Page 13 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

Lumi

T he room spins as I watch Nyx soar out the door, as if he can literally fly.

It’s just a combination of him moving fast and my brain not being able to keep up with his movements, given how much blood I’ve lost. As soon as he’s gone, I let out the blood-curdling scream I’ve been holding in since I got this gash.

Fuck, it hurts.

I stare down at the large cut oozing blood on the left side of my abdomen.

It’s large, raw, and painful, but not as agonizing as it was when I first got it.

Shifting did help partially close the wound.

I can see spots where my skin has started pulling together to close the wound and keep my blood loss to a minimum.

But without treatment, it will definitely get infected being this open.

I lay my head back on the pillow, waiting for the healer Nyx will send my way. He said Sylara would be bringing them. Nausea rises in my throat at the thought of having to interact with her again.

He didn’t use mind control.

At least, that’s what he said. I don’t know what to believe anymore. All I know is that I need this pain to end in order to think at all.

There’s a knock at the door, which isn’t something I expected. I expected Sylara to just rudely enter.

“Come in,” I strain through another agonizing scream.

The door flies open, and Sylara and Riven are standing in the doorway.

“Where’s the healer?” I ask through gritted teeth. I’m pretty sure I’m going to pass out soon from the pain, and I’d rather know and agree to who’s working on me before I do. I can’t handle any more of my bodily autonomy being taken from me.

“That would be me,” Riven says with a happy smirk and a braid through his long, thick curls that hang down his back.

I frown. “You? I thought you were a wolf shifter? Aren’t healers witches?”

“Ambrose isn’t the only wolf shifter with witch powers.

Although I’m pretty sure Ambrose made a deal with the witches to gain his powers, mine I acquired through my blood relations.

My great-great-grandmother was a witch. I have powers, but have really only focused my energy on healing. The rest of it I’m not interested in.”

Ambrose made a deal to gain his witch powers. Why didn’t I realize that sooner?

I move to sit up, but the sharp pain shoots through my body like a freight train, knocking me back down.

Riven frowns.

“Am I needed here?” Sylara asks curtly, speaking for the first time.

Riven and I both answer in unison, “No.”

She rolls her eyes before spinning out of the room.

“Don’t worry about Sylara. She’s like that with everyone except Nyx.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “Are they an item?”

Riven chuckles. “Hell no, more like brother and sister.” His gaze finds my wound, but if he has any thoughts about how hard it will be to fix, he keeps them to himself.

His eyes meet mine, completely ignoring the fact that I’m naked. He hasn’t glanced anywhere except my wound and my eyes. But I can see his gentle request to heal me.

I nod, and his smile returns to his face.

Standing over my body in his large, intimidating frame, he seems better suited to a battlefield than healing.

“How do you take your coffee?”

“What?” I ask in confusion.

He chuckles. “How do you take your coffee, Lumi?”

“Um…”

“You don’t know? Or you don’t drink the stuff? I don’t usually bother. I find there are far better energy sources to wake me up if you know what I’m saying,” he says with a wink.

I roll my eyes at him.

“But most shifters still prefer the stuff. So how do you take it?”

“With a lot of milk.”

He nods. “Me too if I have to suffer through drinking the bitter sludge. Alcohol of choice?”

“Tequila shots.”

He smiles. “So you’ll burn to get drunk, but not to wake up in the morning. I like your thinking.”

A twinge of a smile tugs at my lips.

“Hot or cold shower?”

“Hot, who prefers a cold shower?” I ask in disgust.

“Lots of wolf shifters do since we run hot and need a way to cool down after shifting.”

“Oh,” I say, realizing I’ve never really had that problem since I can’t control my own wolf. My entire mood shifts.

He sighs, the sound laced with thoughts he doesn’t dare to speak. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up.”

I shake my head, not wanting to talk about it.

“I’ll bring you some clothes you can put on and some food. You should take it easy tonight, but by tomorrow morning, you should be back to your full strength after a night of rest. No reason to have to lie around in bed after that unless you need to sulk.”

“What?” I stare down at the gash, or rather, where the gash once was. Other than a small pink line on my skin, there is nothing to show that there was even a wound there a few moments ago.

