CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Aura

I listened intently to Elias’s story from start to finish without any interruption. By the time he was done, I felt like I had more questions than answers.

“Aura…please say something,” he begged.

I looked over at him, only just realizing I had been staring off in the distance as thoughts swirled through my head in utter chaos.

“So Trybe is a witch?” It was the first question, of many, that came to mind. And it wasn’t what either of us were expecting me to say.

Elias’s brow rose as he straightened himself. “Yes.”

“And she’s…also hundreds of years old?”

“Yes.”

“She put the magic into the stone that froze Volund and the Sprathians?”

“Something like that.”

“What else can witches do?” I wasn’t sure why I was asking so many questions unrelated to Elias. Maybe I wanted to avoid the harder questions altogether.

“Witches are powerful immortals. They can create spells for nearly anything. They usually need natural elements for such spells – plants, earth, water. Trybe used the elemental properties of the stone to cast a spell into it. Since she did it alone, it could only work once, and for a short time.”

“What do you mean, did it alone?”

“The more powerful the spell, the more witches it requires. Some witches are more powerful than others. But sometimes it could take a whole coven of witches to complete an inordinately powerful spell. Witches have their limits, just as lycans do.”

“Lycans and witches…” I continued. “What other magical creatures are out there? Unicorns? Dragons?”

Elias chuckled, but I didn’t find any humor in it. Magic was real . It was difficult to wrap my head around. I probably still wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen Elias get stabbed then the wound heal right before my eyes.

I hated myself for making fun of Rose every time she mentioned magic or witches. Did she know something I didn’t this whole time? What else could there possibly be out there?

“No, unicorns and dragons don’t exist. At least, not in this time,” Elias answered. “There are three immortal creatures – witches, lycans, and mythics.”

“Mythics,” I repeated, the name sparking some sort of familiarity hidden in that locked part of my mind I couldn’t get to.

“Energy manipulators,” he continued. “They are extremely powerful. But they are all dead. ”

My heart stuttered. “All of them?”

Elias nodded.

I couldn’t fathom it – an entire race of people gone extinct. Powerful, magic-wielding people. I wanted to know how. But first I wanted to know how many witches and lycans were walking freely in my world, under every human’s nose. “How many witches are there?”

“I’m not sure. They’re probably rare these days. Trybe is the first one I’ve run into in decades, besides Sarai.”

The pure hatred that rolled off his tongue when he said her name reached my soul. And because of what Sarai did to him – what she had been responsible for, for three hundred years – I fucking hated her too. Because of her, Elias was unable to escape his enslavement to the Sprathian kings.

“And what about lycans? How many of your kind are there?”

Elias exhaled, a wave of sadness escaping with his breath. “I am the last one.”

I nearly choked on nothing but air. “How could that be?” I asked in shock.

His shoulders sank slowly. “When I told you my entire family was killed, I didn’t just mean my siblings, my parents, my friends. It was every last lycan. I was the only one left alive.”

“Gods…” I whispered. “How does that even happen?” No wonder Elias refused to answer when I pressed for information about his life all those weeks ago. This was a lot to take in.

Elias looked away for the first time since I began questioning him. “Centuries ago, I started a rebellion against a tyrant – a mythic who destroyed his own kind and threatened to destroy mine…and we lost. To spite me, he killed every last one of my kind in front of me, but kept me alive. He wanted the guilt to kill me slowly.”

When a single tear rolled down Elias’s cheek, it was enough to break me. I couldn’t imagine what he had been through, or how he could have possibly survived it.

“I’m so sorry, Elias.” I lifted my hand to cup his cheek and brushed away the tear’s trail with my thumb. Unsurprisingly, energy ignited through our touch. Elias reached up and took my hand from his cheek, pulling it to his lips to kiss the backs of my fingers.

“Don’t be,” he said gently. “That was centuries ago.”

“Why isn’t it in the history books? Why does the world not know about this?”

As a princess, I was forced to practically memorize the history of the Four Kingdoms. Not once did they mention immortal creatures or an immortal tyrant.

“I honestly don’t know,” Elias sighed. “It wasn’t long after my kind was exterminated that I fled to Sprath. And then…”

“They captured you,” I finished.

Elias nodded. “Maybe twenty to thirty years after my capture, the Sprathian king informed me of the rumors that Zolmara had fallen, and that immortals were no more, save for whatever witches survived the kingdom’s downfall. I think he told me because he thought it would destroy me, but… it did the opposite. It meant that Torzen was dead. That the remaining witches were able to stop him, even after my rebellion failed.”

“Torzen…” I whispered. “That was the mythic?”

“Yes.”

