Page 7 of Celestial Alphas (Nexus #2)

Chapter

Six

M y Nexus is practically purring. It can only mean one thing; I’m cuddled up with Finnegan and she is happy. Content. It’s weird to have her feeling that way when she’s usually like the Hulk: smash everything all day long—except, for her, it’s murder. It’s been a few days now since she killed anyone, and she would usually be itching to hunt, pushing at me to let her out or to go to sleep so she can play. I groan. Of course she is happy with Finn. He’s her favourite.

This all feels like a dream. Finnegan knows what I am, and he doesn’t hate me. He didn’t willingly put me in here, and he fought to get to me, breaking all kinds of laws to make a point. For once in my life, I almost feel like my life is worth fighting for. Is this hope? It feels unbelievable, but real. Earth-shatteringly real. I open my eyes and watch Finn. He’s asleep, his head resting on his one bent arm. His other arm is wrapped tightly around my waist at his side. I can hear his heart beating, see his chest rising and falling so calmly even as he lies in bed with me. A literal monster.

He is sleeping and I let out a long breath as I let myself admire him for a second. He’s ridiculously good looking. His massive six-foot-nine body always seems to overpower everyone and everything in the room until he gathers all of the attention for himself. His dark brown hair is messy and short, but the darkness of his hair brings out the sky blue of his eyes. His eyes are diamonds on his pretty and chiselled face that could make angels cry with how perfectly pretty he is. It’s hard to imagine him as anything but an angel of death assassin. I could stare at him all night, all day, or whatever time it is. He still smells like other people’s blood, but underneath it is his scent that is addictive. Pine, gun powder, and something like sandalwood.

Could I tell him everything? All the horrors in my past, everything that shaped who I am right now. Could I tell him the truth and see whether he still doesn’t go running out the door? I’ve run from my mates for so long, and now that they are in my life…I’m not sure what to do anymore. My parents told me to run. To always run, to never let anyone close, but I failed at that. I loved them, I loved Harry and his family, and I’m hopelessly shit at fighting how I feel for my mates. I never wanted to be alone, even if I was to be.

I open my mouth to wake him up, to begin a long conversation about everything, when the door opens. My eyes widen as I watch Severi walk in. No. No. No. I shoot up in the bed, putting my hand out like a shield. He might not be able to drain me, but Finn? In here, where Finn’s powers don’t work, he might as well be human and defenceless. Severi cocks his head to the side, looking between us, and he frowns. I swear there is burning jealousy spreading across his face as Finn wakes. Finn moves swiftly, pulling me behind him and standing off the bed. Defenceless, with no powers or weapons, he is defending me?

The last people to do that, to stand between me and Severi, were my parents, and they are dead. I can’t lose him. “Vian.” Finn’s snarl echoes with a low, bear-like growl. The walls crack and splinter, the magic breaking, and it’s not me. It’s Finnegan. “Get behind me, Sun. I don’t have my powers, but like fuck is he getting near you!”

Severi rests a shoulder against the doorframe. I can smell fresh blood, and the corridor outside is too silent. “Nexus. You’re standing between me and my mate. Move or we are going to have a real big fucking problem.”

Finnegan tenses. He doesn’t take his eyes off Severi, but his question is aimed at me. “Mate?”

“It’s true,” I whisper. “I found out at seventeen, and I don’t know how it’s possible, but he isn’t lying.”

Finn laughs. He actually laughs at Severi. “I think you’ll find the only kind she belongs to is the Nexus, and I don’t give a fuck what bond you have with her. It won’t matter when you’re dead.” He takes a step forward, and I grab his arm to try to stop him. “And you’ll be dead if you come near her.”

Severi winks at Finn. “Okay, Fish-boy. One touch and you’ll be dead. Your powers don’t work in here.”

Finn tenses and the nickname isn’t cool. “How the fuck did you get in here?”

I step to Finnegan’s side and link my fingers with his. “He has an agreement with Onyx’s father.” Finn goes icy still and drags his eyes to me. “He is behind it all. You can’t trust him. Okay?”

“I was happy with you staying in here, Gwenieve,” Severi interrupts, “but it looks like that plan isn’t working out now that you have a roommate. It’s time to take you home.” His eyes flicker to the walls, which are slightly shaking.

“No!” Finnegan growls as fear courses down my spine. His home, that place, the house of horrors that plays a special part in nearly all of my nightmares. I’m not going back there. I promised myself I’d not go back there. I promised my Nexus we would not end up back there. Finn senses my fear, and he pushes me right behind him. He can’t fight for me. Not here. He is outgunned and I can’t lose him. Fuck. Fuck.

“Yes. Gwenieve, make your choice. I’ll drain him, leave him here dead, and still take you. Your choice if you lose a mate today, Tulip.” He smirks at us both. Finn growls low. “You can come willingly, and I vow to leave him alone.”

“You’re not taking her from me!” Finn’s shout makes the walls splinter and crack further. He might get his powers back any moment, but Severi would get there first. Dammit.

“Finn.” I touch his arm with my other hand and slide in front of him. “He’s the prince of the Vian. He’ll drain you in a second. Don’t do this.”

