“Oh, why not?”
“Because we don’t reject mates, ever,” I snapped, more angry than I meant to be. “Our mates are gifts from the heavens. They know best. His mate will find her way to him when the time is right.”
The table fell silent at how irritated I was over this topic. Elowyn’s eyes were focused on her plate, black as the night, butshe closed them and her pretty honey-colored eyes were back. Fuck, I shouldn’t have reacted that way. It wasn't what she thought. I was upset because I couldn't reject a mate.
I didn’t want to talk about rejecting mates because no one had ever been able to reject a mate. That terrified me because I wanted Elowyn and couldn’t fathom wanting another woman more than her.
“Just ignore the old grumpy ass over here.” Ezra pointed at me. “He’s feeling pretty upset that he is the last of us to get a mate.”
Elowyn’s eyes flickered to me, and for a brief moment she showed me the hurt in her eyes before it evaporated, like the emotion had been ripped from her by some external force. She took a bite of the steak like the conversation was done.
I didn’t like this. She was not herself, and I felt like I was to blame for it. But she was fine at breakfast.
“What about you, Elowyn? Queens of covens get mates, right?” Thea asked.
I knew she once had a mate, but Jade had taken it away. And a selfish, terrible part of me was glad that she wouldn’t be taken by someone.
“Oh, no, my coven is cursed, so no mate for me,” she said in a cheerful tone. “Well, actually, I do still have a fated mate, but I will not be able to tell because a rival coven took my bond from me as a punishment. So, I do have a mate, but I probably won’t find him.”
Everybody stayed quiet, not sure how to respond to that particular piece of news.
She stillhada fated mate.
I didn’t like that at all.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if you two were mates.” Ezra grinned at us. “But you didn’t know because you’re cursed?”
The man could never just shut the hell up. Elowyn’s eyebrows creased like she was thinking about something.
“We aren’t fated.” Venom dripped from my words.
Fuck, that came out meaner than I intended. I looked at Elowyn, and she just gazed back at me without any emotion. Everyone was watching us now, and I was spiraling.
“Sorry, that sounded mean. I didn’t mean it like that,” I immediately apologized.
She nodded and looked back at Ezra with a soft smile—a cruel smile.
“Abram’s right, we could never be fated. We’d beterribletogether.”
Her words were intended to hurt my feelings, and she succeeded. My jaw clenched tightly.
“Hopefully, all of our mates find us soon.” She was trying to piss me off.
I stared at her, not giving a damn that all of them were watching me. They could probably see that I was barely holding it together. At this point I didn’t care. I didn’t like how this conversation was going. She finally looked at me with a challenge in her eyes. A defiance bloomed in them, daring me to make a scene.
I swallowed down the words on the tip of my tongue, asking her what the fuck she was doing. She took another bite of her steak and watched me with emotionless eyes.
“I didn’t mean to sound cruel,” I apologized again.
“It's the truth. We would never be fated.” She gave me a look of complete detachment. My chest ached with her words. “No need to apologize for the truth.”
My jaw clenched as I fisted my hands tightly. I could feel everyone watching, and I made the mistake of looking down the table at my family. Della was smiling like she knew exactly what was happening. But Cassius and Haden were subtly tellingme that I had already reacted too much to pretend like I wasn’t upset.
My eyes burned red in my anger at this conversation… at my wife. I swallowed down the words caught in my throat. I was already barely hanging on by a thread.
“I appreciate dinner, but I actually have to go,” Elowyn announced. “I have a trip early in the morning.”
She hadn't said anything about a fucking trip.
