Affliction - Book One - Man x Man

Chapter 42

How did he find us? My heart drops into my stomach and I swallow back the nerves that threaten to overwhelm me. I can't break now, we have to look united. I scan the elves for Haryek but I don't see him though it's possible I can't recognize him in the armor. We didn't know it was Taryek because he was distracted, we were too relaxed in each other presence to think that this was a possibility.

"Dog." Taryek addresses Alpha which brings forward a raspy growl, he flinches and grasps the arrow. I plead with myself that he doesn't just yank it out. 

"You have caused an awful lot of trouble, you know. Stirring things up... eliminating a good resource for us. I wouldn't have thought your kind smart enough to fabricate a plan so elaborate. Cutting off our trade routes, keeping us far away from the city so we wouldn't know what you were doing down here. In fact, we really wouldn't have the slightest idea of how elaborate this whole thing was if we didn't have a little help." A grin pulls over his face and I watch his porcelain skin, wondering if it'll crack. 

His lips to solid, his cheeks without an imperfection. It reminds me of polished stone. How many centuries has this elf been alive? 

"Don't flatter yourself, I knew your kind wasn't smart enough to figure it out. So tell me, who's helping you?" Alpha retorts through gritted teeth.

 Taryek slowly approaches though he knows better than to get to close, Alpha might be wounded but he's still plenty dangerous. He gestures towards me and all archers raise their bows. He raises his hand, fingers poised to snap. I charge my fingertips, feeling for the water source from earlier but it's far from my reach. 

In my training with Frost, I had been neglecting my magic. I was weak, too weak to pull water from so far away.

"There an order here, mutt. A line, which you have so thoroughly crossed. There's a rumor, I want to see how true it is. I'm going to kill this one, the boy." Taryek sounds so amused, I blink and take a step back.

 Surely I'm more valuable to him alive? Though I suppose it's possible my reputation has come with the message and I'm not worth much to him with my disobedience. I swallow hard and glance at Alpha out of the corner of my eye. 

"You'd be doing me a favor." My warlords muttered words burn me and I glance away. I convince myself it must be a ploy though a part of me reminds myself that our relationship was doomed from the start.

 I try to steady my breathing as I watch Taryek's fingers snap. My eyes snap shut with it and I hear the arrow leave the bow, I must look like a pincushion. I wait for the pain, for the cold, but I feel nothing. 

When I open them, I see Alpha is in front of me and a laugh leaves the elf lord's lips. Another arrow, he's taken another arrow for me. The upper left pectoral muscle, at least there's no joint involvement. I can see his strained jaw, his stoic expression can't hide the pain from me. 

For me, he would stand. For me, he would defend. Why did it take me until now to realize that this was all for me?

"Remarkable. I didn't believe it honestly. I'm glad it's true because I would have been very disappointed to lose the only son that remains but truly remarkable." Though disgust crosses his face. "Laying with a man. A true disgrace to your people. The best they can send and it's a bloody queer."

Alpha rolls his eyes, blood seeping from his lips as he holds firmly onto the arrow. "Take a seat, the ranting might be a while." He grumbles and flinches when Taryek's hand grips the arrow in his shoulder to twist it. He growls through clenched teeth and I'm startled that he doesn't leap into an attack. 

But he can't attack, because I'm here and if he makes a move, they will surely kill me. I will myself to do something, I pull at the snow, the ice, anything to give me strength.