Page 38 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

Lumi

“ I f you don’t keep up, Kael, you’re going to be the one doing the blood offering,” Sylara barks out.

“I’m keeping up just fine. Somebody needs to be in the back to make sure we aren’t attacked from behind,” Kael says.

“And that somebody is Brax, not you,” she retorts.

“You do know that Nyx is in charge, not you, right?” Kael says.

Sylara huffs. “Nyx knows that I could challenge him for alpha and win at any time, I just don’t because I love him.”

“Riiiight,” Kael says real slow.

I give Nyx a knowing look but keep my mouth shut. He just shakes his head.

“Why did you think we should bring them all with us again?” Nyx asks in my head.

“So if you get poisoned again, I don’t have to carry your dead body miles by myself to be healed. We brought our healer with us this time.”

“I’d rather die than have to keep listening to them bicker.”

“I think they’re cute together. If they are bickering, then that means Kael can’t be hitting on me.”

“True, I take back all my words. I love them bickering.”

I laugh.

His eyes light up at the sight. “I really wish we hadn’t brought them with us, though.”

“Why’s that?”

Heat reflects in his eyes as they run up and down my body. “Because we never got to finish testing how compatible we are together.”

My panties are soaked, and my body flushed from that thought.

“Knock it off with the dirty thoughts. We’re here,” Sylara says.

“Such a cockblocker,” I mumble and shake my head.

She rolls her eyes. “Now really isn’t the time for that.”

“Maybe it is, how else are we supposed to know if we are mates or not?” Nyx asks.

“I’ve enjoyed fucking countless people, that doesn’t make them my mate,” Sylara says. “It proves nothing.”

I look between the two of them, feeling a bit of deja vu all over again. “The two of you haven’t…?”

“Gods, no. I wouldn’t touch the man. He’s like a big brother to me. I’d rather fight him than fuck him,” Sylara answers.

Nyx makes a disgusted face at the thought of fucking her. And for once, I believe them.

“They really are the epitome of professionals most of the time. They would never mix business with pleasure, but yes, they aren’t each other’s type,” Riven says.

My voice lowers. “Who are their types?”

“For Sylara, it’s men who like to be bossed around but secretly put her in her place.” My eyes flash to Kael.

“And Nyx?”

Riven smirks, his eyes going up and down my body. “You.”

I roll my eyes. “Before me.”

He shrugs. “It’s been a long time since he’s been with anyone.”

“How long?”

“Nyx, you’re doing the blood offering,” Sylara says, interrupting Riven.

“No, I will,” I say, walking toward them.

“You can’t.”

I cross my arms across my chest. “I can. They can’t hurt me, I’m the only one who can break the curse.”

“No, but they can kidnap you and use your blood to hold you hostage. The answer is no,” Sylara says.

I frown.

“She’s right,” Nyx says.

“I know she’s right.” I look from Nyx to the others, but I would never ask any of them to do the blood offering in his place.

“I’ll do it,” Kael says.

“No,” both Nyx and I say at the same time.

“Why not? I’m dispensable. No one needs me.”

“No, you’re my friend. I would never ask you to do that for me,” I say.

“I know, which is why I’m volunteering.”

I shake my head and look up at Nyx. “Nyx has this. That’s why I brought all of you with us. To help protect him. He’s the only one of us who can die and still live afterward. He’s the one who has to do it,” I say.

Nyx nods his agreement, and without hesitation, he starts walking to the village where the coven of witches lives. We all follow after him, flanking him on either side and behind him. They can take his blood, but we won’t let them take anything more.

“I’m here to offer my blood and talk to your seer,” Nyx says.

Slowly, one by one, witches come out of their homes to look at us. This coven seems smaller and quieter than others we have seen. Do they know the truth of the curse? Do they know that it can only be broken for one creature? Do they—

“We don’t need your blood, vampire,” a short-haired blonde witch says.

I frown. Fuck, this isn’t going to go well.

“You’re here to try to learn how to break the curse for all creatures. To stop the war that’s inevitable. There’s plenty of honor in that,” she continues.

I let out a slow breath. Thank gods.

“Come,” she says.

We all follow her as she leads us to the seer.

“This is Zya. She’s been expecting you.”

Nyx starts to enter, but the woman shakes her head. “Only the snow wolf.”

Nyx frowns. “Are you okay talking to her by yourself?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t like it. I can—”

“I don’t either, but I’ll be fine. You’ll all be right outside, and I can talk to you at any point. And the deal we made will ensure that I have to tell you everything.”

