Reject (mxm)

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Ruari

Good to see you too darling? One week in captivity and that's all I get?

I was half out of my mind when I led the advance on this godforsaken place, worried that I might not make it in time to find and save his sorry ass and the first thing he says to me is, "Good to see you too darling," like he'd done nothing wrong or nothing was out of order. Like he didn't put himself in perilous danger because of stupid notions like self-sacrifice!

I don't know what I was expecting to hear but it certainly wasn't that. Damn him! I deserve more than just 'Good to see you too darling' for all agony and misery I had to deal with this past week.

I wanted to knock some sense into that head of his. Maybe if I beat him hard enough he'd start to see reason. And maybe I could extract a promise from him never to do this kind of shit ever again.

"Do you think this is a game?" I snarled nudging him over with my nose checking his injuries. He's too weak and I could smell silver mixed in his blood. These bastards have been poisoning him. Fuck!

A quick once over told me he's still nursing the injuries he sustained from the raid. The bite in his arm is still bleeding. It looks fresh and self-inflicted. Perhaps Ciaran bit and bled himself to counteract the poison from the silver they've injected on him.

I crouched lower, taking care not to hurt him any more than necessary, and slowly slide him on my back. Ciaran made it easier by lifting his arms and wrapping them around my neck.

 "I'm sorry Ruari..." He whispered tiredly.

Ciaran's voice sounded more slurred and his arms grew lax around my neck. I could feel his faint heartbeat drumming at an unnaturally slow pace within his chest. I know it took his everything but he moved his head to bury his face on the fur covering the back of my neck, inhaling deeply like he's trying to store the memory of my scent and the feel of my body against his deep in the recesses of his mind.

His breathing was uneven and he's losing consciousness. I need to get him out of here and have him treated. Silver poisoning is not something to be taken lightly. He could just slip into a deep sleep and stay unconscious until he wastes away without ever waking. Just thinking about that possibility makes me shudder and tear up.

I can't... I won't be able to forgive him if he leaves me. I'd gladly follow soon after and maybe tear his balls off in the afterlife but I'd rather we both stay here, alive, and enjoy living together for years to come.

"Hold on to me..." I said before I lunged forward. I don't know if he heard me but it doesn't matter. I maneuvered left and right to avoid falling bodies blocking my way towards the exit.

"Kevan!" I called to my brother through our mind link. "I've got Ciaran, order everyone to pull back and regroup!" At the same time I howled to signal those near me about the development in the situation.

After a few minutes of struggle and evading fights, I made it out of the damned house. It appears more like a sanitarium than a home. I learned from Kevan that this was an old property of the crown. It was used as a safe house for the royal family during the dark times when the supernatural, like werewolves, was hunted down by humans in order to extinguish the specie or mainly for sport.

I still can't believe what Kevan told to me, that the alpha king, Meinor, was the mastermind of the raids. He said the royals have been hiding a lot of skeletons behind the palace's high walls and the truth about the raiders is just a part of it.

If I stop to think about it properly, I guess that would explain why the royals never lifted a finger to help the survivors of the packs that have been raided and why the raiders were never discovered until now.