At first, Solace would always curse his parents for not leaving anything behind for him before going to jail, but now he thanks the gods for not doing so.
Because then he'd never get to beg Soren for taking him in and ever getting the chance to behold the bewitching sight of a long-haired beauty whose hairs fluttered with the night air, succeeding its way through the window and kissing his pale face, messing with his hair.
Solace looked around and, to his luck, no one was there. Then he remembers his promise to Soren to not flirt with any female, but in his head, he's not intending to flirt, and most importantly, he's approaching a man, so the rule doesn't apply, right?
Solace walks up to him, who seems like enjoying the view of the night moon, admiring the chilly air.
"Hey," Solace announced his presence more softly than he intended to.
Elinor flinches, hearing the unfamiliar voice; now even the slight unknown sound startled him.
"Sorry, did I scare you? I didn't mean to." Solace stuttered his words when Elinor completely turned himself to him.
"Not much, just a little," Elinor whispered weakly, his voice sounding tired.
And Solace couldn't believe his ears that he was hearing a man talking so softly, more softly than he'd ever heard a woman speaking.
His blunt self gets the best of him, and his curiosity makes him spill the next words.
"You don't look or sound like a-"
"Like a man?" Elinor helps him complete, and Solace turns red from embarrassment.
He doesn't care about girls being more masculine or boys being more feminine, although his friend Sam is a crossdresser, and he loves to go shopping with him to choose his chokers or skirts.
But the person standing in front of him was driving him crazy about how he could beat a goddess with just a single word of his sweet voice.
"NO! t-that's not what....Yes," Solace cleared his throat. "Did I by any chance offend you by asking that? Oh, of course, I had. I'm really sorry for that."
Elinor chuckled at his silliness, "You didn't, don't worry. I sometimes get that from humans."
Solace stilled on his feet when the hearty chuckle hit him.
He wants to instantly run to Soren and beg him to make the fourth rule for him of also not going after the man in this house.
But it's not his fault for getting mesmerized by Elinor at first sight.
"Oh," Solace doesn't know what to say next. "So what kind of shifter are you?"
Elinor frowned, "Fox, and you're a human, right?"
Solace exhilarates, "Yes! How did you guess?"
Elinor judged his excitement and tried his best to hold his sarcastic self back from answering something that could probably scare the human.
"By your typical smell and by the fact that you couldn't tell I'm a fox."
Elinor mocks, but Solace has gone too far to notice anything or he's just an idiot to catch anything else when a stunning face is in front of him.
"Yeah, you could say that," Solace let out. "I didn't catch your name?"
Elinor playfully looked at him, "That's because I never threw it at you."
Solace looked a little hurt and flustered, "That's fair, I guess," he sulked.
"It's Elinor," El let out, and he could almost hear the cracking in Solace's neck by how quickly he looked up. "My name is Elinor."
Solace beams like a kid, and Elinor is still judging this human by the way he's acting, maybe it's some kind of illness that makes humans act like this.
"Elinor," Solace called out loud to see how it sounded from his mouth, and the feeling was contagious.
"It suits you. My name is Solace by the way."
"I never asked," Elinor called out, and again he could almost see the ears dropping off this human puppy.
He almost reminds Elinor of his puppy he liked to play with back at home.
"Hmm," Solace hums helplessly and thinks that he was annoying yet another shifter unintentionally. "Probably you don't know, but we've met before."
"I remember, including all the words you spouted there," Elinor smirks and Solace turns red remembering his words for Elinor.
His hand went up to a chain he always wears and twirled it between his fingers.
"How did you hear that from so far away?" Solace rumbles and Elinor's eyes drive to its finger on the chain.
Elinor chuckles and takes a step forward, "I think you're forgetting that I could hear things even from far away."
Solace face palmed himself for every time forgetting it, at this point he swears he'll write it on his hands to always remember it.
When he was in the midst of the thoughts, Elinor couldn't hold himself back when the shimmering chain caught his attention.
So without thinking too much about it, his hand went on touching the jewelry.
Just when Solace feels a second hand on his own and his chain, he widens his eyes and slaps back the hand hard.
"Don't touch it!" Solace exclaimed in a sharp voice making the shifter take a step back from where he was earlier.
When Solace retreated his senses he turned his gaze to Elinor who was standing lost.
Solace felt like shit for slapping his hand and using that tone with him.
"I'm sorry," He apologized genuinely. "It's just that, it's not a normal piece of jewelry for me."
"Come on, you don't have to apologize, it was my fault for mindlessly trying to touch it, I'm sorry," Elinor said and tried to quiet down the environment with a smile in which he was miserably failing.
"No please don't say that," Solace said and it's rare to see him seriously like this. "I think I should go now, Soren must be searching for me, let us continue our introduction at the dinner table, yeah?" Solace said and when only he got his answer from Elinor did he decide to leave.
"Yeah," Elinor said, and with a small smile, Solace left.
Elinor sighs and turns to the window to his previous view.
It was still time for the stars to arrive but there were some stars already present and among them, there was a particular star who shone at Elinor, like telling him to cheer up.
"I still am shitty around people." He said looking at the star.
"What do I do, Nisha? I wish you'd be here with me to help me, without you I'm so lost." Elinor's eyes teared up and just like that, the star shines brighter to make him feel his presence.
[Alpha Shilister office]
"Frank called me, and everything is going according to the plan, Alpha."
The beta announced to the figure settled on his chair behind the big table.
Alpha Shilister, the Alpha and leader of the Nightfall pack, was widely known for his cruelness and dominance among the many powerful packs around the world.
The intimidating alpha was feared for his story, which told of how he slaughtered his father and teammates to take the Alpha seat, which his father wanted to hand to his brother.
The brother, along with his wife and kids, were still life-sentenced in prison for their rivalry against him.
He could effortlessly help anyone with just one word and destroy anyone.
He was not only well known for his wrongdoings and getting out of it without any hardship among shifters but also among humans.
The alpha, infamous for torturing his own son right after birth by giving him to the nurse and not letting him stay with his mother just because she was an omega, despised lower-position shifters or humans with a passion.
"Let the foxes enjoy a little freedom before I make up my mind on how to use them."
The spine-chilling voice echoed in the dark room.
"Yes, Alpha," the beta let out. "Alpha, the Silver Night pack wants to have a meeting with you."
Shilister leaned back in his chair and looked at his beta, who gulped just by facing him.
"Hmm, right, they've already learned that their fugitive bastards are here under my wings. Let them come. Arrange a meeting."
"Will do, Alpha."
Shilister seemed to be thinking for a moment before speaking again.
"When is Soren going to come? Didn't he show up today?"
The beta felt a chill. "It was appointed for tomorrow, Alpha."
"Oh yeah, I forgot."
The alpha looked straight at his beta and said, "Do one thing, Willard. When tomorrow Soren arrives for Zale's medicine, give him the one with a high dose."
Willard widened his eyes in disbelief. "But Alpha, that could-"
"Just do as you are being told. Or are you trying to question your Alpha now?"
The beta shivered from fear and panic, knowing exactly what the overdose could do to Zale.
"It'll go as you say, Alpha."