Page 37 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

Nyx

I ’m going to kill her. I don’t always like my nickname—‘killer.’ But in this moment, I’ve never wanted to earn that nickname more.

Lumi whimpers as I carry her body, covered in red bruises, up to my bedroom. The others follow without me even having to speak to them. It feels like deja vu. We were just here in this room healing, but this time it’s her healing instead of me. I much prefer it to be the other way around.

“Lumi, where does it hurt the worst?” Riven asks, looking her over from head to toe.

She moans, but can’t get any words out. I push inside her head, needing to gather information for him so he can stop her pain. As soon as I’m inside, I’m gasping for air. Each breath feels like I’m inhaling fire, making it impossible to take a deep breath.

“All of her ribs are broken, and she can barely breathe because of it,” I say.

Riven nods, placing his hands over her chest. As he starts to work, the runes on her body come alive, lighting up all over her naked body like drawings slowly coming to life.

“What’s happening to her?” Sylara asks.

“Her runes are responding to my magic. They are trying to help me heal her,” Riven says.

I glance around the room at everyone here, all watching her as worried as they were when it was me on the table. My eyes stop on Kael, who looks like he’s about to pass out at the sight of her.

“Lumi is strong. She’s going to be okay,” I say.

“I know, but I’m tired of her having to be strong. You have no idea what she’s been through,” Kael says.

“With Ambrose?”

Kael’s jaw tenses. “Her entire life.”

I frown, having no idea what he’s talking about. But now isn’t the time to question him. I need to be here for Lumi like she was here for me.

I slip back into her mind, filling it with thoughts of moonlight, snow, crisp air, and nightfall—all of her comforting things.

I don’t know if it’s me or Riven who helps her finally take an easy breath, but the entire room takes a collective exhale when she does.

This is the first sign that she’s going to be okay.

I continue to flood her mind with things I know make her happy as I sit on the edge of the bed, softly tracing the runes on her arms with my fingers.

Finally, Riven stops and gives me a nod. “Everything is put back where it’s supposed to be, but she’ll be sore for the rest of the night at least. She needs to rest.” He gives me a look.

I growl. “I’ll make sure she gets rest.”

“Good.” He responds. “Now, let me work on you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You carried her in the sunlight back to the house in your vampire form. I know you’re hurting. Let me try to help you.”

“You can’t. Your magic doesn’t work on my vampire problems. And I’m fine. I was just in intense pain while I was carrying her, but nothing long-lasting. And it was worth it.” I look down at Lumi, whose eyes are still closed, but I know she’s listening to our conversation.

Riven hesitates, as if he wants to say more. Then he says, “Everyone out.”

“We can’t leave them alone, they’ll fuck like rabbits and that can’t be good for Lumi’s healing,” Brax says.

Talonis chuckles.

Sylara hits Brax on the back of the head.

Riven rolls his eyes.

And Kael looks at me like he wants to murder me.

“I won’t touch her. Scouts honor,” I say.

“You hurt her, you die,” Kael says with a longing glance back at Lumi, who still hasn’t opened her eyes. Although, her cheeks are a gorgeous shade of pink from everyone talking about us fucking.

“Get out,” I say.

“Is that an alpha command or mind control? I can’t tell the difference,” Kael snorts.

“Out,” I growl.

Finally, everyone leaves. “You can open your eyes now.”

As I say it, Lumi opens her eyes, and I get to see her gorgeous, sparkly blue eyes staring up at me. I don’t ask her how she’s feeling. I’m still in her mind, still connected to her, so I can feel everything she’s feeling.

“Everyone is okay? No pack members or vampires were killed?”

I shake my head. “Everyone survived.”

“Good.” She hesitates, and I can feel the anxiety rising in her mind, but she’s not thinking clearly enough about her question for me to understand what her concern is about.

“What is it?”

She bites her lower lip and then asks, “And Ambrose?”

Oh.

I sit down in the chair next to the bed, giving her space. “I don’t know. You should ask him yourself how he’s doing.” I hesitate before saying the next part, “He’s the reason we’re all alive, unharmed.”

She squints her eyes at me. “What do you mean?”

I sigh. “He let me hurt him like that for me to make the trade for you.”

“But he came with Isolde. He’s on her side. He thinks you’re mind controlling me. He thinks I’m still his mate. Why not let Isolde kidnap me?”

“You’d have to ask him. But from my perspective, he doesn’t want you to get hurt in order for him to accomplish his goals.”

