Chapter 14 #2
I didn’t like this. She was not herself, and I felt like I was to blame for it. But she was fine at breakfast.
“What about you, Elowyn? Queens of covens get mates, right?” Thea asked.
I knew she once had a mate, but Jade had taken it away. And a selfish, terrible part of me was glad that she wouldn’t be taken by someone.
“Oh, no, my coven is cursed, so no mate for me,” she said in a cheerful tone. “Well, actually, I do still have a fated mate, but I will not be able to tell because a rival coven took my bond from me as a punishment. So, I do have a mate, but I probably won’t find him.”
Everybody stayed quiet, not sure how to respond to that particular piece of news.
She still had a fated mate.
I didn’t like that at all.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if you two were mates.” Ezra grinned at us. “But you didn’t know because you’re cursed?”
The man could never just shut the hell up. Elowyn’s eyebrows creased like she was thinking about something.
“We aren’t fated.” Venom dripped from my words.
Fuck, that came out meaner than I intended. I looked at Elowyn, and she just gazed back at me without any emotion. Everyone was watching us now, and I was spiraling.
“Sorry, that sounded mean. I didn’t mean it like that,” I immediately apologized.
She nodded and looked back at Ezra with a soft smile—a cruel smile.
“Abram’s right, we could never be fated. We’d be terrible together.”
Her words were intended to hurt my feelings, and she succeeded. My jaw clenched tightly.
“Hopefully, all of our mates find us soon.” She was trying to piss me off.
I stared at her, not giving a damn that all of them were watching me.
They could probably see that I was barely holding it together.
At this point I didn’t care. I didn’t like how this conversation was going.
She finally looked at me with a challenge in her eyes.
A defiance bloomed in them, daring me to make a scene.
I swallowed down the words on the tip of my tongue, asking her what the fuck she was doing. She took another bite of her steak and watched me with emotionless eyes.
“I didn’t mean to sound cruel,” I apologized again.
“It's the truth. We would never be fated.” She gave me a look of complete detachment. My chest ached with her words. “No need to apologize for the truth.”
My jaw clenched as I fisted my hands tightly.
I could feel everyone watching, and I made the mistake of looking down the table at my family.
Della was smiling like she knew exactly what was happening.
But Cassius and Haden were subtly telling me that I had already reacted too much to pretend like I wasn’t upset.
My eyes burned red in my anger at this conversation… at my wife. I swallowed down the words caught in my throat. I was already barely hanging on by a thread.
“I appreciate dinner, but I actually have to go,” Elowyn announced. “I have a trip early in the morning.”
She hadn't said anything about a fucking trip.
“Where?” I asked.
She watched me for a moment.
“None of your business.”
Ezra laughed, and I wanted to strangle him. My anger flared as she stared at me like she was innocent.
“Tell me.”
She hesitated like she would refuse again, but then a smirk tugged at her lips. Elowyn took a sip of her wine, slowly, just to grate on my damn nerves.
“I received a tip about a man who might be able to help me break my curse, so I’m going to go see him. I’d like to find my fated mate.” She smiled.
She fucking smiled at me like she was enjoying my anger. Why did she want to leave me?
Gods, her answer pissed me off the more I thought of it. I didn’t want her to find her mate, and I could give two shits about finding mine at this point. Why did she care about a man that wasn't me?
Damn Ezra for bringing up this fucking conversation. Gods, I still hoped that Elowyn was my mate. She had to be. Maybe I was wrong that a witch couldn't hide my mating bond.
“You shouldn’t go meet strange men alone. You are going to put yourself in a dangerous situation,” I argued weakly.
“Don’t worry, Abram. My friend, the one who tipped me off about it, is going. He will keep me safe, I’m sure.”
“He,” I said.
She smiled. “My friend, Nate. You met him before, remember?"
That’s it, I couldn’t pretend anymore. I stood up and slammed my hands on the table.
“Absolutely fucking not,” I hissed.
She took a slow drink from her glass and watched me over the rim of it.
“Good thing you aren’t the boss of me, Abram.” She looked over my face. “Nate’s uncle is the one who can possibly help me, so of course he is going.”
I tried… the heavens know I did, but the thought of her gallivanting across the realm with a man that looked at her like she was his made me continue speaking without restraint.
“He just wants in your pants,” I sneered.
“Hell yeah, get some, El. Maybe he’s your mate,” Ezra chimed in, and my red eyes turned their deadly gaze to him.
He tensed as he looked from me to Elowyn, then to the rest of the table that was watching us like they were all very interested in this conversation. Ezra immediately stuffed his mouth with food and pretended like he hadn’t said a word.
I turned back to her, and she was staring at me oddly, then ignored me as she stood up.
“Thank you for dinner. Sorry that Abram has such a hard time not being an asshole. But I look forward to the next one.” She thanked them.
I looked down the table, and all of these bastards were grinning at us.
“Fuck this,” I snapped as I used my magic to appear on the other side of the table.
I yanked her over my shoulder, and we disappeared. She didn’t even try to fight me.
