Unleashed

Chapter Nine: Marius

3rd PoV

Twenty-Nine Years Ago

Young Darius stood nailed to the floor, transfixed by the suffering that was readable on his older brother's face.

The young man laid on the ground, shaking, groaning, and crying out in writhing pain, screaming that his body was burning and that he could feel his bones break inside of him. Darius wanted to help, to do something, even though his mother had just ordered him to fetch their uncle and wait outside with his little sister without informing any of the servants or guards.

His mother kneeled beside her firstborn, a look of terror in her eyes. Her hands shook and she kept repeating the words: "No, not him too! Please, God, no!'"

When she noticed Darius was still with them, she cried out, "What did I tell you, son?"

"Oh, yes, mother!" Darius answered and he began to run as fast as he could.

He looked for uncle Leo in the bathhouse first, thinking the man would be there, but he wasn't, so the teenager quickly ran upstairs, his bare feet flopping against the cold marble steps of the staircase. His heart pounded within its cage and sweat started dripping down his face. He never felt this scared before. What if Marius wouldn't make it?

After what felt like forever, he found his uncle in the office. "There is s-something wrong with Marius! H-he's in his room with mother!" he breathlessly cried out. "He's screaming that he's burning and his body is b-breaking."

Leo's eyes grew wide and he instantly had the exact same worried look in his eyes as Darius's mother had. He too ordered Darius to stay away from his brother's room and wait outside, and he also repeated his mother's words about not telling a single soul.

The sixteen-year-old, second heir to the house of Xavius, didn't understand. What did his mother and uncle know about his brother that he didn't?

***

He never saw his brother again. Marius had died that day, exactly one week ago, and Darius himself felt more dead than alive as well. His brother, three years his senior, was the second close family member he had lost in his life. Their father had died shortly after Sabina was born. He couldn't remember his father that well, but it still felt like a loss to him, and now he had to miss his brother as well.

Up till now, his mother and uncle had refused to tell him what had happened that day, one week ago. The other people, including his little sister, believed that Marius had fallen on his head and died because of that, just like mother and uncle had told them, but Darius knew that story wasn't true... Questions asked by him were answered with silence or-if he went on with asking-a slap on the cheek.

Right now, Darius was on his way to his uncle's office once more. He told himself he was not going to leave before he got himself some answers!

He was stopped in front of Leo's door.

"Young Master, you can't-"

"It's ok, Titus," Darius told Leo's guard. "My uncle knows about me visiting him."

"Oh, uh...because Master Leo has instructed me that nobody is allowed to enter. Nobody."

"Please, if you want to disturb him in this time of grief, then...go ahead." Darius nodded.

Titus bit the inside of his cheek. "No...I'm sorry, master Darius. You are the first heir to the house of Xavius now, so of course, you can enter. Please, forgive me."

"That's alright, Titus. You are a good man, there is nothing I need to forgive you for."

Once inside, Darius grew to understand that his uncle had company already, so he tiptoed into the room as silent as he could.

The company was no other than his mother.

Darius hid around the corner and listened to the siblings talk. His palms were sweaty and he had this uneasy feeling that he maybe did not want to hear this talk at all.

"He was still so young," his mother sniffed. "With their father, it began at a much older age. Of course, I have always been frightened that the gene was passed on to one of my children, but I never thought I had to fear it being revealed this early. Marius was only nineteen; his father was almost fifty when he turned."

Turned?

"I suppose it's not about age. I think it comes out when their body is ready for it, or because of stress, or maybe the weather? There was a big storm the night before Marius died. Maybe it was because of that." Leo replied, approaching his sister. He laid a hand on her back while she buried her face in her hands and cried.

"What must we do with Darius? What if-Oh, brother, we must tell him!" His mother looked up at her brother.

Darius wanted to jump between them and ask what the fuck was going on, but he didn't dare.

"We will not tell him anything," Leo answered.

"But...he must know."

"No." Leo shook his head. "What is the purpose of him knowing? He can't stop it anyway. He will only be worried. What we should do is keep a close eye on him. This thing cannot leak out or everybody will know and the family name will-"

Mother stood up. "I buried a husband and a son because of this, and you dare to speak of the family name?" she hissed. "I don't care about our family name: I care about my two children. The ones that I actually have left. If they carry the gene as well, then this can't leak out, because they need to stay safe, not because other people will loathe them if they find out they have an amount of Lycan blood running through their veins!"

"...!" Darius gasped at what his mother said. He had to lean against the wall or he would have collapsed to the floor.

Lycan.

An amount of Lycan blood?! How was that possible? What did it even mean?

"Did father and Marius die because they turned into a wolf? They were Lycans?" Darius asked as he presented himself.

Was he a Lycan as well?

"D-Darius?" his mother whispered with a trembling voice before she jumped out of her chair.

"I've heard it all," Darius raised his voice, anger suddenly hitting him. Did they want to keep this a secret from him? "You have to tell me everything you know."

Present Time

Darius walked towards the window and stood there for a while, watching Mila and Lir talking together in the garden. His niece was worth more than life itself to the lanista. Mila looked so much like her mother, and she was as beautiful as Sabina was too. He could understand why Felix wanted to make her his.

He sighed, massaging his temples. He never meant to snap at the girl yesterday during the dinner party, but he could feel that she was starting to change...for the worse. Mila always has had sympathy for the beasts, a trait that Darius's father and brother also possessed, but it was starting to grow deeper lately.

Because of this trait, Darius had never been afraid that he carried the gene, for he couldn't care less about Lycans. It was because of them that his father and brother were dead. Their blood.

They were his slaves, his property, things he made money off. That was it, nothing more and nothing less. But Mila...she was another story. Darius could just feel she owned the gene, and it concerned him to no end. He didn't want to lose another loved one because of this.

His mother and uncle had revealed that his father and brother weren't Lycans. They weren't fully human either, but they also weren't full Lycan. They were something in between, and for some reason, that made it even worse.

There came a knock on his door. "Enter," he commanded, not taking his eyes off the two youngsters. He smiled when he saw them laughing together. Mila still had that innocent playfulness to her, and he prayed that his niece could keep that. At least for a long time. However, the truth was that Mila had the same age Marius had when he...Darius swallowed and turned around. "Felix," he nodded, looking into a pair of light blue eyes.

"Good morning, Darius. I got the news that there was something you wanted to talk about?" Felix asked before he closed the door behind him.

"Yes...there is," Darius replied. "There is something that I must share with you. Something that only me and my sister know about..."