Finnegan looks down at me, and his blue eyes glow. He would die for me, and the shock of that hits me like a brick. The last person to protect me died. I can’t let him die for me, and I won’t. I will not let this happen. “I’m sorry.” One of the many powers I’ve picked up over the years, ones I don’t use because of the guilt I feel every time I use them, is the power to instantly knock someone out. I don’t know who I drained it from, but it’s been there since early on. I put my hand on Finn’s neck, pushing every inch of the magic I’ve scraped back from the wards, and his eyes widen right before he instantly drops to the ground.

I step over him. “Don’t you dare touch him.”

“I thought you didn’t like your mates?” Severi lifts his chin. “It doesn’t matter. They are in your past now. Let’s go.”

My hands curl into fists. “The minute I get out of here and the restriction on my Nexus is gone, I’m going to get revenge for everything you did to me. We might have a mate bond, but we are not mates. I reject everything that bonds us and have done since the first time you hurt me. I’ve hated you since you forced me to kill my parents and so many others. So don’t think this is you winning. She’s itching to come out, and there are no Gods to stand in her way when I let her out to get revenge.”

The corner of his lips tilts up. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” I blink in confusion. “Let her come and play. I already know what you are. There’s no point hiding now.”

I whisper to my Nexus, “Make sure you kill him.”

I feel her murderous, psychotic rage spinning out of my soul, mixing with my blood until it’s a song we both sing endlessly. He steps out into the corridor, curling a hand for me to follow. His dark clothes blend him into the shadows, and they almost seem to frame him. The second I step out, my Nexus floods back to me and I finally breathe. I let myself enjoy the feeling of normality for a moment, until he takes a step towards me, and the floorboards creak. I wait for him to be right in front of me, and I instantly hit out, punching him straight across the face. He just about blocks me, my fist skimming across his cheek with a satisfying crunch. He grunts as I swing my leg out under him, and he falls. I raise an eyebrow when he doesn’t stand back up. He watches me from his place on the floor, like the dirt he is. Like all Vian are. He swings out before I can block him, and I slam on the floor. Instinctively I reach for my Nex dagger, which doesn’t come because of this damn place, and Severi is quick enough to pin me down. “Don’t make this so fucking difficult, Tulip.”

I kick my legs. I scream for him to release me, but he doesn’t let go. He holds me down, watching me struggle with an expression I can’t read. “Let me fucking go! I hate you! Let me go!”

“You first.” He leans down so his body is pressed against mine. “Let her out, baby. I wanna meet my true mate.”

Fuck him. He can have her and regret it. It’s your turn. My Nexus takes over, sliding across my skin and remaking me in an instant. It feels like flipping a coin, and suddenly I’m in the dark, on the other side, but still able to feel and see everything my Nexus is doing. She doesn’t always let me stay, and she never does when she goes hunting. I don’t drift away, not to the back of my mind this time, and I’m thankful for the little bit of control we seem to have. I want to see her kick his ass and wipe that smug look off his face. I don’t know if she’ll kill him, but she’s certainly powerful enough to stop him. She doesn’t shift into a wolf but that other thing, the other version of us. Our skin drains of colour, my long brown hair turns white, falling down to the floor around me, and I know my eyes are glowing the palest grey. Severi watches, letting go of my arms and cocking his head to the side. “You look like starlight, Gwenieve. Pure starlight.”

We glance around, taking in the dead bodies, the guards all dead that he killed for us, including the one Finnegan bribed to be roomed with me. Kill him, I scream in my head at her, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t fucking move from under him. The betraying, horny bitch leans up, pressing our body into his, and kisses him. She kisses our enemy, and he groans, digging his hands into her hair, kissing her back. What the actual fuck? I struggle to get control back, but she doesn’t let me. She never does when she’s in control. He breaks the kiss first, and she growls low. “Not while both of you aren’t in agreement. Why don’t you lead the way?”

No, no, no. She is going to kill anyone in her path. I push and push to get control, but she isn’t giving up. I let the monster out to play, coaxed by my enemy, and now death is going to rule. She smiles at him as she stands up, ignoring his hand in offer to help. I don’t think I’ve seen my Nexus actually smile before. Except that one time she saw Finnegan without a top and all sweaty. Like a song that’s been played since the beginning of time, my Nexus walks with death through the corridors, leaving nothing but grey bleakness in her wake. Severi is at her side, immune to everything. The bastard. The floor itself turns grey. Everything turns grey around us, except for Severi. She doesn’t harm him.

I’m in shock as I watch her walk through the corridors, along the steps that I traced before to the trial. This time, any guards that run to stop us instantly die, their skin the palest grey and a power hanging in the air for us to take. She doesn’t take the powers offered in death from their Nexus, deeming them too weak to bother. The sound of the bodies hitting the floor like slabs of meat echoes in my ears, and my stomach turns. My Nexus loves it. The walls, the floors, everything drains of colour as we make our way out. More guards, more rangers, try to stop us, but I can’t do anything but watch in horror as they fall dead. She only needs to look at them now. Her power is growing.

