When she frowned, Eros quickly let her hand go even though that was the last thing he wanted to do.
Elia awkwardly took her hand back as she said, "I can never fully know how you feel, Eros. I only know that you never wanted this mate bond, and it is affecting you in ways you probably don't like. I'm sorry you are going through this."
Eros waited. He didn't know where she was going with this. Was the pain from the incomplete bond painful? Yes. Was staying away and not being able to touch her a torture beyond words? That too was true. However, if he was being true to himself, he had never once felt bad about finding his true mate. Scared yes, but not unwilling. At least not until his brothers convinced him otherwise. Sam especially was so deep in his ambitions that he rejected the very notion of mate bond and their human mate.