When we got to the house, I pulled her off my shoulder and glared at her. I was about to let her have an earful, but an overwhelming sense of need suddenly filled me. Desperation pumped through me as I grabbed her jaw with my hand and yanked her toward me, slamming my mouth to hers.
She shoved at me, but I only pulled her to me harder.
She bit my lip.
She clawed at me, each touch more desperate than the last.
But she didn’t even try to fight me when I shoved her back against the wall. Her back hit the wall, hair falling loose around her shoulders, chest heaving with ragged breaths. She glared at me, her lips swollen from my punishing kiss moments before.
“Is this what you wanted by saying all that shit at dinner?” I stared at her as I ripped apart my clothing. “Hmm. You wanted me to remind you why my ring is on your finger.”
She lifted her hand and showed me it wasn’t there.
“I don’t see a ring on my finger.”
My jaw flexed. I summoned it to me with star mist, shoving it back onto her hand.
“You really are trying to piss me off, little weaver. Ring or not, you are mine. Bond or not, you are mine. Love or hate, you are mine.”
Star mist shimmered beside us, glass forming against the wall as a mirror slid into place in front of her. I forced her chin up, making sure her eyes were on her reflection, not mine. She glared at me, but her chest rose too fast, betraying her.
“You can pretend all you want, but your gaze tells me everything. I see the way you shiver when I touch you. The way you track every move I make… like you already know you’re mine.”
I pressed into her, grabbing her pretty dress and tearing it from her. The sound of ripping fabric was swallowed by her ragged breath, and the little sound she made when the cool air hit her bare skin.
“Look at you,” I snapped as I stepped between her thighs, pinning her there against the wall. “All spread out for me, not even trying to hide what you know belongs to me.”
Her breath shuddered, but she didn’t pull away. Her hips tipped forward just barely—an invitation no matter how much she hated it.
“Fuck you,” she spat, voice trembling with anger and want.
But her gaze darkened as it fell down my chest. Her hands moved up and dragged her fingernails down to my waistline, slipping her fingers in. I sighed at her touch. Her gaze met mine as I pulled my underwear down.
I stroked my hand down my hard length, lining up with her. Her hips rolled against me, unable to deny that she wanted this.
I slammed into her in one brutal thrust. Her moan ripped out of her, raw and furious, her back arching off the wall as her nails clawed into my forearms, not pushing me away, but holding on.
“Gods, you feel so good.” I pushed deeper. “You’re all mine, say it.”
“No,” she gasped, trying to turn her face away, but her thighs locked around my waist, dragging me deeper.
I gripped her jaw and forced her eyes back to mine as I stopped moving completely. Her eyes were black and soulless.
“Stars above, I really do hate you sometimes.” She muttered as she tried to move her hips, but I pinned them to the wall with mine.
“You hate me?” I growled, slamming into her hard enough to make the wall shudder behind her. “Then look at me. Look at the man you swear you hate while you cum all over my cock.”
“Abram,” she hissed, nails biting into my skin as her hips jerked up to meet every vicious thrust. “I hate you so fucking—”
I angled my hips and drove into that spot that made her scream, her voice breaking on my name.
“That’s it,” I snarled, dragging her closer, fucking her deeper. “Let it hit you. Let that hate rip you apart and spill all over me.”
Her legs trembled, her body tightening.
“Cum on me,” I demanded, voice low and furious. “I want to feel every shudder, every pulse, every bit of hate you have for me drip down my cock. Do it. Right now.”
“Fuck—Abram—” She tried to shove me away, but the second I pulled back even an inch, she dragged me right back in with a desperate cry.
“Look,” I growled, forcing her face toward the mirror. “Look at yourself cum all over me. Keep lying to me, to yourself, that you aren't mine."
She looked at us.
“You can look away,” I said. “Or you can stay right here with me.”
She watched our reflection, defiance blazing in her eyes, right until her body betrayed her, tightening around me, begging without words.
“That’s who you are with me,” I murmured. “Stop pretending you don’t recognize her.” I slammed deeper, grinding against her until her last scrap of defiance shattered into a broken moan.
“Tell me,” I demanded, forcing her to watch herself. “Say you’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” she breathed, head falling back, her hips rolling up to meet another savage thrust.
“Yes, you are,” I snarled, sinking my teeth into her neck until she gasped. “And if you ever forget that, I’ll fuck you until the only name your body remembers is mine.”
My pace turned brutal, claiming her, punishing her, worshiping every hateful, hungry sound she made. Her moans twisted into sobs of pleasure, her nails dragging down my back, pulling me closer.
Her body tightened around me, screaming my name as her orgasm tore through her. The way she clenched around me dragged my release out with a guttural growl. I stayed deep, fucking her through every wave of her climax as she trembled beneath me.
When she finally went slack against the wall, shaking and breathless, I didn’t pull out. Her eyes were still locked on the mirror when her strength finally gave out. I stayed buried inside her, forehead pressed to hers, both of us breathing like we were drowning.
“Abram…”
“You’re mine, Elowyn,” I breathed, voice shaking with exhaustion and possessive devotion. “Even if you hate me. You’re mine.”
Please don’t leave me.