Page 38 of Elas (Mate’s Mark #2)

August

Soft lips on the back of my neck stir me awake, and I’m warm and content as I hum in response.

My ass throbs in a dull soreness from last night, but the discomfort makes me smile.

“How’d you sleep?” Elas mumbles from behind me.

He’s normally a morning person, but today his voice is thick and raspy.

I can tell that, like me, he’d rather stay in this bed all day.

“I can’t remember the last time I slept so well.”

“You snored like a rocket,” he teases, and I turn to face him with my mouth dropped open.

“You lie! I do not snore.”

“How long has it been since someone spent the night with you?” he asks, then his face scrunches as his eyes narrow. “Actually, don’t answer that.” I snort a laugh and roll my eyes, and he wraps his arms around me and pulls me in to him.

“We need to read the rest of those files tonight,” I say after a few minutes of cuddles .

He nods, pressing a kiss to my hair. “We’ll stay up tonight until we get through them all. We probably could’ve finished them last night if someone hadn’t been so…”

“Elas,” I groan, burying my face in his chest.

“… horny.”

“I certainly didn’t hear you complaining,” I mutter, and he chuckles. I love the sound of his laugh. It’s deep and rumbling, but full of his signature brand of happiness.

“How do you feel this morning? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“I’m sore,” I admit, “but it’s a good sore. It’ll definitely make me think of you every time I sit today.” He chuckles again, and begrudgingly, we crawl out of bed and get dressed.

I cringe when I realize I never washed the spare scrubs I wore home yesterday. “Chief’s going to murder me,” I grumble, then groan louder because my other scrubs are stashed in my locker. “I’ll have to wear these in and change once I get there.”

“Toss them into the laundry at the clinic. They’ll be done by the time you leave, and I doubt the chief will even remember.” I lift a brow at him and he grins. “Okay, fine. She’ll remember, but maybe she’ll be too busy to worry about something as trivial as scrubs.”

“Here’s hoping.”

Once we’re dressed and walking towards the door, Elas hooks me around the waist and crowds me, yanking my hips against his while my shoulders hit the wall. For a long moment, he only stares at me, but then he leans forward and kisses me with a gentleness that defies his towering size.

Emotions that I’ve never experienced before swirl in my stomach, fluttering up into my chest and flapping their delicate wings inside my throat. “El,” I breathe, the word catching as I struggle to articulate what I’m desperate to say.

“I know, baby,” he murmurs, then comes in for a patient, drawn out kiss. We separate and he pushes a stray lock of hair from my forehead, giving me another of those serene smiles—the special ones that are saved for the privacy of these walls, and only for me.

He stands tall and I have to crane my neck up to keep my eyes on his. Elas not only towers over me in height, but easily outweighs me by a hundred pounds. He’s enormous, but his size has never intimidated me.

He’s safety.

“What’s going on in that brain?” he asks, leaning forward to kiss my temple, and I swoon again.

“Just thinking that you’re my safe place.” His smile crinkles his eyes and lifts his cheeks.

“You’ll need a safe place if we’re late,” he teases, and I concede with a sigh. The chair is still wedged underneath the handle, and he grins to himself as he sits it back at the table.

Outside, the air is already sweltering, and fresh sweat beads on my forehead as we make the familiar trek to the clinic.

Someone calls his name as we approach the front doors, and I turn to see another Nu’vak jogging over.

He’s… well, he’s cool , with the sides of his hair shaved and a gold hoop through one of his tusks.

Elas groans and doesn’t try to hide his disdain.

“Elas! My man! Guess who’s a lucky dog and gets to be my partner today?”

“Urul… fantastic,” Elas mutters, and the newcomer turns and puts on a blinding smile as he sweeps me with his eyes.

“Well, hello, nurse.” Urul rubs his chin as Elas emits a low growl, and Urul’s eyes gleam as he faces him again. “Oh, don’t tell me this is the one who’s tamed the mighty Elas. This is who you were talking about? A human ?”

“Watch yourself,” Elas warns, but Urul chuckles, ignoring the murder daggers being stared at him.

“What, uh… was he saying about me, exactly?” I ask, because really, when will this opportunity arise again?

“Said he was crushing something fierce on someone—”

“I did not say crushing.”

Urul rolls his eyes but doesn’t skip a beat. “—but that it was complicated. ” He makes air quotes, and I notice his fingernails are bright orange. He pushes the boundaries of his uniform, because he’s the only soldier I’ve ever seen walking around with painted nails and piercings.

“Well, he wasn’t wrong,” I say with a teasing wink at Elas.

