The Exiled Alpha

Chapter twenty-four

The drive to the hilltop was supposed to calm my nerves down, but I think it just did the opposite. My hands felt even more shaky than before, when I was talking to Samantha. And to know that Thomas saw through my lie wasn't helping much.

I notice the pickup truck already parked on the usual spot where it was. Elliot was already outside, resting against the hood of his car. He's wearing the same denim jacket from the night at the well, my eyes quickly glancing at the torn lines on his back.

His hazel eyes immediately turn to me, when he notices the car. I park right next to the truck. My heart is hammering against my chest when I look at him. My mate. He's now officially my mate. I slide my hands down the wheel, the smoothness of it going completely unnoticed. My nerves were overruling my whole body.

I step out of the car and close the door behind me. I try to head to him, but my whole body halts, just like back in my room while I was talking to Sam. Elliot pushes off the hood of his car and I notice he's wearing a grey sweater underneath the denim jacket. What do we do now? Do we hug? Or kiss? Or just talk like we used to? This whole accepting the mate thing is making everything much worse.

"You don't have to keep me at a distance, you know." I didn't realize I stayed in the same spot by my car until my mate points out the obvious. I press my lips together and start walking to him. He's taken a few steps of his own, but now he's just standing and waiting for me to come completely to him.

"Hey." Elliot greets when I'm only inches away from him. "Hey." I mutter back, watching as a small smile appears on his lips. "I haven't seen you since the incident." He mumbles and takes a few steps back to lean on his car again. I hide my shaking hands in my leather jacket so he doesn't see them tremble. I nod a little, confirming what he just said. His smile falters and I notice a grim look appearing on his face.

"I really don't want this to be awkward between us, now that we accepted each other. I don't want you to look at me any differently than before, when we met up here." Elliot confesses, his hazel eyes looking towards me. I notice how the shining green overrules over the brown in his eyes, they're almost enchanting. I force myself to look away from him and to the town beneath us.

"What happens now that we're mates?" I ask and I almost hear how he lets out a quiet breath.

Elliot is quiet for some time, just resting against his car. It takes him so long to answer that it makes me look at him. Or maybe he was just waiting for me to look back at him, because the brunette starts talking the second our eyes connect again.

"We get to know each other. Just like we wanted. We're one step ahead of what we planned, but that doesn't mean anything has to change." He answers and it feels like his answer just calmed some of my nerves down.

"And what happens to you? What changes do you get from this mate bond?" The small smile returns to his lips and it looks like he's smiling more to himself than at me.

"Well..." Elliot pushes himself off the hood and walks up to me. "For an example, I can touch you without veining up." He tugs my dirty blond hair behind my ear, before brushing his thumb over my cheekbone. I tremble under his touch and I think the mate bond has affected me as well. I feel weaker when he touches me, like my knees are going to give in on me any second now. His scent is even more alluring now. Stronger. It makes me want to press my nose against his neck and just take it all in.

"And well... The downside of it is I'm more territorial about you now." Elliot mumbles, letting his hand fall from my cheek. It brushes against my shoulder and down my arm, sending sparks of electricity through my body.

"What?" I blurt out, my eyebrows furrowing at him. Elliot tilts his head to the side, some of his chestnut brown locks falling over his eyes and my stomach almost does a backflip at that.