Chapter 36

Killian:

If anyone had told me that my mate feeling the mating bond was going to be this pleasing, then I would have told them that they were lying. There was no wolf that didn’t understand the mating bond and what it was.

But seeing that my mate was feeling the bond now, I couldn’t help but feel thankful for it. The patience that it took for her to open up enough to feel the bond was killing, but I knew for fact that it would be worth it when she did. I connected my lips with hers one more time before pulling away to rest my forehead against hers. 

“Yes, malyshka, mate.” I whispered, letting my hot breath hit her face. She ran her finger over my scruff for a second before tearing up. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t be your mate, Alpha Killian.” She said, making me frown in confusion as I processed her words. I pulled away from her and looked the woman in the eye, cupping her cheeks as I made her look at me. “You are going to hate me with everything that you have before you send me back to him. You won’t even…”

“Him?” I asked, stopping her and she got up from her chair. I wrapped my arms around her waist, stopping her from going anywhere as I noticed that she was panicking. Her heart raced and I looked her in the eye, motioning for her to take deep and slow breaths, not wanting to scare her more than she already was. “Baby girl, please tell me what is going on.”

“You are going to reject me.” She said, making my chest ache. I have been waiting for her to feel the mating bond for the past two months, forcing myself not to touch or approach her as I fought the bond. There was no reason in this world that was going to make me reject an angel like herself. 

“There is no reason that is going to make me reject you, Eleanor.” I said, my voice softening more than it already was. Her heart raced and her eyes met mine for a second before she sniffed as she teared up. I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly. I slowly kissed the crown of her head, letting my lips linger there for a few seconds before pulling away to look her in the eye. Her chest rose and fell with each breath that she took. I sat on the floor in front of the table, making her lay on my chest as she relaxed.

I gently ran my fingers over hers, fighting the urge not to ask her questions that might scare her off. “I want to open up, Alpha Killian, and I swear, I want to answer your questions, but the fear that I have that you might end up sending me back has me…”

“Back where, baby?” I asked, and she took a deep breath. I could tell that she was fighting the urge of panicking again, but I waited for her to open up as I purred. My purrs were gentle, making her relax as I gently massaged her arm. “Because the one place that I am going to allow you to stay at right now is your room until you’re ready to move to mine.”

She laughed as her tears fell from her eyes and I kissed her temple, gently encouraging her to open up to me. Whatever it was, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to help her if she was this closed up about it. And though I could tell that she was closed up because she was scared, but whatever it was, I was going to help her with it. I was going to make those who made her suffer the way that she did pay with their lives. 

The scar that she showed me a month ago when I asked her to really come here with me for the first time, wanting to make it our special time together, a time that she trusted me, still popped in my head whenever I looked at her. I didn’t know who would hurt a girl, especially their child, the way that he did, but I could tell that she did not have the childhood that any girl would want. 

The way I saw her the first time, and the way she seemed to be on the run. Her timid state, the fear that she was in. Everything played in my head, telling me how weak and abused she was, how scared of making mistakes, how petrified she was of punishments. And no matter how hard I tried to find anything about her, I couldn’t, and we have been searching; it was just, nothing seemed to pop up. The woman was a ghost, someone who I could tell was hidden, an angel who was afraid of being caught. 

But what it was that she was scared of, I didn’t know.

I kissed her temple one more time only to smile when I noticed that her breathing evened. Her chest rose and fell peacefully despite her red cheeks, and I couldn’t help but purr as I ran my finger through her locks. The pain that I saw in her eyes was one that I wasn’t going to forget, but I knew for fact that it was one that I wanted to help her heal from. 

“I don’t know what your story is, malyshka.” I whispered to her sleeping self as I looked down at her. I couldn’t help but admire her beauty and how at peace she looked. It was a whole hundred and eighty degree shift, but I knew that it was the mating bond that was making her relax in her mate’s embrace, and that was something that I wanted. “But I am going to be the demon that pulls your angel out of the darkness that she fell into.”

My voice was above a whisper as I spoke before I slowly wrapped my arms around her as I lifted her, carrying her in my arms as if she weighed nothing. In theory, she did weigh nothing to me, but that wasn’t something that she would want to hear nor would it be something that she would admit. Needless to say, I found her perfect the way that she was, and that was something that I was always sure to show her.

“For every demon needs his angel,” I whispered, “and you, my beautiful malyshka, are my little angel…”