Page 72 of Elas

Panic claws at my throat as his gaze dips to where the mark shines off my chest. It’s covered by the balled-up shirts, but his reflexes are impossibly fast. I don’t know how much he saw. His solid white eyes meet mine againbefore dropping to my neck, where my pulse thuds under my skin.

And then he snorts an irritated laugh.

“Figures I’d only get you half naked after you already ripped out my fucking heart.” My pulse is still pounding as he turns and jerks the curtain closed. I scramble to pull my shirts on and dart out in time to see him entering a stall at the end of the row.

“Xeni, wait.” He stops with his back to me, and I swear he re-inflates himself as he faces me with that signature smirk plastered on his lips. “What… I mean… did…” I trip on my words, frantically trying to read his impassive eyes.

“Let me guess… you thought I was just being a flirt, didn’t you? Thought I acted like this with everyone?”

“But we’re… friends,” I whisper, and his lips twitch, baring the tips of his teeth to me.

“Clueless,stupid, handsome little human.” My eyes widen as he steps closer, and his nostrils flare. He shakes his head again as he glances away.

“I didn’t realize,” I say softly.

“Didn’t realize you were the first person I felt anything for since…” He purses his lips in agitation, but doesn’t finish his thought. “Would it have made a difference?” he asks quietly. I open my mouth to answer but can’t find the right words, and he releases another of those derisive huffs.

“Yeah. Didn’t think so.” His eyes dart to my chest again as his guard drops for a moment. “It was always going to be him, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” The word hangs between us as he nods to himself, and as he turns away from me, I grab his wrist.

“Xeni, wait—”

He rips his arm from my grip, shoving me against the wall and hovering over me. Xeni isn’t much taller than I am, but he’s undeniably strong as he crowds me. “Don’t get my scent all over you now,” he snarls. “I value my head, thank you very much, and he won’t hesitate to rip it right off my shoulders for touching you.”

“I’m sorry.” Sorry about what, exactly?

His unrequited affections, and my lack of recognizing them?

Putting him even further into Elas’s bullseye?

“Of course you are.” He sighs and backs up a step, chewing on his lip as his gaze drops to the floor. “You’re a good guy.”

I force a swallow and command my voice to work. “I have to ask—”

“I didn’t see anything, August.”

“But you did,” I hedge, and his eyes finally find mine again.

“No, I didn’t.” Each word is deliberate as he retreats another step. He hooks his thumb through his scrub pants and pushes them down to expose his hip.

A mate’s mark sits there, or at least what could’ve once been one, but it’s… wrong.

Black and scarred, raised like a brand.

“What happened?” I whisper.

He lifts his pants into place, and the sad smile that crosses his face is devastating. “The Fates got it wrong.”

“What—”

He holds his hand up to silence me. “You have your secrets, August. Allow me to keep mine.” We stare at each other for a long time, and finally, I nod.

The danger to both me and Elas is crystal clear. What Xeni just saw could damn us, and if he toldanyone, our fates would be sealed.

He holds the power.

Instinct whispers that I should trust him, but it’s very hard to listen when I’m aware of everything that’s at stake. “You know what they’ll do to me,” I whisper. It’s an admission to knowing too much, but he counters it with an admission of his own.

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