Page 9 of Celestial Alphas (Nexus #2)

Chapter

Eight

T he entire mansion floor shakes and shatters, the walls and floors moving hard enough that I slam straight down, and pain radiates through my chest from the impact. Severi holds the wall until the shaking has stopped, unfazed by it, and when it stops, the floor has one tremendous gap in it. “It’s one of your godforsaken mates!” His roar hurts my ears, and I laugh. I don’t stop laughing as he barks commands at the Vian by the door before grabbing my arm and lifting me to my feet. He shakes me. “Stop laughing. You’re fucking insane.”

“Ah, now we are getting to know each other.” I slam my forehead into his face, and his nose breaks under the force with a satisfying crunch and a gush of blood. He roars again, this time in pain, and I take the shocked moment to slam my foot straight into his knee. He lets go and I’m so gone. The Vian by the door steps into my path, his eyes wide with fear, and I cock my head to the side. “Want to die? You have a second to move and I’ll let you live.”

He steps aside, plastering his body to the door. Smart Vian. The stairway is full of Vian as I come out in the corridor, and the magic of this mansion hits me hard, pushing my Nexus down. I throw myself over the banister, landing with a sickening thud on the stairs below. Pain radiates down my spine and arm from the landing, but I push it back. I climb to my feet as they come after me, passing the second floor where I let myself look for a moment at the room my parents died in. Only a second and it hurts. It hurts more than my body does from the beating and landing. I can almost hear my father and mother screaming for me to run. Run, run and don’t stop.

I ignore the sharp pain in my ribs and how breathless it is making me, and I especially ignore the faces of all the newly dead that I just killed even when I know they will haunt me forever. More blood. More death. I killed them. Whatever power I just absorbed, I hope it’s the power to somehow transport myself magically from one place to the other. The power sits under my skin, but I can’t use it in this place. Of course, my Nexus doesn’t offer up any answers. She is napping like a content cat who just drank their owner’s cup of tea.

My shoes skid across the floorboards as I get to the end of the staircase, looking up to see the staircase falling apart above and cutting off Severi’s route to me. Some good luck at last. The luck lasts all of three seconds before I come down face to face with three Vian blocking my way to Annie. Two of them pull out shiny silver daggers that I want to steal, and the only woman doesn’t do anything but shake her head repeatedly, speaking curses in Spanish before she runs away. “If that doesn’t prove who is the smarter sex, nothing will.” I grin like a mad woman. Maybe I am one. “Get the fuck out of my way. My Nexus likes to eat men for dinner.”

“No, you’re a prisoner of our prince and—” I sigh. The hard way, then. I charge at them, which they don’t expect, and I jump straight to the one on the left. The bigger, leather-covered man with a beard. He grabs me, but it’s too late as I slide around his waist and use my legs to clamp his arms down before flipping us both. He hits the ground, and the other one grabs the dress, the stupid dress, and yanks me back. The fabric tears and slips out of his hand as I let him think he has successfully pulled me over, but in the last second, I sweep my leg out under him. He yelps, dropping his dagger and slamming on the floor headfirst. The fall knocks him out. The other one is scrambling for his dagger. I pick them both up on the way to him, and he crawls backwards, his eyes full of fear. I’m used to seeing fear like this, when Vian realise exactly who they are messing with. Only, I never want to kill them. “Don’t follow me. Leave!”

“Why? You’re a monster, you’re the Morrigan!” he shouts at my back. “You bring death, not humanity. Not clemency!” The name makes me flinch. I turn to ask him what the fuck that name means when I hear more Vian stomping down the stairs. Severi won’t be far behind. I don’t have time to ask him, but he is climbing to his feet, and I know he is going to take the chance I’ve given him. I run straight for Annie because I’m not leaving without her. She is my family now.

“GWENIEVE!” I hear Severi shouting through the house, which is falling apart. I cough on the smoke that’s rolling in dark waves across the ceiling. Every window I pass glows orange with the thick flames outside the forest, and it feels like small earthquakes are going off every minute, right under the house. I nearly stop when I see a fire fucking tornado spin past the window and back into the forest. Who the hell has this power? “Spell the house doors and make sure she can’t get out!”

From the look of the front door, the house is too damaged for that to work on me anymore. I slam through a door into the corridor, which is well guarded. The two Vian come straight for me, one grabbing my arm like he thinks he’s smart. “You can’t drain me, buddy.” I slam the hilt of my new dagger straight into his neck, but I didn’t see the spike on the end of it. Blood splashes all over my dress as I back up, sickness rising in my throat. He gasps, falling to the floor at my feet, and I’m in a daze. I don’t see the other one punch me hard, his fist turned to metal. I see stars, only for a second, and fall in the puddle of blood from the other Vian.

