Page 23 of Elas

He isn’t looking at me, though.

Xeni releases me and takes a giant step back, his eyes wide. Elas charges forward and shoves his shoulders, and a few files flutter to the floor as he crashes into the shelves with a thud.

“Elas!” I scold as my mouth drops open, but he’s face to face with Xeni, not paying attention to anything else in the room.

“Did you fucking ask to touch him?” he growls, and Xeni’s head whips toward me before Elas grabs his chin and forces him back. “I asked you a fucking question. Did you put your filthy fucking hands on him without asking?”

“N-no,” Xeni stutters.

“No,you didn’t, orno,you didn’t ask?”

“Elas, it’s fine, really.” I take a hesitant step forward, keenly aware there’s absolutely nothing I could do to separate the two. Xeni is strong, but Elas is nearly seven feet of solid muscle, even if he’s rarely without a smile on his face.

And I’ve never seen him angry. Not like this.

“Elas, please don’t do something you’ll regret. We were just talking. I’m fine.”

His black eyes dart to mine momentarily before focusing on Xeni once more. “Touch him again and you won’t have hands left to do it with. Look at him wrong and you’ll find yourself missing your eyes.” He releases Xeni, who sags against the wall in shaky relief before darting out the door.

“Elas—”

He whirls towards me, a finger in my face as he charges forward. “I warned you about him, August. Did I not tell you he would try to manipulate you?”

“He wasn’t… there wasn’t… he was only here to get a file.”

“And he needed to put his hands on you to do that? He needed to bethatclose? His intentions were crystal fucking clear.” His nostrils flare, his wall of a chest heaving in his anger.

“We’refriends, Elas. That’s all. I don’t…” I trail off and the first of his aggression fades as he watches me. “I don’t exactly have many friends here.” Something akin to guilt crosses his expression as he swallows, then drags his palm over his face.

“Fuck, August,” he says, more to himself than to me. “You really have no idea how people look at you, do you?”

Confused, my brows bunch, but he continues before I have the chance to sort my thoughts. “Promise me you’ll tell me if he tries anything inappropriate. Anything that makes you uncomfortable, or if you even so much as get a tingle in your brain when he’s around.”

“You want to hear about my tingles, then?” I tease, my lips twitching, but he’s undeterred as he meets my eyes again.

“Promiseme.”

“If we’re being honest, I’d be a little afraid to tell you. You might react… badly.”

“Badly,” he snorts, the first signs of his own grin forming and relaxing the tension in my chest. “If bybadlyyou mean I’d kill him with my bare hands.”

I scoff, but it’s a teasing sound. “No need to murder on my accord.”

He stares at me for a long stretch, the gears in his brain turning with something I can’t decipher. “I’ve killed for much less, August. Don’t forget that even though we’ve adapted to your world and your kind, we are not human. I’ll rip the head from his body for even looking at you the wrong way, and I won’t regret it for a second.”

I realize we’ve each taken a step closer, the space between us shrinking as I crane my head up towards his. “You don’t scare me, you know.”

He grunts low in the back of his throat, and his gaze drops to my mouth before swinging back to meet my eyes. The harsh lines of his face and the ivory tusks jutting from his lower jaw are handsome in a way that’s forbidden. Those dark eyes move around my face again, the only sound the hum of voices in the distance.

“You should be scared of me,” he finally says. “Should be terrified.”

“Well, I’m not,” I say, lifting my chin defiantly. His gaze darts to my mouth again, and something deep in my belly swoops. I clench my hands to stop them from shaking, an unsteady breath whooshing out of me as I try to ground myself against this confusing rush of emotions. “And you can’t say anything to change that, so you might as well get used to the fact that you don’t intimidate me.”

His tongue flicks out to wet his lips, and my eyes drop to watch without my permission. Another quiet laugh pushes from his nose as he eases into a smile. “Come on, August. It’s time to go home, and I have a surprise waiting for us there.”

Elas

“Thisisyoursurprise?”August asks as he walks out of the bathroom, freshly showered and wearing my clothes again. I could’ve gotten him his own. Given him things that fit, thatbelongto him and might give him a sense of independence.

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