Chapter 84

Agnes & Elijah

Agnes

Elijah’s lips left mine just briefly so that we could come up for air, and as we inhaled deeply and raggedly, the space between us felt like it hummed with static, the air thick and heavy like a grassy field just before a storm.

My heart was racing like a warm drum in my chest, each beat loud and insistent, like it was trying to make itself heard above the rush of blood in my ears.

For a moment, neither of us moved. We just stood there, our foreheads pressed together, our breaths mingling in the charged air between us. His hands were still on me—one resting against the curve of my waist, the other grazing the line of my jaw—and it took everything in me not to pull him closer again.

“Elijah…” I murmured, my voice barely audible even to my own ears.

But before I could say anything more, his lips were on mine again, harder this time and far more insistent, as though even he couldn’t bear the distance we had just created between us. My thoughts immediately splintered into nothingness and scattered like autumn leaves in the wind. There was no room for doubt, no space for restraint—only him.

Always him.

I didn’t even realize my hands had found their way into his hair until he groaned softly against my mouth, the sound sending a delicious shiver down my spine. His arms tightened around me, and before I could catch my breath, he scooped me up as though I weighed nothing.

“Elijah,” I gasped, but the sound was swallowed by his kiss. My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, and my back met the cool surface of the wall as he pressed me against it, his body a solid, unyielding presence that set every nerve ending on fire.

I had never felt anything like this before—not with him, and certainly not with anyone else. My mind barely even registered the way his hands suddenly gripped my thighs and tugged me tighter around his firm torso, or the way his lips moved against mine, desperate and demanding, as though he couldn’t get enough.

And the truth was, I didn’t want him to stop.

For the first time in years—maybe even in my entire life—I felt like I was wholly, utterly alive. It wasn’t just the fire that was coursing through my veins or the way my body seemed to fit so perfectly against his. It was something deeper, something I couldn’t name but could feel with every fiber of my being.

It was as though I had been waiting for this, for him, without even realizing it.

“He was supposed to be ours,” my wolf had said that night we had kissed on my birthday. I could still hear those words echoing in my mind now, and I knew they would never go away.

I wanted to tell him. I had to tell him.

“Elijah,” I whispered again, my fingers curling against the fabric of his shirt as I pulled back just enough to speak. My lips brushed his skin, and although my heart was racing, I began, “Elijah, I think—”

The confession didn’t have a chance to leave my mouth before I heard it.

“Mommy?”

The sound of Thea’s voice echoing down the hall caused us both to pull apart. I froze, the realization of what we were doing crashing over me like a cold wave.

“Thea,” I whispered, my head jerking toward the direction of her voice.

Elijah stiffened as well, his breathing harsh and uneven against my ear. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he pulled back just enough to meet my gaze. His eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them, their usual steel now stormy and turbulent, and for a moment, I thought he might lean in again.

“You alright?” he murmured. “You were about to—”

But then Thea’s voice echoed again, louder this time. “Mommy, I’m hungry!”

I scrambled out of Elijah’s arms, my feet hitting the floor just as Thea’s small figure appeared at the end of the hallway. My heart was still pounding, and my face felt like it was on fire, but I forced myself to smile and smoothed down my hair as casually as I could manage.

“There you are, sweetheart,” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could make it. I crossed the room quickly, my hands trembling just slightly as I reached for hers. “Let’s get you something to eat, okay?”

Thea nodded, but then paused and glanced between me and Elijah with a furrowed brow. “What were you doing?”

“Just talking,” I said quickly, squeezing her hand. “Come on, let’s go see what we have in the kitchen.”

With that, I led her away, my steps steady even though my knees still felt weak. Maybe it was for the best that I didn’t tell him, I figured; it would only make things more complicated, and besides, even if he was supposed to be my mate, he wasn’t anymore. Olivia was marked now, and I still didn’t have a wolf. Knowing my luck, I never would.

I didn’t dare glance back at Elijah as I hurried away, although I didn’t need to.

I could feel his gaze on me the entire way down the hall.

…

Elijah

I watched them go, my heart pounding so hard in my chest I could feel it in my throat. Agnes didn’t look back at me as she hurried away with Thea in tow, and maybe that was for the best.

What the hell had just happened, though?

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to steady my breathing, but it was no use. My entire body felt like it was still on fire, every nerve tingling from the feel of her against me.

That kiss…

It hadn’t just been a kiss. It had been… everything.

My wolf stirred restlessly, his growl low and persistent in the back of my mind. It had been a long time since I had felt his presence like this—so raw, so close to the surface.

“You should have marked her,” he hummed in the back of my head.

The thought hit me like a lightning bolt, and I froze.

“What?”

“You should have marked her,” my wolf repeated, his voice a guttural snarl. If not for Olivia…

I clenched my fists at my sides so hard that my nails dug into my palms. The truth of those words settled heavily in my chest, and they were impossible to ignore. If I hadn’t already marked Olivia, if I hadn’t been bound to her by the mate bond, I would have marked Agnes right then and there.

The realization made my stomach churn.

I wasn’t supposed to feel this way. Agnes wasn’t supposed to make me feel like this.

And yet, she did.

She always had, no matter how much I tried to deny it.

I exhaled sharply, my eyes drifting to the empty hallway where she had just disappeared with Thea. She had snapped herself out of the haze so quickly, so effortlessly, like she hadn’t been as caught up in the moment as I had.

But I knew better.

I had felt her trembling against me, the way her hands had clutched at me like I was the only thing keeping her tethered to this world. I had heard the way her voice had softened when she had whispered my name.

And still, she had managed to pull herself together, to put Thea first. As always. Something that Olivia had never done.

The corners of my lips lifted in the faintest of smiles, despite the storm still raging inside of me.

Agnes never failed to surprise me.

And sometimes, I couldn’t help but be impressed with my Luna.