7.| No Son Of Mine

[ Song for scene: Good Enough - Jussie Smollet ]

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The chattering of the Azar people grew louder and the skies darkened as the sun sank upon the horizon, painting everything in burnt orange, black, and deep scarlet. The full moon was already preparing for its rise, and so were its people.

"Shit." Emery hissed. "It's about to begin. Come here." He dragged Yuè into one of the tents that surrounded the crackling bonfire.

Inside was warm, several fur blankets covered the floor, perfectly laid out and spacious enough for two people. He could only imagine it was one of the many places the wolves used to mate.

When he glimpsed up, Emery was removing his shirt, giving view of his muscled and slightly scarred back. He tossed the shirt to Yuè. "Put this on, my scent will cover you. Quickly."

Yuè slipped out of the outer layer of his Hanfu, letting it drop down on the piles of furs before pulling on Emery's shirt. "What about Gunter? We have to help him." He said.

"Gunter can fight. Extremely well, and they can't kill him. They know better. But you," Emery pushed his pants down and tossed those to Yuè next. "You're in the middle of a horny festival with people ready to give way to their primal side. Gunter should be the last person you should be worrying about."

Yuè froze, one leg in the offered pants. "I can just leave. If I hurry they won't notice." He stumbled forward, the pants loose on his hips, so he had to hold them up. "I'll leave right now."

Emery slipped an arm around Yuè's waist and pulled him forward abruptly, causing the silver haired man's head to bump against his chest. "Leave like this?"

He hooked his finger in the loose waistband of the pants Yuè borrowed, causing the shorter man to gasp, gripping onto his shoulder. His blue eyes seemed to glow in the dimness of the tent. "Easy access." Emery said it in warning.

Yuè gulped, feeling the heat of Emery's body against his. He could feel the thick muscle bunch under his fingertip as his gaze locked with the others. Now was not an appropriate time to start thinking salacious thoughts, though he supposed the occasion was appropriate.

His tongue darted out to wet his lips nervously. "Then what do we do? I cannot stay here as you said."

Emery held his gaze intensely. Maybe he was thinking of possible plans, but there was the same hunger from earlier that crept back into his blue eyes. "Well," He licked his own lips. "You're wearing my clothes so they won't be able to smell that you're human now. So you can roam around or stay here. But the moon is rising, I can feel it."

And it showed. He had said the primal parts of themselves manifested. Emery was always calm and light hearted, yet with him staring down at Yuè, licking his lips like there was an untouched meal tempting him, only proved it had an effect on him too.

Yuè's breath hitched, his heart slamming into his ribcage and he knew the other could feel it from how close they were pressed together. He pressed his palms against the man's bare chest, pushing him away.

"It would be best if I stayed here. Perhaps, perhaps you should go." He said. He could also feel the shift as the moon rose. It made his skin tingle with its call. He could not turn into a wolf or beast, but he felt the moon's power all the same.

"Right," Emery shook his head, as though he were snapping out of some hold that overtook him. "Right. I should go and you should stay…"

Despite his words, he still stood there.

The tension between them was thick and heavy the longer they stood there staring and Yuè couldn't help but feel very much like prey in the eyes of a hungry predator. "Emery?" He called the man's name, hoping to pull him out of whatever trance it was he seemed to be in. "Em?"

Emery bit the corner of his lip and one minute Yuè was standing, the next he was knocked over on top of the fur covers with Emery crouched over him. His face inched closer, their lips inches apart when the folds to the tent were pulled open.

"Preoccupied." Emery called out, though keeping his eyes locked on Yuè's before sliding a finger over his own lips to tell him to remain quiet. The silver haired man staring up at him with wide blue and gold eyes. His face was red all the way down to his chest, which peeked from beneath the collar of the too large shirt he wore.

Yuè squeezed his eyes closed tightly, biting his lip to keep any sound from leaving his mouth, including the choked whimper that threatened to make itself known due to Emery being pressed tightly between his thighs.

"My bad. Sometimes people leave the tent flaps open when they want to mate." The person closed them, and the footfall fell away.

Despite the people being gone, Yuè remained pinned beneath him and he shifted in embarrassment. "I believe they are gone. You can let me up now." His eyes flickered down to the soft pair of lips that hovered so closely to his before back up into the wolf's blue eyes. "Emery?"

