Page 46 of Bitten by Bloodmoon (Mateless Shifters #2)

Nyx

A mbrose is looking at me like I just kicked him in the nuts.

Lumi is nodding her head, like everything makes sense to her now.

“I killed Rowena, but it felt similar to when I killed Raya. It was an out-of-body experience. I thought with Rowena, it might have been because I was a vampire. Vampires like to kill. It’s a predatory instinct. But I killed her because you loved her.”

Ambrose looks from me to Lumi, like he’s going to have to explain himself. “I guess I did, but—”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.

I get it. I know you were trying to do everything you could not to love me, including forcing yourself to feel things about others.

” Lumi has tears in her eyes. She wipes them away quickly before looking at me.

“And it’s why you think of yourself as a killer. ”

I don’t respond. My look tells her everything she needs to know.

Lumi slumps back in her chair, looking from me to Ambrose and then back again. I’m not sure if this conversation has changed her mind about who she’s choosing or who she thinks her mate is. But it solidified a lot of things for me.

I still hate Ambrose, although that hatred isn’t as warranted as I once thought. His curse really did cause me to kill Raya…

I suck back the tears, not ready to go there fully, to fully process what that means. I stand up with my drink still in hand and pace, already knowing the conclusion I’ve come to.

Fuck.

I down the drink, not wanting to speak the words out loud. But I have to…

“You have to choose. You have to complete the marking ceremony this full moon. You can’t chance him accidentally falling in love with you,” I say, looking at Lumi with such desperation in my voice.

All I see is her, how beautiful and brave she is, staring back at me. I want nothing more than for her to say that she loves me, that I’m her mate.

“For whatever reason, the universe has tasked me with fulfilling his curse and making me the one who has to kill those he falls in love with. Don’t…don’t give him any more time to fall in love with you. I won’t survive having to kill you.”

“I know. I won’t,” she promises.

I stare at her, and I know the decision she’s made.

She’s not choosing me, and it’s the right decision.

I know it in my heart of hearts. I know every fucked up decision he’s made has been to try to keep himself from loving her and killing her.

They are perfect for each other. My stopping the last marking ceremony didn’t save her life; if anything, I almost caused her death by giving him more time to fall in love with her.

Pain builds in my chest, reminding me of the other reason why she shouldn’t choose me as her mate. I don’t have much time left.

I pry into her mind, trying to find the answer, to see if I’m correct in my assessment.

I feel her anger, her fear, her exhaustion. She is analytically assessing us both, weighing our pros and cons. But how she feels about either of us is locked up tight. Every time I search for the answer, I’m hit with another wall, another lock—she’s completely sealed it off.

I pull back quickly before she realizes that I was in her head.

Even if she’s decided who her mate is, it doesn’t seem like she’s ready to share it yet.

That was the reason she called us together: to get us to share our story, not for her to reveal who she’s chosen to us.

With all the power left inside me, I push my thoughts toward Ambrose, unsure if it will work or not, “Lumi’s hiding something.

Something she doesn’t want either of us to know.

That means it’s risky; it could hurt her.

She’s too brave and selfless for her own good sometimes. I can’t get into her mind.”

“I can’t either,” Ambrose says. I don’t know how we can talk to each other like this. Just like I don’t understand why our curses are connected—our lives connected. But I don’t have time to question it when there are more important things to discuss with him.

“Fuck. She lives, whatever we do. Whether we break a curse or start a war, Lumi lives.”

“How do we keep her alive then?”

“She’s your mate. We all know it. Every seer we’ve seen said so. Every prophecy. I’m just here because I’m a diversion, the villain. Someone to fuck up your love stories. We need to ensure she accepts you as her mate. That she completes the marking ceremony with you.”

“How much longer until the full moon?”

“Three days.”

“Fuck, keep her as far away from me as possible. Fuck her. Love her. Make me hate her. That’s too much time for me to fall in love with her.” Ambrose finishes his drink, and he looks at me. “Deal?”

It’s not a blood deal, but it doesn’t matter. We will both do whatever it takes to keep her alive. I love her, and she’s his mate. But I’m going to have to ruin her to keep her alive.

“Deal.”