Her mind grows warm like a small fireplace has been lit in the corner, bringing a warm, earthy scent to her mind. She pushes me back, my cold, shadows coming with me.

I pull myself out of her head, giving her the privacy she seems to want in this moment. I know they are talking, and I try to distract myself, but it’s impossible to do so.

“Ambrose is alive.”

“Good.”

“It was strange being in my wolf form. I don’t know whether to thank him for that or still hate him.”

I’m silent, letting her process her own feelings.

“We’re running out of time, aren’t we?” she asks.

I nod. “Two weeks. We have two weeks until the next full moon. Until your next chance at breaking the curse.”

Ask me. Ask me everything.

She stares at me, really stares. “What?” I ask.

“I heard that. Your inner thoughts. I know you weren’t trying to talk to me, but I heard them anyway.”

I’m silent, just watching her decide what she’s going to do with that information.

“I can’t ask you.”

I wait for her to say more, but she doesn’t. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t ask you. Call it intuition or part of the prophecy, but I’ve had dreams about both of you.

And every time they make it clear that I shouldn’t ask you about your history with Ambrose.

I shouldn’t ask why you hate each other.

I shouldn’t ask how you became a vampire and him a witch.

I shouldn’t ask more about your curses. It will interfere with figuring out who my mate is. ”

She takes a deep breath. “I want to know. I want to know what pain you endured that made what those witches did to you barely affect you. I want to know how you became who you are. I want to know the truth about what happened between you and Ambrose. I want to know, should I side with the witches or vampires, or should I only care about the wolf shifters? But I have to be patient. If I ask those questions too soon…”

I flip into her mind, needing to hear the words she won’t say out loud.

“I’m the spark that will start a war. A war that only one of you will survive. And if I choose whose side I’m on too soon, if I choose my mate wrong, it’s more than just about breaking the curse. We will all be doomed by the gods. They’ll swallow the earth whole—destroying everything.”

“When do you get to ask?”

“After I’ve figured out and accepted who my mate is.”

I want to ask her how close she is to figuring that out, but her not asking any of the questions she wants to ask makes it clear that she doesn’t have the answer.

And as much as I try to reassure her that it’s her choice, the gods have already chosen her mate.

What she does with the information about her mate is her real choice.

She should know the truth before she has to make any decisions. But for now, I’ll respect that her intuition or prophecy or whatever is telling her she shouldn’t ask the questions yet.

Her eyes go up and down my body, heat returning to her eyes as her tongue licks over her lips.

“What are you doing?” I ask her.

“Looking at your body. You do realize you’re naked, right?”

“So are you.”

She rolls her eyes and pulls the covers over her body. “I was injured and being healed. What’s your excuse?”

“I was making sure that you were alright.”

“And now?”

“Now I haven’t bothered to go get clothes, but if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to have to because if anyone hears us even doing so much as kissing or the bed sheets wrinkling, they are going to rip my balls off.”

She chuckles. “They won’t.”

“We will!” Sylara shouts from downstairs.

I look at her with a raised eyebrow. “See?”

Lumi pouts. “Stop cock-blocking me!”

“Then stop fucking when you should be healing!” Riven shouts.

“We haven’t even fucked once!” Lumi shouts back. Then looks at me. “Can’t you kick them out?”

“No, unfortunately.”

“Aren’t you their alpha?” she teases.

“Rest, we have time for that later.” I shift in my chair as my cock grows hard at the thought of it.

She sighs. “We don’t.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Why not?” I try not to sound too upset at the prospect. Did she choose him? Does she not want to anymore? All of my self-doubts return in an instant.

“Because as soon as Riven gives me the clear, we are going to talk to every seer we can find. Most witch covens have one, so we are going to see each and every one of them until we find a way to break the curse for all creatures. Until I know once and for all who my mate is. Until I figure out how to get my wolf back. Until I get to ask the questions that are burning inside me.”

I nod, knowing it’s what we need to do.

“And we are taking them all with us.”

I groan. “Do we have to?”

She sighs. “Yes, I’m not letting you risk your life like that anymore. We’re stronger together. We need answers.” She shifts her tone of voice, making it louder and directed at them downstairs, “And since they are hell bent on not letting us touch each other.”

She looks at me. “I’m not sure when we are going to get to be together.”

I groan, I let my voice carry, “Everyone, get out.”

“No!” they all shout back.