CHOSEN

Chapter 24

Banter (noun): the playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks.

Elliot's POV

What kind of person was my Mate?

That question had always tugged at me ever since I met him. What was his goals? What was his desires? What were his dreams? All of them plus more came from that one question. But even now, Although being so close to his towering form, my question was still yet to be answered. As we journeyed through the seemingly eternal woods, the thought tugged and pulled against my mind. The answer, for now, seemed unattainable. No part of my Mate revealed even a glimpse of his thoughts, his emotions. It was all hidden behind the stoic mask of emotion he wore. His eyes also hid his intentions from me, locking me outside of his own little world. It sometimes angered me to the point of silent and childish frustration.

Ever since he had decided to 'distract me' by either making fun of me or pulling at my every string, my frustration had never been higher. But then, at one point of time, it happened. Whilst making fun of my name, I exploded at him, hurling back my opinions about him and his name. I knew that calling him 'stupid face' was extremely weak to say the least, but at least it was better than 'doo doo eyes'.

As soon as he heard it, his eyes widened. I had expected him to get angry at me, or make fun of my lack of good insults. But instead he surprised me by gracing me with something totally unexpected.

A smile.

It was more like a twitch of the lips, but it left me totally dumbfounded and made my steps falter. My heart skipped a beat and my wolf stopped whatever she was doing and simply gaped, committing every inch of his smile to memory. I didn't even scold her for her actions. I even did it myself. He tilted his head at me slightly before turning away. "Weird little she wolf", At his words, I snapped out of my frozen state and growled at him. "I-I'm not weird!" I squeaked at him. "Yes you are".

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm-"

"Stop lying to yourself."

"I'm not lying."

"Sure, sure-"

He suddenly stopped talking and also stopped walking.

Then swayed.

I raced towards him as he suddenly fell forwards, his eyes fluttering closed. "Deimos!" I yelled and he suddenly grabbed onto a tree to support himself. I walked towards him warily as he began breathing heavily. "Deimos," I reached out towards him, but he raised his hands to stop me.

"Deimos-"

"Don't touch me."

I stepped a little closer to him, my arm still outstretched.

"I said DON'T TOUCH-"

I gasped and took a step back as fear gripped me to the core. His left eye was its usual silver, but his right eye. . . was totally black. I watched as his teeth slowly elongated and his claws slowly followed suite. His face looked looked conflicted, as if he somehow was having a battle with himself. As if he was somehow not in control. I tried to stop my trembling as I hesitantly took one more step towards him. Every part of me kept telling me to run, but I just had to make sure that he was alright. With one more step, he snarled.

"Don't, Elliot."

I took a quick step back, and lowered my hand. Slowly, his breathing evened, and the darkness that encompassed his right eye slowly dissipated. He then pushed himself off of the tree and straightened himself. I kept my gaze downwards as he walked towards me.