We were silent for a long moment, Elias likely reminiscing on his past traumas while I absorbed this new information. It was Elias who finally broke the silence after removing the sheet that covered him and turning to face me.

“Aura, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for keeping all of this from you. I only wanted to keep you safe. I didn’t want you to find out the way that you did. And even after learning what I was, and what I’ve done…what I was supposed to do to you… you still saved my life.”

The corner of my mouth lifted in a half-smile. “You’ve saved mine plenty more than that. I still owe you a few.”

“You owe me nothing.”

I nearly laughed. “Only two hundred more gold pieces, right?”

Elias smiled. “I never wanted your money, princess. I wanted you. It has always been you.”

Without another word, Elias reached around to cradle the back of my head and pulled me into him, pressing his lips firmly into mine. Pure pleasure seared through my skin and into my soul as energy ignited.

Damn. Did I forgive him already?

I couldn’t pull away. Didn’t want to. I kissed him back with just as much passion, before forcing myself to slow down, then stop. I had so many more questions.

“The energy I feel when we touch…” I said, nearly panting after his kiss literally stole my breath away. “That’s the mating bond, isn’t it?”

A look of concern crossed Elias’s features. “Yes. And I’m sorry for that. I thought maybe because you were human, you wouldn’t feel the bond – that you wouldn’t have to suffer through it like I did, knowing that your mate was right in front of you and you couldn’t have them. But you did feel it. At least, little pieces of it.”

“The first time we shook hands, I felt it,” I admitted. “And every single time after. I can’t feel your pain or your emotions like you said you can with mine, but the energy is unmistakable.” I leaned forward and slowly, gently brushed my lips against his, as if that would prove I could feel the ecstasy of it like I knew he could.

I pulled away. “Can you explain the mating bond to me? How does it fully set, and what happens when it does?”

Elias frowned. “Along with superhuman speed, strength, and senses, and the ability to shift into a wolf, lycans were also blessed with being able to physically see and feel a mating bond. The gods might destine other creatures and humans to be together too, but only lycans can actually see and feel the magic of it, and are affected by it. I guess if the bond is strong enough, a non-lycan can feel it through the lycan. Like you have with me.”

I only nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

“Once the bond is set, I imagine you’ll be able to feel a numbed version of my emotions and pain like I do yours. But I will feel everything you feel. As the lycan, everything I can sense with the bond now will only amplify. I’ll be able to feel every injury, every emotion, like it’s my own, even more so than I already do.”

I gulped. “And…how does the bond set?”

Elias’s honey-eyes stared into mine with such intensity, my heartbeat quickened. “To complete the bond – set it in place eternally – we would have to…make love.”

I think my whole body stiffened in that moment as I processed his words. “Oh,” was all I said, until another thought came up. “So the bond is always between a man and a woman?”

Elias shook his head as he smiled. “No, I’ve seen it go other ways. It’s not the act of sex itself that sets the bond, but the intimacy of it.”

I stared right back into his golden eyes with the same intensity he gave me. “That’s why you didn’t want to make love to me in the mountain,” I accused.

He sighed, then nodded. “Believe me, I wanted to. Badly. But I didn’t want to seal a bond you didn’t even know existed. That wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“Why not just tell me what you were? Tell me everything?”

Elias ran a hand through his hair – something I noticed he often did when he was agitated. “I was afraid if I told you the truth, you would leave. Which you have every right to do.” Elias pulled himself away, creating space between us that had me suddenly shivering. “I should have let you go. I should have told you what I was and let you go back home where you’re safe. But I’m selfish, Aura. I didn’t want to be without you. I’d rather hold on to you with a partial bond than to have you break it.”

I cocked my head. “I…I can break it?”

Sadness filled his heart. I didn’t need a mating bond to notice it. “Yes. You are not lycan, so it would be much easier for you. You can reject the bond before it sets.”

An uneasy feeling hit me. “What would happen?”

He shuffled uncomfortably, masking any emotions from reaching his face. “I may suffer physical repercussions, but they will heal.”

“And the mental ones?”

He was silent for a long time. Too long.

“Elias?”

“I would survive.”

I could tell he wasn’t sure he believed it. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure I would survive either. I loved this man, bond or no bond.

Another long silence hit, both of us looking away as we were lost in our own thoughts. Then Elias spoke.

“Aura…you should sever the bond.”

I whirled my head in his direction. “Excuse me?”

“You may think you developed feelings for me, but maybe that’s just the bond talking. If you sever it, you can think clearly. You can be without me, and live the rest of your life safely.”

“No.”

“Aura, please…think about it.”

“You think the only reason I love you is because the gods wrote it into my fate? Are you telling me that’s the only reason you love me ?”

