My Alphas' Dark Desires novel Chapter 373

"Mom?" he repeated, his small voice trembling. "Mom, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer.

Her face contorted in a way that was hard to recognize: her once-gentle eyes had turned hollow, and dark veins stood out under her skin.

Then, without any warning, she lunged forward and grabbed his throat with her hands.

I gasped, my own throat tightening in reflex. "Dristan…"

The boy beneath her struggled, clawing at her wrists. "Stop! Mom… please!" His small body jolted as faint sparks of lightning crackled from his fingertips, but the energy only made her scream louder. The sound was distorted, no longer sounding human.

"Please, stop!" he cried again, voice breaking.

Beside me, Dristan's hand clenched around mine so tightly it hurt. His jaw was set, and it was hard to read his expression. "She wasn't herself," he said in a low voice. "It was… like a curse… an old one. I didn't know then."

In the memory, his mother staggered back, clutching her head as she screamed. "Make it stop!" she begged, her voice flickering between her own and something darker. "Please, Dristan, make it stop!"

The young boy shook his head violently, tears streaking down his cheeks. "I can't! I don't know how!" He sobbed. "Mom, please…"

Her body spasmed, her eyes rolling back before snapping open again, glowing with that same unnatural black shimmer. She lunged forward.

I tried to grab her, to stop her, but my hands passed through her like mist. I couldn't touch anything here; I could only watch. Only feel.

"Dristan!" I shouted helplessly, but my voice was swallowed by the void.

His mother's hand shot toward the nightstand, grabbing a dagger. She screamed, tears mixing with rage. "Please, forgive me!" she cried, right before she drove it downward to kill little Dristan.

Instinct took over. The young Dristan caught her wrist midair, trying to hold her back… trying to fight her off.

He managed to twist her hand a bit to move the sharp edge away from him, but as he tried to push her off, she lunged again, pressing into him. And the blade…

Went straight into her chest.

I froze.

She let out a gasp.

The sound was small, almost gentle, compared to the chaos seconds before. Her body stilled, her eyes wide as she looked down at the dagger buried deep in her heart.

"No…" The word came out of him in a whisper. Then louder. "No, no, no, Mom! I didn't mean to… Mom, please…"

He caught her before she fell, his small body cradling her trembling body in his arms. Tears streaked his face as lightning flickered uncontrollably around them.

"Mom, please! I promise, I didn't mean to… I didn't… I was… I was just…" More tears streaked down his cheeks as he held her tighter. "Stay with me, Mom."

Her hand lifted weakly, smearing some blood as she brushed off tears on his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice suddenly becoming calm. "And I'm sorry."

Her fingers slipped away… and she went still.

There was a moment of silence, almost like the world paused for a few seconds. Then…

"NOOOOO!!!!"

Dristan's scream suddenly filled my mind through the memory. It was so raw and broken that it sent chills down my spine. It was terrifying.

The lightning around him exploded, shattering the small room into fragments of light. His eyes glowed a violent amber as energy poured out of him, wild and destructive.

"ARRRRGGGHHHH!"

I watched as the amber color of his eyes flickered like a dying flame and faded, lighting up and flickering. Then, when he closed his eyes and opened them again, they were… blue. Cold, icy blue.

He let out another roar, and then everything went silent.

The older Dristan beside me stood still, breathing hard. His hand was trembling slightly in mine, though he didn't seem to notice.

I could barely speak. My chest ached like the pain was my own. "You were just a kid," I whispered.

He didn't answer immediately.

His gaze stayed fixed on the fading image of his younger self kneeling over his mother's body. "I killed her," he said finally in a hollow voice. "By accident, yeah… but it doesn't matter. I still did it."

"You didn't have a choice," I said quickly. "She was cursed, you said it yourself…"

"She asked me to stop her," he interrupted in a sharp tone, then softened again. "And I couldn't. I didn't know how. I lost control. And that…" He exhaled shakily. "That's the day my power changed. My lightning turned blue. Dead magic, my father called it."

I swallowed hard. "Dead magic?"

He nodded. "It feeds on emotion. Pain. Grief. It's the only kind I have left."

I didn't know what to say. The void around us was starting to dim, the memory fading like smoke, but the ache in my chest stayed.

"She saved you," I said quietly.

His eyes flicked to me. "What?"

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