Chapter 5
She was crying, and he didn’t know what to do. The females never cried, or at least they never allowed the males to see it. He spun her to face him and became frustrated when she was able to avoid eye contact. He growled and lifted her in his arms and plopped down on the couch holding her on his lap.
She gasped and scrambled to get off of him, but he didn’t let go.
“What wrong beautiful?”
“It’s—” she shook her head and pressed her lips together.
He felt her resistance. “You can talk to me, always.”
“Right, like I haven’t heard that a million times in my life. I’m 28 years old, and I’m alone. No friends, no family. I’m on my own, always have been.” Her eyes widened as if she told him something she hadn’t planned to share.
“Well, you’re not anymore. Do you want to know why you have those strange feelings?”
She nodded, and Ciyrs sighed. He didn’t want to freak her out so soon, but he realized his mate had some baggage and some major trust issues.
“You’re my mate. It’s why I went crazy on Pyra for talking to you. It’s why I shockingly yelled at my leader when he thought about assigning a warrior to you instead of me. It’s why my eyes shift to orange, and it’s why you feel how hard my body is beneath yours.”
Her lips parted on a gasp and her emerald eyes rounded in surprise. She didn’t speak and he gripped her small hand in his. She blinked and the surprise was gone. “Your mate? You’ve just met me, you can’t possibly know that.”
“That’s how it works; you can ask Pyra and the king if you don’t believe me. Instant soul wrenching attraction. You feel it too. Though humans see it as lust correct?”
She nodded. “I’ve never—”
She blushed and he gripped her fingers. “Never what?”
“I’m a virgin,” she said quickly. “I know I’m a little too old, but I’ve never found anyone that deserved to take that away from me.”
Now it was Ciyrs’s turn to be surprised. Eden told him about human women. Sex was something that was used for many things for humans as well as for them. It was a past time; a time to enjoy and being intimate with another person brings closeness. Knowing his mate had never had a man inside of her had him nearly panting. She tried to cover her face in shame, but he pulled her hands back.
“That is nothing to be ashamed of. I—wow, I think I’m the luckiest man alive. I’ll be your first and your last.”
She glared through the last of her tears. “What makes you think that?”
“We’re mates.”
“How do I know that isn’t some line to get in my pants?”
He growled but then shook his head. She was trying to get to him. “You’ll see. You feel it, and soon you won’t be able to fight your feelings. You’ll see they are real and that I’m not just messing with you to use you. I would never—”
She shook her head and pressed her finger against his lips quieting him. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I’ve had enough broken promises in my life. I couldn’t stand to have another one, not from you.”
Eliana stood from his lap and paced. “I’d like to be alone now. I need to sleep.”
He thought about arguing, but the look on her face held him back. She pleaded to be left alone, and he knew it had been too soon. She had just arrived and he’d already upset her. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’ll be outside.”
“You don’t need to right? Only if I needed to leave the cabin.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone.”
She sighed. “Fine, but I’m going to bed.”
Watching her walk away was hard, but letting her walk away upset was devastating. He needed to talk to Eden. She’d be able to help. He closed his eyes and thought of her. They’d formed their telepathic link. It was something Pyra was still pissed about, but it actually had come in handy so he shut up about it even if he hated it.
‘What’s wrong Ciyrs?’
‘She’s mad already. Can you talk?’
‘Pyra says we’re on our way.’
‘Thank you, baby doll.’
In a few minutes Pyra and Eden were standing in front of him. The lights were out inside and he looked at his feet. “I think I messed up already.”
Eden sat next to him and wrapped her arm around him. “Tell me what happened.”
“When we got inside she started to cry. I’m not used to it. You’re the first female I’ve ever seen cry and that sucked, but seeing her tears was devastating.”
Pyra sat on his other side sporting a bruised jaw. “Did she tell you why?”
“Not really. I told her we were mates, she told me she was a virgin, and then I told her how happy that made me—”
Eden laughed. “Are you stupid? She was probably embarrassed as hell. She’s older than me?”
“28.”
“Then there’s a reason she’s held so tightly to her v-card. What else?”
“She stopped me from telling her she was no longer alone. Apparently she doesn’t have family or anything. She cut me off telling me not to make promises I couldn’t keep. That she couldn’t handle it.”
Eden nodded and teared up. Her hormones kicked in. “Oh my. She’s had a bad life. She doesn’t trust, and she’s been disappointed too much. I totally get it. You’ll have to be gentle with her heart Ciyrs. She isn’t going to know how to take you or accept your loyalty to her. If it’s as bad as I’m thinking, she’ll be scared shitless of you now.”
“Why?” He panicked inside. She’d already been able to shut down and kicked him out. “I didn’t mean to upset her. I didn’t want to tell her about her being my mate just yet, but she freaked out when I talked about you and didn’t understand why, so I explained it to her. I don’t want there to be lies between us, and after what happened with you and Pyra at the beginning there can’t be miscommunication; not with the Klimnu getting through to our lands. I need her aware and with me, not pissed at me.”
Pyra stood and laid his hands on Ciyrs’s shoulders. “Calm down, just go in there and take charge. She’ll be nervous, but if you let her shut you out, she’ll think you don’t care. You saw what happened with me and Eden, don’t make the same mistakes I did.”
He nodded. Pyra had been miserable especially when she was in her coma and hadn’t been able to be there for her. He thought she was going to die mad at him. They’d been lucky though. “You’re right. Thanks, and sorry for dragging you out this late.”
Eden nodded pulling him into a hug. “Get your mate. Convince her you mean business.”
Then they sped away in the dark. It was pitch black out now, and in a few hours the sun would rise. He climbed the stairs and quietly walked inside shutting and locking the door. He walked down the hall and pushed her door open. She was lying on her bed looking at the ceiling and her eyes were open.
“Can I come in?”
She jumped, but nodded.
He slipped his boots off and went to the other side of her bed. Above the covers he lay next to her with his heart beating wildly in his chest. When she reached for his hand he sighed in relief just by her touch. She didn’t say anything and neither did he. Instead he listened as her breathing evened out letting him know she had fallen asleep.