The muscles in Emery's jaw tightened. "Alright. I just wanted to make sure." He finally shifted back and Yuè felt like he could breathe once more. "Would you like to watch the tourney?"

The man changed the subject, drawing attention away from the electrified energy that had been between them moments ago.

Yuè sat up instantly, shuffling until he was sitting on his knees. The shirt he wore had slipped off of one shoulder, his hair slightly mused from lying on it. "Is it okay for you to go out like…like that?"

His eyes flickered to the man's body which was only clothed in a pair of undergarments. "Won't that cause attention? Won't I cause attention? There are not many here who bare my features. Perhaps it is safer if I just stay here."

He must have forgotten because he looked down at himself and back up again. "They'll just think I had a good time. Let me go grab you a cloak."

Emery stood up fast and hurried out the tent.

Yuè found being alone ten times worse. What if someone came in again? He pulled his knees up to his chest anxiously. The reminder that he was so far home surrounded by people he did not know. People who would rather gladly kill him made his chest hurt more than it already had been.

He jumped at the sound of a sharp moan cutting through the laughter he could hear in the distance. It came from somewhere nearby, another tent most likely. His ears burned and he tried to block out the sound of the other people's pleasure by focusing on the lively music that drifted in.

Yuè was tempted to peek out of the tent to see. They never had any festivals in Ironhedge and rarely were there any parties. However every year on the night of the first new moon, his father would take him out to the lake to bathe and say prayer to the moon to thank her for another year.

Babà said that it was his mother's family tradition and that back in LánWēi there would be a big festival to celebrate the coming of a new moon and new year. He wondered if it was anything like this? Full of laughter and music and joy?

But his thoughts were interrupted when the tent flaps were pulled open, letting in a cold drift of night air that made him shiver; the scent of smoke and firewood….and blood.

When he turned around, he saw Gunter standing there, his shirt was missing, cuts tore through the tribal markings along his toned and muscled arms, and his face had claw marks. "Yuè," He mumbled, dark eyes hazy, brown curly hair matted with blood. "You're okay." He smiled and fell onto his hands and knees.

"Gunter!" Yuè scrambled over to him, pulling him closer. "You hurt." His hands hovered over him frantically. Where was Emery? "You silly silly man, you should have run too. Now you are all injured."

He scolded, tears blurring his vision. "Can you heal like this?" His lip wobbled as he wiped away the blood that smeared against Gunter's cheek only for more to drip down in its place.

Gunter looked out of it, ignoring everything Yuè had said and asked only to lift the hand he had placed the ring on earlier. "You were almost mine. We have to finish it."

Yuè looked at him in confusion, feeling his forehead and finding him feverish. "What are you talking about you silly wolf?"

Gunter chuckled deeply and grabbed Yuè's face, giving him a quick half kiss. "Now you're mine." He slumped against Yuè's chest, smearing his blood on the new shirt Emery had let him borrow.

"Gunter?" Yuè shook him. "Gunter?!" He called more frantically, laying him down on the pile of furs. His chest rose with shallow breaths, beads of sweat clinging to the man's forehead.

He needed to clean the wounds. Yuè looked around the tent for something he could use, finishing his discarded Hanfu close by. He grabbed it, ripping in with a silent apology to the unconscious man.

He used the straps to wrap the bleeding wounds on Gunter's arms and chest. Now he just needed water. Preferably Moonlight water.

Could he make it to the lake and back? Biting his lip, he stared at the flap of the tent and then back at Gunter. He had to. It was his fault that he was injured to begin with.

Making up his mind. He pressed a quick kiss to Gunter's forehead. "It would look bad if you die right after we marry." He said, before slipping out of the tent.

Overhead, the moon shone like a bright beacon in the sky, illuminating the area in light. There were people everywhere, laughing and drinking together. Some were laid out in the grass in piles of moans and sighs.

Others were bent over tables, their nude bodies sliding together lewdly and Yuè had to look away. The gate seemed so far away now.

"Let the tournament begin!" A brittle sounding man drew Yuè's attention over to an area a good foot away.

Wooden poles protruded from the ground with ropes that made up a square, and inside its perimeters was Marcellus—shirtless, throwing up his bronzed and toned arms barbarically as he walked around in a circle, riling up the onlookers. They cheered his name.

