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Elias
Finding out that I was mated to Blair... Well, I definitely hadn’t been expecting that. I still hadn’t managed to get over the initial shock yet.
At the same time, I couldn’t seem to figure out why I was so surprised. There was just something so different about Blair Roberts. She made me feel so... different. Different than I had ever felt with any girl who I had ever encountered before her. I wasn’t sure what it was, but she just had this way about her.
Well, now I knew what it was. She was my mate. This whole entire time, I had been so drawn to her – so concerned about her – because she was my mate.
It honestly wasn’t a feeling I was used to yet. I wasn’t sure that I would ever be used to it. I had never fallen in love before, but now it seemed inevitable.
Inevitable? Pft. That was somewhat of an understatement. To be perfectly honest, I was pretty sure that it had happened already. I was pretty sure that I was already in love with Blair.
Her safety, her well-being... it felt like my top priority right now. Suddenly, the only thing I wanted in this world was for her to be okay.
I wonder if Blair knew that I would have died for her.
It may have sounded dramatic or insane, even, but I knew that I would have gone to any length to protect her. I would have thrown myself in front of a silver bullet to save her life – once we had finished the soul-bounding process, that is, so that she wouldn’t die, too. Once our souls were finally bound, once I could die without her dying, too, I knew that I would have.
And to think that this entire time, I had been so harsh to Jax about everything he had done for Camryn. There wasn’t even an ounce of doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t have waited for Blair, even if it meant spending the time I spent without her being completely miserable.
A realization dawned on me then.
“Hey, Camryn? Can I talk to you?” I asked.
“Yeah, go ahead,” she replied with a shrug as she bit into her burger.
“No, I mean, can I talk to you in private?” I asked her.
“Oh. Sure.” Camryn rose to her feet and then followed after me.
I glanced over at Blair, only to find her staring back at me with a curious look in her gorgeous green eyes. She was probably thinking that I was going to tell Camryn everything – that she was a werewolf, that we were mates – but that wasn’t what I had planned.
As I stared back at her, I thought, “Your secrets are safe with me, Blair. They’re our secrets now.”
Unfortunately, just being mated to someone didn’t allow you to hear the other’s thoughts. I wished that it worked that way, though. There was nothing I would have loved more than to get inside that beautiful mind of hers, to know what she was thinking about me... about us.
Once Camryn and I were far enough away from the others, she turned to me.
“What do you want to talk to me about?” she asked with raised eyebrows.
“I feel like I owe you a really big apology,” I explained. “I know that in the past I may have said some things that were kind of...” I trailed off, trying to form my thoughts into sentences.
“Kind of mean?” Camryn asked quietly.
“Yeah, it was mean of me to take everything out on you. I blamed you for Jax waiting around for you, and I realize now that it’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. You guys are mates. That’s an incredibly special thing, something that some wolves never get the opportunity to experience. You’re both fortunate to have found one another. I truly am sorry about everything I said to you in the past,” I told her.
“Wow, did I really just get an apology from Elias Sherwood?” Camryn asked, staring back at me with wide eyes. “You don’t really strike me as the type of guy who apologizes to anyone.”
I smiled. “It’s not something that happens often, but I really do mean it. And I hope that you’ll forgive me.”
“I do,” she replied with a nod. “My situation with Jax isn’t easy to understand. In fact, I don’t understand it sometimes myself if we’re being perfectly honest.” She paused. “But Elias, I have to ask you something.”
“What’s that?”
“What changed your mindset on this whole thing?” Camryn asked, her gray eyes studying mine.
“Honestly?” I asked.
“I mean, yeah, I would prefer for you to be honest,” she replied with a giggle.
“I feel that way about... someone,” I explained. “The truth is that I never thought I’d feel this way about anyone. And I especially never thought I would feel even close to the way Jax feels about you. But I do.”
“Really?” Her eyebrows knitted together at the center of her forehead, marking her surprise.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So, who’s the lucky girl who’s finally managed to win over Elias Sherwood’s heart?” Camryn asked.
“I, uh, don’t really want to say,” I told her.
“Mmhmm,” she replied as a smile hit her lips. “But I can probably guess who it is, right?” Her eyes skirted in Blair’s direction before moving back to me.
I smiled sheepishly. “I mean... you might.”
Camryn giggled. “Does she know you feel this way about her?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think so.” Glancing over at Blair, I took her in. She looked so beautiful sitting there on the blanket we had spread out on the ground, with her long blonde hair and fair skin. She reminded me of a porcelain doll – the type you knew you needed to handle with care or you risked breaking it. “Don’t say anything to her, though, okay?”
“I won’t,” Camryn replied. “But life is short. You should probably tell her.”
As Blair glanced over in my direction then, her green eyes caught on mine. She held them there for a few moments, enough to nearly stop my heart.
“I know,” I replied.