The Elemental Mate

Xander POV

I felt nervous as I got back to the house. Running my hands through my hair, I walked up to the porch.

Are you sure everything is set? I mindlink Hayden and Asher.

For the last time, yes! Hayden snapped. I growled at the show of disrespect, but I couldn’t really blame him. It was probably the tenth time I had asked since I left the pair in the clearing. I just wanted everything to be perfect for Aurora tonight.

God, I sound like a girl, I complain to myself as the thought crossed my mind.

I swear you are a girl, Kai laughed.

Wanting to roll my eyes at his childish comeback, I push him to the back of my mind and open the door.

“Aurora, I’m home,” I call out, listening for any movement to tell me where she is in the house.

I hear a slight squeak and a small thud coming from upstairs. Slight panic fills me as I start to move up the stairs.

“Aurora, are you okay?” I am about to open the door to the bedroom when it swings open to reveal my beautiful mate.

She wore a simple blue dress that hung lightly off her shoulder and showed off her legs. Her long red hair was curled around her shoulders to frame her face.

“You look stunning,” I breath out.

She bit her bottom lip gently as red blush moved up her cheeks, “Thank you,” she said quietly, “You do too.”

With her complement, I was so happy I decided to change this morning after Ellie found out I was taking Aurora on a date. After her input, I was now dressed in a nice blue polo and a pair of khakis.

Moving closer to her, I wrapped her in my arms as she gently laid her hands on my chest, “What was that thumping sound?” I asked her.

“Me,” she blushed even more, “I was rushing, and I tripped over a pair of shoes.”

I try to hold in my laugh, but I can’t. She smacks my chest when I can’t stop as she glares at me the best she can, “It’s not funny, Xander.”

“It’s a little funny,” I play with her before changing the subject, “Are you ready for our date?”

“Very,” she smiles as we start to walk down the stairs and out of the house, “So are you going to tell me where we are going?” she asks when I pass the cars and start walking along a path into the woods.

“Nope,” I answer, intentionally popping the ‘p’ sound, “It’s a surprise.”

“I hate surprises,” she mumbles.

Drawing her closer, I place a quick kiss on her lips, “Trust me, you’re going to love it.”

We walked for about ten minutes in comfortable silence. My hand never leaving hers as we got close to the clearing.

Moving around her, I wrapped her in my arms and whispered in her ear, “Close your eyes.”

She shut them immediately. Pride and love went through me at the pure show of trust she just displayed. Kissing her cheek lightly, I slowly moved her forward to the edge of the clearing.

“Open them,” I instruct.

She gasps slightly at the scene before her. In the middle of the clearing, a small blanket sat with a small picnic prepared for us. The soft glow of the sunset shown through the trees, highlighting the surrounding cherry blossom trees.

“I wanted to do something simple,” I tell her, hoping she likes it.

She turns in my arms and stares up at me with her beautiful blue eyes, “It’s perfect.”

She moves her hand up and grabs onto the back of my neck before pulling me down for a passionate kiss. Before we could take things too far, I pulled away, “I love it,” she says quietly.

Smiling back, I move us both to the blanket and sit down. Plating some of the chicken and scooping some of the fruit, I handed the plate to Aurora and then got myself one.

We started the conversation off light. Her asking how my day was and how the pack was. I asked how her talk with Ivy went. She was a little cagey on the details of her and Ivy, but I assume it was mostly girl talk, whatever that is. I told her cheesy jokes and old stories of me, Asher, and Hayden growing up.

As I finished the last story of Asher putting Nair in my shampoo for revenge, she was near tears with how hard she was laughing.

“That’s so bad,” she tells me, wiping at her eyes, “Although it could have been worse.”

“I don’t know how?” I chuckle.

“You should see how witches get back at one another,” she says, “When my brother and I would fight, we would spell the other one. I turned him into a fish once when he ditched me for some girl,” she laughed.

“Your brother, Michael, right?” I ask her.

