Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Elijah

“Lily?”

Slumped in the window seat, she stirred. Her limp head lifted, making her damp braid shift against her curved back. Elijah smiled softly. She was beautiful.

Gently – ever so gently – he nudged his hands beneath her, lifting her slowly until she came to rest against his chest. The feel of her skin against his was like lightning; a series of tiny arcs racing from her body to his. She was warm and pliant, and a surge of protectiveness rose from deep within him. Tightening his grip, he stepped away from the darkened window.

He hadn’t wanted to stay away from her for so long, but the meeting with his Beta and Gamma had been a necessity. They’d discussed their options until the moon had reached its peak, so swollen that it almost looked full. Their time was numbered, and Elijah had missed half a month of training and planning.

No matter how much he trusted Ithia and Caslein, he knew that his disappearance would have impacted his pack. He had left them without their Alpha for the first time since he had taken the position at age twelve, and he had done so just as a new, vicious threat was rising in Eldda.

“Elijah?” she murmured, the sound muffled against his chest.

“It’s me.”

“You’re back,” she sighed, her body relaxing into his. His heart sung at the words.

“I will always come back for you,” he promised, but Lily had already fallen asleep once more.

* * *

Opening his palm, Elijah created a small flame with which he lit the stovetop. Streaks of moonlight bleached the kitchen bone-white, so bright that it cut through the gas lamp flickering in warmer shades across the counter.

He’d left Lily asleep upstairs. Shadows lingered beneath her eyes, and though her skin had browned in the spring sunshine, there was a pallor beneath it that hinted at her time away from home. He’d wanted to curl under the covers with her, but he needed to think first. No matter the pull of the bond, his pack needed a solution before the full moon fights began; therefore, they needed their Alpha. They needed him.

Moving deftly, he pulled the kettle from the heat before it could begin its merry whistle. He pulled out two mugs – though he was not sure why – and scooped a mixture of berries and leaves he’d purchased weeks ago from the Sea Pine market square into a well-used teapot.

While the tea brewed, he sat down heavily at the kitchen table. Letting his head fall into his hands, he tried to think of a way around the danger of this new pack – the Red Ripper pack, he corrected himself, adding the new information to the small amount already stored in his brain – and the myriad other threats their creation had inspired.

“Elijah?”

Lily’s voice was quiet, and it matched her near-silent footsteps as she padded towards him. One of her eyes was cast in moonlight, making it appear dark and cold; the other shone, resplendent, in the wavering light of the gas lantern, bringing forth sparkles of gold in its deep, clear brown.

He stood, so fast that his chair toppled backwards. “Lily,” he said, warmth spreading from his chest as their eyes met. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to wake you.”

She smiled ruefully. “You didn’t. I… I was having a bad dream.” Gesturing to the teapot, forgotten on the counter, she added, “I thought a cup of tea might help.”

With wide eyes Elijah turned to face the teapot… and the two mugs that stood beside it. He laughed, the surprised sound pulled from him.

“I see you have a mug ready for me,” she said, wiping sleep from her tired eyes.

“Come,” Elijah encouraged. “Sit. I’ll pour you a cup.”

“Thank you.” She sat down just as heavily as he had. His heart ached for her, and, emboldened by her company, he pressed a kiss to her forehead before returning to the tea. He didn’t miss the blush that crept up her neck and cheeks, and he smiled to himself as he filled the mugs with generous splashes of berry tea.

They let the silence wash over them for a short while, the bond between them humming with joy. Elijah took Lily’s hand, and they sipped in quiet contemplation.

“So,” she said eventually, squeezing his hand, “how did your pack fare in your absence?”

Lily had accepted the mate bond. She had come home with him. She was to be his Luna. That meant he could tell her Sea Pine’s problems – perhaps a fresh perspective was just what he needed.

And, though Lily was not Leahne – was nothing like her, in fact – Elijah could not swallow the fear that lurched in his stomach at the thought of confiding in her.

He focused on the steady, soothing beat of her heart alongside his. She toyed with the ring around her finger, slipping it off and on again. Her mother’s, she had said, given to her after her death. Elijah tensed at the memory. She had lost so much – just as he had.

Maybe, together at last, they could both move on.

“Poorly,” he admitted after a pause too long. He could feel his old, reliable formality rising within him; a coping mechanism he wished to be without. Taking a breath, he continued. “They survived, but my absence was felt keenly by many. I was gone too long.”

“Elijah…”

“Yes?” His back went stiff.

“Why did you leave your pack?” Her hand felt cold in his. “What was your business in Oakhame?”

He sighed. He’d told her too many lies as it was. “Do you remember what you said the first time we met?”

