Elliere Braim

0.9 Explanations

Elliere turned, his features immediately returning to his human form and took in Mercy. She looked scared, but not as scared as she could've been, making him frown in slight confusion. With a shake of his head, he noticed Layla still standing there, a frown on her face and hurt in her eyes at the fact Elliere might have actually replaced her.

Serves her right.

"Leave, Layla," Elliere growled, hate overflowing as he looked at his ex. "And don't come back."

Bowing her head, Layla walked swiftly from his apartment. As she got down a flight of stairs, his heightened hearing picked up her sobs. He didn't feel a thing, he had mourned all his losses long ago -- her included meaning she was nothing, but a memory. A hurtful, pain-filled memory.

His eyes focused back on Mercy as she sucked in a breath. He worried she might scream, but instead she murmured, "Would you like to talk about...that?"

Shock slapped him in the face again. Talk about it? Talk about what? The fact he'd almost turned into a Lupus or talk about his ex turning up? Why wasn't she freaking out about his almost change? He frowned, his eyebrows drawing together as he looked at her. She seemed sort of shaken, but overall she was decently calm. Too calm to have witnessed his almost shift.

She must've sensed his confusion at her question and said, "About... Layla."

He flinched slightly at the name coming from her mouth, but shook his head no. He didn't want to discuss his ex or even think about her for awhile. She was a memory and he wanted her to stay that way. Slowly he backed into his apartment, but left the door open, motioning for her to enter. Her eyes flicked to his face, a flash of nervousness there, but she walked in still.

As the door swung shut, Elliere turned to her immediately and asked what circled in his brain. "Why aren't you freaking out and screaming and running away?"

"Don't get me wrong, I was a little freaked," she said.

"Not enough, not in the usual way," he growled, his muscles stiff at her presence. She smelled lovely, he noted.

"I'm not really freaked out because of...the reason I'm here," Mercy said, twirling her silky brown hair nervously. Her nervousness was making Elliere antsy or maybe it was her scent that was still throwing him off.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice softer than it had been.

Her face turned a bit red, but she still unzipped her coat and began pulling at her V-neck shirt lower. So low he was beginning to feel stirrings of desire as the top of her breasts came into view.

"What are you..." Elliere trailed off, his voice becoming strangled in his throat. His eyes locked on the inside of her breast... it wasn't close enough to the top of it for him to notice or anyone else except if she was sleeping with someone. Hell, he didn't even notice the other night, but that was probably because she'd been fully nude. As he remembered her naked body, his emotions rose to the surface. He wanted her and now everything made sense as to why he did -- Elliere had marked her, claimed her and had no recollection of it.

"Is...is that from me?" He asked, still wanting to believe his drunken self hadn't chosen her when it clearly had.

Mercy nodded, biting her lip as her wide, hazel eyes took in his confused and shocked expression. "I noticed it the morning I got dressed and left here... I just didn't say anything. I figured it was just a hicky then..."

"How..." his voice cracked, he still couldn't believe he'd done such a thing.. he had never before, why now? "How did you know it wasn't?"

"Well... for one it never went away and then when I seen you the next time, it tingled with...something, but in a good way.. and then I couldn't stop wanting to see you and something kept drawing me to the mark you made," she sucked in a breath, furiously biting her lip now. "And, well, here I am."

He blew out a breath, dragging a hand through his black locks and sank onto his couch. Mercy followed, but cautiously. He couldn't believe he'd chosen her, in his drunken state and done so, so cleverly. It was customary to mark your mate on their neck so everyone could see she was taken, even himself, but an intoxicated Elliere seemed to remember that and had opted for a less traditional route. Why? Why her? What was it about her? Had he changed slightly when marking her? Is that why she wasn't freaked?

His thoughts circled and circled to the point he was dizzy and felt he could puke. He gripped his hair tightly, trying to control his panic. He had vowed never to go the mate route again and here he was, doing it again. It was possible to leave her this way, to never complete the full bond in which she, though human, would still have to mark him. Unless of course she opted to be changed into a Lupus... which was an even more panic-inducing thought. She had a great chance of dying if she chose that.

"Hey," Mercy's soft voice yanked him out of his thoughts while a warm hand touched his arm making emotions shoot through his entire body. "I can go... I just sort of wanted to figure this whole thing out before I did. But I can guess what it is judging by what happened out in the hall."

"You can guess?" Elliere's voice was mocking. He couldn't understand why she wasn't fúcking screaming.

"Uh.. yeah. You're some supernatural creature..."

"Not just any, Mercy," Elliere growled, his Lupus side slipping through.

"Oh...r-right. You're a werewolf," she stuttered, finally some proper form of fear slipping out.

"Lupus," he corrected. "Werewolf is a human term."

"Well, hello?! I am a human," she spat back. "Am I going to get any answers and leave? Or am I just going to have to leave?"

Elliere looked up and could see the fire in her hazel eyes. Once again he thought she was utterly beautiful and he could say so without a bond's influence because she hadn't marked him, meaning only she was bound to him. He had wanted to blame the bond he'd started creating with her once he found out, but he knew that it was just him. He couldn't blame anyone or anything because he literally had chosen her. He just hadn't wanted to believe it; it had all been his denial that he would willingly be ready to love someone else.

"You won't be leaving, not forever anyways. Once I explain everything... then you will understand why and before you 'hate me forever' because of this, I'm sorry," he said, watching her hazel eyes widen. He immediately hated the fear he put on her face, but it had to be done. Once he told her everything, she would understand it was no simple hicky, scar or mark.. it was something that would tie them together forever and she would not be able to reject. Not forever.

"S-sorry? Hate you? What..?" She said, stuttering and probably beginning to worry how deep she was in this.

"Just.. listen to me," Elliere said, a weary sense wrapping around him. He didn't want to have to tell her this and he didn't want to have her scream at him, but he didn't have a choice, much like when he had kicked her out that fateful morning. Now things were a lot different though. She needed to know because he claimed her as a mate and so, with a frazzled mind, he began his explanations he owed her.