This one is vicious. Grabbing the dagger I dropped, he slams it straight into my side. His brown eyes stare into mine as I gasp in pure, agonising pain. “Die, just fucking die, you bitch!” He pulls the dagger out and slams it into me again. I can’t breathe through the pain as I scream this time. “My brother is dead because of you. I’m going to kill that Nexus friend of yours, and you watch this time. I watched you kill my brother last time!”

Blood trickles from the side of my mouth as horror spins through me. “Don’t you fucking dare!” I lean up, pushing through the pain and begging my Nexus to help me. It’s indescribable how the world spins as he walks away from me. My Nexus doesn’t come out, but she does send every inch of our strength into my veins so I can stand. “My father taught me you shouldn’t turn away from your enemy unless they have stopped breathing.” He looks back, but I plunge my other dagger into his back, near his heart. I don’t know which of my stab wounds hurts more when I get past him, ignoring his shouts and screams as he cries on the floor. He’ll die soon and he might deserve it, but hell, I feel bad.

I pull the door open to the room I was in, and Annie’s eyes widen as she takes me in. “Oh, my God! Gwen, you’re bleeding! Twin Gods save you. How are you standing?”

“The twin Gods forsook me years ago, and I’m fine.”

She shakes her head, her eyes filling with tears. It’s weird to have someone care about me being hurt. “They haven’t. You’re Nexus and part of the Gods. We all are.” She shushes me, looking me over. “You’re bleeding so much. Are you going to die?”

“Yes, probably.” I try to grin. “But there are more painful ways to die.”

She doesn’t like my joke, but she doesn’t know I’m not joking. Drowning is more painful.

The whole ground shakes and there is a noticeable bang in the distance, just as parts of the ceiling start falling out around us. “Come on. You have to get out of here.”

“With you,” she says, coming over. “I want to be a ranger, and this will be my future. I’m not weak or useless, so give me that dagger and let me help you now.”

“Annie, just, if everything goes wrong…run from me. Run from what I become,” I ask her. I mean it. She nods once, seeing how serious I am, right before I slide my dagger into her hand. It’s slippery with my blood, but she doesn’t care. I beg my Nexus please not to hurt her. Not Annie. I can’t shift with Annie near me, anyway. I won’t risk it.

The ground shakes throughout and we both cling to the wall until it passes, hearing the smashing of glass and more bangs nearby. Who is doing that? Two more Vian come running down the corridor after we only got a few steps. “Do you think if I scream that I’m the big bad monster of their nightmares here to eat them, they will run away?”

“Erm…” Annie mutters. “Maybe this isn’t the time for jokes…” She trails off, stopping as the colour drains from her face.

I don’t need to see who it is before he steps out between the Vian males. Kos. Her betraying mate. He ignores me and focuses on Annie, holding his hands up. The Vian listen to him. “I know you don’t understand yet, but you will understand when we leave here. This was temporary while they learnt to trust me. Annie, this war is one-sided. They have all been lying to you. Us. It’s all a lie.”

“Lies?” She blinks the tears away. “You want to be talking to me about lies when you got my parents killed? You blew up our friends in that house and betrayed your own people! I hate you!”

“No, you don’t,” he soothes, and I bet the fucker actually believes that as he immediately tries to gaslight his mate. “You don’t know anything, but I can tell you. They are not evil. I am doing this for us. This is all for us so we are on the right side of the war when it ends.”

“When it ends, I’ll be with my people. The Nexus.” She lifts her head. “If you love me, then move and get out of my way.”

He changes in a heartbeat. The soft, kind expression disappears into a hardened, icy indifference that I know shatters her heart. I’ve had my mates look at me like that, and it hurts. “I can’t do that when the monster is at your side. She has to stay and so do you—to control her.”

She is shaking. “Did you ever actually love me, or were you using me because of my father? Was I a golden ticket that you happened to win from the Gods?” She wipes her cheeks with her hand. “Do your sweet parents know? All the money they’ve flooded into the Nexus world… Do they know their son’s sitting at a dinner table with the enemy?”

“I do love you, but I love the cause more.” He nods at the Vian. “We can talk more later. Please, just come with me and don’t make this difficult. You know I’d never hurt you.” He takes a step forward.

“Uh-uh,” I interrupt. She has her answer. I point my finger at him. “You called me a monster, and that’s true, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had family to fight for, and I do now. You don’t want to push this monster too far.”

“You can’t shift.” He lifts his chin. “The magic of this house is too strong, and even if you could, you’ll never shift with her at your side. As far as I see it, you’re injured and weak. Easy, really.” I blink. He’s smarter than he looks, at least. Still dumb enough to play with the enemy though.

The Vian guards, or whatever they are to him, take a step forward. Annie lifts her dagger. “I’m a ranger and I’ll fight to the death to protect her.”

