The Elemental Mate

Aurora POV

“You don’t know what Iris is capable of, Xander,” I tell him, still trying to get him to release me from his iron hold, “She is the most dangerous leader the coven has had in the last three centuries. She won’t just stop hunting me because you promise to protect me. She will wipe out this entire pack to get to me.”

“I may not know who Iris is or what she can do, but she doesn’t know me or this pack either,” he tells me, his eyes unnerving, “She will not harm anyone in this pack, and she will not get to you.”

“You don’t even know why she is after me, yet you are willing to put your life in danger because of me,” I tell him, hoping that I don’t have to explain my past to him just yet, I don’t want any more deaths on my hands.

I try to look anywhere other than his eyes as the guilt of what I will bring to this pack starts to eat up inside of me. He moves one of his hands from my waist to place it against my cheek, forcing my eyes to his, “Don’t you dare think like that. I promise everyone will be safe.”

Confusion shows on my face, “How do you know what I’m thinking?”

He gives me a soft smile, sadness reflecting off his features, “The mark allows us access to each other’s minds. It’s not as strong as it will be once we fully mate, but I can feel your emotions and can sometimes hear your thoughts if the emotion is strong enough,” he explains to me, rubbing his thumb across my cheek in a soothing manner.

“So, I can hear your thoughts?” I question him, trying to ignore thinking about Iris.

“Yes,” he tells me, “Although since you didn’t grow up in a wolf pack and don’t understand how the mind link works, it might take you a little while before you can control hearing my thoughts.”

“Are you the only person I’ll be able to communicate with?” I ask.

“Yes. Since you aren’t a wolf, you can’t access the pack link at all,” he explains, “You can only communicate with me because we are mates.”

I think about how nice it would be to be able to share all your thoughts with another person. At first, I thought about how it was such an invasion of privacy, but the more I thought about how connected we would become, the less nervous I became, until a single thought crossed my mind, erasing the small smile that had crossed my face, “If we can hear each other’s thoughts and minds, what about memories?”

His smile never left his face as his hands moved down from my face to hold my hands before he motioned me to sit next to him on the edge of the bed. His thumb rubbed against the back of my hand as he spoke, “When wolves find their mates, they will go through the mating process. The first is to find your mate and the marking. The second is mating, and the third is the sharing.”

My eyebrows scrunch in confusion, “The sharing?”

“After we mate, we will be able to look into one another’s minds. We can feel each other’s emotions and thoughts, but to show that we fully accept the other, we share all of our secrets,” he tells me, continuing to rub his thumbs over the back of my hands, “We allow our mates to see all of our memories, and we relive some of them together.”

We sat in silence on the bed as I let the idea try to sink in. Sharing thoughts was one thing since I could learn to control what he heard, but to share my memories, to relive them and make him relive them with me. This was completely different.

I looked down at our conjoined hands as fear went through me at what he would think if he ever saw what I did, “I don’t think I can do that.”

“Hey,” he tried to coax me, but I refused to meet his gaze and continued to watch our hands. He removed his right hand from mine as he placed his finger under my chin. He lifted my face until our eyes could meet again, “I know you don’t want to show me your memories. I understand completely. Yes, we are mates but that doesn’t mean you are going to trust me right away. We have just met and not under the best of circumstances,” he gives me a small smile before continuing, “I’m not asking that we complete the mating and the sharing today. We can wait as long as you want until you trust me with your secrets and with yourself. I will wait.”

I tried to look for any dishonesty or any doubt in his beautiful green eyes, but I couldn’t see anything except determination and what I thought could one day turned to love. I grabbed the collar of his shirt again as I brought him closer to me before planting my lips on his. The kiss was gentle and sweet, and I told him everything I felt for what he said, without uttering a word.

After a few seconds, we pulled apart, his forehead resting against mine as his hand stayed in my hair. I give him another smile, “Thank you.”

He smiles at me in return, “Anything for you.”