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A loud noise like furniture breaking sounds from outside his room. Zephiro jumps into action immediately, shoving me off of him and making me get off of the bed. Before he can stand up, a stranger bursts into the room. It looks like another one of his kind.
“I knew it! I knew you had a human in here!” the monster shouts.
“What the fuck are you doing here? And why is it your business?” Zephiro stands in front of him, blocking his view of me.
I scramble to cover my body with the sheets.
“You cannot have her here! You must return her immediately!”
“I will do no such thing, Gradius! Now get out of my house.”
“If you refuse to do it then you risk endangering our kind! Is that what you want? You want to risk subjecting the rest of us to being hunted because of your fascination with these humans?”
I look between the two of them, more confused than ever. What is this monster talking about and how did he even know I was here? Furthermore, what does he mean by Zephiro’s fascination with humans?
14
ZEPHIRO
Gradius stands in my room with his hands clenched into tight fists. How dare he? He always was the weakest of us Zvori. How dare he burst in here in front of my mate?
I am livid with rage at this intrusion, but my main concern is protecting Sierra. So I leap at him, shoving him through the open bedroom door.
I stalk through the door after him and kick it closed behind me. “How dare you come here and tell me what I must and must not do?” I snarl, grabbing him by the throat and hurling him across the room.
He lands on the table, which gives way under his weight and crashes to the floor. I do not wait for his response. I leap across the room, and I am on him before he can pick himself up from the rubble.
I punch him with all my force, feeling satisfied at the noise his head makes as it bounces off the floor.
He thrashes and bucks wildly beneath me. But I was always bigger and stronger than him. I pin him to the ground with my arm across his throat. “You’re pathetic, Gradius. Walking into my home and telling me what to do.”
“I only wanted to warn you,” he gasps.
“Fuck you. I know you better than that. You just wanted an excuse to stir up trouble and gloat.” I stand, giving him a swift kick as I rise.
Gradius and I were cubs together. He was a sickly cub, and his weakness made him bitter and resentful. He would always try to twist things and turn them to his advantage.
“They want her back, Zephiro,” he spits, brushing shards of my broken table from himself. “The dark elves have been threatening the people. Hurting people to try to get information. It is only time before they find you.”
“She is safe here with me,” I tell him, ignoring the unease his words inspire within me.
“Keeping her here is a mistake. You threaten to bring down the wrath of the elven empire on all of our heads.” Gradius stalks across the room to the kitchen door, which lies at an angle, forced off its hinges by the force with which he entered.
“Flee then, or fight, it is up to you. But I will not return her. She is mine.”
“You are a fool, Zephiro,” he retorts. “It is you who must make that choice. The tribe will not protect you in your folly. I will make sure they know that it is your choice that brings this disaster upon us.”
“Do what you must, Gradius. You always were a coward.”
“It is you and your ridiculous fascination with the human trash that has brought this calamity upon us. I will not protect you.”
“It is not ridiculous. Sierra is my mate, and you will respect that.” My temper is rising at the gall of Gradius, storming in here and making demands of me.
“Your mate is a monster, Zephiro, and she will bring death to your brethren if you do not give her back. She does not belong to you. She belongs to a high noble elf!”
His words incense me. “She is mine!” I repeat, hurling the words at him with force. I step through the debris to vent my anger with my fists.
Gradius is turning to leave and does not expect the blow. It sends him reeling, scattering furniture, and almost lands him in the flames of the hearth.
