Page 49 of Dark Sold Mate

“You had no right,” Elle said firmly. “You're not allowed to make decisions on my behalf. Just like you had no right to drag me back here and force me into a bond.”

“I know I have deprived you of your choices. I realize that I have been bossy and domineering. But Elle, I was only trying to do the best I could do.”

“You did what you considered the best,” Elle corrected. “There's a difference.”

“You're right. There is.” Silas took a step closer. “And by the way, I am sorry. I should have allowed August to do what he wanted and let you decide on your own.”

The unexpected apology threw Elle off-balance. She was ready to hear him justify his actions. Not to admit his faults.

“When did you find out where I was?”

“Same time as August. Two years after you left. He was desperate to get in touch with you.” Silas's expression softened. “I asked him where you had been living, what you had been doing. He informed me that you had an apartment, a job in a diner, that you were apparently doing alright. So I told him to leave you alone.”

“You did not want to know more about my life?”

“No.” Silas met her eyes. “Because had I known more, I would have been tempted to show up and apologize, or I would have added insult to injury. So I instructed August to leave you in peace. I thought I was giving you freedom.”

“Freedom does not mean abandonment, Silas.”

“I know that now.”

They stood in the office, staring at each other, the room filled with everything they couldn't say.

They were facing each other with things to say that were not said. Elle felt her anger conflict with something softer that she didn't want to think about.

“Did you ever ask August about me?”

Silas hesitated. “Sometimes. Not often. I did not wish to appear—” he paused, apparently at a loss. “I did not want to appear to be obsessed with the girl I had rejected.”

“But you were. You thought about me.”

“Every day,” Silas admitted. “But I never acted on it because I thought it was what you needed.”

Elle opened her mouth to answer, to say he was mistaken, that she needed to have somebody with her during those trying times.

But then the world tilted.

Her vision became blurred, and images flashed through her mind in quick and disjointed flashes. She saw a bright golden thread, and her magic was dormant like a coiled snake waiting to strike.

And suddenly she understood. The magic would work only when the mate bond was complete. When she and Silas completed it by having sex.

The vision showed her what followed. Her magic growing and becoming something useful and powerful. The gift of being able to see the past and the future as well.

All these could happen if she had sex with Silas.

Elle gasped, her eyes snapped open, and her legs shook. Strong arms grabbed her before she fell.

“Elle!” Silas's voice sounded muffled and so far away. “Elle, stay with me. What happened? Was it another vision?”

Elle blinked and shook her head. She felt dizzy and suddenly weak.

“I'm okay,” she managed. “Just... give me a second.”

Silas picked her up and took her to the couch in his office. Then he rested on his knees, his eyes concerned.

“What did you see?” he asked.

Elle's heart raced. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't own up to the fact that her magic was attached to their mate bond, that the only way in which they could release the full potential of her powers is by sleeping with him.