his head to the side, locking eyes with me. “You’ve done enough, let them do something for you.”
Anger flares to life within me. I storm away, knowing I’m probably acting like a petulant child, but he’s so wrong. “I’m not doing anything,” I shout over my shoulder as I march through the trees. I don’t know where I’m going, and I don’t care. Eldrin is following several paces behind, giving me space to rage, but his instincts demand he keeps me in sight.
Since we returned, no one has let me do anything. My injury is healing slowly with the help of a concoction from one of the sea elf healers and some gentle training. Healer Loro and Mage Samson think that, over time, I should return to full strength, but the dark, inky scar will remain on my skin. My body is already covered in scars, and one more doesn’t change who I am, but every time one of my mates sees it… Let’s just say it’s made getting intimate difficult. They are treating me like china, afraid I’ll break, and it’s driving me insane.
The farther I walk, the more my thoughts spin and the hotter my anger becomes. Finally, I turn around and snarl when I find my elf much closer than I expected. From the corner of my eye, I recognise the flowers that trailed in my wake have turned to brambles, their thorns as sharp as my frustration. But right now, my attention is on my golden-haired elf. He’s watching me with a wary expression. Gone are the sneers and frowns, replaced with careful looks—like I could break. It only irks me all the more.
“What about what I want?” I demand, throwing my hands out to the sides as frustrated tears prick my eyes.
Something changes in Eldrin then. Tilting his head to one side, he watches me, really watches me, then raises a single brow. “And what do you want?”
There are so many answers to that question. I want them to let me train like we did before without watching me with bated breath, waiting for me to fall. I want people to stop treating me like I’m different from everyone else, for conversations to continue when I walk by. For all of the devoted and admiring looks to stop. I want my mates to stop treating me like I might break.
However, in this moment, there is one thing I want above all of those things. Seeing Eldrin in the moonlight, his face looks softer, less harsh. I’ve always thought he had a rugged beauty to him, but away from the others when his face relaxes, he’s truly stunning. A part of me insists it’s really important that Eldrin and I finally become mates. We may not have a goddess blessed bond, but regardless, there is something between us, and we both know better than anyone that we don’t know how much time we have in this life.
Desire for him floods my system, and I see the exact moment he can sense it, his pupils narrowing.
“I want you.” Prowling towards him, I place my hands on his chest, my fingers bunching the fabric of his tunic. I shiver with delight as his hands land on my waist.
“Clarissa…” he groans, his head falling back, and I know he’s going to try and deny me just as the others have, concerned about hurting me.
With a growl, I grab his face, pulling it down so he’ll meet my eyes. There’s a battle raging there. I can tell how badly he wants this, how difficult it’s been for him to be the last, seeing me be intimate with the others but not having crossed that line with him yet, making everything official. Sex for elves is a normal, sometimes casual part of their lives, unless you have a fated goddess bond, in which case sex seals the connection. The tribes have their over version, ematus, but it works the same way. I have three mates, I shouldn’t long for another, yet Eldrin and I are pulled together, no matter how we tried otherwise. So although sex with Eldrin won’t ‘bond’ us together like it would if the Mother had blessed us to mate, it still feels like…more.
I thread my fingers through his hair, knowing he’s not going to do anything unless I prompt him. “Eldrin, I want to make you mine. Don’t deny me this.”
My words seem to break his resolve, his golden eyes shining as he groans low in his