A vase of flowers, beautiful blooming orange lilies in a stunning glass vase the size of me, stands in the middle of the rune-covered exit doors. They die and wither as she walks to the doors and places her hands on them. Her long black nails scratch down the wood, tearing through the runes as her grey magic spreads across the doors until they crack and splinter into grey dust. The cold air blows in, picking up strands of her hair. Outside sits a sports car, the engine still on. It looks like something Onyx would drive but older and damaged. Severi definitely stole this from the humans.

“Very good,” Severi praises from the doorway. “When I call you Tulip, you can trust me. Remember that.”

She looks at him, but I suspect he is speaking to me. I wish he wouldn’t call me that nickname. It reminds me of my father and the fact he died because of the motherfucker. He opens the door of the car, and she slides in, tucking her hair onto her lap, before he shuts the door like the perfect murderous gentleman. I push against her control, and she smiles at him as he gets into the driver’s seat. “You fucking betraying bitch. Let me back in,” I hiss. I push and fight. There’s no way he’s taking us willingly back to that hellhole. Clearly done with me, she pushes me right back out of our mind space, and when she lets me back, we’re miles away. Gods above know how long it’s been, because the sun is shining high above the tree line. We’re parked in front of the mansion, and my body begins to shake uncontrollably.

Severi looks at me. “I’m sorry.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” I snarl. “You might have won her over but not me. I’m not fucking insane.”

“Everything changes now.” He sounds sad. Defeated. I don’t fucking understand, and he slides out of the car. I immediately go to grab the door, yanking it open, and I’m running before my feet even leave the car. I don’t get far.

Thick branches appear from the ground and wrap around my arms and waist like a hairband. I slam to the ground when another one wraps around my legs, and my chin hits the ground. I spit out the blood in my mouth as I roll over and see Severi walking to me with his hands tucked into his pockets. He stole some elemental earth power from some unlucky Nexus. I should have known running wouldn’t work. “You fucking bastard! Let me go!”

I scream and shout at him, calling him everything under the sun as he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder like I’m nothing more than a log. “Stop screaming, Tulip. You’ll wake all the neighbours.”

“You don’t have any fucking neighbours, you psychopath!” I shout right back at him. I spend a second, one second, before the magic of the house wraps around me, sending out a message for Finnegan. Reaching for his mind, which feels so far away. Too far. “How did you get my Nexus to do that?”

“She’s my mate. So are you.” He holds me with an iron fist, and as much as I kick and scream and throw myself around, it does nothing. He’s too strong and my Nexus won’t fight him. Bitch. “Like I said, you should let her out to see me. She understands and sees what you’re too stubborn to.”

“She is bat shit crazy and always has been!” I respond. “No wonder you like her.”

He chuckles low and I hate it. I hate him. He leads me up to the Victorian mansion steps. His home. I believe we are somewhere in the north of England, I think. I never was too sure where it exactly was. When I ran away, it was such a blur. I know that I got to St. Bees in the end, so maybe it’s near there. All I know is there are acres and acres and acres of forest around this mansion, and it’s full of traps. One side has a cliff edge and pure sea for miles. I jumped into it last time to escape, and I doubt it’s been left without a magical trap now. I won’t be able to get out that way.

The Victorian house is huge, ancient, and its big bay windows give it a homely feel. It reminds me of the house from the movie Doctor Strange that I watched a couple years ago. It’s got a massive circular stained glass window at the top that overshadows everything else, and bright light shines from inside it. Beautiful really. It’s a shame that literally everything in there is pure horror.

He carries me through the front doors, where there are five or six people, all Vian, who stop to bow their heads as he walks in. I roll my eyes and continue kicking and hitting him, not giving a shit who’s watching. Severi doesn’t pause and carries on rather than going up the stairs, which is where he used to lock me up. He goes down this time and around a corner.

“I’m afraid you’ll be staying down here. We have a lot of guests. All the rooms are used.” He grunts as I kick his ass. Literally. “And your foul language will definitely give me a headache if you keep shouting at me all day.”

“I really fucking hate you!” I snarl at him.

“Yeah, heard that one before, Tulip.” He opens the door to a warm room. “Don’t bother trying to get out. We both know your Nexus is on my side and she doesn’t want to go anywhere. If you do escape or hurt any of my people, the first person I’ll kill is her.”

He gently puts me into the room, leaves me on the floor before shutting the door as I run for it, slamming into the door as I narrowly miss catching it. The handcuffs fade into green dust as I sense someone behind me. I turn and my eyes widen as Annie throws herself into my arms. “Annie?” I whisper. I realise that’s who he was threatening to kill. Horror sets into my bones. She’s here, literally in the home of the prince of our enemies, and in so much danger. I can handle all the pain, all the torture and horror he has thrown at me before, but sweet Annie. I won’t let him break her.

“Gwen!” she sobs into my shoulder. “You got caught too?”

I can only nod. “It’s complicated. Have they hurt you?”

She is crying so much it’s hard to understand her to begin with, but I get the answer is no in between sobs, and I relax a little. She isn’t hurt. That’s good, but why? “The bombing. It was my mate. It was all my mate. He’s on their side and we are never escaping.”