Page 3 of Moonlight Bonds (The Nexus #4)

I can feel they are alive in my soul. My Nexus has confirmed it, but they could have been captured by the Vian for all I know.

Something tells me they aren’t. “No. But the only reason they wouldn’t have reached out to this place is because they don’t know of it.

There are five safe havens in Snowdonia that we could have gone to.

This is the only one I am confident that Rhodes and Hollis would not have known about.

It belonged to an old aunt of mine. No one’s been here in years.

I don’t think Onyx or Alek will know about it either, so that’s a problem.

We need a phone that can’t be tracked, but any plan, any avenue I would suggest is compromised by those bastard half-breeds. ”

The world seems to shake with the hate in his voice. It wasn’t just me who was betrayed—it was him too. Rhodes and Hollis were like brothers to him.

I step up to his knees, pressing mine into them, his warmth seeping through my clothes.

Even that simple touch sends heat skipping down my spine.

“Then we go to things that I know that Rhodes and Hollis do not know about. The way I kept myself hidden. If they knew of them, they would have found me. We’re going to need weapons and money…

and help. I want to get help from someone that I’d rather not meet again, but unfortunately we’re put in this position, so reluctantly we are going. I need you to trust me.”

He reaches out, running his fingertips up my thighs and cupping my ass to pull me onto his lap.

I let him, needing this contact with him too.

Even if my heart is shattered, the piece of it that belongs to Finn will always stay firm and true.

The same stands for Alek and Onyx. He sinks his hand into my hair.

“I trust you with my life, Gwenieve Patience Autumn. I know you must feel like trusting anyone is hard right now, but I will stand true to you until we die. Even beyond death. Even beyond the moment when we exist as nothing but stories in dusty books.”

I kiss him like I’m trying to fix every inch of us. He grumbles, pulling me harder against him so I can feel him under my ass. I moan as I swirl my hips. Finnegan’s eyes are dark when he grips my chin. “Want to go for a walk in the forest so I can bend you over a rock or tree stump?”

Like we’ve done a dozen times…but this time, it feels like we are using sex to run from our problems. “Finn…”

“I know.” He groans softly, moving me back a few inches onto his knees. His next words are like ice being poured over us both. “There’s been more reports from Starlight City if you want to know them.”

My heart stops just for a second before I take a deep breath and nod. “Yes. I want to know what the death toll is. I want to know everything because it will just make it easier.”

“Easier for what?” he asks. He grips my chin when I try to look away.

“To face it. To face the death I caused and what it has done to me. It won’t be easy, but I want to know every detail so that I never forget what I am fighting against. What they did.

” I cover his hand with mine. “I’m so angry, Finn.

Aren’t you? Rhodes and Hollis have been pretending since you were teenagers. How old were you when you met?”

“We met at the mating ceremony when you were fifteen, and I wasn’t much older.

It was the first year I began my assassin work, and I was looking for a reason to exist. I did think they looked older, but some people do, I guess.

We were all bonded over how much we wanted to find you; how angry we were over you.

I spent countless hours with them and never suspected a thing.

They’re hundreds of years old.” He shakes his head, hurt flashing in his eyes.

It kills me to see him hurt. “It’s about time those hundreds of years ended, because my Nexus and I are in a rare agreement.

We are hunting the king, and then I’m hunting them.

They don’t get to survive betraying me like this.

The twins handed me over to the Vian king, knowing that he was going to use me to slaughter thousands and kill me.

They were going to let me die. Georgina carried on holding on to me, and I would have destroyed the entire world—every city, every human life, every Nexus.

All that would have been left would have been people with Vian blood, and that’s it.

The war would have been over. I would have been dead, and they just let that happen.

They just stood there. I’m their mate, and they did that to me.

I know I hurt them first at the mating ceremony, but I was a scared fifteen-year-old girl.

They have had hundreds of years of life and still made this mistake.

If it weren’t for Severi… I was wrong about him. ”

Finn frowns, and I don’t blame him. We have spoken only once about how Severi saved my life and his, so I continue, “Severi’s on our side.

He didn’t just save me; he explained everything.

It was his father using his body to torture me.

It was never him. The times that he was cruel, it wasn’t him at all.

I thought he had a really strange split personality—but it was his father.

I’m sure there’s more to be figured out, but Severi has been warning me about this for a long time.

He asked me to come with him. He tried to get me out of the city again and again.

He knew. He went against his entire race for me. ”

“Then he’s one of us,” Finn commands. I can tell he’s reluctant—he’s not a huge fan of Severi—but he saved Finn’s life and mine. He is my mate, the mate to my Vian side, apparently. I’m still processing everything my Nexus told me and how I’m half Vian at all. “When do we leave, mate?”

I lean closer, tucking my head into his neck, and he wraps his arms around me. I can hear his father and sister moving around in the cabin, and Nibbles’s tapping feet as she looks for me. “Tomorrow.” I brush my lips against his neck. “But right now? I’m starving and need a shower.”

He smiles at me softly, and in one movement, he stands up with me like I weigh nothing. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he carries me into the warm cabin.

“I got up early, and I slow-cooked a chicken stew with sweet potatoes. I knew this was the day you’d come back to me. To the world.” He closes the door behind him. “And for dessert, there is chocolate cake. I’ve never made it before, so be nice.”

I grin, tears forming in my eyes. “You cook and you agree to come with me on a mad plan, not even knowing the details? Damn.”

Nibbles barks in excitement, circling around us. “You’re my mate. I’ll follow you anywhere, Gwen.”

I wince. “You may regret saying that, considering I’ve made a plan, and it’s crazy dangerous. We might die.”

He laughs, and I love the sound as it bounces around the room. “I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t, at this point. I’m with you no matter what.”