Page 28 of Moonlight Bonds (The Nexus #4)

Chapter

Fourteen

O nce my aunt learnt of the threat, she immediately got things ready for us to leave, while I told Finnegan about my dream.

It wasn’t just a dream, and I should have said something to him.

But, as he pointed out, what difference would it have made?

We wouldn’t have known where to find them, and it would have left us in the same position we are in right now.

At least my dream told me one thing the Vian king didn’t—Severi has Franklin and Nibbles.

There is no way he would have left a kid and my dog in the forest alone.

Why didn’t Georgina take them for the king as leverage?

I shake my head and focus on the now, on what I’m going to be walking into.

Six huge army helicopters wait for us in the pouring rain, the propellers spinning loud and wild against the downfall.

There is one for my mates and me. The others are full of soldiers that have volunteered to go into Starlight City to help who they can get out while we make a good distraction.

It’s a trap, I know it is, but the king has Finnegan’s family, and there isn’t a world where I wouldn’t go to any lengths to help him.

It made me feel like I was part of a new family today when we all started making plans for Starlight, and not one of my mates or I even thought about not going. I could see it meant a lot to Finnegan.

My aunt stops at my side as Onyx moves aside for her.

Her umbrella briefly keeps the downfall of rain off me, and I miss it.

I need the icy rain right now to cool how I’m feeling inside.

“Each helicopter can take around twenty to forty people back, niece. They are reporting to you and your mates, and they are on orders to help you however they can.”

“The plan is rescue, not to do anything else. I’m not sure what is going to happen, but I’m going to be okay because I have them.” I nod at my mates. I feel them all watching me in the way they always do, just in case I need help or backup.

“Come back. It’s been nice having family around.” It’s the most vulnerable she is willing to show me, and I appreciate it. The helicopters are growing in noise, and it’s getting so loud it’s vibrating against my chest. “It’s a bit of a ride from here. Whatever happens, I am praying for you.”

“Wait.” I stop her from leaving. “Why did my sister never trust you and come here? I have to know. It’s been burning in my mind.

My mother always said we couldn’t trust anybody, and we always had to run.

My father was never quite on board with that, but you sound like you loved her.

You’ve offered a sanctuary in this amazing city, and yet she didn’t come.

You’re sending me with soldiers to rescue a city that you owe nothing to either, so I’m thinking you’re not all that bad.

So why? She never called Starlight City her home, and she hated it there. ”

“We were born in Starlight City, and that’s the very reason she hated it and its people.

We were orphans, and we don’t know what happened to our parents.

I searched for any records of us, but the time we were born was not good for Starlight City after a recent Vian attack.

I was a year older than my sister at the time, but she would have been days old.

Many were killed over that weekend of attacks; several hospitals were the targets, and if our parents had Elly there and brought me to visit, it’s likely they are dead and we were lucky to survive.

There was just us, our awful foster parents, and our plan to escape Starlight City the moment we could.

I loved my sister so very, very much. Even though I was slightly older, she was always in charge and told me as much when it came to any decision making. ”

She smiles softly at the memory. “Her hatred of Nexus, of Starlight, was the only thing we disagreed on. Just because we grew up with most of our kind and had the scars to prove it, did not mean all Nexus were cursed or evil. When she got a mate at the ceremony, she wasn’t happy.

Your father did everything he could to make her happy, but it was a fight, and in the end, he lost. What happened to my sister warped her mind so much that paranoia and darkness were all she saw.

After losing a child, that was it for her.

The trauma cracked her open, and there was no fixing it.

It was like she was a ghost, walking in the body of my sister, and I didn’t know how to get through to her.

Your father was so scared of her running off with you alone that he didn’t dare say anything.

I do believe if she had made a slightly different choice and brought both of you here together, then perhaps it wouldn’t have ended badly and her mind wouldn’t have been lost. I look at you now and I see that you probably ended up with the childhood we both once swore our eventual children would not have.

” She touches my arm as so much clicks into place about my childhood, about what my mother was like and why my father always did what she asked.

“Promises made by kids who wanted a good world, and only one of us kept that vow. I didn’t have children because this city became my promise. Do you understand?”

“I’m beginning to.” I nod, covering her hand with mine. “Thank you for telling me all of that. My parents died before I could ask them these questions, and they never got to see the me that I am now. They only ever saw me scared and on the run.”

“Do you forgive them?” she quietly asks.

I think back to the mirrors, and I know deep down in my heart I do.

They made every bad decision and fucked everything up for me over and over, but I truly believe that they were trying to protect me.

They did something wrong, but they were trying their best in the only way they knew.

The mating ceremony should never have happened the way it did, and the drownings should never have happened.

The life on the run, the hunger of missed meals, and the coldness of the floors I slept on.

The life that I did not ask for and that the parents I loved were meant to protect me from.

But holding onto this hate, this bitterness, will only end up turning me into the parents I don’t want to be like.

I’m choosing to forgive them for myself, for the peaceful life with my own soul that I want in order to thrive.

That’s enough for me to forgive them. What’s the point in hating the dead when hate only taints your own soul? “They know I do.”

Her eyes well up as she lowers her hand. “Will you consider spending some more time here when you can? I’d like to think of a future where I can spend time getting to know you and seeing you grow. I want you to have hobbies that don’t involve death and darkness.”

“I’m sorry, those two are quite attached to my soul,” I joke. “But yes, I’d like to spend time here too.” With her. My aunt. I have some family left…and she isn’t all that bad.

“Good. It’s likely everything’s going to be destroyed in the near future.” She smiles.

“That’s a bit of a morbid joke, isn’t it?” I laugh.

“You’ll learn that I like making them the more you get to know me. Where do you think you got your dark humour from?” She glances at Finnegan, who has moved away. “I best speak with your mate before I go. May the Gods be with you.”

May they not. I want to pray to the stars now; I might have more hope from them. Annie comes over when my aunt has left, dressed in purple ranger clothes and a sword on her back. They match my own, and I much prefer the black on us. “You okay?” she asks.

“Not really,” I admit to her, because there aren’t many I would tell it to. “I don’t want to take my mates there when the Vian king could hurt them. I feel like something bad is going to happen.”

“But you’re still going to go for Finnegan.

” She hugs my side. “Whatever happens, it will be okay.” I rest my head on hers, looking across to see Onyx watching us.

I know he hasn’t told her yet, and it’s not my place to either.

I know it will be hard for Annie to hear the truth about who her father was, when she really didn’t like him and he kept trying to kill her best friend.

He was also creepy as fuck. I’m glad both Onyx and Annie seem to have inherited everything from their mothers.

Issan walks up to us and Annie goes tense, moving to straighten up. “Go away?—”

“I’m coming with you and wanted to make our leader aware.” Issan cuts her off. “The decision is not yours to make, Annie.”

She narrows her eyes and clenches her fists. “Fuck off.”

He smirks. “No.”

The tension between them makes me want to step back, but Annie’s hand is tight on my arm. My aunt comes to stand in front of us both. “Ah, I’m glad you decided to go with them, Issan. He might be some kind of defence as he can shield extremely well against attacks.”

“It’s not a choice. I am leading the soldiers going in.

I’ll meet you there, Miss Autumn.” He goes and gets into one of the other helicopters, and Annie glares at his back until he is out of sight.

I look between the two of them, realising something that I probably should have noticed before.

There’s something there, and I make a mental note to ask Annie about him later. I have to be nosy.