The Alpha's Temptation

Taiyi turned away from the door and walked back to her bed. Alrakis was sitting in the balcony of the bedchamber and looking at important documents. Taiyi let out a deep sigh as she gestured to Eltanin to take a seat.

Though Eltanin went to sit on the chair, he was not settled in his heart. There was something ticking him off. When Taiyi maintained her silence, he said, "Mother, I am very anxious to know what happened out there. Can you please elaborate? Even Father is not speaking about it. I am not feeling comfortable. What is it that you are hiding from me?"

Taiyi closed her eyes. For the past two days, she had decided that she wouldn't speak a word about Felis to Eltanin. "It was just a routine meeting of soldiers from two sides," she said in a low sorrowful voice which didn't go unnoticed by Eltanin.

Eltanin stared at his mother for a long time. He got up from his chair and closed the distance between them. He knelt in front of her and craned his neck to look at her face. Taiyi was surprised at his action, but she dipped her chin to look at her younger son. This reminded her of Felis who did the same when she was talking with him in the tent.

Eltanin placed his hands on her lap and grasped her hands in his big ones. "Whatever is there, please just spill it out. Did anyone threaten you? Did the Hydra soldiers misbehave with you? Did anyone misbehave with you?" He sounded almost angry and nervous at the same time.

"Eltanin!" Taiyi snapped. "It is nothing."

"Then why are you sulking? Did you meet anyone?" He was doubting if his mother met Felis. A shudder ran down his spine at the thought.

Taiyi looked away and bit her lips.

Exasperated at her silence, he just placed his head in her lap. "Mother, I don't like it when you are so sad. You took Menkar with you. Did you leave him out there? How did Nyxers react to this exchange?"

Taiyi couldn't help but feel as if her older son was in her lap. She threaded her fingers in his hair and started raking them across his scalp. "Felis..." the name slipped out of her lips.

Eltanin stiffened. Why was she calling the name of the Hydra King when she was sitting with him? Perhaps she wanted to say something about Felis. He lifted his head and asked, "Did Felis come to receive Menkar?"

Taiyi gulped thick emotions down her throat. She missed her older son a lot. "Yes, he came."

Eltanin's whole body froze. "You mean that the demon King of Hydra came to receive Menkar?" he said half-suspectingly.

"Yes..."

He raised an eyebrow. "Menkar was a special man. But I am glad that before handing him over to Felis, we fried his brains!" It was absolutely surprising to hear that Felis had come for Menkar.

She chuckled. "But Menkar no longer lives."

This raised more suspicions than there were in his mind. "What do you mean? Did you not hand over Menkar to Felis? Did you kill him already or is it that that wretched man didn't survive the journey?"

Taiyi shook her head. "I handed Menkar to Felis and then we both rode to Eridani where we disposed of his cage. His cage sank in front of my eyes with Felis standing beside me." Taiyi remembered how Felis had wrapped his arm around her shoulders when they heard Menkar's last screams.

Eltanin's stomach fell to the floor. "You were with Felis?"

When she nodded with quivering lips, he yelled at her. "Are you insane?" He jumped to his feet. "Do you know what kind of a deranged and psychotic man he is? He could have killed you along with Menkar. How could you go with him to the Eridani River? Tell me that you went with the soldiers!" At the back of his mind he couldn't understand why would Felis try to kill the man who he had been waiting for? Or rather why would he personally come to pick Menkar?

"Eltanin, stop!" Taiyi snapped at him. "It is not what you think!"

Eltanin's anger flared a little more. He went to the balcony and blasted at his father. "How could you leave her alone with a man as batty as Felis? She was under fucking so much threat. That deranged bastard could have taken her life and yet you didn't stop her for once also? Are you both going nuts? At this rate, I will not allow either of you to step out of this palace!"

Alrakis took a deep breath in, as he placed the documents back on the table and got up. He walked in the room with Eltanin following him on heels. He looked at his wife and gave her a worried frown.

"Will you both freaking answer me?" Eltanin was going wild. "How could you go with someone as nuts as Felis to Eridani? That fucking river is in the Hydra Kingdom. You crossed the boundary of Hydra and went with him, knowing fully well that he could have killed you or taken you hostage to take advantage of me. You jeopardized your safety?"

"But I am back!" Taiyi replied as her fists closed tightly to the point that her knuckles turned white.

"Why did you go with him?" Eltanin shouted. "Felis is a deranged, mental werewolf with no morals and brain that is thousand shades fucked up. He is the spawn of the demon king Ukdah and God knows whom?"

Taiyi was so furious at all the expletives he was spouting that she got up and in a fit of rage slapped across his cheek. "Felis is not just some spawn. He is the son of Ukdah and--" she swallowed the burn at the back of her throat. "--and me."

Eltanin's eyes became wide as he grasped his cheek, as goosebumps lined his skin. Unable to make the sense out of her words, he stared at her blankly.