His opponent, a bald man with tattoos atop his crown tilted his head from side to side. He'd heard of regular wolves fighting for power and control, or to prove their strength.

"My son, Prince Marcellus of Salthelm challenges King Uthdrel's son, Prince Hendrix of Pridestone!" The man that spoke wore a black fur pelt that wrapped around his large shoulders and pinned closed in the front by a thorned rose crest.

He was large, nearly as big as the tales of orc's, and held the same dark skin Marcellus had. His eyes were a burnt sienna, hair shaved at the sides and lined in a short Mohawk. Beneath his chin, a braided and beaded beard touched his collarbone, swaying in the wind.

"Mark his face some more!" Another man in the crowd shouted. "Show him you are my son, Hendrix!" He must have been Hendrix's father, holding the same tattoos on his bald head.

A horn blew and Hendrix charged forward, slamming into Marcellus and lifting him off the ground. But all the while, Marcellus repeatedly slammed his elbow into the crook of the man's neck, making Hendrix grimace and his feet slip in the sandy flooring of the square.

Yuè brought up a hand, covering his mouth at the brutality of what he was witnessing. He could hear each smack and punch thrown and he knew it was hard enough to shatter bones of any normal human.

One more strike of Marcellus' elbow had him in the upper hand when his opponent's arms slipped free from around him to block, and when he had, Marcellus struck Hendrix with the opposite elbow in the side of his face, making Hendrix's head jolt to the side—spit flying.

"God damn it Hendrix! Hit that son of a bitch. Quit lifting him like he's a bitch you're carrying down a wedding aisle!" Uthdrel growled out.

It brought Hendrix back into the zone, his face shifting back to Marcellus who only struck him with left to right punches, and every time he blocked, Marcellus only found another loophole, striking him in the ribs with a fist, or slamming his head dead center in the other man's own.

It didn't matter if Marcellus himself bled, making him live up to his beastly title. The cursed and cruel prince.

"Yes! Yessss! Take him out, drop him!" The king roared, so eager for blood and chaos he'd stood up. "Get-" His voice cut off, only the sound of the people cheering and shouting beneath the moonlight. Slowly but surely, his burnt reddish-brown gaze found Yuè's.

Yuè gasped, taking a frightened step back. He had been too caught up in the fight. His heart lodged itself in his throat and he did the only thing he could think of. He ran. Right into men wearing leather armor.

"Stop!" The king shouted and Marcellus was in the middle of striking Hendrix in the face and pulling the ring's rope up to his neck when he froze upon command. "Bring that woman to me."

Two guards looped their arm beneath Yuè's arms and lifted him off his feet with ease despite his struggling, carrying him right before the king. They tossed him down at his feet.

"Where. Is. My. Son?" The king's brittled voice sounded far more menacing than it had before.

Yuè cringed away looking up at the man in fear, struggling to find his voice. "H…he is injured. The wounds would not stop bleeding." He finally managed to get out, his voice sounding small and shaky. "There." He pointed a trembling finger in the direction of the tent he'd left Gunter in.

The king stared down at him, his fur pelt cloak flapping in the wind. "Yet another woman wishing to harm my son." He shook his head and leaned down, grabbing a handful of Yuè's silver hair and pulling so he could get a better glimpse of him. "No tribe has white hair in Mythos."

"She was banished from her tribe for being strange!" Emery's voice cut in and everyone, including Yuè's eyes snapped to where he drew closer from the tree lines that surrounded the glade.

The king's gaze shifted from Yuè to his other son. "Oh." He let Yuè drop onto his hands and knees, the stone cutting into his palms. "So you brought another abomination like yourself into your brother's lands to cause trouble again?"

His large form walked around Yuè. "I thought I told you just because he pity's you and allows you in his territory, doesn't mean it's shared with you. Why has this little bitch hurt my son? Or are you wishing Gunter ends up in another coma because he's gullible, you think if he dies his lands will go to you?"

Emery's jaw tightened. "She didn't harm him," Yuè stared at him, biting his lip in uncertainty. It was clear that the king thinking he was a woman was for the best if Emery had not corrected him. "She was trying to help him because your other sons don't know how to behave like men. Gunter protected her for me. I've made my claim to her."

