The Elemental Mate

Aurora POV

In the week that I’ve been with Xander, I don’t think I’ve ever felt safer or happier. Xander spent most of his time with me, occasionally leaving for his alpha duties. I learned about his family and I opened up to him about mine. He made me laugh and smile more in the time I spent with him than I have this entire year.

My leg is nearly healed and I’m no longer in pain, something that seemed to calm Xander a bit. After this past week, I’ve learned that he is extremely possessive and protective of me. He told me that neither he nor his wolf could stand to see me in any sort of pain. I thought it was sweet that he wanted to protect me, ignoring what I knew though.

I would get him hurt because of it.

Pushing that thought away, I focused on thinking about Xander. I never really needed a relationship growing up, but I understand the importance of them through my parents. The love they had was never-ending. I was beginning to see just how strong the mate bond was. I always seem to be drawn to Xander. The second he leaves the room, I feel emptier, and when he comes back, all I want to do is have him hold me in his arms.

It was an odd emotion to feel so attached to someone, but I don’t think I would ever want to give it up. I doubt I could.

I give a light smile at the thoughts before I feel tingles explode around my waist as Xander holds me from behind, “What are you thinking about?” he asks, pressing a sweet kiss to my cheek.

“Just about how happy I am,” I tell him honestly. I never seemed to even want to lie to him.

“I’m glad you’re happy,” he places another kiss on my cheek, “While you are in a good mood, I have to ask you something.”

“Okay,” I say as I turn in his arms to look into his eyes, my hands placed gently on his chest as he continues to hold my waist, “What is it?”

“Aurora, will you go on a date with me tonight?”

I raise my eyebrows at his question, “A date? Like a date-date?” confusion and a little bit of fear seep into my voice.

“Yes, a date-date,” he nods his head and laughs lightly before giving me his award-winning smile.

I bite my lower lip slightly, “Then yes. I would love to go on a date with you.”

“Great,” he says before kissing me sweetly and pulls away to move around the kitchen island to grab a snack, “Then I will plan something for tonight.”

“Perfect,” I tell him, smiling as I change the subject, “Are you going to the packhouse today?”

Looking over to the clock on the wall, he gives me a sad smile, “I actually have to leave now. Hayden told me Ivy was coming over, so you won’t be alone.”

“Yeah, I wanted to get to know her more,” I say, thinking back to when I first met the blonde yesterday.

Hayden’s mate, Ivy, was a meek creature. A little taller than me, she had long curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes. When Hayden introduced her to me yesterday, she seemed completely shy and out of her element. She was nearly shaking when standing in the room with us.

But the entire interaction with her yesterday felt off. There was something about her that I couldn’t place my finger on, and I wanted to know.

I’m hoping when we talk today, I can get her to open up a bit.

“She’s not very talkative,” Xander tells me as he continues to move around the kitchen to make himself a few sandwiches to take with him, “Besides for Hayden, I rarely see her talk to anyone.”

“I’m hoping I can change that,” I smile, even hearing the hope in my voice. It was nice to hear that again, but I’m just wishing that it’s the right feeling to have.

Finishing up his food, he stuffed the sandwiches into a brown paper bag before he walked back over to me, “Good luck,” he tells me as he places another sweet kiss on my cheek. I feel the tingles run through my body the second his lips touch my skin. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that feeling.

“Thanks,” I say, “Have fun making alpha decisions.”

He rolls his eyes at my remark before kissing me again and walking out the room and the house.

Moving back around the island, I cleaned up the mess Xander had made and quickly cleaned the dishes. I had just loaded the dishwasher when I heard a light knock on the front door.

Walking over to the door, I smiled as I turned the handle. Standing in the doorway was Ivy. She wore a simple blue dress with a pair of flats and her long hair was loose over her shoulders. She gave me a small smile as she fidgeted with her hands, “Hi.”

“Hi, Ivy. It’s good to see you again,” I tell her, trying to put her at ease, “Come on in.”

After inviting her in, we went into the living room to talk. As Ivy sat on the couch with me, I noticed she sat just far enough away from me so that we would have no chance of accidentally touching.

“So,” I said, not really sure how to start.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, wringing her hands together.

“What?” I say, shocked. What could she have done to ever need to apologize for?

“I’m sorry for being so shy yesterday. You must think I’m a total wimp. One introduction to someone and I fold into myself. I mean, I’m a gamma’s mate. I should be tougher than that,” she ranted.

“I don’t think you’re a wimp,” I tell her, “I just thought you were a little shy. I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable yesterday.”

“You didn’t. I mean you did, but you didn’t,” she tries to say, “I’m just not good with being around people.”

“I get it. When I first left my coven, being around anyone put me on edge. My magic was out of control and I was terrified of hurting someone. I still am,” I mumble the last part.

“You’re a witch?” she questions, her eyebrows slightly raised.

