Page 45 of Elas (Mate’s Mark #2)
It’s as refreshing as it is terrifying.
The sun is high in the sky when August stirs awake. He rubs his eyes and wipes at his mouth as he blinks the sleep away, his voice rough. “How long was I out?” As he says it, his stomach rumbles, and he pats a hand over his belly. “Long enough for it to be lunchtime?”
I chuckle, deciding it’s time for a pit stop. We pull over for a bathroom break and stretch our legs, grabbing some protein bars and apples from our supplies. Several more hours have passed when August perks up.
“This area looks familiar. You said we’re headed northeast?” I nod, and he bites his lip as he searches the terrain. Landmarks become more recognizable to both of us, and August stares out the window, waiting to point out the next one.
“I’m pretty sure we’re headed to Logan’s camp.”
“Who’s Logan?” I ask, my eyes narrow, because it sounds like a stupid name and I’m pretty sure I hate him for knowing August before I did. August glances back at me with a grin.
“He was the leader of the camp when I lived there, but that’s been… gosh, at least five years ago.”
“You lived there?”
August nods, distractedly watching out the window.
“I never stayed in place longer than four, five years at a time. Medics are luxuries in the wilds, and if a camp lost theirs, they’d sometimes send riders out to visit the others in their alliance.
If anyone had a medic to spare, or one that wanted to move, they’d be given the chance to speak up.
The first time I relocated was when I was twenty-three.
I’d been living at the same camp as my parents my whole life, but my mom was a medic, too, and having two in a small camp was overkill. ”
“So you came here? ”
He shakes his head. “No, I went to Taryn’s camp first—the one you guys raided.
It was fine, but after several years I got…
antsy. I never really fit, and without my family, there was little reason for me to stay.
I had trained an apprentice in the time I lived there, so when Logan reached out, I moved.
His camp was much bigger and managed an extremely organized trading system.
For someone like me, it was a luxury to have things like honey and cheese so readily available. ”
“How’d you end up back at Taryn’s camp, then?”
“An illness hit the wilds. Camps all over the place were losing people left and right… my parents included.”
Another jolt of sadness hits me in a complete understanding of his grief. “I’m sorry,” I say, bringing his hand to my mouth and kissing his knuckles.
“Thanks,” he says, flashing me a pained smile.
“Logan’s camp went on lockdown and it missed us, but Taryn lost a lot of people…
including the medic. At that point, I’d been at Logan’s for a long time.
I had trained two others that worked well together, but neither of them was confident enough to handle a camp on their own.
It was the only choice, really. So I returned. ”
“This camp we’re visiting is empty, though,” I say. “For years, from the sound of it.”
August nods before momentarily getting distracted by an old cluster of trees he recognizes. “A year after I left, the camp got raided. There weren’t many survivors, and those that lived were taken into custody.”
Unease squirms in my gut as I realize that a few slight changes would’ve altered our entire outcome. If August hadn’t moved before the raid, he would have been captured or killed with the rest of them. If I’d been in the platoon sent to take the camp down, I could’ve been the one to restrain him.
We might’ve touched.
Might’ve been marked.
If we had found each other then, it would’ve been in circumstances neither of us could survive.
“Why don’t you hate my kind?” I ask, and August turns his full attention to me. There’s mourning there, no doubt remembering the loss of so many people he considered friends. Sadness that swims in the depths of his eyes, but no blame.
“People do what they think is best with the information they have. Maybe the military saw the camp as a threat, or something happened that neither of us knows about.”
“And what if it was just a power play?” I challenge. “What if they had something we wanted? What if it was nothing more than a sacrifice to remind the humans who holds the upper hand?”
August takes a deep breath and sighs. “Then I hope karma finds those responsible. It doesn’t serve any purpose to focus on the what ifs, Elas. We can’t change the past.”
“But we can try to change the future,” I say quietly, knowing it’s why he always pushes to do the right thing. He nods as he reaches for my hand again. “You’re too good for this world, doc.”
“You’re good too, Elas.”
“I’m good to you .” I take a deep breath, staring at the infinite road ahead of us.
“Make no mistake, August. My past isn’t pretty, and I won’t promise you my future will be, either.
If someone so much as looks at you the wrong way, they’ll regret it.
If they touch you…” I trail off, and gods damn him, he’s amused.
“Let’s just say I wouldn’t even try to control my monster. ”
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not scared of you?”
Memories flash through my mind in a playback of the battles I’ve fought, the lives I’ve claimed, and the endless damage I’ve inflicted. Life has always been precious to me, something I’ve never taken for granted, but when it’s me versus them?
There’s no question.
No choice.
I do what needs to be done. I always have.
It takes from me, though, and my heart and soul are tattered with as many scars as my skin. My lip tenses, the pull of the scar tissue tight against my tusk. Violence wasn’t the life I chose… it’s the one that was forced upon me.
It’s the perfected dance of death that’s engraved into my very bones. A story written into the depths of my soul, whether or not I wanted it.
“You never have to fear me,” I finally say, and August squeezes my hand. “But if the day comes that you meet that part of me… the part that should terrify you… I just hope you still love me on the other side.”