Page 45 of Elf Shot

"No. I'm the strategic one, Kian," Layla said, lifting her head from his shoulder. "I won't let Vili take Arne again. I mean, there's the whole avoiding Ragnarök thing as well. But mostly, Arne doesn't deserve to be Vili's puppet and have his brain all fucked up."

"I understand entirely." Kian smiled. "Everything becomes secondary when you have a mate. The world ending included."

Layla groaned. "What should I do, Kian? I'm fucking miserable. I feel like my insides are shredding apart, but I can't be responsible for Arne's future unhappiness."

"Layla, you don't know how he feels about the matter because you refuse to talk to him. You don't know you'll make him unhappy. I know you have abysmal self-esteem, but this decision isn't only up to you. It's a choice that both of you need to make together—pursue the mating or separate as far as possible until the bond breaks."

"How far is far enough? He was all the way in Svartalfheim, and I still felt like I was being torn apart," Layla complained.

"Then it wasn't just the mating bond. Or the mark he put on you. Neither thing could cause such pain." Kian squeezed her hand. "It was your own heart in distress, dear one, and you need to admit that to yourself."

"I don't even know him," she repeated helplessly.

"Something that is easily remedied," Kian replied. "You won't ever know if you are too scared to try."

Layla let out a long sigh. She hated being so down, but was it worth it so she didn't get heartbroken in the future? It was a question that she still didn't know the answer to. She was never good at taking what she wanted, but could she live with letting it go?

19

Arne was pouring another whiskey when he felt the dark magic closing in on his apartment. With a sigh, he drained the glass and prepared himself for what was coming.

Killian exploded through his door, shadows filling the apartment with darkness. He tackled Arne to the carpet, and Arne let him.

"What the fuck did you do to my sister, elf?" he snarled, face twisted with feral anger.

"I didn't—" Arne expected the fist. It was almost a relief to have pain exploding through his face, anything to stop feeling so numb and heartbroken.

"Kill! Get off him!" Bayn shouted and yanked his brother off Arne. "Think what you're doing, you dumb shit. He's a prince, for fuck’s sake."

Killian snarled in the ancient fae tongue at Bayn but didn't make a move to attack Arne again. Bayn's face hovered above him.

"Still with us, elf?" he asked.

Arne nodded, his mouth full of blood. Bayn helped him to his feet, and he stumbled to the kitchen to spit the blood out in his sink.

"Is Layla okay?" he asked hoarsely.

"No. She's a wreck from that mark you put on her!" Killian snapped. Arne took a clean kitchen towel and held it to his bleeding nose.

"She doesn't have a mark on her. I removed it. I didn't mean to put it on her, and also, marks don't affect emotions, no matter how strong they are," he clarified.

"Then I don't get it." Killian frowned. "She's a wreck. My Layla is usually the optimistic one, and she's devastated."

Arne rubbed at his chest, the thought of her pain tearing into him further. "It's because she's fighting the mating bond. We both are."

All the anger seeped out of Killian's face. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Shit." Killian poured himself a drink and then poured one for Arne. "Here."

Arne took the drink and had a mouthful.

"Maybe get all the details next time before you decide to go on a rampage," Bayn said and fixed himself a drink too.

"She was crying, Bayn. Over him. She went to fucking Vili's fortress without telling me. How the fuck was I meant to react?" Killian replied, slumping down into an armchair.

"I never would have let her go into Svartalfheim. You have to believe that, Killian," Arne said. He ran a hand through his hair. It was sticking up at all weird angles from how many times he had done it in the last two days.

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