I didn’t respond right away, though the words took me by surprise. It was a far more nuanced take than I had expected. There were a lot of things about Emma that took me by surprise, it seemed.
“One more question,” I said. “You say all of this is because we aren’t together. We’re mated, but not together, and I get the feeling that if I had treated you differently that night, this might not be an issue at all. I was a kid, and an idiot.” I raised an eyebrow. “So what if I told you I’ve changed since I was a kid, and I wanted to actually be with you?”
She sucked in a breath, biting her lip before glancing away. I watched as her jaw tightened even as a faint pink traced up her cheeks.
“I would say that I don’t deal in theoretical. We have a long journey ahead of us before that ever happens,” she murmured.
I should have realized it days ago. I should have realized it that morning in my bedroom, just how much rejecting her then had shaped her and her feelings for me. And the more time I spent with Emma, the more I realized how horribly I had mangled that situation. Even if I hadn’t thought that us being together was a good idea, I could have let her down more gently. I could have treated her kinder.
I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
My chair squeaked as I pushed away from the table. Emma watched as I came to stand in front of her. I crouched until we were at eye level.
“I know this hasn’t been easy. I know I haven’t helped on that front. I promise I’m going to make your and Grace’s transition into the pack as smooth as possible. I want you to be happy here, to feel welcome.”
“Not everyone here feels that way,” she pointed out.
“If someone mistreats you, I want you to tell me,” I growled. “You’re their luna, my mate. They’re going to have to get used to you and respect you.”
She shook her head, surprising me. At least until I saw the steely look in her eyes, the look that somehow made me want her even more. I didn’t know if this woman knew what an incredible backbone she had.
“I want to earn their respect. I don’t want you to force it on them,” she said.
A grin flickered across my face as a flash of admiration ran through me. “I can respect that,” I said. “And I can respect the rest of your requests.”
I reached out and brushed her hair behind her ear. Her scent, which seemed to draw me in more and more with every waking moment, wrapped around me, and it was all I could do not to kiss her, to claim her. But if she didn’t want it, then I would work for it.
“I hope that, one day soon, these agreements won’t be necessary,” I said. “I want to prove myself to you, Emma. I’m going to be the mate that you want and deserve. I promise.”
She met my gaze, her expression unreadable.
“I’ll hold you to it,” she finally said.
Chapter 10 - Emma
After picking up Grace, she and I walked into the house, only to be greeted by the smells of spices, cooked meat, and bread. Brow furrowing, I made my way into the kitchen, only to come to a screeching halt at the sight I found.
Elias bustled around the kitchen, steaming plates of garlic bread, chicken parmesan, and other dishes resting on the island, waiting to be devoured. As I watched, Elias pulled out another pan, this one with roasted vegetables, out of the oven.
He glanced over. “Hey,” he said.
I tilted my head, eyes sweeping across the lavish dinner, mouthwatering aromas wafting up and making my stomach growl.
“You made all of this?” I asked.
He nodded. “The bread, I bought from the store, but I was the one who converted it to garlic bread,” he said. “Italian is your and Grace’s favorite, right?”
“Yum!” Grace squealed as she ran over to the island, standing on tiptoe to peer at all the food.
I didn’t say anything at first, too startled by what I was seeing. Over the past few days, ever since our conversation over the breakfast table, Elias had been making obvious strides to make us feel welcome, to keep us happy. He’d brought flowers. He helped Grace with her homework. He had bought her a paint set she’d wanted for years. When she accidentally spilled bright green on the white carpet, instead of getting mad, he’d made a joke about it and helped clean it up as best we could. There was still a faint greenish splotch, like someone had rubbed grass into the strands.
Those were only a couple of the things he had done in the brief time since our conversation. Despite myself, it gave me a spark of hope that maybe he had been serious when he promised to prove me wrong about him and our relationship. Iwantedhim to prove me wrong.
Still, despite this, I kept him at arm’s length, not fully letting him in. It was still early days. I’d known too many people who made promises, only to keep them for a week—two, maximum. Then they got lazy, or they thought they’d hit some invisible quota, or hoped I would have forgotten their promise, and they stopped, all their efforts slipping, reverting to the way it used to be. Until I knew that wasn’t going to happen with Elias, I wouldn’t let him in. Not entirely.
That didn’t change the fact that every time he did something like this, a spark of appreciation and affection blossomed inside my chest. It didn’t change the fact that I found myself wanting him more and more every day as the mating bond strengthened, growing more insistent that we complete it. It didn’t change the fact that my entire body seemed to heat into an inferno whenever he so much as glanced at me.
It was getting harder to resist him.
