The Elemental Mate

Chapter 9

Aurora POV

I gave him a small smile before I returned the sentiment, "It's nice to meet you too."

The smile that crossed his face was heart stopping. I thought for a moment that his face might crack from the intensity. He looked like a kid in a candy store who was told that he could have anything his heart desired.

I'm not sure what it was, but it was like I could feel his happiness. It was a strange feeling, but it wasn't one that I was sure I wanted to let go of.

The electricity coursing through us felt more intense than magic. After a moment, I finally realized the position we were still in. His hands were still cupping my cheeks, holding me close to him.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself away and shifted back on the bed to lean against the headboard. Moving too fast, a jolt of pain went through my side again. I winced slightly as it started to dull.

"Please be careful," Xander tells me, scooching closer and laying his hand against the exact spot that was causing pain. The second he touched me, the pain went away.

"How did you do that?" I ask him.

"The mate bond," he smiled lightly at me again, "When a bonded wolf is hurt, their mate can use the bond to take away the pain through touch."

"That's a neat trick," I tell him, "I thought only witches could heal others like that."

"Sadly, it's not actually healing," he tells me with a slight scowl on his face, "It doesn't actually take the pain away or heal you any faster. It just replaces the pain with the feel of the bond. When I remove my hand, your pain and injuries will still be there."

He still frowned as he looked at his hand. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I placed my hand over his. He lifted his eyes immediately to meet mine, "Then thank you for replacing my pain."

We sat like that for a while as a million questions started to run through my mind. The first of which I needed an answer for now, "You said I had been here for two weeks," he nodded his head before I continued, "If I've only been here for two weeks, how are all my injuries almost healed already? Do you have a witch here?"

He shook his head in response before hanging in head to what I think was shame. I didn't understand his reaction, so I squeezed his hand to make him look at me. The guilt I saw in his eyes nearly broke me right there.

"When I found you, you were dying. You were bleeding out and we knew we wouldn't be able to get to the pack in time. I knew you weren't a wolf and you weren't healing on your own," he lowered his eyes again, "I had just found you and I couldn't risk losing you already."

I knitted my eyebrows in confusion, "What are you talking about? If I was dying how am I almost completely healed. What happened?"

He took a deep breath and lifted his head before he said anything, "I marked you."

I let his words sink in as I thought about what it meant to be marked.

When I was younger, I had a fascination with the creatures that roamed the world. I would spend hours in the coven's library, learning everything I could about the customs and history of each species. The one that had held my interest the longest though was the wolves. I knew what a mate meant to them and I understood that a wolf marked their mate in order to show that they were taken.

What I couldn't understand was his guilt behind given me it.

My fingers instinctually went to my neck, connecting with the mark immediately. I could feel the raised skin form a design. The second my fingers brushed the area, I could feel something tug inside me, as if I was being pulled towards Xander.