She took action instantly, summoning a portal. “Come on.”
“Thank you,” I said as we ran through.
We arrived to find a pack of wolves closing in on the elf. The wolves were naked and in humanoid form, their eyes golden.
By Selene! Aidan again!
Paris was on a bed of furs, sliding away from them. I grabbed him, hefting him into my arms.
Paris yelped at the move, those wonderful eyes wide and terrified.
Bastards. How dare they terrify my elf?
“Touch him and I’ll rip your spines out,” I snarled.
They growled at me, the one at the head of the pack smiling maliciously.
Possibly the alpha. I didn’t care. All that mattered was the precious one, this incredible man in my arms.
He is the one glimmer of goodness in this world, the antidote to this constant spiral of lamenting.
He shouldn’t be, but he was, my yearning as painful as my sorrow.
I want you, Paris Raine.
“This elf needs to die,” the alpha declared. “Then you can follow him, king.”
“In another life,” I retorted, and dashed through the portal.
Back in my chambers, I thought that to be the end of it. But the potential alpha wolf followed us through at the last moment, launching into an attack.
I tossed Paris onto the bed, shooting him an apology as I threw myself at the wolf. I overpowered him quickly, on the edge of breaking his neck.
“No!” Paris cried, halting my move.
I froze.
“Don’t kill him,” he begged, jogging over. “I can’t handle anymore…anymore…” He collapsed, sobbing his beautiful elven heart out.
Before the alpha caused any damage, I knocked him out, ordered him taken to the dungeons. Vampires and thralls entered my chambers, taking him away through a portal Medusa made.
I lowered myself to Paris’s level, my own tears running free. “I’m here,” I said, as if that meant something to him.
My yearning didn’t mean he felt the same.
But I’d like it to.
He sniffled, covering his face, his sobbing agony to my ears.
“Paris…”
“S-sorry,” he replied. “You’re…you’ve just experienced a terrible…oh, fuck.” He lifted his head, then blanched. “Your face. Are you bleeding?” He reached for me.
“Crying,” I answered.
“Oh, yeah. You cry blood.” He shuffled forward, taking my face in his hands.
So soft, so warm, as wonderful as a miracle.
