Page 69 of Before the Bond
I flinched, but held my ground.
I tried to move back as Elias closed the gap between us. He paused just inches before my face. He then backed away slightly and opened his arms.
“You can ask me anything," he said.
I raised my brow.
“Just like that?”
"I won’t hurt you." A beat, timed too perfectly.
Elias gestured for us to continue walking. I followed.
"You know about fated mates," he started a few minutes later. We were making our rounds along the inner path this time.
"Yes."
"So, you know what you are to Caleb Ashwood."
The word yes stuck somewhere in my throat. Not because I didn't know — but because saying it out loud, in front of him, was something else entirely.
“I have an idea. Broad strokes and such.”
Elias bobbed his head in acknowledgement.
“‘Broad strokes’,” he said with a chuckle. “How very typical of him.”
I squinted. “So what canyoutell me then?”
Elias walked a little further along before giving me his answer.
“You may already know this part,” Elias said. “But I think it’s worth exploring a little further. That bond of yours? It doesn’t wait. It doesn’t ask. His wolf decided first.”
I remembered my discussion with Caleb. How he always sounded so… apologetic whenever he mentioned the bond.
Elias looked at me. "Does that not bother you?"
I kept my face neutral. Harder than it should have been. It was an answer I'd been trying to avoid.
If the bond did something to Caleb — if it acted on him, on his body, on his instincts — then how much of what he felt was him?
“You’re assuming the bond is all there is,” I said.
“I’m saying you don’t know where the bond ends and he begins.”
I didn't answer.
Elias let the silence sit for a moment. Then, he shifted. Not physically — just the quality of his attention. The harsh smugness of his gaze softened. His grin lowered into a smaller, but more earnest smile.
"I've been watching you for weeks,” he admitted. “I know how that sounds. But I have. And what I know — what I choseto understand — is that you’re worth my attention."
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I like you, Olivia.”
Every part of my body wanted to stop running then and there. But I knew the moment I let my guard down, I was giving someone I didn’t trust the upper hand.
“Why would you even say that?” I said. “We’ve only passed each other a couple times in town.”