“I’m not worried about you hiding things from me. I’m just worried about you.”

“I have my blades, and you’ll be right here waiting for me. I’ll be fine.” I follow the seer into the house. She leads me through the house to a dark bedroom with a small full-sized bed in the center.

“Lie down,” Zya says with a husk to her voice.

I frown. “You know he’ll kill you if you hurt me.”

“I know, which is one of the many reasons I don’t plan on hurting you. I know what happened to the Mystic coven—how he killed all of them. I have no intention of my coven ending up that way. Now please, lie down. I can get a better reading if you’re relaxed.”

Reluctantly, I climb up on the bed and lie down as she continues to talk.

“Usually, seers can only get one or two questions answered, but as you can see by the wrinkles marking my skin, I’ve been doing this a long time before the curse. We used to be able to get many questions answered if we were patient. You’re important enough to try to get more answers.”

“Are you okay? You feel anxious,” Nyx asks.

“I’m fine.”

“What’s happening?”

“I’m lying down on a bed. She’s going to try to get multiple questions answered. She said to be patient. This could take a while.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know.”

“Clear your mind, no more talking to vampire boy.”

I do as she asks, clearing my mind as her magic gently seeps inside me.

She’s probably learning everything she can about me, not just trying to see the future.

But I let her get whatever information she wants because I’m desperate for someone to see a different fate.

Even if the cost is her learning my secrets.

“You can get up now,” she says suddenly.

My head is foggy, and I yawn like I just woke up from a long nap. “What happened?”

“You fell asleep.”

“How long?”

“Five hours.”

I shoot up. “Nyx, are you okay?”

“Yes, but it’s been taking everything in me not to come barreling through that door to come and get you. The only reason I haven’t is because your mind felt calm and safe.”

“I’m fine. We’re almost done.”

I turn to the seer. “What did you learn?”

“Answers you aren’t going to like.”

“Tell me.”

She eases herself back into her chair before taking a long drink from the water glass sitting on the nightstand. She looks exhausted as she stares into my eyes, like she’s about to break the news that someone I love has died.

“Your wolf is no longer yours to control. There is no way to get her back. She belongs to Ambrose.”

My lungs are being squeezed tight again, but this time it’s by my own doing, not a witch’s.

“There is no way to break the curse for everyone. You can’t even break it for two species—only one. The more powerful of the mating pair decides which species the curse is broken for.”

“Who’s my mate?” I ask.

She looks at me like I imagine a mother would look at her daughter.

“You already know the answer. Being someone’s mate isn’t about the person you love the most or are most attracted to.

It’s about fate, destiny, and what’s best for the packs.

The only way you stay a snow wolf, a wolf queen, is by Ambrose’s side.

He’s your mate. You can talk to every seer in the world, they’ll all tell you the same thing. ”

Which means Ambrose, being the strongest between the two of us, would be the one who decides which species the curse is broken for.

I stand, hating her answers, hating the time we wasted.

“You can’t keep running from the answers.”

I don’t respond as I reach the door.

“You still love him. You know you do.”

I look back at her with clenched teeth. “Why can Nyx talk to me in my head if he’s not also my mate? Why is there such an intense connection between us?”

She doesn’t answer.

“If there are three curses, then there have to be three ways to break the curses. Curses always have a loophole, a way to break them. There is a way to break all three, you just haven’t seen the answer,” I tell her.

“You’re probably right, but you snow wolf, are only destined to break one curse. You get to break one, not all three.”

“Watch me.”

“So cocky. It will be the death of you,” she bemoans.

“I’d rather die than accept the torment of so many, than accept the inevitable war.”

“The Nightfall vampire isn’t yours to save. And he definitely isn’t yours to love.”

“What if you’re wrong? What if the gods didn’t want the curse broken, so they sent you all the wrong visions? What if he’s my one true mate, not Ambrose?”

“Are you willing to bet your life on that? Because if you choose wrong, if you let the wrong man mark you, you’ll die.”

I turn and walk out the door, not bothering to look back. Nyx is by my side the second I walk outside. He doesn’t even bother to ask me a single question; he can see it all on my face. He knows the answers I got amount to nothing new.

I don’t want to stay here tonight. We don’t have much time. We need to keep moving. Keep trying.

The others follow behind us, none of them questioning my decision or complaining about the trek ahead.

We repeat the same motions five more times.

Five more covens.

Five more seers.

Five more times, getting the same answers.

Five more times of losing hope, over the course of weeks, until there’s only one seer left to see.