Page 14 of Moonlight Bonds (The Nexus #4)

Chapter

Six

ANNIE

I ’ve been stuck in this room for days, and I’m so damn tired of it.

I mean, it’s a nice prison in comparison to the shit room I had when the Vian captured me last time.

Still, I’m needed back in Starlight City.

Something is very wrong with Georgina, and Gwen is in trouble.

I just know it. I haven’t been able to shake the feeling something awful has happened while I’ve been trapped in this luxury prison.

The king-size bed is soft, filled with fluffy pillows, and all of it matches a white colour scheme, from the painted white bedframe to the wardrobes.

There are two doors, one that never opens and the other that leads to a bathroom with a huge tub.

The other side of the wall is a giant, bulletproof and Nexus-proof window that overlooks the city.

They are coloured in glass that brightens with sunlight, but I can’t see anything through the glass other than the outline of other tall buildings when the sun is bright.

I can’t sense other Nexus or even Vian outside the room.

I have no idea where I am, and I hate it.

I’ve thrown anything I could find into the window, had my bear slam into it and every wall of this place, but there must be magic in the walls and window.

I haven’t ever made a dent. There’s no other way out of here unless my kidnapper decides to let me out.

Even my food is delivered with wooden cutlery that is nearly impossible to cut with, let alone hurt myself with.

Not that I would hurt myself, but... at least I could try to make some sort of weapon to get out of here.

My collection of cutlery just sits under the bed.

I pace by the window, part of my daily ritual of pacing just to keep active.

The clock on the wall clicks and makes a ring sound that marks ten in the morning.

Breakfast will appear in a minute, just as it does every day.

I look to the door expecting the food to appear, but this time the door opens.

That never happens. For a moment, I hope it’s Gwen or one of her mates come to help me, but it’s not.

Issan, my attractive asshole kidnapper, strolls in with a gold tray laid with pancakes, fruit, juices and more wood cutlery for my collection.

He puts it down on the side before he turns his eyes on me, and my chest hurts.

My Nexus snaps in my mind, angry rolling through my blood.

“I came to ask if you wanted a roast dinner tonight, because it’s Sunday?

I know Nexus don’t often follow the traditions of Christmas or Halloween.

They only celebrate The Hallowed Day in the middle of the year, but the Vian often celebrate these days even though they are human traditions, and a lot of English like eating Sunday roasts.

I’ve never tried it before, and I thought we could together. ”

“A Sunday roast?” I snap at him, storming closer. I point my finger at him. “Fuck you, you bastard! Take me back to Starlight City now!”

He smirks. Actually, smirks at me. “No. That would put you in danger.”

I blink. “That’s my choice then, you fool! You can shove your roast dinner right up your as?—"

“You’re in Morriganis City.” He cuts me off so smoothly.

Morriganis City? I know it only as the second-biggest city, just behind Starlight City.

They keep to themselves, and if he is telling me the truth, a Vian is somehow accepted into a Nexus City.

What the hell? I run my eyes over his body, over the tight white shirt tucked into black trousers, over the tattoos peeking out of his rolled-up sleeves.

There isn’t a weapon on him I can get, and he looks.

.. normal. Strange. Anytime I’ve seen Issan, he has appeared like smoke, in cloaks and wrapped in mystery.

Stunning, yes. An asshole? Also, yes. Now my secret shadow has become my kidnapper, and I can’t escape him.

I have never been able to. “I’ve come to explain myself.

I’d like it if you could eat and listen.

Then throw things at me if you feel like it.

I’d prefer you didn’t shove things up my arsehole, though. ”

My cheeks brighten, and I sneer at him. I pick up the nearest thing off the side to throw at him, which happens to be a dog statue that’s made out of cotton and filled with rice, and it’s too heavy to throw.

It doesn’t go very far, landing between us with a thud.

The bastard is trying so very hard not to laugh at me.

Damn, I made it awkward. I need to harness my best friend’s attitude towards men like him.

I’m tempted just to shift into my bear and let her take a bite out of him, but she’s silent now.

Her anger is gone, replaced with a calm sense of normalcy.

I don’t understand, and when I reach for her, she only sends warmth back to me.

Well, she is of no use to me whatsoever.

“My name is Issan, and I’m a Vian Prince.

Not the heir, but one all the same.” Fear locks down my body, and I know it’s flashed in my eyes.

I see him raise both his hands into the air.

“I am no threat to you, Annie. I will never hurt you. I am only really a threat to my father, to my own race. I never wanted to be. When I grew up, I was disobedient of my father’s wishes.

He bred with many queens, all of them dying untimely and quick deaths before he found a new queen to breed with.

My mother died when I was one. By all accounts, it sounds like she was poisoned.

I was brought up to be what he wanted all of the royal children to be, all three of us.

For some reason, he stopped caring about breeding new children after his fourth wife died in childbirth, the babe along with her.

He turned to the children he had left and began to train them into what he wanted.

Cold, calculating, murderous, just like him. A means to an end.”

I’m not sure why he is telling me all of this.

I know nothing about the Vian royal family other than Gwen’s rare mentions of Prince Severi.

“He found that, in a way, with Severi who became like him for a time. I always believed there was more to my brother than the pretence he played for my father. We all pretended, because we knew we would be dead if we didn’t.

But with me, I was too kind, and he saw it.

I couldn’t kill when he clicked his fingers.

He wouldn’t do what he asked. I had no interest in draining Nexus, or humans, or anything.

Severi did as he was told. Sometimes I think he was smart for that choice.

I spent half my childhood beaten to a pulp by my father, the other half in training that left me delirious with fever half the time.

He said I was too mortal, like my mother.

She was human. I am half. When it came to my mating ceremony, I prayed to the goddess herself that there would be no mate for me.

Any mate would be hurt by my father, and I was too weak to do anything.

Why would any goddess bless me with a mate only for me to watch them die?

My father believes mate bonds are poison to the soul and best broken. ”

“He is wrong.” I mutter.

Issan smiles. “I’m glad you think so. When I stepped up on the platform for the Vian priests, I saw a vision of my mate.

I felt sick to my stomach even though she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

The king demanded that I report to him the next morning.

Deliverance of who my mate was. When a mate is found, a Vian's scent changes slightly. The priests see the same vision as you, but they never show it to anyone. The king does not have control over the priests. They are the only part of his city that he respects and leaves be. They often stay out of his way too.”

“Where is your mate then?” I ask, my arms crossed tight.

“I saw you.” My world spins. I shake my head. No, no, no. “I saw my mate, and she was holding hands with a man I’d later learn to be Kosma. I knew him. I am sorry he died.”

“No, you didn’t!” I shout, taking steps back.

“I’m not your mate, and you didn’t know Kos!

How could you have?” I’m unable to even take in what he’s saying.

“You’re saying I’m your mate? That’s bullshit.

I had a mate, and he’s dead. Mates are done for me.

Kos was the end of that part of my life!

My mating ceremony only bonded me to him. It was him I accepted, and he died!”

I’m breathing too heavily; my heart is racing too quickly. My Nexus doesn’t get angry; she doesn’t scream he is wrong like me. She’s... accepting this madness.