Her smile turns into a frown as she nods, “Yeah, we used to fight all the time, but we were still thick as thieves. You never wanted to go up against us together.”

“You told me that he left your coven. Have you talked to him since?” I asked her.

“A few times, but not in a while,” she says, “A few months ago, he was in wolf territory. He says something is calling him out here.”

“Well I would love to meet him,” I tell her honestly, “And since we are on the topic of siblings, Ellie won’t stop narking for me to introduce you to each other.”

“I would love to,” she laughs, “I can help her come up with more pranks to use against you.”

“Oh really?” I laugh as I move closer to her.

She catches my mischievous as she tries to back away, but I quickly pin her below me as I tickle her sides. She laughs loudly as she tries to keep my hands away. Laughing with her, I halt my movements to stare down at the perfect creature laying under me.

“You are so beautiful,” I tell her again. I don’t think I will ever stop saying it.

She smiled brightly before I leaned in and claimed her lips with my own. She moaned as our lips touched. I moved closer to her, trailing my hand along her side and down her thigh, then back up again.

I lightly licked her bottom lip, silently asking permission. She gladly gave it to me as she opened her lips. Our tongues danced together as I deepened the kiss even more. She moaned again as my other hand snaked behind her, pressing against her lower back. She arched into me, erasing any space that had been between us.

We spent hours talking and kissing in that clearing. We talked about everything from family to her past to her fear of Iris finding her. She asked about Asher and Hayden and how the mate bond truly worked. I asked about witches and found out about her friends from her coven. We even talked about what kind of future we would want together.

We seemed to be in our own little bubble, blind to the world around us. Completely wrapped up in the other.

By the time we pulled away from each other, the sun had set. A soft glow from the moon filled the clearing. Gathering our stuff, we start our walk back.

The walk back to the house is perfect serenity. I kept my arm around Aurora as we move through the woods, the electricity spiking between us. When we finally reached the house, I opened the door for her before sweeping her up and kissing her again.

I couldn’t seem to stay away from her.

Pulling her up, she wraps her legs around my waist as I walk us towards a wall. She gasped as her back connected to the wall before pulling me closer to her, her nails scrapping into my back. I growl before I move my lips from hers to move down to her mark.

She lets out a moan as I place open mouth kisses on the spot, her finger gripping my hair to pull me closer.

I pull away from her as I try to control myself from claiming her, “Aurora, if we don’t stop now, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop,” I warn her, “I don’t want to push you.”

She bites her lip again causing me to growl lowly at the sight. She pulls lightly on my hair, drawing me closer to her, “I don’t want you to stop.”

*****

I woke up in the morning to the scent of my beautiful mate. The cherry blossom smell nearly driving me insane with lust. Opening my eyes, I looked down at Aurora laying on my chest. The light coming through the window brightens her hair, making it look like it’s fire.

She let out a soft sigh as she snuggled further into me. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head as I pulled her closer. The electricity of her against me was radiating through my whole body.

Looking down at her, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so complete. I thanked the moon goddess for my perfect mate.

“Morning,” she mumbled, snuggling closer as she had a slight smile on her face, “You know you’re staring, right?”

I chuckled lightly at that before replying, “How can I not stare?”

She moved closer and raised the blanket as if to hide her face. Bedhead is not attractive, I hear her think to herself.

I laughed at her thoughts before speaking through our link, You can’t hide from me, sweetheart.

“That’s going to get annoying very fast,” she mumbles before lifting herself up and leaning over me.

I moved my arm slightly to hold onto her waist, “Annoying?” I mock lightly, smiling, “I think I’m going to enjoy listening to your thoughts.”

“Total invasion of privacy,” she tries to be serious but ends up smiling instead.

I shake my head as I draw her closer, her hands placed gently on my chest, “Not between mates.”

I place my lips on hers for a sweet morning kiss, but the second our lips touch, I can’t hold back. My hands roam her skin as she snakes her arms around my neck and into my hair, pulling gently.