“You healed me,” I say, my eyes wide as I stare at the faint scar.

He chuckles. “That was what I was sent in here to do.”

“Yes, but…I didn’t even notice what you were doing. And I didn’t expect that to be so painless or quick.”

He shrugs. “What can I say, I’m good at the art of distraction. And flesh wounds like this are pretty easy to heal. No major organ damage, just needing to convince some tissue and skin to pull back together and not much else. Easy enough.”

I blink several times, still in disbelief. “You must be a pretty powerful witch.”

He grimaces when I say that. “I’m a healer, not a witch. My powers are limited to healing. I don’t belong to a coven. The amount of witch blood in me is small. I’m a wolf shifter through and through.”

“Sorry.” I run my hand over my smooth skin. “Thank you.”

He nods. A few minutes later, he returns with all of my favorite foods and a new pile of clothes to choose from.

“How?” I ask when I spot the pad thai and bowl of miso soup.

“I’m good at reading people, and I’m a good cook.”

I stare down at the food in disbelief. He leaves before I can say anything else, and despite having wanted to clothe myself for hours, I dig into the food first. It tastes divine.

I scarf it down quickly, then pick out some leggings and an oversized black T-shirt to still have access to my scar just in case.

The second I get my clothes on, the tears hit hard, spilling fast, steady, and unyielding. My body is done trying to hold them back.

I cry for the loss of my wolf that I can’t access. I’ll never be able to control when I shift. Ambrose will always control her.

I cry for the loss of my mate. A man I still love despite everything. That didn’t just vanish when he betrayed me.

I cry that Nyx has the power to control my mind whenever he wants. I believe him when he says he didn’t earlier, but it doesn’t mean he won’t as soon as he needs something from me.

I cry at everything I’ve lost. Rowena. My father. My pack. I don’t even have Kael to talk to.

I cry about my haunting memories of the Moonlight pack’s initiation. A pack I no longer want to belong to.

I’m nothing but a human—a pathetic, weak human.

“Fuck!” I scream at the top of my lungs, letting everything out. The tears slow, only because there are no tears left in my ducts.

I snap my mouth shut. I will not be weak. I will not let anyone else control me, not anymore.

I don’t know what I’m going to do, just that I have to do something—anything.

I leave the room in a flurry, not really sure what I’m doing, just following my intuition. I don’t know my way around this huge castle. I don’t know where I’m headed or why, but as I move, I just know that I’m headed in the right direction. So I keep going.

I find myself in the basement, standing in front of a set of closed double doors. I don’t know what’s behind them, but I know this is where I’m supposed to be right now. Whatever is behind it is exactly what I need.

I don’t knock; I just push the doors open.

The lights are turned off, but my wolf eyesight still works. It’s the only part of me that is better than a human.

It’s a massive gym.

There are weights and cardio machines on one far side, a sparring ring in the middle, and a few punching bags on the other.

I walk toward the punching bags, not even bothering to turn the lights on.

When I reach the first one, I let my hand run down the cool leather.

Emeric taught me the very basics of how to throw a punch, but I never got very good at it.

I never had enough time. Even if I did, I never had the will to take my training seriously enough.

Now, it’s all I have. I’m human. I live in a world of wolf shifters, witches, and vampires. I can’t rely on my wolf abilities. I have to learn how to rely on my human strength. It’s all I have left.

I throw a punch.

The bag barely moves, and my hand already feels bruised, but it also feels satisfying.

So I do it again. I feel a gentle tightening of my skin across my scar, but it barely aches.

Riven healed me well. The minuscule amount of pain doesn’t stop me from hitting the bag again and again.

I don’t think as I throw punches, but if I hadn’t cried earlier, I know this release of sorts would have done it.

I keep going until I’m breathless and hugging the bag to keep myself from collapsing.

“It’s not going to be enough,” his voice sounds in my head.

I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my teeth at the invasion. “Get out.”

“It’s not going to be enough,” Nyx says out loud this time.

I don’t have to open my eyes to know where he is in the room.

“So why should I even bother, right?”

“That’s not what I said. You should train every day. Learn all of your strengths and weaknesses. We all should. But it alone won’t be enough to protect you.”

