The Elemental Mate

Aurora POV

After Xander left for patrol, I stood at the kitchen sink deep in thought. I never thought I could trust someone enough to share my deepest thoughts and memories with them.

But then I never could have anticipated Xander. When we talked, it was like I could trust him with anything. I never even wanted to hold back or lie to him. He made me feel safer than I ever thought possible.

I’ve only spent a week with him and I was ready to spend eternity with him. I have no doubt I’ll be hopelessly in love with him by the end of the week.

Running up the stairs, I quickly changed and prepared for the day as I kept thinking about Xander.

Going through his memories made me feel like we connected in a way I never had been with anyone before. It felt even more intimate than when we mated.

Knowing if I kept with my train of thought, Xander was going to tease me about it later. I needed to find a way to block him before I completely embarrassed myself with him.

I heard a soft knock on the door, drawing me from my thoughts. Quickly walking back down the stairs, I made my way to the foyer and opened the front door.

I smiled brightly as my eyes connected with the girl standing in the doorway, “Morning Ivy.”

“Morning?” she raises her eyebrows, “It’s not even close to being morning anymore.”

Biting my lip, I gave her a sheepish smile. I guess the morning did kind of escape me after the sharing. I just couldn’t get what Xander showed me out of my head.

“I guess you’re right,” I laughed, “Come on in.”

Closing the door behind her, we both walk into the family room and plop onto the couch. She seemed more open than before, and I was happy at the idea that she might truly open up and one day become friends.

“So I know that I said I was going to help train you to better control your power, but I need a favor first,” I start nervously.

“What kind of favor?” she drew her eyebrows together.

“The kind where you teach me how to block Xander from my mind,” I smile as innocently as I can.

She rolls her eyes, “I really shouldn’t do that, but-”

“But,” I smile.

“I couldn’t get Hayden to tell me how to block him for nearly three weeks.”

“If Xander gets his way, he’ll never teach me,” I complain.

“Which is why I’ll help you, at least with the general blocking,” she agrees.

“General blocking?”

“He won’t be able to hear your generic everyday thoughts without actively trying to listen,” she explains to me.

“I will take what I can get,” I tell her, “I would just like to have some sort of privacy.”

She lets out a small laugh at my words, “You are mated to a wolf. Privacy doesn’t exist with them,” she laughs, “But, I’ll help you to pretend.”

I smile brightly at that, “Great. So, what do I do?”

“Okay, do you feel movement in the back of your mind?” she asks, “Like someone is sitting in your head?”

“Yeah,” I told her.

“That’s the mate link,” she explains, “Picture a wall blocking that off from your mind.”

Doing what she said, I stacked a wall in the back of my mind. The constant buzz I had been feeling earlier started to become blocked off in my mind.

Opening my eyes, I focused my attention back on Ivy.

“Did it work?” she asks.

“Yeah. I can feel the connection still there but blocked,” I tell her, “This won’t completely stop him from talking to me, right?”

“He can; don’t worry about that,” Ivy laughs, “I block Hayden all the time, and we still can talk.”

“You block him?” I question.

“When the emotions get too high, I don’t want Hayden to suffer too,” she says sadly, “It just doesn’t seem fair to him.”

“If Xander has taught me anything this week, it’s that mates are given for a reason. You wouldn’t be mates if Hayden couldn’t help you through the emotions.”

Ivy gave me a small smile at that.

“Enough with all this emotional stuff. You ready to show me your gift?” I asked her, getting up from the couch with a bright smile on my face. Being able to keep Xander out of my thoughts was a huge plus and a favor I was going to repay.

“Yeah, let’s stop talking about our emotions,” she laughs a little, “Instead, let’s show control over others,” she said, her tone sounding more hesitant than anything.

“You’re going to have to at least pretend to be a little more excited than that,” I tease her, motioning for her to follow me out the back door to the yard.

Pulling to stop about thirty feet from the edge of the back of the house, I turned towards Ivy. Lifting my hands, Ivy placed her hands in mine.

