Page 21 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

Nyx

S ylara moves to my right side as we watch Kael and Lumi embrace again.

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” she says, wrinkling up her nose like she just tasted something sour.

I ignore her, listening in on Kael and Lumi’s conversation.

“I need to talk to Nyx, but are you sure you’re okay?” she asks him.

He nods. “Are you okay? Really okay?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you make a deal with him? Were you under duress? Did he threaten you?”

“He’s tasted my blood. He can control my mind. He doesn’t need to make a deal with me, but he did. Making a deal was the right decision.”

Kael frowns but doesn’t say anything more as he eyes me watching them. Instead, he pulls Lumi tighter, his hand sliding dangerously close to the curve of her ass. “I’m just so happy you’re safe.” He kisses the top of her head.

She closes her eyes and smiles into his side. “I’m happy you’re here. I’ve missed you. We have so much to catch up on.”

And then he whispers so low that I think he believes I can’t hear him. “I’ll help you escape. I won’t let anything happen to you. I love you.”

I turn to Sylara, shutting them out as heat bursts through my body in powerful waves. I want to strangle that male’s neck, but I won’t. “Escort Kael to his room and make sure he has everything he needs.”

“Which room should I put him in? The dungeon or—”

“The room next to Lumi’s.”

She looks at me like I grew two heads. “But they aren’t mates, you shouldn’t be encouraging their feelings to grow for each other. She—”

“I trust Lumi, and right now, she needs him.”

I swallow hard, pushing the strange thoughts racing through my brain, telling me I should listen to Sylara and put him in the dungeons, but not before ripping his throat out and cutting his hands off so he can never touch what’s mine again.

I shake my head at the ridiculous word that floats around my brain— mine . She’s not mine, not my mate.

Sylara says something to Kael that earns her a swipe from the male. She dodges the move easily and twists his arm behind his back.

Lumi’s eyes go wide, but Kael just cackles, and Lumi backs down, watching them curiously.

I motion with my head for the others to leave behind Sylara and Kael, who we can hear bickering the entire way up the stairs, until it’s just Lumi and me left in the gym.

“Is Kael really safe with her?”

I shrug. “They were both like this the last time Kael was here, and they both survived. I expect the same this time.”

She frowns. “Promise me you won’t hurt him.”

“I already told you the blood deal doesn’t work that way.”

She shakes her head. “No, just promise me with your words.”

“I’ll do my very best not to hurt him. But I can’t guarantee anything if he keeps putting his hands all over you like that.”

A slow smile creeps over her lips as she stands with her hands on her hips, her tight shorts and tank top still glistening with sweat from her workout. She swings her silvery hair back and forth in her ponytail.

“You’re jealous? You can’t be serious.”

Trust me, I wish I weren’t. But I don’t respond to her.

“Kael is nothing to me. He’s my best friend. The only connection I have left to home. I thought he could be my mate once, but I was wrong. And he doesn’t share any romantic feelings about me.”

“He does, but that’s beside the point. What matters is where he puts his hands, especially around other vampires who might think I can’t keep my mate in check.”

“But I’m not your mate! Even you said you don’t believe I am.”

“Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that they keep thinking you are to keep you safe.”

“Well, Kael hugging me isn’t going to change their thoughts.”

“Him grabbing your ass will.”

She glares at me, about to protest, and then she realizes where his hand was and that she has no grounds for arguing anything with me. A second later, her face starts to turn green again.

“Tell me about your dream so you can stop looking at me like you want to puke.”

She sighs and then slinks to the floor, putting her head between her knees as if she can’t until she pukes first. “I’m really regretting the deal we made.”

I slide to the floor next to her, offering her a cup of water.

She takes it and chugs it.

“The symptoms will ease soon enough. And you got plenty out of the deal, mainly the promise that I won’t use my mind control on you, remember?”

She nods, breathing heavily. “Just tell me about your dream.”

“I don’t know where to start or even if it’s a prophecy.”

“The deal obviously does, so just start anywhere.”

I put my hand on her back, gently rubbing to try to relax her.

“In my dream, I was running through a thick forest, running from something that was chasing me. I run so fast that I’m barely able to stay upright.”

“Are you in your human or wolf form?”

“Human.”

I nod, waiting for her to continue. “Toward the end of my dream, I come to a fork in the road. To my left is icy cold snow. There’s a trail of blood through the path.

It’s nightfall with only a sliver of blood red moon shining on the path.

To my right, the night is lighted with a bright full moon lighting the warm path that feels warm, almost too warm. ”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Which path do you choose?”

“I don’t. The dream stops before I choose.”

She’s lying; she’s not ready to share more. But the deal won’t let her lie without consequences.

I don’t want to know which path she chooses. Neither is a good choice.

I’m not ready to know, I tell the universe.

I watch her carefully and see the color in her face returning as she lifts her head from between her legs. The symptoms will return, but by sharing some of the dream and expressing my reluctance to have more, it should ease the symptoms for a while.

“I had a dream too. We should go north soon. There is a seer there who has more of the prophecy.”

“North it is then, after Kael is initiated and I know he’s safe.”

“None of us will be safe until the curse is broken. Restlessness is growing in the packs and covens. A war will break out soon if the curse isn’t lifted.

Even if it is, if the curse is only broken for one species, then an all-out war will definitely happen.

But maybe that’s what the gods have been wanting all along—a war to entertain themselves with. ”

“What will Kael’s initiation require?”

“His loyalty mainly. He’ll have to pledge it in front of the entire Bloodmoon pack and any vampires who decide to show up, which I suspect will be many now that they think I have a mate with whom I can break the curse.”

“The vampires—”

“Will behave. I’m their lord. They will do what I say.”

“The vampires that attacked me before.”

“Weren’t mine—they belonged to a different house. Only Nightfall vampires will be in attendance.”

“Do you really believe we could be mates?”

“I believe anything is possible. Mates are not based on love. They are based on strengths as a unit. How equal and balanced a pair is. How it would change the world, that sort of thing. So sure, we could be mates. You and Ambrose could be mates. The gods could have paired you with any man they desired. They could be cruel and decide your mate is the man you hate most in the world, a killer, someone who killed someone you loved.”

She stares at me, thinking my words over before staring down at her hands.

“In my dream, I always go right. I always go toward the moonlight, the warmth, the evergreens, the magic. It feels like home to me. But after everything, I’m terrified of choosing that path.

If he’s my mate, then I’ll spend the rest of my life being with a controlling monster. ”

“But if you choose left, you’ll be with a controlling killer. I get it.”

She looks up at me. “You’ve both done unforgivable things. I don’t like either of my choices.”

“Maybe the two of us aren’t your only choices.”

She shakes her head. “It’s not about having a choice at all, though, is it? My mate was decided by fate, by the gods. I don’t get a choice. To break the curse, I have to accept my mate.”

“There’s always a choice. Maybe you were given two mates because the gods wanted you to choose.”

“How do I do that, though?”

“I can’t answer that for you. All I can say is that I don’t think you really believe that either of us has done anything so unforgivable that you wouldn’t accept us as mates to break the curse.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because if you did, you’d sever our link with you. You wouldn’t be having dreams that allow you to choose. There would only be one of us in your head. You still have a choice.”