I nod my head in reply. She nods herself, mirroring my action before sinking further into the couch. Knowing I shouldn’t, I try to read her only to get a strange feeling. I can tell she is powerful, but instead of a strong aura like Xander gives off, her power seems to be folded in towards herself. As if she is trying to keep it at bay. I can feel my eyebrows draw together in confusion as I try to figure out what that could possibly mean.

Figuring I was never going to guess on my own, I decided to just be blunt, “What are you?”

“What?” she looks up shocked, “I’m just a human.”

“No, you’re not,” I tell her as I watch her try to lie, “I can feel the power coming off of you, but I can’t name it. So, what are you?”

She bites her lip nervously, shaking her head, “Human.”

“You can trust me,” I try again, reaching for her hand, but she pulls away before I make contact. Giving her a small smile, she stares at me as if deciding whether she should tell me or not.

“Hold up your hand,” she instructs, so I immediately do it. She inches forward before gently placing her hand on top of mine.

Warmth flows through my hand as I feel my emotions flow through into her. The familiar feeling clicked in my mind, “You’re an empath.”

“How did you know?” she asks, clearly shocked that I knew. She may have been trying to sense if I was trustworthy, but she didn’t know that witches could feel each other through touch. We can feel the magic flow from our selves to each other.

“I could feel it,” I tell her, “There was an empath in my coven when I was a kid. She gave the same feeling when trying to read someone.”

“I suppose I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hide from a witch,” she smiles softly, clearly not used to talking about this with anyone.

“How long have you been an empath?” I ask her, hoping I could learn more about her. Empaths tend to be rare in the witch community, similar to elementals. Their connection to other’s emotions tend to drive them insane, so most don’t practice or choose to stay away from people in general.

She gives me a soft smile, “All my life. When I was a kid, I could always be able to tell other’s emotions. One-touch and I knew exactly what they were feeling. But as I got older, it got worse.”

“Worse?” I question her.

“When I was about ten, I found that I didn’t need to touch someone to find out how they felt, I could feel it. It started with only the big emotions, but as the time when on, I started to feel every emotion, big and small. I struggled to keep them all out, but then I turned fifteen and I started to be able to manipulate emotions.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“One look into a person’s eyes and I could make them feel whatever I wanted them too. Joy, sadness, anger. It didn’t matter. It got so strong, I started to project. Everything I felt, projected to the people around me,” she says, tears in her eyes, “The day my father died, half of my street committed suicide. I had projected my depression and loss.”

“Ivy,” I move to place my hand on hers in comfort, but she jerks away.

“Sorry,” she says, looking more to the floor that at me, “After that, my step-mom put me into an institution.”

“What?” I nearly scream, shocked that any sort of mother would do that to a child.

“It wasn’t her fault,” she says sadly, noticing my displeasure, “The doctors told her I was schizophrenic, and she just wanted to help me. When I started to project, I found that I would open myself up to others. However many people or how strong I made someone else feel, I would feel the emotions of everyone around me in double the strength. To feel everything like that, nearly broke me.”

I nodded my head at her explanation. I only had met one empath growing up, but she was not remotely as strong as Ivy. She read auras and could feel emotions, but she couldn’t control others. Her gift seemed like a parlor tricked compared to Ivy.

“How did you gain control?” I ask her.

“I didn’t. I couldn’t control myself, so I cut myself off. I block out everyone so I can’t feel them and can’t project to them. It’s safer this way.”

I nod again in understanding, “That sounds hard, to block out who you are.”

“It was at first, but then I met Hayden,” she smiles, “He helps me keep control and he keeps me grounded. I still feel emotions when I touch someone, but it won’t overwhelm me.”

“You needed a coven,” I tell her.

“A coven? But I’m not a witch.”

“You might not be able to perform traditional magic, but empaths are still witches,” I explain to her, “A coven would have taught you control, instead of bottling everything up.”

She gets a faraway look for a moment, one I’ve seen Xander get when he’s using his pack link thing. I’m assuming she’s talking to Hayden. After a moment or two, she focuses her attention back to me, “Sorry, Hayden wanted to check in on me. He could feel that something was off.”

“I understand,” I tell her, not surprised by the concern and protectiveness her mate felt towards her. Xander was the same way, “If you want, I could try to help you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can try to teach you control,” I tell her, “Bottling up the emotions isn’t good for you.”

“Why do you want to help me?” she asks, clearly shocked that I would.

“Because you need my help,” I tell her, smiling, “Plus I need another girl to talk to because I just know that as sweet as he is now, if all I have is Xander, I eventually kill him for doing something stupid.”

Well we can’t have that,” she laughs at that, “I’ll train with you.”

“Good,” I smile, “We can start tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” she asks, “Why not today?”

“Because Xander asked me on a date for tonight,” I tell her, getting up from the couch, “And I have no idea what I’m going to wear.”

She laughs again at the ridiculousness of my nervousness, before getting up too and following me upstairs.

We spent the entire afternoon together. She reminded me of my best friend from home. I found the more time we talked; the more open Ivy became with me.

I guess I was right to feel hopeful after all.