CH.91

Knox gritted his teeth when he couldn’t just exorcist this damn entity out of his mate’s body without hurting her in the process.

Serena’s lips stretched into a mocking smile when she saw his struggle to hold himself back from hurting this mortal body. Had he truly fallen in love with her? Why did the idea of it hurt so much?

"I've spent ages trying to earn your forgiveness, pleading my case and offering every repentance," she continued in a stronger voice tinged with desperation. "But you never once granted it to me, no matter how I debased myself before you. Yet you so easily forgave this...this woman, simply because she happened to be your fated mate in this pathetic reincarnation."

She shook her head slowly, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears as she held Knox's uncompromising stare.

"Well, the reason I've come barging so inelegantly into your lives this time is because I chose to take matters into my own hands. I want to help you both complete that mate bond, once and for all, without any curses or consequences holding you back. Isn't that what you want, Kazdrellian?"

Her voice took on a fervent, imploring tone as she leaned forward slightly, one hand pressed to her chest in an oddly human gesture of sincerity.

"A chance to finally claim her as your true, eternal mate without any barriers between you? No more secrets, no more feuds or machinations keeping you apart? That's what I'm offering you here - a chance to have everything you've ever truly wanted in all your long, bitter existence. You need only say the word, and I'll make it so..."

Knox, or Kazdrellian as he was originally known, had started zoning out while the mysterious woman blabbered on about him and Serena.

His mind was still a foggy mess from just waking up after what felt like an endless, torturous slumber.

He became acutely aware of the insistent, gnawing force building up from deep within his psyche. It felt like a separate consciousness violently straining against the barriers of his mind, clawing and scratching to take control with animalistic desperation.

'Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!' the voice in his head screamed, pounding against his skull.

The sensation was utterly maddening, like hot shards of agony driving through his brain, threatening to shatter his grip on reality into a million pieces.

The very presence of this annoying fly that refused to leave his wife’s body also seemed to be triggering something primal and feral within the darkest recesses of his true nature - something he hadn't felt the need to fully unleash in eons, not since the days when the world was still young and wild.

A strained groan slipped past Knox's gritted teeth as the pressure built up behind his eyes intensified to near-unbearable levels.

He could vaguely make out Meredith shooting him a concerned look and Serena's incessant rambling cut off abruptly when she sensed the shift in his demeanor.

"Knox? Are you okay?" She asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

However, everything faded into a dull roar of white noise as the other part of himself finally overwhelmed his tenuous control in a wave of fury.

Knox's body started acting on its own primal accord. He let out an earth-shattering roar that caused the entire villa's foundations to shudder violently.

The windows rattled fiercely in their frames, almost ready to shatter all around if Meredith hadn’t quickly thrown up a shimmering barrier to contain the thunderous sound from alerting the enemies.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.

The witch looked ready to launch herself forward, clearly thinking Serena was in mortal danger from Knox's sudden hostile shift. But Enzo held her firmly in place with a restraining hand, shaking his head grimly as he kept his eyes locked on the unfolding scene with an intense look on his face.

"Wait," he said in a low, urgent voice. "Something's not right here."

Knox let out another deafening roar that reverberated through every fiber of their beings. This one was accompanied by an explosive blast of sapphire flames erupting from his mouth to completely engulf Serena's slender form in azure fire.

"No!" Meredith cried out in horror, her heart leaping into her throat as she watched Serena’s body consumed by the mystical inferno.

“Calm yourself, woman,” Enzo spoke. “Watch… he won’t hurt her.”

Meredith’s body was shaking with terror. Her mind was reeling with how she had failed to protect her lady’s only surviving heir’s future. How she had failed to help him become the savior, they all hoped for.

But to her utter shock, the bright blue flames didn't seem to actually burn or even leave a single mark on Serena.

They simply washed over her harmlessly in shimmering waves before dissipating into tendrils of azure smoke.

As the last licks of fire faded away, Meredith noticed that the eerie, unnatural aura surrounding Serena was gone.

It was then that the realization struck her - whatever malicious entity had been possessing and violating the girl's body must have been purged by that strange azure fire.

"What... what just happened?" Meredith mumbled, swaying on her feet as she blinked in confusion.

‘You idiot!’ An angry, growling voice that sounded like Knox reverberated through his mind, viciously chastising him for his negligence.

‘You couldn't even sense our own mate was in danger from that vile ancient being masquerading as a supposed ally. It was merely looking for a way to leech out her soul so it could take full possession of her body as a new vessel!' It snarled. 'Has your mind become so muddled up you’d miss that we summoned our mate here to help us? Have you forgotten she carries a part of your essence? The same one you had so lovingly gifted her long ago and how she can—' It trailed off in irritation.

Knox mentally shook his head, still feeling disoriented without a chance to fully replenish his severely depleted energy reserves.

‘Give him a break. He just woke up from being trapped in a void of endless torment. So cut him some slack here.’ Another voice sneered.

Knox caught a brief glimpse of a figure seated in the dimly lit recesses of his mind. It looked exactly like him physically, but there was an unmistakable aura of menace and raw power rolling off this doppelganger in nearly visible waves.

Their eyes met - Knox's a swirling, turbulent vortex of amber and black, the other's glowing a deep, scarlet.

A low, menacing hiss slid past the other being's bared fangs.

Knox could feel the sheer weight of disdain and contempt radiating from this other savage aspect of himself, like a physical force pressing down on him.

'Pathetic,' the doppelganger sneered. 'You've grown soft and weak.'

Knox bristled at being looked down on with such open scorn, even by another facet of his own damn psyche.

He arched his back and bared his own teeth in a defiant display of dominance.

The only reason these other parts of himself were able to so easily overpower and shove him into this dimly lit corner of his mind was because of his currently severely weakened state.

Once he managed to recover and regain the full extent of his power, he would put these impudent aberrations firmly back in their place.