Page 36 of The Bonds of Nyx

I swallowed thickly. I trusted Elias, yet my heart still stuttered with that same insecure fear I’d always felt when I’d been face to face with someone I cared for, who finally realised I wasn’t worth the hassle anymore.

Elias’s gaze softened, and he shook his head. “You are my mate, my everything,” he murmured, “and this isn’t me stepping back, Ivy. We need to talk about what happened in that meeting and what that means going forward as mates. Okay?”

Dammit. I knew he was right. We needed to discuss what happened. We needed to talk about our bond, and I needed to talk with Adrian about ours. I needed to stop running.

Quietly, I slipped my hand into his and entwined our fingers. “It’s a habit.”

“A bad one,” he replied, grunting. “Come on.”

I said nothing as he guided me out of the quiet house. My magic, which had been slumbering since completing the bond, gave a sharp tug towards the basement. Adrian was likely down there, though I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to see me yet. I owed him better than all of this.

He understands,Elias murmured through the bond, squeezing my hand.It’s the way bonds work.

I stifled a sigh and moved closer to my towering shifter mate. He led me out of the house and down the short incline towards the edge of the forest, the same path we’d taken last night when…

My cheeks warmed, and I ducked my head as we passed one of the shifters from Jay’s team. Elias gave her a brief nod before giving my hand a squeeze.

We continued in silence for what felt like an hour, though I knew logically it was only minutes. It wasn’t awkward, but it was heavy with tension and everything unsaid. I wanted to laugh at the craziness of the last twenty-four hours, yet my throat was tight with the intensity of what might come next.

Elias finally stopped and turned to face me, our hands still joined. I stared down at our entwined fingers and at the scars littering his tanned skin.

“Look at me, Angel,” he commanded, curling a finger beneath my chin, and forcing me to meet his stare. There was a softness in the dark green of his eyes that seemed so foreign compared to the man I’d come to know in my time back home.

But through the bond, I felt the simmering anger, fear, and his own insecurities below the surface of the calm he tried to emit. If I dug deeper, I could feel that it was threatening to bubble over.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Elias’s eyes widened slightly, but he shook his head. “This isn’t about me, Angel. This is about—”

“This is about you as much as it is about me,” I interjected. “Last night, you were worried I wouldn’t want you.”

His jaw tensed, the muscle ticking as he averted his eyes. “We have more important things to discuss.”

“Things we could have talked about at the house.”

His eyes met mine again and he sighed. He released my hand and took a step back, putting space between us. Space that felt too large all of a sudden.

I swallowed thickly and crossed my arms over my chest. “What now?”

Elias scrubbed a hand over his face. “You need to know what you’re getting into.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, cocking my head. “Isn’t this exactly what everyone wanted?”

Elias shook his head, his eyes darkening. “What’s happening with this other mate—that should have never happened. Never should have been able to happen.” He paused, throat bobbing as he swallowed.

“I don’t want to talk about him. I thought we were coming out here to talk about us. Last night. You said you wanted to talk about our mate bond. So, let’s talk about it.”

He stiffened, and I could feel him pulling away through the bond.

If I’d learnt anything about my surly shifter, it was that he couldn’t open up. Something in his past had made it so he wouldn’t if those scars were any indication.

“Elias, please.”

His eyes shuttered close as he took in a sharp breath. I expected him to completely shut down. But his eyes opened, and he released his breath, his body completely crumbling as he sat on the forest floor with his back to one of the large trees surrounding us.

Elias stared up at me, and those fears, anger, and insecurity all came to the surface, bubbling over the false calm he’d created.

“The reason I worry about the validity of our bond is because I’m not anything special,” he started, his voice low and gruff. “I grew up in an orphanage that essentially prepared kids to become soldiers for the crown.”

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