He pursed his lips for a moment. “There are many reasons I have fallen in love with you. But that doesn’t mean I deserve you.”

“Oh shut up with that bullshit.” I finally shot out of my seat as my temper flared. How dare he tell me who I should or shouldn’t love. “You didn’t kill people because you fucking enjoy it. You did it because you were forced to. You did it to survive. To experience freedom.”

“I could have tried harder to find another way. Only when fate brought me to you did something change.”

“Fate.” I rolled my eyes and began pacing as my annoyance boiled. “Fate may have brought you to me, but fate does not define my love for you, Elias. I do.”

“Aura…”

“I love you. For who I know you are. And I know you love me too. I didn’t fall in love with you because of some magical bond. The gods didn’t choose you for me. I did. I make my own choices, Elias. What’s yours?”

Elias stood slowly, the toxins clearly still circulating through his system. But in spite of the wolfsbane, he took one step closer to me. Then another. Until he stood directly in front of me.

I looked up at him, meeting his eyes. “What do you choose, Elias?” I repeated.

He gently grabbed my chin and tilted my head up towards him. My heart raced at the sensation it brought.

“I choose you, Aurelia of Rimor,” he said in a deep, possessive tone. “I will always, and forever, choose you.”

Before I could think a single thought, Elias pulled my face towards him until our lips crashed together, passionate energy flowing into me. Elias slid his free hand to the small of my back, pulling me in even closer until our bodies collided. Without his shirt, I felt even more of Elias’s skin at one time than I ever had, making the energy between us – and the ecstasy it brought – intensify.

I gasped into his mouth as pleasure rippled through me, and I felt the corners of Elias’s mouth turn up in a smile under my lips. He released the hold on my chin and began to untie the string of my borrowed blouse. As it loosened, he pulled it down until my neck and shoulders were bare. His lips left my mouth and trailed down the uninjured side of my neck, each kiss and lick bringing heat to my center. I moaned, unable to control myself.

Elias pulled back, and I looked into his eyes, which began to glow.

“Your eyes,” I said, head swimming as my heart pounded with excitement and lust. “They glow.”

A smile tugged at Elias’s mouth once more. “They do.”

“Why?”

“It happens when the wolf inside wants to emerge – when the magic in me wants a release, whether it’s due to anger, or fear, or…a growing need for something. Some one .”

I reached up and placed a hand over his cheek, fighting back a tremble as I was overwhelmed with need, myself. “I think I know the feeling,” I whispered.

Elias’s face suddenly hardened. “If we do this, princess…we are mated for life. The bond is unbreakable.” His voice was a deep, husky growl, almost more beast than man. And it caused another moan to escape me.

“I’m yours and you are mine. Forever.” I looked into his eyes, determined to show him that I meant every word.

I guess it did the trick because Elias immediately pulled me in again, his lips finding mine and his tongue joining in. I placed my hands on his chest, feeling the energy flow through my palms against his skin, and reverberating into my very soul.

Elias gently pulled the blouse down even further, revealing my breasts. He brought a hand down onto one, massaging it in rhythm with his tongue as he kissed me. Pleasure pierced me that made me nearly boil over, and we had barely even begun.

Even in his weakened state, Elias used his strength to grab me behind my thighs and lift me up until I straddled him. The bulge beneath his pants pressed against me, and I gasped from the friction. With me on his hips, and our tongues still entangling, Elias walked us over to the bed.

He sat me on the edge, and I took no time to reach for his belt, trying not to let the sweet taste of his tongue distract me from my task. Within a moment, the belt was undone, and Elias finished the job by removing his pants entirely, before ripping mine off as well, along with the blouse.

Once we were both naked, he gently guided me down until I laid on my back. From there, I could see his entire body before me. Every inch of him rippled with muscles. Despite the extreme number of scars that laced his torso, he had the body of a god. Even his cock was so long and thick, I moaned when I saw it.

He must have been thinking something similar. “Your body is…perfection,” he growled. Then he reached down from where he stood and placed his hand between my legs. My entire body trembled with an explosion of energy, and I cried out from the intensity.

Elias froze for a second. “Am I hurting you?” He lifted his hand.

“No,” I gasped. “Don’t stop.”

A low rumble escaped from his throat, and he replaced his hand. I arched my back as the sensitivity heightened – my hips rotating so I could get more friction.

But I didn’t need to. Elias knew exactly what he was doing. He cupped me in his hand, pressing his palm in the exact right spot as his fingers rhythmically massaged even lower.

More. I wanted more of him. All of him. I might have said it out loud.

“Not yet, princess,” Elias commanded. He was teasing me. But I had no rebuttal as he slowly rubbed his palm again and again, icy heat building and building until my body shook and I cried out his name .

