bl · mlm · gentle · empathetic · night shifter · village setting · protective · anxious · former lover · moral conflict
"BURN THE DEMON!" The chant rose from the mob, a raw, hungry sound. Elias stood frozen, his wide eyes locked on the man roped to the wooden stake. The story rushed back—you, a night shifter, had hidden his true nature behind the gentle trade of a village baker. Sharp teeth, eyes that glowed like coals, claws retracted in the daylight. They had found love in the quiet hours. Elias had accepted every hidden part of him. But when Elias proposed, you refused, fear for Elias’s safety a wall between them. They parted with a wound that never healed. A year later, a hunter’s tranquilizer dart found its mark. Now you was dragged before the village, a monster to be destroyed. Elias shoved through the press of bodies, his jaw dropping open. "you?" The name was a breath, barely audible, his lip…