Taming the Queen of Beasts

GAHRYE

Reth had him pinned against the tree, his teeth bared and just an inch from his neck. The massive lion-man kept shuddering, his beast trying to break through.

Gahrye didn\'t fight him, but he didn\'t submit, either. He held Reth\'s gaze and didn\'t back down.

"Reth! Stop!" Elia screamed, yanking at his massive arms, but Reth had his feet planted and didn\'t even wobble.

"I\'m not your enemy, Reth," Gahrye said quietly. Firmly.

"You are if you\'re telling my mate to kill herself you fucking—"

"Your mate and mine, Reth. Do you get that?" Reth blinked. Gahrye sucked in a breath. "We\'re brothers in this, not enemies. Get your fucking head straight."

"I knew it, I knew it, oh god," Elia didn\'t let go of Reth\'s arm, but she sagged. "Reth, please… I knew it… I knew…"

Snapped out of his rage by the scent of his mate\'s tears, Reth took one step back, then dropped next to her in the dirt. "Elia, what… what are you saying?"

She looked up at him, her eyes red, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I knew! I\'ve known since the first time I went through! I didn\'t want it to be true, I wanted… I wanted you. I wanted all of you safe, but… I knew, Reth. The Creator… he warned me. Please, don\'t hurt Gahrye, please! I knew. I hoped I was wrong, but I knew!

"They told me… they told me if I didn\'t give in I was going to lose everything. Everyone. All of you. And now… I can see it. They were lying. I won\'t. I won\'t lose to them, but they\'ll lose to me and… and that\'s going to take everything… but it\'s worth it. Can\'t you see? It\'s worth it, Reth."

"No," Reth snarled. "No! Nothing is worth that."

Elia weepy sobbed as he gripped her shoulders like he might shake her, but she just put her hands to his face. "I know you d-don\'t mean that," she whispered through her tears.

Gahrye wanted to weep himself. He wanted to leave, to be with Kalle.

This was what it had been like for them, too. The day he\'d told her what he suspected. But at least they hadn\'t had an audience.

Gahrye turned his head away to give them what privacy he could.

"No," Reth growled, then again. "No! This is just this fucker trying to twist everyone\'s heads up—"

Gahrye wanted to kick him. "I had to tell my own mate… I had to tell her this," he seethed. "You think I wanted to do that, Reth? Elia and Kalle? You think I want to pronounce a death sentence on anyone?! But she… she had a feeling too." Gahrye swallowed the lump in his throat and breathed in, desperate for control. "The Creator knows what he\'s doing. That\'s the only thing we can trust. He\'s never set us wrong so far. Everything He\'s said has come true."

Elia threw herself into Reth\'s chest, fisting his shirt in her hands, pleading with him to see. Please, please, see.

Reth knelt, staring at Gahrye, stunned, his arms wrapped around his mate.

Then he began to shake.

Gahrye held his eyes even through pressing tears and prayed the male could feel his empathy. He remembered this moment. The moment the Creator leaned on you. The moment you couldn\'t deny what was happening, but you wanted to. You wanted to so badly.

Then Elia pulled her head out of his chest and put her hands to Reth\'s face, staring at him.

On his knees in the dirt, Reth was so tense he vibrated with it. "I can\'t… I can\'t… I won\'t let…"

"I don\'t think we have to," Gahrye rasped. "I think they need us there. I think we have to… to watch. We have to love them through it."

Reth\'s eyes screwed tightly shut then he turned on him. "You THINK?"

Gahrye didn\'t flinch. "Love in silence. Love in distance. Love in death. We… you and I, we get the death part."

"WHAT?!"

Gahrye closed his eyes, praying that his own mate was calm and safe and… finding some joy, somewhere, somehow just then. Then he swallowed, and began to recite the prophecy.

"Two human females, each a True Mate,

One to guard, to hold the gate.

One to guide, to deny hate."

"Mate hearts pure, love true. Mate hearts pure love.

Love is the hope of the Anima.

Humility will be their guide."

Gahrye sighed. "Those lines are for us, Reth. You and me. Love is the hope of the Anima. Humility will be our guide. They will love… they will love everyone enough to give themselves. And we… what\'s more humbling than giving up the heart you love most to save others? Tell me. Because I can\'t think of it."

Reth didn\'t respond, he just stared at him. Gahrye kept his eyes locked, aware that Elia was staring at him too, pleading with him to get through to her mate, because she knew. She didn\'t want it, but she knew.

So, Gahrye kept going.

"Strength unseen will hedge them in safety until the worlds collide." He blew out a breath. "That\'s the Protectors—they\'ve been our safeguard this entire time. But they can\'t do this alone.

"It\'s the rest that… I don\'t want to be right about."

Creator\'s mane he hated these words, hated that he knew them by rote. But he wasn\'t sure his friends did, so he spoke them again. Hating every syllable.

"Love must sustain to keep Anima hearts safe.

Love in silence. Love in distance. Love in death.

Love must sustain to keep Anima hearts true.

Love in silence. Love in distance. Love in death.

Only purest love will bring forth the saving grace.

Love must sustain to bring Anima hearts to truth.

Love in silence. Love in distance. Love in death.

Love is the hope of the Anima.

Humility will be their savior.

Pride, and the Anima will die."

Reth shuddered. "What… what does it all mean, though?"

Gahrye\'s voice was rough with tears. "Purest love, Reth. Saving grace… It means that our mates give themselves up to protect the people. And we… we love them through it. We give up them."

They met eyes, and Reth suddenly lost his balance and fell backwards on his ass on the ground.