I open my eyes and turn, watching him circling me in the dark. The question that’s been bothering me the most escapes my lips. “Can you use your mind control to control when I shift? To control my wolf?”

He pauses for a second. “Yes.”

I shake my head, hating that the universe sent me two mating bonds to choose from and then gave both of them the power to control me. Fucking unbelievable.

He doesn’t bother to tell me he won’t. I know he will if he needs me to. And I hate it.

“And you still think you’re my mate if you’re willing to control me?”

He doesn’t show me any of his feelings. His expression doesn’t change. “I think the gods are playing games with us. Making it as difficult as possible to break the curses. I’m not sure what to believe anymore.”

I frown, but he’s right. I’m also completely lost when it comes to who my mate is or if I even have one. I share a link with Ambrose and Nyx that allows me to communicate with them mentally. That doesn’t mean anything. I fell in love with Ambrose, but that doesn’t mean anything either.

“I do think there is a reason that the three of us are linked, though.”

My frown deepens at his words. “Pretty sure it just means we were meant to kill each other. Be mortal enemies and all that. Entertainment for the gods.”

He shakes his head. “Tell me what you know. Help me find the way to break the curses.”

I stare back at the punching bag covered in my sweat. “And why would I do that? I’m not cursed. I’m not a wolf shifter, or a witch, or a vampire. I’m a human. Seems like you all being cursed would actually help me.”

“You’re still a wolf shifter. Nothing has changed, snow wolf.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not.”

“You are. A part of you was stolen from you, that’s all. It doesn’t mean you can’t get it back.”

“How?” I ask, hating that he’s giving me hope.

“Help me break the curses and I’ll help you regain control of your wolf.”

“I don’t trust you. You’re a vampire. You can control my mind—what I think, everything I do. You have no reason to make a deal with me when you can just control me or succumb to your bloodlust and drain every drop of blood I have.”

He sniffs me and wrinkles his nose. “For one, you didn’t shower and smell of that wretched alpha, so you don’t have to worry about me wanting to drink your blood.

And two, I’m giving you a choice for me not to use my mind control on you.

If you prefer I use it and you get nothing out of it, then fine by me. ”

“I hate you,” I snap. I should have showered. I should have washed Ambrose away, but I’m not ready yet.

“I know.”

“You’re not really giving me a choice. You’re still controlling me. You’re no better than him,” I say, not able to say Ambrose’s name.

“I know.”

“I don’t care about the curses. I should go live my life with the humans and forget about helping any of you.

” Maybe my father was right, or had seen some premonition, some prophecy of my fate, and he was trying to save me from this outcome.

A tear wells in the corner of my eye at the thought of never getting to talk to my father again.

Not being able to get his advice. Not even really knowing how he died.

“Only one species can break the curse. Vampires, witches, or wolf shifters—not all three. The first to break the curse gets their curse lifted, the rest are destined to live with their curses forever until their species dies out,” he says.

My jaw falls slack. He can’t be speaking the truth. Why would he share that with me? Why trust me?

“I know you have your own pieces of the prophecy that no one else has shared with you. And I’m not asking you to share anything—yet. Just visit a seer with me. See if you can work with me long enough for us to start putting together the pieces of the puzzle.”

His circling is starting to make me dizzy, but it doesn’t stop me from hanging on to his every word.

“You’re lying when you say you don’t care about the curses.

You do care. And you’re going to want to ensure the wolf shifters break the curse first, because if they don’t, they’re doomed.

Whether you can control your shifting doesn’t matter—you’re still a snow wolf.

And you are the key to breaking the curse. ”

I’m so silent that I can pick up the steady beat of his heart through the silence, even with my very human ears.

And then, it quickens.

“Fuck,” he says.

He turns from me and goes to a cabinet behind him, unlocking it. He digs through it before coming up with something shiny, glinting through the limited light in the room. He walks over and holds it out to me, a blade coming into my view.

I grasp the handle, unsure of what’s happening.

“We have to go, but you should carry a blade with you at all times, to act as your claws when you can’t shift. I’ll train you in the best way to use it soon enough.”

He turns toward the door, expecting me to follow.

“Where are we going? What’s happening?”

“Vampires,” he says the single word, and then vanishes.