Page 32 of Dark Souls Academy: The Sacrifice

“What the fuck!” Stanine yelled.

Kain cocked his head to the side at me, but I just shrugged.

Their eyes were on my mate,I explained through the bond.

Kain smirked like he understood, which he did. His head jerked to the door. Yes, it was time for them to leave.

Watching my brothers and bond brothers descend on our mate as I shoved the others out of our home felt like those pretty words Dex mumbled to himself when he thought no one was listening. It was a beautiful sight. We were going to fix things with our mate and get to be happy. Fucking finally. I’d waited for this for so long.

My large hand pushed Balthazar out a little harder than necessary. He stumbled into the hallway, whipping around to glare at me.

“Was that necessary?” Tila said. She folded her arms over her chest. She truly was ugly to me after our history.

I didn’t even look at her. All the pain we were in because of her cheating and magically mating other men was gone, so there was no need to. I just wanted to be done with her. I had held out for so long. Helped her with whatever she asked of me. The only time I ever went against her was when she hurt the slaves.

“Out,” was all I said. I rarely used words unless Ivy was involved. My fists were usually more effective communicators.

Stanine scurried out like a good snake, Tila didn’t. The bitch just stood there, staring at me. Why wouldn’t she leave?

“I’m happy for you, Bones.” Her meek voice didn’t even sound like Tila.

My eyes shot to her in surprise. I didn’t even know how to respond to that. Was this just another way to manipulate me?

She rolled her eyes at the shocked expression. “Don’t make me feel like shit. I can be nice.”

I just raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, whatever. I wanted to just say that you deserve this and, uh, thanks, I guess. And sorry.” After that she ran out the door.

I was too shocked to even say anything. In all my years in Hell, demons never apologized. Not like that anyway. Shakingoff the brain mush that Tila just gave me, I stomped back into our room. Negotiations had already begun.

“Okay. I’ll stop being so controlling. I know that I’ve been fucking up, but my demon is having a hard time with the change. All I want is for you to be safe, and you acted like your life didn’t matter. I had to watch your body in a coma after the mating. Then, the moment you wake up you get yourself hurt by trying to cling onto a car that was leaving. I can’t constantly watch you suffering, Poison.” Kain’s words were filled with pain and worry. I was glad he finally got his head out of his ass. We needed our mate back.

The guilty expression on her face had all of us relaxing. She was taking this seriously. That was all we wanted.

“Alright. I get that, and I won’t do anything stupid like that again. It was just a lot all at once.”

The pause was heavy in the room as we watched her go from guilty to irritated. Her venomous expression narrowed on Kain. “But that means you fight by my side and watch my back. You don’t lock me away. I’m not a damsel and never will be, but I do need you. I need all of you. Doing all this shit to keep the Academy safe and find answers alone has been so fucking stressful. And that numbness.” Ivy shivered. She was still restrained, but I could see the urge to untie her run through everyone’s solemn faces.

We really had fucked up. Why didn’t we know that she was still running everything by herself? The realization made me feel like gum on the bottom of a shit-covered shoe. We knew she handled a few things because she was the leader of the faction, but we didn’t know she took over our duties as well.

Trigger didn’t want to wait any longer. He scooped up some of the dark red concoction out of the bottle and rubbed it all over Ivy’s smooth skin as they spoke. He mumbled to himself, ormaybe he was casting a spell… I couldn’t hear him, but I trusted in his skills to keep her safe.

Kain surprised me when he knelt in front of her. Trigger moved to her backside to give him his time to grovel. We all needed to, but he definitely did. “I can’t promise that I’ll be perfect, but I think we can work on it. Please give me a chance. I’m so sorry, my Poison.”

Ivy scoffed and blew a strand of her hair out of her face. “How are we going to do that? I don’t have time to devote to counseling or some shit. I just had a huge discovery and might have a way to get Lucifer.”

That made everyone freeze. We all wanted to know more, but one thing at a time. Our mate came first.

“Later,” I grumbled out. We needed to stay focus. Thankfully, they listened.

“We can set rules and goals for our relationship.” Every eye turned to me, wide with surprise. I shrugged. I didn’t blame them. None of us have had a healthy relationship, so my answer wasn’t expected. “One of the books in your room had some good advice. Since we liked to use books for the sex scenes, I figured, we might want to use other stuff.” I ran my hand through my long blonde hair. My fingers got caught in a curl. I wish they’d stop staring at me. It made me nervous, and I hated that feeling.

Ivy sighed. “That’s a great idea, but we don’t have time to make a long list and just hope for the best. I agree communication is needed?—"

“You can tie me up and take complete control,” Kain said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “I know that I’m the biggest issue here. I understand the others have their own problems to work through, but I’m the core of the mess. I won’t lie and say it will be easy. Surrendering all my control will be tough, but if we keep at it, I could get used to you leading us.”

“I don’t need to be a dictator. I just need the respect. Don’t keep me out of things or shut me out,” Ivy whispered. The way her eyes moved around but not really seeing anything said she was in a deep thought.

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