The Exiled Alpha's Human Male Mate.[BL]

"We’re not the only Mafia family in this country. There are others, but my family is at the top," Dave began.

Again, Bryce noticed the way he was circling around the subject instead of addressing the question directly.

"We have a few enemies, but one of the most persistent was the Hayes family. My father despised them because they were constantly challenging our position and trying to claw their way into our territory.

They had a son, and he went to the same high school as I did."

Bryce’s heart seemed to stop.

His mind refused to simply listen until the end and allow the whole story to unfold. It kept racing ahead, piecing together fragments and constructing an ending before Dave had even reached it.

He forced himself to silence those thoughts and listen.

"Eli."

Dave murmured the name more quietly than he had spoken anything else that night.

"We hated each other almost as much as our fathers hated each other. Even at school, everyone knew we couldn’t stand being around one another. We were constantly fighting, provoking each other, trading insults whenever we crossed paths.

But somewhere along the way, things began changing between us without either of us realizing it.

Those heated arguments slowly became something more complicated.

We could fight and insult each other, but the moment someone else tried to do the same to either of us, neither of us could stand by and watch.

Whenever it happened, we instinctively took each other’s side, as though our rivalry only mattered when it was between us.

The hostility between us gradually gave way to something neither of us knew how to name. The tension was still there, but it no longer came from resentment or rivalry. It carried a different pull, one that made us increasingly aware of each other and drew us closer despite our attempts to resist it."

His voice lowered.

"Eventually, things reached a point where denying our feelings became impossible. We both knew we had fallen for each other, but we also knew our families would never accept it.

So we started a relationship in secret, knowing that if our families ever discovered what was happening between us, they would do everything they could to tear us apart."

He fell silent again, and this time, it lasted for a long time.

Bryce’s mind spiraled through every possibility, turning over everything he had just heard until he could barely keep his thoughts in order.

Unable to endure the uncertainty any longer, he urged Dave to continue.

"Is that the end of it?" he murmured, even though it was obvious that Dave needed a moment to gather himself.

The question came partly from impatience, but Bryce could feel another emotion rising beneath it, one he couldn’t quite identify.

Was it jealousy?

Insecurity?

He didn’t know.

But seeing the emotion etched across Dave’s face as he spoke about Eli made one possibility increasingly difficult to ignore: perhaps some part of Dave was still in love with him.

"We managed to keep the relationship for maybe a year, or even longer," Dave continued. "Despite how dangerous it was and how difficult it was to find even a little time alone together, we made it work. We were willing to risk everything just to have those moments with each other."

Bryce could hear the way Dave spoke, as though his mind had gone somewhere far beyond the room and returned to a place he had spent years trying to bury.

"But one day, Eli’s father pushed mine too far. I didn’t know my father was planning anything against him. All I knew was that he had angered my father more than he ever had before. The next thing I heard was that my father had ended the entire Hayes family."

Dave’s jaw tightened, and Bryce felt his own breath catch as his heart seemed to stop for a beat.

"There were only three of them. Eli, his father, and his mother."

His hands clenched until his knuckles tightened, his teeth pressing together as though he were struggling to keep control of himself.

"I can’t explain what I felt after that. For a long time, maybe months, I felt completely numb. It felt as though the ability to breathe had simply left me. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t concentrate. Half the time, I didn’t even know where I was or what I was doing with my life. I hated my father. I wanted to leave this family and disappear somewhere no one could find me.

I had never cared when he’d killed people before. I’d grown up around it. I’d seen things that should have disturbed me, but somehow, I’d learned to accept them as part of the world I was born into. But this time was different. This time, my father had become a monster right in front of me.

But how could I even blame him completely? He didn’t know I had a relationship with Eli. Maybe if he’d known, he would have found another way instead of destroying Eli too. But then I kept thinking... even if Eli had survived, would he have stayed with me after learning that my father had murdered his parents?

I almost lost my mind. Maybe I did. I honestly don’t remember anymore. My condition became worse with every passing day.

My family tried everything they could to bring me back, but I wouldn’t leave my bed. It wasn’t because I wanted to punish anyone or because I was being stubborn. I simply couldn’t make myself move. I didn’t want to see any of them. I didn’t want to speak to anyone."

Dave paused before continuing.

"My father kept telling me that if he had known, he would have found another solution. He apologized constantly, especially whenever he saw that I wasn’t getting any better. I believed him. I believed he truly regretted what he’d done because he hadn’t known about Eli and me."

He exhaled slowly.

"Eventually, I started forcing myself to recover. I made myself get out of bed. I returned to school even though every step felt impossible. I tried to rebuild whatever was left of me.

"But after I went back to school, it didn’t take long before something unexpected and unimaginable happened, something that made me feel alive again after what seemed like an eternity of being dead inside."

When Dave fell silent this time, Bryce didn’t urge him to continue immediately. He let him breathe and take the time he needed, even though his own curiosity was burning inside him, desperate to know what had happened, what could possibly have made Dave feel alive again after what he had endured.

He felt genuinely sorry for Dave. He couldn’t imagine the devastation of losing someone he loved so deeply, especially under circumstances like that.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!