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Kade seethes. “Seriously? Elara…” He grabs her wrist, and her eyes go wide. Guilt eats at him again for being this way, but at least he has her attention now. “This isn't a joke. Other wolves, strangers, are going to be hostile once they learn of your true nature. Which they will. Your scent is…”
“My scent?” she scoffs.
Kade’s cheeks burn, and he lets go of her. “We’re wolves, of course, I can smell you,” he counters.
“Whatever.” Her voice is quiet, her gaze meeting the ground after Kade catches her looking at him. A flood of her scent hits him, and her cheeks turn red. Kade clenches his fists at his side and wills himself not to react. Not to take her in his arms now and beg for forgiveness for the way he’s been.
“You know I hate it when you say that stuff about my true nature and then tell me nothing…” she trails off, her voice still too quiet. Not as damning as usual.
“You’ll know it once you find out for yourself. It's one of those things that's best to discover on your own. But maybe I can give you a hint.”
“Well, I guess it's better than you've given me so far,” she grumbles with a sheepish grin, picking her eyes up off the ground. She places the core of the apple down, not touching the rest of her food.
He nods. “Look into your ancestral line. Do the research. You’ll get your answers if you know where to look.”
“Kade, I...”
Kade releases her wrist, pulling away. He shouldn’t have touched her, but he couldn’t help it. He bites the inside of his cheek as she stalls, unwilling to say or ask whatever it is that’s on her mind. Meanwhile, Kade can't stop thinking about how her scent spiked when he touched her, reminding him of the one kiss they shared. It feels like a lifetime ago now.
“Kade, I heard there was a massacre…in the woods? The woods where you changed me, where I changed Laith…”
The pleasurable bubble that even their brief touch elicited pops like a balloon. Instantly, all he can see is the charred remains of the people he couldn’t save. Flashes of the fight, the senseless deaths delivered by his own two hands, all for what?
And now the normal world knows? Now Elara knows?
“I don’t want you to worry about that, alright? I want you as far away from that as possible,” he growls, shifting in place as he mulls over everything she said, including the mention of Laith. Laith, who was probably waiting for her to return to him right now. “Isn’t Laith waiting for you? I’ve taken too much of your time.”
“Kade, you can't just deflect every question I have!” Elara whispers fiercely. “You can’t sit there and tell me not to worry about a massacre. What if it was my pack? Shadowgrace haven’t fully accepted me and no one would really know to call?—”
“Do not call them your pack, Elara!” Kade snaps. He’s clutching his fists so hard in his lap that his knuckles are turning white. “What you don’t realize is that everything I do, I do to protect you. I can’t tell you everything, no matter how much I want to. What I can tell you is you’re not safe, not alone, not with the pack. The only people you can rely on is me—” his voice breaks, and he looks into her eyes seriously. “—and Laith. Don’t leave his side, Elara, not if you can help it.”
Elara folds her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes at him. “Every time I meet with you, I leave with even more questions. It’s not fair, Kade. I don’t want to stay by Laith, he has a girlfriend!” The last bit is said with her cheeks flushing furiously, and she bites her bottom lip as if she wants to say more but chooses not to. “No matter what you think, Kade, Shadowgrace does have my best interests. For both Laith and I. Please stop trying to ruin what could be a good thing for me. I mean, you could join too, couldn’t you?”
“I’ll never join another pack, Elara. I’ll never risk myself, or them. I’m not that selfish.” Kade stands, tucking his hands in the pockets of his jeans and letting his shaggy hair fall in front of his eyes.
“There you go again, all cryptic mystery!” Elara stands as well, dusting grass off of her rear end as she glares at him. “Talk, dark, and mysterious is so 1990, why don’t you join this century and let someone in? What could it hurt?”
“More than you could ever imagine,” Kade says under his breath. He lifts his head just enough to meet her gaze. “Just think about what I said. Stay near Laith, stay away from Shadowgrace, who are fine, by the way, and for fuck’s sake Elara, stay out of the woods.”
“Stay out of the woods? Yeah, like a werewolf can stay out of the woods,” she whispers vehemently as she leans in, flooding Kade’s senses with her intoxicating scent. “Thanks again, by the way, for changing me into a monster and then leaving me to figure it out all by myself. Some days I wish the pack had changed me, and not you. I would never have been left alone to discover the beast inside me, I would have never turned Laith.”
“Elara, you don’t understand?—”
“No, Kade. I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you were stalking me, why you changed me, why you abandoned me, and I definitely don’t understand why you seem so intent to be around me now. Tell me what you want, Kade! Tell me before my head explodes with frustration!”
“All I want is for you to be safe!” he shouts, gaining the attention of the people milling around. He lowers his voice, leaning into her space and closing the distance even more. With his mouth hovering just above her ear, he whispers, “All I want is for you to be safe, happy, loved…” slowly, he grips her forearms and squeezes lightly.
“Will you ever stop being so elusive?” Elara whispers, turning her head up.
For a brief, intoxicating, moment he thinks about kissing her again, but instead, he steps away and runs a hand through his hair. “Stay near Laith, stay safe.”
With those words, Kade turns his back and walks away. He can hear her calling him, but he straightens his shoulders and keeps walking. Let her be mad if she’s safe.
Let her scream and rage and curse his name, as long as she survives this damned prophecy.
7
Elara
