elder Markov mentioned it as a theoretical ability. Ancient succubi queens supposedly could enter the dreams of others, but it’s been so long since anyone manifested the power that most consider it myth."
"Well, it’s not a myth," Silas said, his hand finding Eve’s under the sheet and squeezing. "She was there. I felt her presence in my mind, experienced her consciousness touching mine. It was..." He trailed off, struggling to find words.
"Intimate," Eve finished quietly. "More intimate than sex. I could feel everything he was feeling. Including...." She stopped, not sure how much to reveal.
"Including the fact that he’s in love with you," Damian finished for her, his expression unreadable. "Yes, we’ve all noticed. Silas has never been particularly good at hiding his emotions."
Silas’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t deny it.
Damian crossed his arms, studying them both with those calculating gray eyes. "And when you woke up and realized what had happened, you came to his room. Why?"
"I needed to make sure it was real," Eve admitted. "That I hadn’t just imagined it. And Silas was awake, dealing with the aftermath of the dream, so I...."
"So you decided to finish what the dream started." Damian’s voice held an edge now. "In his bed. Without Damon or myself present."
"I didn’t plan it," she protested. "It just... happened."
"Things don’t ’just happen’ with you anymore, Eve." Damian moved closer, looming over the bed. "You’re a succubus. Your hunger drives you. And you chose to satisfy that hunger with only Silas, breaking the careful balance we’ve maintained."