My heart actually feels like it warms… She is going to fight for me? Even knowing what I am. A dark, dangerous voice fills the corridor. “You need to leave, betrayer. You heard exactly what she said.”

I turn around, my eyes widening when I see and feel Aleksander literally stepping into shadows at the end of the corridor. Hollis steps out next, blood splattered on his armoured black ranger clothes. Aleksander is wearing the same uniform, and my mouth parts, not just at the sight of them, but the fact they came for me. Why would they do that? I didn’t sense them at all. Stupid spells.

His eyes flicker down to the dagger holes in my side and the blood soaking the dress. The way his eyes darken, the promise of pure violence that fills the depths, makes my heart race. My Nexus loves it as much as I do. I don’t see Onyx behind Kos and the Vian, not until two bullets go straight through the chests of the Vian, and Annie screams as blood splatters over us, just before the bodies slump to the ground. Seconds later, Onyx’s holding a gun to Kos’s head. Annie rushes forward. “Don’t!” She walks right up to Kosma and looks into his eyes. “Just let him go. Like you said…he is a betrayer. Nothing.”

“Let him go, Onyx,” I demand.

Onyx lowers the gun. “The next time I see you, Kosma, you’re dead. Run.” Kos doesn’t even look at his mate before running around Onyx and abandoning her for his life. Annie sobs as I take a pain-filled step forward and touch her arm. She gives me a shaky nod to tell me she is okay, and I barely notice Alek until his hand is touching my waist, and his eyes are fixed on my wounds.

“How are you standing, Trouble?” He moves his hand away when I glare at him. “Can you walk? We need to get out.”

“I can walk,” I coldly answer.

“Gwen—”

“Stop being nice to her, she doesn’t fucking deserve it, and we don’t have time to have her hobbling around injured when Finn—” Hollis grunts when Alek shoves him. “Fucking hell, Finn is out there fucking destroying everything! We need to leave now because that Vian is powerful.”

“Severi.” Horror whispers through my blood. Finnegan is fighting him all alone, and he has no idea how powerful their prince is. I don’t even know the full extent. “What is Finn’s power?”

“You’re about to see,” Hollis answers with a bitter snarl to his words.

Onyx shakes his head. “Let Alek hold you up at least?—”

“No!” I protest at the protective tone to his voice, stepping closer to Annie in the same breath. “I don’t trust any of you. You’re the reason I’m here, injured again and fighting again. If you had just let me go in the first place, when I was first brought to Starlight, none of this would have happened!” Onyx and Alek look like I’ve just kicked them, and part of me regrets saying it. I’m scared and in pain, and I went too far. The apology gets lost when the ground shakes, and Onyx throws up shields around like a glowing blue bubble, holding the walls and floors together all the way to the door where Kosma left. Annie stays close to my side, and Hollis leads us down the corridor until we step out into the frosty night sky and the pure elemental chaos waiting for us.

Finn’s standing right in the centre of it, and every wave of power leaving his arms is nothing short of destructive, uncontrolled madness that is sweeping the forest and the Vian. The forest around us is burning in flame-engulfed tornadoes, and around him is a shield, Onyx’s shield, protecting him from his own elements he’s conjuring in waves of red. The ground is shaking and spitting with the power coming from him and his Nexus. “I thought I had a problem with control.”

“He controls elements, but it comes out in chaos, explosions and never-ending power. He can’t come back until one of us knocks him out,” Onyx shouts to me over the blasting of the mansion behind us. It’s falling down and I’m glad to see it. A red wave of magic, almost like water, blasts up from the cliff side, and it snatches the Vian, sweeping them over the cliff, and barely any of them have a moment to scream.

“What Onyx isn’t blaming you for, but I am, is”—Hollis turns his green eyes on me—“every time he uses this power of his, he loses more control. This is worse than I’ve ever seen.”

My Nexus watches from my one eye, curious. She isn’t scared and I have to be strong, too. “I’ll get him back. Protect Annie, please.”

Alek steps into my path, a second before Onyx joins his side. Hollis waves the way for me with a smirk that makes me think he would be happy if I got hurt. I really fucking hate him. “You’re not fucking walking to him, Gwen! Look at him!”

I defiantly lift my chin. “Haven’t you learnt not to underestimate me yet?” I cock my head to the side. “Because maybe I’m the only one that can stop him. I told you that you know nothing about me.”

“We saw the video footage of what you did outside the house.” Onyx crosses his arms. “And your Nexus? We will talk about this later, but I’m not underestimating you here. I’m worried Finnegan would never forgive himself if he hurt you.”

“He said he would never hurt me.” My heart races. “And his Nexus is in control right now. I think it’s time I met him. Sorry!” He doesn’t get to ask what I’m sorry about before I tap into my mother’s power of speed and move around him in a heartbeat. He doesn’t even see me, and I run right for Finnegan, letting time slow around my body until the elements are so beautiful, like Christmas lights on a dark night. I ask my Nexus to come out, and she ignores me as we get closer to Finnegan. “Shift!” I demand. But she doesn’t. She fucking refuses to come out. What the fuck is wrong with you? She is quiet but my head turns to the Vian, and who is right at the frontline? Severi.