“Close your eyes,” I instruct her, “Take smooth, calming breaths.”

We both breathed in and out in sync as a gentle breeze surrounded blew past us, “Focus on staying grounded and relaxed.”

We both stayed like that for almost ten minutes as I felt her energy start to rise as her emotions became more grounded to her.

“Now I want you to let go,” I tell her.

“What do you mean?” she turns to me, confusion lacing her voice.

“You told me that your powers had gotten so strong, that you could control what happened. So now all of your energy goes to controlling your gift and holding back,” I explain to her, “I’m asking you to give up that control.”

She shakes her head vigorously at that, “No. If I do that, I could hurt everyone.”

“I need to know how strong you are, Ivy,” I say, keeping my voice level and calm, “Trust me and just let go.”

She closes her eyes hesitantly as she focuses on unblocking her emotions. As she opened each lock, I felt the influx of energy flow into me through our connected hands.

Focusing on my control, I moved her energy into me instead of outwards.

“What are you doing?” she asked, feeling the shift forward.

“I’m redirecting your energy so instead of amplifying your emotions out, I’m sending them all to me.

“But-”

“Trust me,” I cut her off from arguing about it, “I can handle it. Just focus on staying calm.”

She took a deep breath, calming her erratic heart until it gave a slow steady beat.

“That’s good,” I tell her, “Now I want you to focus on directing your emotions to only me.”

“Aren’t I already doing that?”

“Not on your own. I’m pulling at your energy. I want you to be the one pushing. As I let go, take control. Push your feelings into me,” I instruct her.

I grip her hands tighter as I slowly release control over the wave only to be blown back. What I originally thought was a calm feeling, turned into fear as Ivy pushed her emotions more.

My breathing became erratic as the fear gripped me. My heartbeat sped up with each increasing second.

Aurora! I could hear Xander yell through our mate link, What’s going on?

Pushing him off to the side, I focused my attention on Ivy, “Ivy, pull it back,” I tell her as my breathing became even harsher. Focusing on the earth beneath my feet as I pushed the energy of the emotions into the dirt and off of me.

Slowly I felt the fear leave me as Ivy took a step back, clutching her head and heart as she placed all of her locks back around her emotions.

Aurora. Answer me right now, Xander tried again.

I’m fine, I tell him, trying to sound as normal as possible.

What’s going on? I can feel your emotions. Why are you scared? his voice shakes in my head. I could sense his panic.

Ivy and I are just watching a horror movie. I’m fine, I lie to him, the words feeling like vomit in my mouth. I was right before, I hated lying to him. I would not be able to much longer.

Sweetheart, I know you’re lying to me.

I let out an exasperated sigh as I conceded, I’ll tell you when you get home. Just trust me for now.

Fine, but you better.

With that, I felt him leave my mind, and I turned my focus back onto Ivy.

She was still hunched over, looking to be in pain.

“Ivy,” I say softly as I placed my hand gently onto her shoulder.

“It’s alright. It will pass in a moment,” she comments, avoiding my unasked questions. After about three or four minutes, she pulls back and gives me a small, almost broken smile.

“Was that the block back you told me about before?”

She nodded her head slightly, “It wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

I nodded as I took that in. Knowing her limits will help her control better and knowing how to fight the effects will give her an advantage in control.

I give her a small smile, “Blowback aside, you did great.”

“What?” she looks at me like I’ve grown two heads, “How could that be considered good? I pushed all of my fear onto you, and if you felt it, so did Xander. If Xander felt it, then the whole pack could have!”

“Everything and everyone is fine. Xander felt it, but just enough for him to feel. I kept it grounded,” I tell her, “You did great because when I released control, you kept it on me, instead of letting it direct out. When I told you to bring it back in, you pulled back. You kept control the entire time,” I tell her, quite proud of her already.

“I could have hurt you, or caused you to hurt yourself,” her voice breaking at the end.