“Holy shit, man. Holy… shit . This is godsdamned adorable. You’re glowing! ” A violent coughing fit wracks my body, and Elas rushes to my side to pat my back. My blurred vision swims with tears, and I catch his worried gaze.

We’re glowing, alright .

Once I’ve cleared my lungs, I ignore the sting of my bloodshot eyes and give Urul a polite smile. “It was nice to meet you, but I need to get to work,” I say, before turning my eyes to Elas. “Behave today.”

“Don’t I always?” he asks, fluttering his lashes, and Urul and I both chuckle as I give him another wave.

“Elas is in looooove,” Urul teases as they walk away, and I hear a pop and a yelp that means he just got smacked. “For real, though, he’s cute. Interested in sharing?” Another smack lands just as the door shuts, and I’m still chuckling as I enter the locker room.

The harsh fluorescent lights glare as I collect my scrubs from my locker and hurry into a shower stall.

The plastic curtain sticks slightly as I close it behind me and shed yesterday’s uniform.

I pull on my pants and grab my two shirts, scheming how to sneak a load into the laundry without the Chief noticing.

I’m so stuck in my head that I don’t hear the rushed thud of footsteps getting closer.

The shower curtain rings scream a metallic protest as they’re whipped back, and Xeni almost knocks me over with his determined stride. A dark stain streaks across his shirt, emitting a foul smell potent enough to make me gag.

And then it hits me.

My fingers are clumsy as I fumble with my shirts, scrambling to cover my chest. His eyes widen and he takes a stumbling step back.

Panic claws at my throat as his gaze dips to where the mark shines off my chest. It’s covered by the balled-up shirts, but his reflexes are impossibly fast. I don’t know how much he saw. His solid white eyes meet mine again before dropping to my neck, where my pulse thuds under my skin.

And then he snorts an irritated laugh.

“Figures I’d only get you half naked after you already ripped out my fucking heart.” My pulse is still pounding as he turns and jerks the curtain closed. I scramble to pull my shirts on and dart out in time to see him entering a stall at the end of the row.

“Xeni, wait.” He stops with his back to me, and I swear he re-inflates himself as he faces me with that signature smirk plastered on his lips. “What… I mean… did…” I trip on my words, frantically trying to read his impassive eyes.

“Let me guess… you thought I was just being a flirt, didn’t you? Thought I acted like this with everyone?”

“But we’re… friends,” I whisper, and his lips twitch, baring the tips of his teeth to me.

“Clueless, stupid , handsome little human.” My eyes widen as he steps closer, and his nostrils flare. He shakes his head again as he glances away.

“I didn’t realize,” I say softly.

“Didn’t realize you were the first person I felt anything for since…” He purses his lips in agitation, but doesn’t finish his thought. “Would it have made a difference?” he asks quietly. I open my mouth to answer but can’t find the right words, and he releases another of those derisive huffs.

“Yeah. Didn’t think so.” His eyes dart to my chest again as his guard drops for a moment. “It was always going to be him, wasn’t it? ”

“Yes.” The word hangs between us as he nods to himself, and as he turns away from me, I grab his wrist.

“Xeni, wait—”

He rips his arm from my grip, shoving me against the wall and hovering over me.

Xeni isn’t much taller than I am, but he’s undeniably strong as he crowds me.

“Don’t get my scent all over you now,” he snarls.

“I value my head, thank you very much, and he won’t hesitate to rip it right off my shoulders for touching you. ”

“I’m sorry.” Sorry about what, exactly?

His unrequited affections, and my lack of recognizing them?

Putting him even further into Elas’s bullseye?

“Of course you are.” He sighs and backs up a step, chewing on his lip as his gaze drops to the floor. “You’re a good guy.”

I force a swallow and command my voice to work. “I have to ask—”

“I didn’t see anything, August.”

“But you did,” I hedge, and his eyes finally find mine again.

“No, I didn’t.” Each word is deliberate as he retreats another step. He hooks his thumb through his scrub pants and pushes them down to expose his hip.

A mate’s mark sits there, or at least what could’ve once been one, but it’s… wrong.

Black and scarred, raised like a brand.

“What happened?” I whisper.

He lifts his pants into place, and the sad smile that crosses his face is devastating. “The Fates got it wrong.”

“What— ”

He holds his hand up to silence me. “You have your secrets, August. Allow me to keep mine.” We stare at each other for a long time, and finally, I nod.

The danger to both me and Elas is crystal clear. What Xeni just saw could damn us, and if he told anyone , our fates would be sealed.

He holds the power.