Maybe it was the mating bond, or naivete on my part, or some deep intuition. No matter what it was, I knew beyond a doubt that Elias would stand up for me. When I told him everything I’d found out, he would listen. He would help.
I hoped.
***
Despite those repeated assurances, anxiety continued to roil inside me as I waited for Elias to return home. I bit my nails and kept pacing back and forth as I tried to figure out how to explain everything I’d learned. Would he trust me? Dismiss me? I was the luna, not the alpha. If he thought I had stepped out of line by looking into this…
The door creaked open, scattering my thoughts. I took a deep breath.
“Hey,” I said when he entered. I didn’t have to see his dour expression to know things hadn’t gone well during his hunt for the wraith. I could sense the irritation through the mating bond.
“Hi,” he grunted.
“No luck, then?” I asked.
He scowled, running his fingers through his hair as a low growl rumbled through his throat.
“No. It hit another area, this time closer to town. But we didn’t even catch sight of it. We still haven’t figured out where its lair is—if it even has a lair. We don’t even know what it wants.”
I knew it was better not to bother Elias when he was in this mood. More likely than not, he would bite my head off. Yet, something told me he wouldn’t. Not to me. Without realizing what I was doing, I walked over and nuzzled against him.
He stiffened for a long moment, then exhaled, leaning against me. My wolf gave a contented growl, as she always did when she was this close to Elias. I held on to him, taking comfort from him as much as he was from me. After some time, he pulled away.
“I have something to show you,” I said. Then I paused, feeling a strange rush of anxiety as I stood in front of him, as if I had been doing something I shouldn’t have.
He raised an eyebrow when I didn’t proceed. “Am I going to have to guess?” he asked.
It took me a moment to recognize the gentle teasing in his tone. I blushed, even as a coy smile spread across my lips.
“If you’re very nice, I might just tell you instead,” I said. “Maybe if you say please.”
Something like hunger sparked in his eyes, and I felt a twinge of something I couldn’t quite place rushing through the bond.
“In that case…” He bent down, lips brushing against my ear. “Please.”
His breath caressed my neck, sending shivers radiating through me. That urge for him, that need I had been struggling to push away, rushed up, coursing through me. Based on the look in his eyes when he pulled away, I guessed he could sense that lust, that craving, through the mating bond.
If the information I needed to share with him wasn’t so pressing, I might have decided to wait, to indulge in that need. But the pack came before those urges, and I wasn’t entirely certain they were my own and not my wolf’s, or if there was any difference between the two.
I took his hand, trying to ignore the way sparks seemed to shoot through my fingers up my arm.
“Come on,” I said, and guided him to the kitchen.
He blinked in surprise when he walked in to see books piled on the kitchen table. His hand slipped from mine as he looked over to read the spines.
“A History of Magical Entities?” he asked.
“I did some research into the sand wraith.”
He raised his eyebrows, tilting his head as he took in the heaps of books spread out on the table, the open notebook with my scribbles filling the pages with notes.
“You did?” he asked, his tone unreadable.
“I hope that’s okay,” I said.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be rude. I’m just surprised.”
I frowned, tilting my head. “Surprised?”