Pulling her up, I grabbed onto her shoulders so she would look me in the eyes, “That fear is what I felt,” I tell her honestly, “You fear your gift so that is what you projected. If you learn how to conquer that fear and accept it, you will gain full control.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“You will and I’m going to help you do it.”

Before she has a chance to say anything else, I see Hayden running through the woods and into the yard. I see the fear clear in his eyes as they land on her. Relief floods his vision as he comes up to her and pulls her into his arms.

Turning away to give them some privacy, I heard Hayden’s worried voice as he looked over Ivy in concern. She kept telling him that she was fine, but he refused to listen and kept fussing over what he felt through their bond.

After about ten minutes of his worrying, he finally let up. Granted it was after Ivy agreed to go home where she was quote on quote ‘safe’, but he calmed a little bit.

“I apologize for my rude behavior, Luna,” Hayden spoke to me as he held Ivy close in his arms.

“It’s alright, Hayden,” I laugh a little, “I expect Xander is going to be exactly the same when he gets home if his continued pestering earlier is any indication.”

Ivy laughed at that, “If you think this was bad, your Alpha mate is going to be ten times worse.”

I chuckled at that, but the more I thought about it, the more likely it seems.

"Oh before I forget to ask, Ivy, does Xander know about your gift?"

"No," she says quietly, "Nobody but Hayden knows."

I nod my head in understanding to that. Having a power you can't control in terrifying and having those around you fear you could just make it worse.

“So you know Luna, Xander told us about your trial,” Hayden spoke honestly to me, “I’m going to do some research at the coven records we have. There might be something that could help you.”

“I don’t honestly think you will be able to,” I say, “But I hope you find something.”

Ivy gives me a sad smile before she and Hayden head off. Moving back into the house, I started to rummage through the cupboards trying to find something to make for dinner.

After about ten minutes looking through every cupboard and the fridge, I decided to just give up and make the box of mac & cheese. It may not be fancy, but I am pretty much incapable of making much more.

"Sweetheart," Xander calls out as he walks into the house.

"In here," I call back as I finish stirring up the cheese into the noodles.

I felt tingles shoot around my body as he wrapped his arms around me. Giving me a gentle kiss on my mark, he peered over my shoulder, "You're making mac & cheese?"

I laugh a little bit before talking, "If you expect anything more, you are going to be in for a rude awakening."

"Oh really? Aren't you just the complete package?" he joked.

"Yep. I can't cook and I come with a mountain of baggage. I'm every guy's dream," I laugh.

He laughs at my joking, and I have decided right at that moment that his laugh was one of the best sounds I have ever heard, "You are definitely my dream."

"That is just corny," I smile brightly as I turn in his arms and wrap my arms around his neck. He smiled brightly as he leaned down to place a quick kiss on my lips.

Before the sparks could spread farther through my body, he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine, "I was worried about you today. What happened?"

"I can't tell you."

"What?" he asks, confused, "Why not?"

"It's not my secret to tell."

"Aurora," he starts, "I could feel your fear. I never want you to experience any kind of fear."

"I know, and you don't have to worry. I wasn't in danger today," I tell him.

"I trust you, but I don't want you in danger," he tells me, concern clear in his eyes.

"I'll try to stay out of trouble," I say, "But in all fairness, my friends do say I'm kind of a magnet for it."

"Of course you are," he smirks before he kisses me gently again before he releases me to walk around to the cupboard. Quickly grabbing two bowls, he scooped the food and headed over to the table.

Following him, I was about to sit down when the middle of the table burst into blames. I stared in shock for a second as Xander moved me immediately back. He was about to grab a glass of water to put out the blames when I snatched his wrist.

"Wait. Don't," I tell him as the flames immediately dissipated, leaving a crumpled up piece of paper in the middle of the table.

"What is that?" Xander asked.

"It's a witch's note," I tell him as I grab the note.

Quickly reading the contents, I felt a cold shiver run through me.

"What does it say?"

"It's from my friend Amara," I tell him, "She says Iris knows where I am, and she's coming for me."