Lily shook her head, stray strands of damp hair sticking to her face with the movement. “Not really. I just remember the pull – the need – to find you.”

“I felt much the same. Only… only it was more than that.”

Dropping his hand, Lily sat up straighter. “Oh?”

“You said it was an urge you couldn’t deny,” Elijah whispered, the words choked out of a too-tight throat. He could feel the full truth on the tip of his tongue. “I… I saw you. In a vision. And, in the beginning, I could live with it – I did not understand why I saw you, saw your eyes, but I knew you were good; I knew you were kind of heart.”

Slowly, Lily’s fingers met his across the table. He could have wept with joy at the simple touch.

“I could feel the steady beat of your heart, imprinted upon my own. And it was enough to feel it, to know that you were safe. Until you were safe no longer.”

“In Oakhame,” Lily murmured, understanding weighting her tone. “With the eleves.”

“I felt your heart racing. Then… then I saw you struggling. It was then that I knew I had to find you. I had to help you.”

Lily squeezed his hand. “Did you know all along what we were to one another?”

“I suspected,” he admitted, dropping his gaze. “But I did not know that such a thing was possible.”

“A second chance for us both,” she said and, to Elijah’s surprise, she stood from her chair and lowered herself onto his lap. Her arms found their home around his neck, and his hands grasped her waist. Exhaling shakily, he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. Her t-shirt – his t-shirt – slipped further down her arm, and she shivered.

“You came all that way,” she whispered, her lips brushing his ear, “for me.”

“I would do it a thousand times over.”

She kissed him. Elijah groaned into her mouth, fisting his fingers in the loose fabric of her top. The bond surged with wave after wave of fresh fire, making goose bumps raise on his skin. As his lips met hers, soft and warm, it did not matter what he had lost before. It did not matter that he was the Alpha of the Sea Pine pack, or that she was a rogue. Leahne did not matter.

He was Elijah and she was Lily, and this moment had always meant to be.

* * *

“You never told me about your pack,” Lily said, nursing a fresh, too-hot cup of coffee. Weak sunlight filtered through the kitchen window, painting them both in streaks of daisy yellow.

Elijah grinned. “I believe I was distracted.”

Lily flushed. The sight made Elijah’s heart pulse.

Picking up his own cup of coffee, he leant against the counter beside where she was perched. She rested an easy hand on his shoulder, which he lifted and turned, pressing a kiss to her wrist.

“The problem,” he began, his lips brushing against her skin, “is not so much the length of time that I was gone, so much as it is the time of my return.”

“Because of the full moon?”

“Exactly.” Gently lowering her wrist, he hopped up onto the countertop next to her. Their sides and thighs touched, and Elijah’s whole body tingled at the contact. Resisting the urge to pull her closer, he chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment before continuing.

“You’re from the Blood Moon pack,” he said eventually. “So I–“

Lily nudged him. “How did you know that?”

Elijah smiled ruefully at her. “You said your first mate was an Alpha, too, and that his name was Atticus. Plus,” he took her hand and raised her palm to the misty morning light, “you said you got these scars from knife-throwing practice. Not many packs in Eldda train their wolves with weapons.”

“Huh,” she said, linking her fingers with his, “so you do pay attention.”

He grinned impishly. “I have been known to do so on occasion.”

Lily nudged him. “Go on, anyway.”

“So,” he said, “I wasn’t sure how much would have been divulged to you before you left.” Unwilling to admit his curiosity regarding her departure, he brushed past the subject. Fate had bound them together; they had years to untangle such mysteries. Or so he hoped, at least.

“Nothing,” she said, turning her face away.

Elijah at last gave into the impulse to hold her close. He wrapped his arms securely around her, and she settled against him. The bond hummed blissfully within him, even as he worried over her sudden distance.

He did not know why she’d turned away from him. But her body was warm and safe against his, her shoulders loose and pliant, so he hoped it was nothing he had done or said. He wound the now-dry end of her plait between his fingers, and watched her do the same with her mother’s ring.

As the sun rose outside, Elijah told her about the Red Ripper pack. He detailed pack borders and potential quarrels, and filled her in on allies and enemies, particularly those closest to Sea Pine. In turn, Lily told him all she knew about Blood Moon and Atticus, though her hands clenched into fists at times.

Elijah understood. It had been two years since Leahne’s rejection, and yet the memory of her still plagued him. New love did not make old pain dissipate in an instant. And Lily, he gleaned, had left her pack – her home – less than a month ago. The moon had not completed one full cycle, and in that time Lily had suffered immeasurably.

Elijah knew he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.