The king was staring at Yuè again, and he scoffed. "Two abominations, how fitting. But," His gaze cut back to Emery. "It isn't your brother's responsibility to keep track of your woman. What wounds did he encounter, girl?" He asked Yuè but his determined eyes remained on his son—disgust clear in his tone and posture.

Yuè flinched at being addressed again. "Deep cuts on his arms and chest. Claw marks on his face. They were not healing as usual." Yuè was not sure exactly what usual was for them, but the amount of blood Gunter had lost was concerning. "Please, he needs help." He begged.

The king turned to one of the guards. "Férte mia nosokóma kai frontíste na therapefteí o gios mou."

With a nod, the guard lowered her head and headed off toward the tent Yué pointed to earlier.

"Come here." The king's attention was on Emery, and Emery obeyed. "What is the fifteenth mate law?"

"If a man's mate or woman of choice causes harm to one of royal blood, they are to be punished in her stead even if she weren't the cause of the direct harm." Emery repeated.

His father only pointed to the ground and Emery kneeled, not sparing Yué a single glance. Was it shame? Did he blame Yué? Yué couldn't tell.

The king only looked at him and claw marks appeared on Emery's face causing him to wince and shift his head, then deep ones on his arms and chest the same way Yué had described.

Marcellus took a step forward in the ring, releasing Hendrick from his grasp where they'd been frozen during the entire situation. "Father."

"Silence! I grow tired of his disobedience." The king's voice was warning and threatening, daring him to interrupt again. And when Marcellus didn't take another step or challenge his father, he grabbed Emery by the throat, his nails digging into his skin. "Take your uncommon tramp and get out of my sight, you are no son of mine."

The king shoved Emery away from him, then he stood and helped Yué to his feet. "Let's go."

Yuè clung to him, but not before sending a concerned look towards the tent that Gunter was lying in. He didn't dare say anything until they were far out of the presence of the king of beasts. However once they were, he pulled Emery to a stop, looking over his wounds in concern. "How can he be so cruel? To his own son no less." He asked tearfully.

"I'm no son of his." Emery kept looking straight ahead even though they halted.

Unlike Gunter's, Emery's wounds were already healing over, but looked no less painful. "I'm so sorry. This is my fault again. You were hurt protecting me."

"You should learn to stop apologizing for things you can't control." It was then that he had finally turned, taking hold of Yuè's hand to turn it so he could glimpse upon the palm where he'd cut it open when thrown before Emery's father. "Here." Emery whispered, bringing the wound up to his mouth to lick.

Much like before, there was a stinging pain, then his skin started stitching itself closed.

"My wounds are not nearly as severe as yours. I do not have a magical healing tongue, but there is something I can do to ease your pain. It was what I was going to do for Gunter before …before I was caught." He took Emery's hand in his, leading him to the lake. It was only them there, the water sparkling and glittering under the light of the full moon.

Yuè did not hesitate to enter it, the water glowing with each step he took. He could feel the energy of the moon stronger than on land. "Trust me." He said to Emery, eyes pleading.

Emery followed behind, still shirtless and only in his breeches, the sincere look of trust in his blue eyes. He stopped in front of Yuè. "Do all humans do this?"

Yuè let out a strained laugh, turning to face him completely. "It is as you said. I am strange, even to my people." He said with a wane smile, pulling the other deeper into the water until they were waist deep. "The moon is said to hold power. This is one of them I share with you." Yuè said as the water around them began to glow.

He pulled Emery closer, keeping their eyes locked. "Water holds the moon's reflection and some of its power. It allows me to cleanse. To heal. To purge. Only on the nights when it is full can I do it to this extent." As he spoke, he trailed his hand over each injury gently and they faded under his touch until only small scars remained.

"It is the least I can do for all the trouble you have gone through for me. To ease your pain."

"I wish I could say the pain was from my wounds." Emery told him. "Thank you, Yuè. But I think I'll retire early tonight." He cupped Yuè's face with one hand and stroked his cheek with his thumb. "Goodnight."

He left and Yuè remained standing there for a long moment before he too headed up the mountainside, cold from the climate change that sank through his wet clothes. By the time he reached the mansion and opened the door, he noticed a pair of crimson eyes in the dark.

Marcellus. He had been waiting for him.