The Beginning of The End
Chapter 87

I lean against the desk for support, my heart thundering inside my chest, and my whole body trembling with horror.

Darax has taken Miya.

He has kidnapped her and intends to use her to get what he wants from me and my mates, and whilst I'd do anything I can to save her. I can't give up on the war for her.

She is one person, whereas this war will save hundreds maybe thousands of innocent people. They may be hounds and other creatures that have destroyed our world, but they still deserve a chance to live peacefully. Don't they?

My mind is so conflicted that it's giving me a headache.

I want to save Miya and make sure that she is safely returned, but what will it cost?

If the price is the end of the war I'm not sure I'll ever be able to agree. This war was started by Ryker and Maddox, and also by me.

We have all committed treason, and Darax is not someone who takes treachery lightly, none of these creatures would allow something like this to go unpunished.

I know that I wouldn't.

I'd give my soul to get her back, but that doesn't mean I get to play with the lives of hundreds of others just for one human girl. No matter how much she means to me.

Ryker would stop me, Maddox would beat me for even considering giving up what we have started, and I wouldn't blame them. Their lives are at stake. The lives of their people are at stake.

"I don't know what to do." I whisper, mainly talking to myself.

Tears slip from my eyes and slide down my cheeks, I feel so useless. I feel like I have failed her for a second time, and this time, she will more than likely pay for that failure with her life, and there will be nothing I can do to stop it.

Useless. Failure. Pain.

Maddox walks up behind me, pulling me back against his chest and wrapping his arms around me, his solid body grounds mine, but it doesn't help the pain searing my heart. "breathe little mate, you can't help her from the grave." He tells me softly and I take a deep breath in through my nose, trying to stop hyperventilating. "That's it, just like that."

Maddox isn't someone who is very good as soothing anyone, and yet he tries, just for me. He wants me to know that he is there for me, no matter what. He wants me to know that he will protect me. That he cares for me.

Maybe he even loves me.

But he can't bring Miya back to me.

No one can.

I hiccup a breath, "She's gone, I've failed her."

Ryker looks up from the note, his eyes a darker shade of black than usual, "You have not failed her, Elora. She was taken by the same tyrant you are trying to stop." He walks around the desk and takes me from Maddox's arms and into his own. "You have to remember all that you have done for her, and all is not lost. Not as long as she is still alive."

"We don't even know if she's still alive!" I argue, pulling away from him, "god knows what he's done to her already and it's only been a few hours."

"You are right." Maddox says, leaning towards me, his breath close to my face, "He could have done a number of things to her, even torture her for information. She may be very unwell."

I'm going to smack him right on the end of his nose.

"But." He continues, "he will not kill her."

What kind of reassurance is that?

You don't have to kill someone to harm them more than life could ever heal, I know that from experience, and so does Miya.

We've both lost so much, and we will never see our loved ones again. We will never heal from the wounds of war, and now she has to face something far worse, all alone.

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I have no idea what she is going through, I'm safe here with Ryker and Maddox, but she isn't.

I should have been more careful, I should have done more to protect her.

I frown, turning to look at him, "How do you know that?"

Is torture worse than death? I know it would be in Darax's care, and even if he does

keep her alive, there is other things he can do to break her mind.

I may never see the Miya that I knew again, and that's even if we somehow manage to get her back.

"Because if he kills her he will lose the leverage he has over you, and that would be much worse than keeping one human alive." Ryker says, watching my face as the realisation hits me.

Of course he won't kill her, he will have nothing to bargain with if she dies.

She is more valuable breathing than not.

But if she is still alive, if there is still a chance that she is ok, and that she can be saved. Then I have to figure out how to get to her.

"What do you think he wants?" I ask, grabbing the note and reading it again, "what do you think he'll trade for her freedom?"

I'm so angry, and yet so distraught at the same time, but this isn't the worse thing I have ever faced, and it won't be the last time that my heart is threatened. It won't be the last time that someone tries to hurt me and those that I care about because of what I am.

I won't let Darax win, I won't let him destroy what my mates are trying to do for this world.

They want to make it better, for everyone, even me, and I won't let Darax take that away, because I know that if we defeat him, we will change everything.

We will change the way that races like me are treated.

Maddox's whole body tenses, and his eyes blaze with anger. "He wants the one thing that he can use to defeat us." He steps closer. "He wants you, because without you, Ryker and I will be weakened." He grabs my chin and tips my head back, "no matter how much you care for this human, you cannot jeopardise what we are trying to do." He shakes me a little, "do you hear me? You cannot give yourself to him just to save your friend, you'll destroy all of us, not just yourself."

I gulp a breath, "I won't." I tell him, "I won't destroy it all."

How can I? If we fail at this, this entire place is doomed, and all the people will either

be murdered or kept for slaves.

He's right. I can't risk it. I can't take her place, no matter how much I want to, because this isn't just about me.

It's about more than just my own feelings.

It's about more than one life, it's about thousands of people and their futures.

It's about families, and it's about hopes and dreams.

It's not about Miya. It can't be. There is much more at stake than her.

I love Miya, she's my best friend. But I can't be selfish about this, I can't give up so

many lives for her, and I hope that one day she will understand my choice.

I hope she'll agree.

"The only way we save her now is by winning this war." I say with a slight sob, "so,

what's the plan?" I ask, "how do we destroy Darax?"

He has taken so many things from me.

My family, my home, and now he has taken my only friend.

It's time I take something from him.

It's time that he learns what loss truly means.