Chapter 169: Chapter 169 An Anger Misdirected
Phoebe’s POV
"Fiona? Where have you been?" Darius’s voice reached me as he approached. I could barely focus on his words - everything felt hazy and distant. He was patrolling this area, I think.
I noticed him glancing toward the direction I’d come from, though he couldn’t figure out where I’d been wandering.
The morning was still early for me to be roaming around alone like this.
"This is not safe for you to be alone here. The royal warriors can sneak in and catch you." His hand grabbed mine, and I felt him tense. "Did Reginald know you are out here?"
His words barely registered. The drug coursed through my system, and I took a deep breath. The cool morning air felt incredible against my skin. I closed my eyes, feeling myself start to fall.
"Fiona!" Darius caught me, and we both tumbled to the ground. He hadn’t expected me to stumble on the flat surface and lost his balance. "What’s wrong with you?"
I heard him groan as he cushioned my head with his hand to keep me from hitting the floor too hard.
"What’s going on?" He leaned closer, studying my face.
His eyes locked with mine. "Are you drunk?" I could tell he knew something was off. I probably looked drunk, but when he sniffed near my mouth, there was no alcohol scent. Though he did smell something else.
Before he could identify what that smell was, I cupped his face in my hands and pulled him down to kiss me.
I pressed my lips to his - a full, passionate kiss with tongue.
Darius froze, completely stunned. He stared at me in disbelief, like this couldn’t possibly be happening.
When reality hit him, he immediately pushed me away. It wasn’t difficult since I had no strength left in my body.
"Fiona! What the fuck!" Darius jumped to his feet, glaring down at me as I giggled, still sprawled on the ground. Heat flushed my cheeks, and I didn’t even realize what I’d done - I just kept laughing at his reaction. "Are you out of your mind?!"
His anger only made me laugh harder.
Darius’s eyes narrowed. He hadn’t smelled alcohol on my breath, but my drunken behavior could only mean one thing...
I was using drugs.
"Fuck." He gritted his teeth. Where had I gotten them? Did Reginald know? Why hadn’t he done something?
Darius had watched me grow up - he’d always seen me as family. Having me kiss him on the lips disgusted him.
But I wouldn’t have done that if I’d been sober.
"Get up, I will take you back to your room." He groaned when I didn’t move, waiting until I stopped laughing and finally fell asleep.
——
Only then did Darius approach Phoebe and carry her to her bedroom, just in case she tried to attack him and kiss him again. It felt awful. Disgusting.
Fiona was half his age.
When he reached the bedroom, he kicked the door several times since he couldn’t knock, but also because he was furious with Reginald for not even realizing his mate had gone missing. How could he sleep so soundly?
The door opened quickly. Reginald’s sleepy but alert eyes met his, then widened in shock when he saw Fiona in Darius’s arms.
"Do you want to explain why she’s out there while you had no clue she was gone?" Darius pushed inside without an invitation, shouldering Reginald as the other man stumbled.
"I don’t know..."
"That’s exactly what I want to ask - how do you not know she went missing?" Darius glared at him viciously, waiting for an answer as he placed Fiona on the bed. "Now tell me what happened to her. Tell me everything, Reginald."
After tucking Fiona in, Darius straightened and faced Reginald with a stern expression.
"Why is she using drugs?!" Darius roared.
Reginald maintained his worried look, but when he met Darius’s eyes again, he growled back angrily.
"You think I didn’t try to stop her?! I didn’t tell you because I knew this would devastate her more if someone saw her like this. They’ll think differently about her, and you know how much she cares about what people think!"
Darius was caught off guard by Reginald’s anger. He frowned, and when Darius stayed silent, Reginald continued his monologue to control the narrative.
"I’ve tried everything I could to bring her back, but she keeps relapsing. I didn’t mean to hide this from you, but I had to protect her dignity! You think I want her like this?!"
Reginald paused dramatically, and when he was sure Darius was too speechless to respond, he spoke again, his voice thick with pain.
"I’m her mate. On top of the vengeance I have to carry for her late father, I have to keep her sane enough to face her fears and heartbreak. You know very well how close she was to Alpha Theodore, right? She was the apple of his eye."
Darius knew that. He knew her father’s death would hit Fiona hard, but apparently he didn’t know the full extent.
He wasn’t aware how deeply the loss had affected her.
"I’m sorry for assuming the worst of you," Darius finally said, his voice defeated. "But where did she get the drugs?"
"Royal Beta Allen."
"I’m going to kill him!" Darius was enraged.
"And then you’ll kill all of us without his support against the royals. Stay quiet for now."
