Chapter Four: Mate Bonds
Elion POV
I wait at the entrance of Astral Academy, just by the jagged iron gate wrapped in thorny vines. The mist is thicker this morning, clinging to my feet, maybe I should actually start wearing shoes? Nah.
Something came up yesterday—a Council call I couldn't ignore—so I missed our usual little game. But today? I'm not leaving her side.
A flash of pink emerges from the gloom of the forest path.
There she is.
Arabella.
Even in the gray-washed morning, she's radiant. Pink trench coat, a matching pleated skirt that sways like petals when she walks, and that ridiculous hair clip shaped like a bow. My lips curve up involuntarily.
I start toward her—
Scratch that. I teleport.
I land behind her, grinning. "Ha!"
I barely finish the sound when I feel cold metal pressed to my neck.
A knife.
She doesn't scream, flinch, or even look surprised.
Just lowers the blade slowly and lets it morph into a delicate bracelet with a shimmer of pink.
"Ellie, you scared me," she says, voice dry.
"You scared me! I nearly saw the Great Mother's branches," I say, placing a hand dramatically over my heart.
She rolls her eyes and keeps walking.
So—about to tease her further, I stop mid-thought.
And I see them.
Two threads of magic, thin but unmistakable. Bonds.
What the fuck?
I blink, then stare hard. One glows a trembling crimson—faint, flickering, likely still forming. The other? A deep golden tether, solid, rooted deep.
A mate bond.
I don't think. I grab her wrist and teleport us back into the woods, to the tree, that's connected to the one outside her home.
"Elion!" she snaps.
"I have class. What's this?"
She yanks her wrist from my grip, eyebrows raised in clear irritation.
I stare at her, something like betrayal bubbling under my skin.
"I left you for one day. Oneday!"
"What are you even talking about?" she says, crossing her arms tightly under her chest.
Her face is flushed. She's annoyed. I should stop. I should.
"Why do you have two bonds connected to your soul?!"
Her eyes widen.
"What do you mean?"
"You're bonded. To a vampire. And a wolf."
Her lips part, but she doesn't speak right away.
"Do I?" she says finally.
"Yes. They're there. I can see them. Clear as moonlight."
She looks genuinely baffled. I almost believe her.
She shrugs. "I'm sure it's temporary."
I narrow my eyes. My fingers twitch.
"It's not. The vampire one, maybe. It's unstable. New. But the werewolf one?"
I point to the solid golden cord.
"That one is a mate bond."
"Oh," she says, blinking like I just told her the weather.
She looks around the forest, wind ruffling her hair. A stray leaf flutters to the ground beside her boot.
"Okay. Let's say they are. What about it?"
I gape at her.
She turns her gaze on me. It's steady. Calm. So unlike what I'm used to.
"Isn't a bond the ultimate form of love?" she says.
"Why would I be against that?"
Something inside me tugs. Painfully.
"Yeah," I murmur. "Right."
My shoulders drop. The tension seeps out of me like draining water.
I swallow thickly. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."
Arabella studies me. Then, in a surprisingly soft gesture, she brushes my hair behind one pointed ear. Her fingers linger on my temple, and for a second, I forget how to breathe.
"You're si cute," she says with a small smirk.
I clear my throat and look away.
"Let's go to class," I mutter. "Didn't you say you had class?"
She walks ahead of me, the morning light catching on her glossy ponytail.
And behind her, those golden and crimson threads still stretch out, trailing after her like fate's fingers.
I shove my hands into my pockets, falling into step behind her.