Hunter To Lover (MxM)(Male Dragon Shifter X Male Elf/Reader)

Ch. 1 Hunter to Lover

mightthedragon

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"And remember what hangs in the balance; your path in life!" shouted the elder elf. His luscious silver locks wavered in the snowy air as he paced in front of us, giving us the speech every new hunting elf heard when they went on their first hunt. "Come back with a beast's head, you become one of us; fierce hunters who feed our clan! Come back empty-handed, and you will have to make another life for yourself!"

Every firstborn heard this speech on their 800th year of life, when we come of age to be adult elves. And now it was my turn.

I shivered as the icy breeze blew against my face. I stood with my team of four other elves. We all wielded a weapon; a bow, an ax, a sword or a dagger, along with hunting knives on our belt. I held a bow, a quiver tightly strapped around my torso. I set my face hard, but I wasn't ready for this.

But the elves beside me absolutely were; they were ready to be hunters for our clan. I'd be much happier being anything other than a hunter, and I knew my sister Eda would gladly take my place. I glanced at her in the crowd. She gave me a small wave and a smile. I gave her a nervous smile back and focused on the elder.

The elder faced the group, his speech finished. His silver robes wavered in the breeze. He scanned all of us, his ancient gaze pausing on me. I gulped.

"Go forth! And find yourself a beast to kill!"

The surrounding elves raised their fists. "Ho!" They shouted.

"Ho," I mumbled with them.

The groups dispersed. I trailed after mine to the north of our village. We already had scouted to the north, and there we found hints that a dragon lived nearby; shed scales, large animal carcasses, giant dung piles—all remanents of a dragon.

Our leader Bracken, an elf three months older than me, ran over our plan quickly; I would release some arrows to distract the beast, three others would charge at it, and our leader would drive his sword through the dragon's chest. Straight forward, but hard to time, and even harder was finding the dragon. We all nodded to show that we understood the plan. He gave a quick nod back, and we started our way out of the village.

We trekked through the snow dusted forest for a while until we found the dragon's main feeding spot; he littered it with carcasses from recently to bones from years ago. I looked away, disgusted; how could any creature eat another creature? It was barbaric.

"Search for tracks," our leader ordered. We split up.

I made my way over to the freshest carcass and circled it. Large five-clawed talon marks dug into the ground, brown dirt peeking out from under the snow. I followed them out of the clearing, looking at the pathway the dragon had made for himself; a shallow indent in the snow that was stained with brown sludge and red blood.

I turned around. "Bracken!" I called. But they were gone. The four of them had just disappeared. "Bracken, Arya, Nima, Flinn?" I called one by one. Nothing.

I thought for a moment. Perhaps they found tracks and wanted to investigate? I'm sure they'll be back soon.

I went over to one of the coniferous trees around the clearing and leaped up into it, and sat in the branch's crook, leaning against the trunk. A flurry of snow fell into my (H/C) hair and onto my hunting outfit. The smell of pine cones and damp bark attacked my nose as I settled. I looked at my bow, plucking the string as I waited for my team to come back. After a while, I stopped and looked up through the dense leaves at the pale blue sky above. I was getting sore from sitting on the branch.