Unexpected Mates ~ Book One
Chapter 14

Sylvie and Elias sat locked in each other’s gaze on the couch as the fire roared at their side.

“So,” Sylvie whispered. “Does that make me a Vampire too?”

“I won’t know until I taste you- your blood,” he smirked after a long, slow inhale, and Sylvie burned. She wanted him to close the gap between them. She wanted to be tasted by him.

“But you still need to tell me what else happened with Kian,” he reminded her. The name of the Fae prince quickly quenched some of the heat in her body, and she nodded, leaning back into the couch and pressing the back of her hand to her cheek.

“After the Queen told me to reject him, Kian showed up and took me to his room. Then he took me to the gardens and a clearing,” she trailed off, remembering his lips on hers.

“We kissed.” Her eyes flickered towards Elias, but his face remained impassive.

Swallowing, she continued. “I was kind of being a brat, and I ate this fruit that looked like a strawberry, but it wasn’t, and I got so high,” she chuckled, and Elias rolled his eyes.

“What?”

“I’m not surprised you were bratty.”

Her mouth dropped open, and she clapped her hand across it as she laughed, and he joined her, his raspy chuckle making her stomach do gymnastics.

“Anyway, after that, this woman came. The Queen invited her. Lazuli. Kian obviously knew her.” Her heart clenched. “He knew her very well, and they seemed to pick up right where they left off. He told me not to forget him, and Kerensa brought me home.” Her voice hitched, and tears sprung to her eyes. She wiped them away and finished, “Anyway, that’s about it. He told me not to go back there too.”

She sniffled and dropped her hands in her lap, glueing her gaze to her trembling fingers.

Elias’ fingers gripped her chin, and she tilted her head to look at him. “I won’t make excuses for Kian, but I know there’s something that woman must have over him if he sent you away.”

He slid closer until their legs were touching and searched her face.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because the thought of letting you out of my sight is unfathomable. I don’t know much about the difference in mate bonds across species, but I’m certain he feels the same way.”

Her breathing stopped in her chest as she stared into his eyes. Building pressure pulsed in her abdomen and below as she let her gaze flit down his face. The way his lips parted slightly sent a thrill between her legs, and she sighed.

In a movement too fast to process, Sylvie landed hard in Elias’s lap, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist, her sensitive spot pressing against his pants button. She moaned, seeing his darkening eyes and smashed her lips against his, finally taking what she desperately needed. He growled, pulling her closer, squeezing her hip dips and kneading her ass.

Whining into his mouth, she pushed her chest against his, lowering his body with her on top.

“Sylvie,” he warned, flipping her off him and onto the couch. His knee pressed between her legs, dangerously close to her heat, and she blinked at him innocently.

“You don’t like to be on your back?”

His lips rejoined her own with impassioned hunger. Soon her head spun, and she pushed against his shoulders, laughing. “Don’t avoid the question.”

His hand slipped beneath her ass and squeezed, eliciting a squeal. “Elias!”

“Don’t mistake my gentleness with you as weakness,” he growled, pressing his lips into her neck and biting lightly.

Sylvie gasped, tilting her chin to give him better access, and he chuckled against her fluttering pulse.

“Not yet, kitten. You aren’t ready for that.”

“I am,” she groaned, running her hands along his sides and wrapping around his waistband. When she tugged, Elias pulled back, eyes flashing. His hand slid up her chest and around her throat like a perfect new necklace. Her eyes rolled back as he kissed her lips and sucked her lower lip into his mouth.

“Elias,” she whispered, gripping his shirt in her hands. “Fuck me.”

Elias drew back, fire in his eyes, when a frantic pounding slammed against the front door. Heat immediately doused, Sylvie latched on to him with wide frantic eyes.

“Hey! Help me!” The panic-laced voice behind the door rasped with deep pain.

Elias stood and pushed Sylvie behind him, keeping one arm for her to hold.

“What are you?” He yelled back, sniffing softly.

He looked back at Sylvie’s shaking body and stroked her cheek as the person paused their banging.

“I- I’m a shifter,” he called back. “I saw you drive in. I’ve been hiding in the woods since they turned me. I- I just need some help. You’re a vampire, right? I-I could smell your scent. Please. I need help.”

Elias’ tense posture set Sylvie on edge. “Should we open the door?” she whispered, but Elias silenced her with a quick finger to his lips.

He lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered lowly, “Go upstairs to the first bedroom on the left and lock yourself in. Don’t open it for anyone but me.”

The thought of being alone made her tremble; a growing tightening in her chest made each breath hard to draw.

As another loud bang rattled the doorframe, she turned and dashed up the stairs opposite the kitchen. Taking two at a time, she gasped as her foot slipped and her hands slapped the splintering wood. Elias’ large hands latched beneath her arms and lifted her as he growled out, “Be careful.”

“Sorry,” she replied, speed-walking the rest of the way and ducking into the nearest room, cradling her stinging hand. Blood slowly beaded on her palm, where a large splinter dug into her flesh. She picked it out before pushing the door shut; she swallowed, spying the large two-part deadbolt, and slid them into place.

Muffled voices rebounded around the bare room, and Sylvie tiptoed to the window, hoping to catch some of it. The old frames squeaked as she lifted the window and lowered her face to the opening.

“Who turned you?” Elias’ low voice questioned. From her position, she still couldn’t see the other person.

“I don’t know. They used fake names and said they’d only tell us who they were after we turned.”

“And why would you agree to be turned without knowing anything?” Sylvie found herself nodding at Elias’s question. She couldn’t imagine trusting people without knowing anything about them, except for Elias and Kian, but they were her mates.

“Because one of them, she called herself June, showed me her cougar form, and I- I believed. I was homeless before them, and they helped me with my addiction. I thought they cared,” the voice cracked, and Sylvie’s heart panged hearing them sniffle.

“Then why are you here?” Elias asked, his voice deeper and more menacing.

After more sniffling, the person cleared their throat. “There were twenty of us, and only five survived it. That’s when I realised they had lied. I had to get away. Actually - I- I made a mistake. I should go.”

Sylvie’s brows furrowed as the shifter backtracked, and she leaned out the window to see them as she backed off the porch. Her hands held the window steady so it wouldn’t shut on her head, and she blinked, seeing her blood drip off her palm and onto a bush below. The shifter appeared in her vision, walking backwards, their waist-length black hair tangled with twigs and debris.

Elias appeared, too, his giant form dwarfing the shifter. She shrunk back, hoping he wouldn’t see her spying, when a gasp escaped the shifter. Their eyes shot the bush, and they sprinted over, sniffing around like an animal.

Sylvie stared in horror as the shifter’s eyes shot up to the window and its face morphed, jaw elongating and brown fur sprouting across its body.

“What is that? It smells so good,” their guttural voice made her skin prickle, and she backed away as a vibrating roar shook the floors beneath her feet.

“Shift back now, or this will be your last seconds on earth,” Elias’ cold voice dripped menace as Sylvie heard strange lip-smacking and grumbles.

“What is she?” the garbled voice asked, and Sylvie whimpered from its inhuman voice. She needed to get away, the creature stood right beneath her window, and she was certain it would scale the house and break in to eat her.

She crawled back to the door as Elias hissed. “She is not your concern!”

“Mates,” the shifter stated, letting out another growl. “I can smell her on you. You dare prevent our Alpha from ensuring our survival when you have claimed your own mate?”

Sylvie shakily pulled the deadbolts free as the shifter let out another much louder roar. It was going to get her.

Pounding sounds shook the cabin before a deafening screech and gurgle sounded, and then nothing but pure, empty silence. “What the fuck?”

Sylvie swallowed and tightened her shaking grip on the doorknob before ripping the door open and barreling into the rigid torso of a furious beast.

“Elias?” He was drenched, head to toe, in deep red blood, matching the colour of his eyes.

“I told you to wait here until I said you could come out.” The words barely escaped past his elongated fangs, and she shuddered. The sharpened points gleamed with saliva.

“I-I did wait,” she stuttered, looking down at her bloody palm.

“You didn’t,” he growled. “And you managed to injure yourself in the brief time we were apart.” His remark sounded scathing. Sylvie shrank away. The old Elias she hated was back. Great.

“It was a splinter,” she answered meekly, tucking her hand behind her back and squeezing her eyes shut to hold the tears burning along her waterline.

“Give me your hand,” he demanded, gripping the back of her neck and making her look at him. She shook, raising her hand into his.

His eyes flashed a brighter red as he stared at her drying blood before raising her palm to his mouth.

“What are you doing?” she asked, pulling against him. It was no use; she hardly even budged in his firm grip.

“Finding out what the fuck you are.”