I flip us over before moving my lips down her neck before I got to her mark. She arched her back into me as my lips graze the mark. She let out a moan as I started to kiss and suck on the spot. I smirked into her skin before giving her one last open kiss on her collar before pulling back to look at her.

Her hair was spread out on the pillow as a soft blush was covering her skin, “You are so beautiful,” I tell her.

I see her blush redden even more across her cheeks. She softly bites her lower lip and I give her a light growl at the sight. I am about to reclaim her lips when I hear her stomach growl.

“Let’s get you breakfast, sweetheart before I decide to have you instead,” I chuckle causing her to laugh at my joke. I love having her smile, “I’ll be right back.”

Placing one last kiss onto her lips, I move off the bed and quickly throw on a pair of shorts before heading out of the room and down the stairs.

Walking into the kitchen, I move around the island and open the fridge, grabbing eggs out. Swiftly grabbing a pan, the bread, and a bowl from the cupboards, I start prepping to make Aurora French toast. After gently soaking the bread into the mixed eggs, I place the bread into the pan.

I get done with a few slices when I hear a soft patter walking down the hall. Turning to the direction, I see Aurora walking into the kitchen with nothing but one of my shirts on. I let my eyes roam over her bare legs before they move up her form.

She gives me a smirk when she notices me checking her out, “What are you making?”

I snap out my thoughts and smile, “French toast.”

She smiles when I say that, “I love French toast,” she tells me before walking up to me and wrapping her arms around my waist.

“Perfect,” I tell her, giving her a light kiss before she moves away to go sit on one of the stools around the island.

I quickly finish up the last of the bread before plating the food. Bringing the plates over to Aurora, I place hers in front of her as I place a light kiss against her head. She smiles at me as I sit next to herself.

“Thank you,” she tells me.

“Always, sweetheart,” I reply before a comfortable silence encases the room as we both start to eat.

It's completely quiet as we finish our food. Swiftly getting up, I grabbed our empty plates and made my way to the sink to start cleaning breakfast.

Should I just ask him? I hear Aurora ask herself, clearly still not used to sharing her thoughts.

“You can ask me anything,” I say out loud as I turn to look at her.

Confusion fills her face before realization overcomes her features, “You are going to have to teach me how to keep you out of my head.”

I chuckle at that, “I will,” I promised her, moving around to stand in front of her. I take her hands in mine as I stare into her eyes, “But first, what did you want to ask me?”

She let out a sigh, dropping the topic for now before she answered me, “I was going to ask about the mating,” I nodded for her to continue, “You said that there are three stages to mating and since we have already mated,” she blushed as she said that caused me to laugh lightly. She bit her lip again as I felt nerves overcome her, “When do we complete the bond?”

I move closer to kiss her forehead before I answer her, “Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart. I’m not going to rush you.”

“But what if I want to?” she says quickly.

I can’t contain the smile on my face as I contemplate fully completing the bond with my mate. The joy I feel at the mere thought of it made me want to never stop smiling.

“Do you?” I ask hesitantly, hoping beyond anything that she says yes.

She places her hand in my hair as she pulls me closer to her. I stand in between her legs as I hold onto her waist, “Yes,” her voice unwavering.

I draw her in to kiss her deeply, “Thank you,” I tell her, pulling away slightly.

She smiles as she kisses me again. The tingles exploding through my body as I feel the need to claim her again.

“How do we begin?” she asks as I lift her into my arms and lead us both to sit on the couch.

“The Sharing is all about trust,” I tell her, “We each guide the other through our memories and our minds. When we have trusted the other with everything, a mark will appear over my heart, tying me to you.”

“I was wondering why you didn’t get a mark too,” she says before shaking her head to clear her mind, a habit I started to notice, “How do we start?”

“We can do my memories first,” I tell her, “Focus ongoing into my mind. Reach out with your thoughts until you can see the door into my head,” I explain to her as I lean my forehead against hers while cupping her face in my palms.

I close my eyes, focusing on the door. Opening it widely, I reach out my hand as I feel Aurora take it. Turning around, I lead her into my memories.