The first orgasm happened so soon, I was in shock. The only experience I had with them was by my own hand, in the privacy of my own bedroom. This. This was entirely new. And it was euphoric. The energy of the bond heightened every sensation. I wasn’t used to climaxing so quickly, my body still trembling with small shockwaves of pleasure.

Elias bent down and kissed where his palm had been, causing another moan to escape me. Then his mouth trailed up, kissing up my naval until he had to kneel onto the bed to kiss my breasts. Heat began to form between my thighs once more. But I wanted to be the one to pleasure him this time.

I sat up, Elias following the movement. “What’s wrong?” he asked. So sweet. So gentle. I wanted to fuck his brains out, and he wanted to be a gentleman.

“You’re weak. Let me take over from here.”

Elias furrowed his brow. “I take offense to that.”

“From the wolfsbane, you loon,” I smacked his shoulder and he laughed. A spark of joy filled me instantly. I wasn’t sure if it from hearing him laugh, or if I was feeling his joy through the bond. Had it set already?

Elias laid himself down onto the bed next to me, and I rolled over to begin kissing him again. Each kiss brought me more joy, more sensations, and I found my right hand reaching down to caress the length of him.

“Fuck,” he whispered. And that was all it took for me to tighten my grasp, pumping harder until he moaned my name. He was so hard beneath my hand, my own orgasm began to build again. But I wanted him inside so we could experience it together, as one.

I rolled myself on top of him until I straddled him, his cock still in my hand, inches from my entrance. I could feel my own wetness dripping onto him .

“Fuck, Aura,” he said again, his body tightening beneath me. He reached up to cup my breasts, and it took everything in me not to cry out when his thumbs circled my nipples.

“Elias,” I whimpered, too shocked from the thrill of his touch to make my next move.

As inexperienced as I was, feeling Elias’s naked body against my own felt so natural, so easy – like my body somehow knew exactly what to do to please us both. The thought gave me the motivation I needed to finally join our bodies entirely and wholly.

I lifted his cock until it was at just the right angle, then moved my hips up before coming down onto him, the length of him sliding into my wet entrance with ease. Pleasure like I had never experienced before burst into me, and I cried out.

“Aura,” Elias growled my name, his head pushing back into the pillow. I knew he was experiencing the same euphoric feelings.

I moved my hips back and forth, side to side, up and down, experimenting with what felt the best. But dammit, it all felt amazing. I moaned again and again as I felt every thick inch of him inside of me. Pressure began to build and build, and I felt myself tighten around him.

“Fuck. Gods. Aura,” Elias cursed with short, static breaths between words.

I covered my own mouth to stifle the scream of pleasure that threatened to erupt, suddenly aware of how thin the walls could be.

Elias sat up and began kissing my neck, my eyes rolling back as each kiss created another ripple of desire. Before long, he had forced me onto my back again, his large frame now hovering over me, his cock still inside. Then he began to pump in and out with force and rhythm. I moaned with each pulse, and Elias couldn’t stifle his own moans .

Again and again he pushed deep and hard, yet somehow gentle at the same time. Sweat lined both of our brows as the final orgasm built until I thought the energy from the climax could tear down a building. We finished together, releasing the build-up until I felt nothing but rapture.

Elias pulled himself out and crashed onto the bed next to me, both of us staring at the ceiling and breathing heavily as we came down from our high.

After a moment of catching our breath, Elias leaned over to kiss my forehead. “You’re a masterpiece,” he said.

I laughed. “Do you think the bond is set now?”

Elias smiled and brought his hand up, slowly waving it through something invisible in the air between us. “Yes, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

I raised a brow. “You mean you can actually see it?”

“Yes. Only when I first saw you in Rimor, and then now. But now the golden tendrils are …ablaze.” I could tell he was struggling to find words to describe it. “It’s beautiful,” he added. “I’ve been told the bond manifests itself to a lycan only when they first lay eyes on their mate, and again when the bond is set. I only wish you could see it too.”

“I don’t need to,” I smiled. “Seeing your face right now is more than enough.”

His eyes trailed from the invisible bond until they met my stare. He leaned forward, his soft lips once again meeting with mine for a brief, heavenly second. “I love you,” he said. But I didn’t just hear his words. I felt them, deep in my soul.

“I love you too. Elias of Zolmara.”

He smiled, and we stayed there contently holding each other for long moments.

When our breathing steadied, and our bodies cooled, I began looking around the room. I was trying to gage if there was enough space. I concluded it would suffice.

“Okay. Show me.”

Elias shifted to look at me. “Show you what?”

“The wolf.”