He is pacing up and down a barrier of dirt, some stolen Nexus power that is keeping them safe from the fire. Severi seems to see me, even when he must not be able to with how fast I’m moving, but he looks. He looks and my Nexus doesn’t hide. She feels…well, strange. She won’t get in the middle of her mates because she likes them both. My Nexus has an enemy-to-lovers kink. Brilliant. Especially considering one of them is actively trying to get her to destroy the world. My psychopath Nexus might have seen that as a weird way to propose before screaming yes. They’re bad guys, not hot guys. Well, they are hot. I’m really not proving a good point right now.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

I’m in front of Finnegan within a second, and his eyes are no longer blue, no longer the colour of the purest water, but instead they are red fire pits of flames. Red fire highlights his veins, which travel down his cheeks, around his eyes, down his chest that I can see through his ripped shirt. He is boiling hot to stand near, and his Nexus is fully in control. “Hello.”

“Mate,” he growls, and I shiver, feeling that growl from the top of my head, right to my toes. “Our enemies are escaping. Shift and we will hunt.”

“No,” I whisper, reaching up and touching his cheek with my shaky hand. The pain is bad, making everything spin in a haze, but I don’t dare let myself pass out yet. Or die. Likely die with all this blood loss. I glance behind me to see Severi is getting into a car, as are the people he has left. “It’s over, Finnegan.”

His hand snaps out and wraps around my throat, and he lifts me up. I hear Onyx and Alek, Annie and Hollis shouting for me, but Finnegan’s Nexus doesn’t hurt me. He pulls us face to face and kisses me, running his teeth against my bottom lip. “Finnegan, come back to me. It’s over.”

“We are never over. We began in the stars, and we never end. We are endless starlight,” he vows, letting me drop to the ground. He crouches down. “You’re dying again. I felt it every time.”

I flinch. Every time? I know the exact number of times I’ve died. I’ve counted, and it’s a lot. If he was feeling them with me…no wonder his Nexus is crazy. Mine is too. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes bleed back to blue until Finnegan is staring at me, his chest moving fast. “What have I fucking told you about fighting alone? We are in this together, no more working alone, Sun! Where the fuck does it get you?” He cups my face. “My Nexus could have killed you. It’s not sane!” He breathes heavily. “I’m sorry for everything, but if this is to punish me, fucking hell, I deserve it but never you. Don’t you dare risk yourself for me and don’t come near my Nexus when I’m like that.”

“He doesn’t want me dead,” I mutter. “And we have a lot in common.”

He shakes his head like I’m mad. I likely am. Finnegan helps me stand and I wince from moving. “I’m so fucking mad at you, but first, I’m getting you back to Starlight and a healer. Then I’m shouting at you for thinking you have to do this all alone when you don’t anymore. I’m yours, for fuck’s sake, and we do this together. Sun?—”

I scream as three things slice into my back and I taste my blood in my mouth. My eyes widen as I realise they went deep, and I turn around, watching as Hollis grabs the Vian that attacked me, using his telekinetic powers to snap his neck, and drops him to the ground. Finnegan’s roar echoes in my ear as time slows down around me, as the pain swamps my senses, and I barely feel Finnegan catch me as I stumble into his arms. More Vian come out of the burning forest and straight into their path. Annie runs around them as Onyx, Hollis and Alek take out the Vian, but three more corner her. No one is close enough.

No one can stop them from touching her. I scream for her as I climb to my feet to speed over with my powers, ripping myself from Finnegan. Even as drained as I feel, I can do it. I barely get halfway before I collapse, hearing Finnegan shouting after me. Suddenly, Kosma jumps out of nowhere and blocks her, throwing himself in front like a wall, and the Vian don’t hesitate. The second they lay their hands on him, two on his arms and one on his neck, they start draining him. Annie screams in pain. The pain of losing a mate.

Hollis throws three Vian into the air, turning to see Annie and picking Annie up with his powers and flinging her across the ground, straight towards me. But he’s not quick enough to stop Kosma from being killed. He’s dead within a minute. Alek shoots all three of them and goes to Kosma, looking down and then at me. He shakes his head to tell me he is dead, but I know. Annie’s scream of pure pain is haunting, deafening, and I can’t do anything but hold her in the dirt and ash as she loses her only mate.

I barely notice myself falling backwards, but I see Alek running to me. I see only him and how scared he is. He actually cares about me. I’ve died so, so many times, but never has anyone looked at me like they can’t lose me. Not until him. Not until now—just before I pass out and pray to the Gods I don’t die in front of them.