Page 55 of Elas

“Yeah,” I agree, tucking myself under his arm. He chuckles and tugs me closer, and the weight over my shoulders grounds me. “Could we start from the beginning? You said there was a prophecy?” Elas nods, and I’m quiet as he shares the story that’s been passed among his people ever since they invaded.

According to the prophecy, their brutality was punished by the closing of the rifts, and the ensuing destruction of their home was a consequence that forced them into a life alongside humanity. From there, the narrative is less factual and more speculation, becoming a tale aboutthose destined to be together, and how their connections will reverse the damage.

“It’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it?” I muse. “That love might be enough to repair this broken world? But how are mates supposed to fix anything?”

“If the answer to that question was ever shared, I’ve never heard it.” Elas absentmindedly leans over to press a kiss on my temple, and I smile at the gesture. “When the prophecy was first told, we all waited for it to happen. But then years went by… then decades… and after a while, it almost became a joke. Until Ronan’s mark appeared—”

“Wait,” I interrupt, twisting to face him. “Ronan… your friend Ronan? As in, Cameron’s Ronan?”

Elas chuckles and nods. “That’s the one.”

“Does that mean he and Cameron are mates?”

“Sure are,” he says with another soft squeeze.

A grin digs into my cheeks, trying to imagine prickly Cameron being coupled up and cozy with a mate. “I’m happy for them. Cameron was so jaded…”

“Still is,” he mutters.

“… and knowing he has someone is a relief. He would never admit it, but he seemed so lost out there on his own. He deserves the same sense of comfort that I get when I’m with you.” My neck burns when I realize what I’ve said, and Elas tosses me a teasing grin.

“Going sappy on me, doc?”

“Oh, hush, you,” I say, and I swat his stomach with the back of my hand. He grunts, even though I know he barely felt it through the dense layer of muscles. “You thought they were the first mates?”

Elas nods, back on track. “Yeah. Until you told me about that flyer, I thought they were the first.” He snorts a quiet laugh, shaking his head. “Ronan and his flair for dramatics would’ve loved to hold that claim to fame. But warnings about shining marks being distributed to the public? A file withglowwritten on it? It was all too convenient to be a coincidence, and then Commander Khors all but confirmed it.”

He shares their conversation, backtracking to the beginning. He explains how he and Ronan broke Cameron out of the prison and how Ronan came to see him before their rendezvous. Their prior commander was killed the same night, and Ronan never returned.

Commander Khors’s concern that Ronan was involved with Bravis’s death makes sense now that I have these missing pieces. If someone threatened his mate, Ronan’s protective instincts would’ve proven impossible to fight. And according to Elas, driving a sword through his neck sounds like it would match Ronan’s energy.

“He also wanted to talk about you,” Elas says, the muscles in his jaw flexing as he pulls his lip between his teeth. “Chief Aeliphis reported that you discovered that file room, and he’s showing far too much interest for my liking.”

“What did you say to him?”

“I offered to keep an eye on you,” he snorts, rubbing at his jaw. “He admitted Ljómur is a secret base… a research facility. When I asked him to clarify, he told me to take a wild guess. My kind aren’t exactly original with their names, but come on. Naming the placeglow? They’re studying mates there—I’d bet my lifeon it.”

“To what end, though?”

His lips pull into a grim line as he shakes his head. “That’s the part I can’t figure out, but there are multiple layers to this. It goes higher than I could’ve imagined. If they’ve been rounding up mates all these years…”

“Something’s happening,” I finish for him, and he nods.

“Something big, I’m afraid.” He pulls me close and we sit in silence for a few minutes, both of us absorbing everything we just shared with each other. The fact that the commander is asking questions about me is… not good.

This precarious dual agent role Elas has placed himself in is dangerous, and it would only take one misstep for everything to unravel. If Khors ever discovered he’s not only protecting Ronan, but harboring his own mate…

Something tells me the consequences would be fatal.

“Could we leave?” I whisper, afraid to voice the question any louder in case he thinks I’m being ridiculous. He has decades of service and loyalties to the military, and we’ve only known each other for a few weeks. Even if the fates have woven our destinies together, I’m nobody to him.

Not really.

A mark on his hand may not be enough to change that.

“I think we might have to, baby,” he whispers back, and a rush of sweet relief floods my body, washing away the heavy dread that had slowly been weighing on my shoulders. It’s like we’re sharing a mind as I twist, and he grabs my thigh and guides me to straddle his lap. “We have to do it the right way, though. If we leave in the middle of thenight, they’ll never stop chasing us. After what happened with Ronan, Khors wouldn’t let that level of insult go unpunished. He wouldn’t give up. On his own, he isn’t much of a threat, but with the power of the military at his disposal…” The words trail away before his eyes land on mine with a clear promise behind them. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know you won’t.” Our lips meet again, drawn together like magnets as he kisses me with a steady reverence. I melt into the kiss as his lips move with mine, his hands trailing up and down my spine.

---