Page 51 of Elas

“Why would you keep this from me?” I ask, hating how my voice cracks, and hating how the fiery burn of tears builds behind my eyes. “I don’t… I don’t understand. You don’t lie to me. You’veneverlied to me. Unless…” Realization hits me in a potent rush of emotion, and if I thought I was hurting before, it’s nothing compared to this. Tiny strands of anguish spiderweb through my chest, searing with each new strand that forms. They cut me until I feel like I might shatter.

It’sagony.

A tear slips loose and trails down my face, and Elas makes a sound, a low whine like a wounded animal. I scrub the drop away with a sniff as I whisper the ugly words.

“Unless you don’t want me.” A quiet sob rips the last word in half, and Elas charges forward.

“No,” he growls, grabbing my arms again as I thrash in his grip, but this time, he doesn’t let me go.

“You don’t,” I argue, my vision blurring as I stare at the wall. His face is so close to mine, his breath blows over my skin, cooling the trails that fall along both cheeks now. “Gods, do you have any idea how terrified I was when I read that, Elas? Do you have any idea how I felt? But I thought it would be okay, because it wasyou, and youwouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. But if you don’t want me…”

“Look at me.” I shake my head, silently willing the tears to stop falling while I can save the tiny shreds of my dignity that remain intact. “Baby,please,” he begs, and I allow my damp eyes to creep back up to his. “Yes, I knew. As soon as I saw the marks, I knew. But we didn’t have time to talk about it. Think back to that morning. We both had to be at work, and I got put on night rotation, and I just…” He seems to deflate, his grip loosening as his shoulders droop. “I couldn’t drop something like that on you and leave you to deal with it on your own.”

“There were chances for you to tell me.”

“Yeah,” he whispers. “Yeah, there were chances, and I should’ve taken them. I just…” He pauses, and his hand moves to cup my face as his thumb swipes at the tears tracking my cheek. “Don’t cry, August. My heart can’t take it.”

“You justwhat?” I ask, defiant even as I nuzzle against his palm. “Finish your thought.”

“I wanted to be there when you realized what it meant. When youpanicked, like you’re panicking now, because it should be me that’s there to comfort you. And maybe that’s selfish, but I didn’t want to fucking share you. Not after that. I wanted you all to myself… I always want you to myself, August.”

A fresh rush of tears tracks my cheeks as another quiet sob hiccups from my chest. “If we had the chance to talk, what would you say?”

“I would’ve told you about the mark, and how the Fates put a prophecy in place that aligned our paths a longtime ago. I would’ve given you the history of the story, because I know that logical mind of yours would want to understand thewhy.”His hand climbs to my hair and brushes it back.“Then I would tell you how thankful I am that we found each other because webelongtogether. My whole life, I thought the prophecy was never meant for someone like me—someone with no desire to share their life with someone else. You changed everything for me, August.”

A huff of a laugh leaves me as a wobbly smile tries to form on my lips. His eyes drop and his thumb drifts over my bottom lip, quietly soothing the quiver. “Not the commitment type, huh?”

“Never had something worth committing to,” he admits, and fresh tears build in my eyes. “Not until you.”

“Elas,” I whisper, and he takes a half step even closer, crowding me against the wall, but I don’t feel trapped here. Don’t feel threatened.

For the first time in my life, I feelseen.

“I couldn’t get you out of my mind after we met. The smiling, gentle-souled man stuck inside that jail. You were so out of place in there… the only color in that whole room. Everyone else was black and white, while you had an entire fucking sunny day shining off you.” He laughs again, this one reaching his eyes. “Fuck, doc, you told me it was nice to meet me. And youmeant it.”

“You were being perfectly lovely,” I argue, and we both grin. Thick emotion builds in my throat, and I have to swallow past it before I can speak. “Tell me more. What else were you going to say?”

A sweet smile lifts his cheeks. “Someone’s hungry for praise,” he teases, and a blush burns my face and neck. “I would’ve told you I crave you in ways that aren’t reasonable. That I want you in ways that don’t make sense, and that I need to know everything about you. Everything, August. Every single thing, and even then, it won’t be enough.”

“So, you do want me?” I whisper, and he inches forward with a breathy laugh.

“I’m going to kiss you now, just to stop you from asking more silly questions.”

“Okay,” I breathe. This miniscule distance between us disappears, and then his lips are on mine.There you are,they seem to say, and everything else in the world fades into obscurity as a static charge blasts through my body. I can’t even find it in myself to be embarrassed at the way I groan against his kiss.

His tusks press against my skin and frame our lips. It’s a new sensation, something I’ve never felt before, and a stark reminder that he isother.That we are different. But as his mouth works against mine, neither of us misses a beat. It’s like we’ve been doing this for a lifetime and fit together as if we were once one piece.

Strong hands land on my hips and spin us, and I gasp as he places his back against the wall and pushes his leg out, slotting his thigh between mine and dragging me even closer. A whimper leaves my throat at the friction, and he chuckles as he works my mouth open. His tongue meets mine, my chest presses into his, and his hands circle my back to rest just above my ass.

Fingertips dance along the top of my scrub pants, and I shudder as one dips lower, brushing over my flaming skin. “Elas,” I whine as my hips jolt forward, my cock rubbing against his thigh and causing a gasp to rip from my throat. I’m combusting, my skin too tight and my blood too hot to contain as he encourages me to rock against him.

“That’s it, baby,” he murmurs between greedy nips of my lips. “You want this as much as I do, don’t you? Have you been holding back?”

“Yes.” The admission lifts a weight from my chest, like this secret I’ve been carrying can finally take a breath. He purrs his response and leans down, trailing his lips to my neck. The foreign drag of his blunt tusks scraping over my skin causes me to shiver, and his deep rumbling chuckle is right in my ear. “Don’t we need to talk about all this?” I ask in a breathy whisper. It’s a last ditch effort to regain some semblance of control, but he only laughs.

“Are you in any state to talk, doc?” His fingers flex against my back and I rock forward again, my eyes rolling into my head as my cock drags along his thigh.

“No.”

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