Page 3 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

Lumi

F orever —that word is going to live in my fucking head forever. Gods, it can’t be true. He must be bluffing. But then, why would he? He’s a vampire and an alpha wolf shifter; if he had to drink a drop of my blood every day to control me, he easily could.

Forever —that’s how long I’m under his control.

I have to kill him.

It’s the only way.

But what if…

No, no what ifs—Nyx dies.

Nyx stares at me as if he can read my mind. As if he knows the plan that’s slowly forming in my head.

I wait for him to attack me or to command me not to kill him.

Instead, with the blink of an eye, he vanishes and returns before I can even process that he’s moved.

I gasp when I see clothes on the bed and a small tray of food on the nightstand next to me. He put them there so quickly, it was as if they instantly appeared.

“Get dressed and eat something. Then you can plot my death more easily,” he says.

I frown. “Is that your mind control telling me to?”

“Does it feel like my mind control is forcing you?”

“No.”

“Well, then.”

“Alpha command?”

“No. Unlike Ambrose, I rarely use an alpha command on anyone.”

“Sure you don’t.”

He huffs. “Get dressed, eat, or don’t—it’s up to you.”

He’s gone before I can get in another word.

I scramble for the clothes, pulling the first top and pants off the pile I find and yanking them on my body as quickly as possible. I’m not going to be vulnerable again.

And then I eye the tray of food as I climb back into the sunlight-drenched bed. I’m safe in the sunlight, or as safe as I can be around a vampire that has drunk a drop of my blood and could tell me to jump out the window to my death at any moment.

There are eggs, oatmeal, waffles, and fruit. I glance at the cups—coffee, tea, orange juice.

It’s thoughtful of him to include choices in my food when I don’t get to pick where I live or who my mate is.

Nyx can’t be my mate; he can’t be. I don’t know why he can talk to me in my head like Ambrose can, but it doesn’t matter. He’s not my mate.

I pick up the cup of tea and take a long sip, letting the warmth of the liquid sink into my body like a warm hug.

The tears fall.

And fall and fall and fall.

I pull my knees up to my chest and grip the cup of tea like it’s the only thing holding me together.

Rowena’s gone. I can’t bring her back.

Ambrose is hundreds of miles away.

As much as I love him, how much do I really know him?

And Kael, my best friend, who I would have talked to about all of this, isn’t here.

My body shakes as grief overtakes me, wracking through my entire body.

When I’ve cried all the tears my body could possibly produce, I get up, use the ensuite bathroom, have my breath taken away by the bathroom’s beauty, of course, and then make a plan.

I don’t hear anyone outside my door, but I can’t tell how many people are in the house. I don’t feel any compulsion, any mind control, or a command holding me to this room. I don’t feel any magic when I place my hand against the door.

I don’t know where we are, but based on the oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants I’m in, I’m guessing north.

I swallow at that thought.

But I can shift now. I just need to find my way out of this house, then I can shift and run until I find Ambrose and the rest of the Moonlight pack. Killing Nyx will have to wait.

I open the door, surprised to find no guards posted outside. But I can hear soft voices echoing through the hallways—the house is far from empty. There is no way that their wolf or vampire hearing could have missed me opening the door.

I have to try. I can’t hide in this room, crying for a month until Nyx drags me to the next marking ceremony under the full moon and uses his compulsion to force me into mating with him.

Energy surges through my body, roaring with a single determination: I kill Nyx tonight.

I like the idea even though I know it’s not possible.

I don’t have a plan—not really. Still, I keep walking down the maze of hallways in this house that feels more like a castle. I walk toward the voices instead of running away from them. Running never gets me anywhere. I’m not going to make that mistake again. I’m going to face them head-on.

I stop as the voices grow closer and listen.

“What are you doing with the girl, Nyx?”

“Lumi’s the key to breaking the curse.”

“I know that—but she’s Ambrose’s mate. Holding her hostage doesn’t seem like the best way to break the curse.”

“If I had let Ambrose mark her, she’d be dead, and the curse would never be broken,” Nyx answers before pausing. “Are you going to join us or just hide behind the wall all night, Lumi?”

My heart jumps in my throat, but I step around the corner of the wall. I inhale sharply at the sight of five pairs of eyes in what appears to be the living room, all with a different drink in their hand and all staring at me like they want to kill me.

Vampires—all of them.

Shift.

I’m not powerless, not this time. I can shift.

I let the feelings flood my body as I tell my wolf to come out. But nothing happens. No claws form. No canines lengthen. No fur or thick muscles appear.

Nyx cocks his head at me as if he knows I’m trying to shift but can’t.

Did he fuck with me? Compel me to not be able to shift? What’s going on?

But if I can’t shift, then I’m defenseless against them. Any one of them could kill me with a single bite, and there is nothing I could do to defend myself.

Fear overtakes me in a way I haven’t felt before. It wraps around me, suffocating me under its merciless weight.

I’m not afraid I won’t survive the night—I will. Nyx has made it clear that he doesn’t want me dead—at least not yet.

No, I’m petrified that I’m irrevocably broken, and I won’t ever be able to break the curse. Even if I escape Nyx and return to Ambrose, the same situation will repeat itself.

I won’t be able to shift when it matters most during the marking ceremony. Ambrose won’t be able to mark me as his mate. He’ll never be able to love me without risking killing me.

We’ll never be able to break the curse.

Nyx opens his mouth to speak to me, but I don’t hear him. Nothing matters if I can’t shift when I need to, nothing.

“Lumi? Are you okay? What’s wrong? Your fear is overwhelming me. What’s wrong?” the voice is clear and sharp in my head, but it’s not the man in front of me speaking into my head. It’s Ambrose.

I blink, once, twice, unsure if I imagined his voice or if it’s really him.

“Lumi? Talk to me,” Ambrose says again.

“Is it really you?”

“Yes, my queen. It’s me. Thank gods you can still talk to me. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. Nyx has me at his house. Are you close?”

Please, gods, let him be close. Let this nightmare be over before it really begins. I need him. I need him to help me figure out why I can’t shift.

But his answer comes in a single word that stings deep into my heart.

“No.”