Chapter 17 - Elias
The moment I laid eyes on Aurora, something shifted inside me. Whatever it was, I became fueled by jealousy when I saw how close she was standing to Brooks.
An irrational surge of jealousy was ignited within me, spurring my rageful steps as I marched forward and, without thinking, grabbed Brooks’s collar and shoved him against the nearest solid frame.
Glaring into his eyes now, my fury is reflected in the dubious gray pools of his eyes even as he frowns.
“What are you doing, Elias?” Brooks asks, bewildered, gulping as I have a fist curled at his throat.
“You’re asking me what I’m doing?!” I spit venomously. “What were you doing with Aurora?!”
Brooks’s eyes turn wildly addled as he stares at me with confusion. He opens his mouth to speak, but hesitates when I tighten my grip on his collar.
At the back of my mind, I know there isn’t anything going on between them. How could there be? Brooks is the only one who disagrees with me taking Aurora as my mate.
Unless there was another reason for his grievance.
Was he attracted to the omega before I came along and swooped her up as my own mate?
The thought alone has my anger bubbling, my blood boiling as it rages through my veins and fills me with more reason to fight my subordinate. Just because he’s only one rank below me, it gives him no right to take what’s mine.
The sudden bout of jealousy is heightened by my territorial nature, even if Brooks is one of us.
“You-you're mistaken, Elias…” he croaks against the discomfort of my constricting fist. “It—it’s not what it l—looks like.”
“Don’t give me that!” I spit in his face, red-hot anger fueling the guttural growl I let out. “I know what I saw! I warned you to leave her alone!”
Brooks grunts in response, a frustrated, wrangled sigh caught in his throat as he drops his eyes.
“If you don’t let me go, you’ll give me no choice but to fight you,” he says in a flat tone.
I slam Brooks against the frame, then release him to take a step back, throwing my arms out to the sides.
“Fight me, then,” I challenge. “You forget who you’re speaking to.”
Brooks grunts as he shrugs to straighten up, preparing for a fight. I curl my hands into fists of fury, growling lowly and peeling my lips back to snarl and hiss at my opponent.
“You’re making a mistake, Elias,” Brooks warns.
Chuckling sadistically, I point my narrowed glare at him. “I don’t make—”
“Wait!” Aurora’s frail voice yelps from behind me before she comes rushing forward in a flurry of hot pants, stepping between Brooks and me and turning to face me. She looks up with consoling eyes, warily knitted brows, and chest heaving uncontrollably.
“It’s not what it looks like, Elias,” she protests with urgency in her voice. “Brooks was only helping me get rid of some bullies. I was trying to thank him.”
I narrow my eyes at Aurora, the brooding anger seeping into the air between us. “How were you planning on thanking him?” I grate through gritted teeth, my nostrils flaring as I blow out hot air of fury. “Tell me, Aurora! How—”
Aurora interjects by abruptly grabbing my arm, grunting irritably as she uses every ounce of strength she has to tug me forward and pull me out of the town square area. My brows furrow deeply as I stare at the back of her head, not sure why I’m even allowing her to pull me toward the cabin near the woods.
She stomps furiously against the snow, huffing and puffing on her way to the cabin’s porch. She uses all her might to kick in the door before dragging me further, and only once inside, she sighs frustratedly and releases my arm with a deliberate toss.
“What has gotten into you?!” she exclaims accusingly, her brown eyes darkening like jets of vexation. “You were about to fight your friend out there!”
I scoff disdainfully, taking a warning step forward. Though it’s just Aurora and me now, I’m still filled with thunderous anger that sets my blood on fire. “What’s gotten intome?!” I grumble as I glare into her eyes. Between the forage of brown, I see the crimson fire of my anger being reflected back to me.
“You were the one trying to seduce my friend!” I spat the accusation, to which Aurora rolled her eyes with an exasperated grunt.
“I wasn’t trying to seduce Brooks! I told you already, he helped me fend off some bullies, and all I was doingwas thanking—gah!” Aurora shrieks suddenly, keeling over and hugging both arms around her waist.
