Page 18 of Starlight Mates

I head to the door, but his shout makes me freeze. “I’ve told you not to leave. I am your tutor and you do not have?—”

“And this is personal, right? Are you going to make me stay to torment me? Are you going to hurt me? My father said that you probably would. That powerful men like you wouldn’t take no for an answer when they would want to fuck me to make my Nexus bend to their will. So, yes, he trained me to make sure that you wouldn’t be able to do that to me. To make sure none of you could take me without a nasty fight.”

His eyes darken, and both of them freeze like I’ve gone for them. “I do not hurt women, nor do any of the people I call brothers. We never would have forced you, and it’s shitty you believe that of us without even meeting us.” My parents told me enough to make sure I don’t believe him. “Keep playing weak and innocent while calling us the villains if you want. You ran,yourejected the bond, and now you look like we have hurt you. Fuck you, Gwen.”

Silence drops into the room, and I itch to just run away. I’m too stubborn to do that, though. Finnegan cocks his head to the side. “We need to talk, Alek, before you go out there.” He looks at me. “Alone.”

“Talk in front of her. She doesn’t trust us, and she’ll hear it either way,” Alek commands.

“Doreshire was attacked early this morning.”

Please say some of them got out.Alek has no mercy in his tone. “How many?”

There is no emotion in Finnegan’s answer. “All of them.”

Alek almost stumbles. “What?”

I can taste his grief, like salt in the ocean water. Alek storms out the door, and I turn, almost wanting to chase after him. “Doreshire was a settlement of three hundred Nexus in Cornwall. The last of Aleksander’s family lived there. His aunt and uncle.”

“I’m sorry.” I still haven’t taken my eyes off the door where Aleksander left. Should I go after him?

“No, you shouldn’t.” I jump, turning to find Finnegan at my side. Did I say that out loud? I couldn’t have done. “He hates you like I do. Why don’t you do all of us a favour and just run away again?”

I hold my wrist up. “Take it off and I’m gone.”

He grabs my wrist, bringing it to his mouth, and he bites me right over the rune. He marks me with his teeth. I scream, yanking my arm away, and he grins at me with a mouth of blood. “Now the other one.”

“No, you fucking psychopath!” I snarl.

He shrugs, wiping my blood off his mouth, and I look at the bite mark on my wrist. He actually bit me. Finnegan moves into my space and grabs my neck, tightening his grip to the point he almost hurts me. “I fucking hate everything you are. Die, leave, but don’t mess with my brothers’ hearts.”

“I hate you right back,” I bare my teeth, slamming his wrist away from my neck and jumping on him. He doesn’t expect it, and I lash out with my dagger, pressing it to his neck on one side,right before I bite his neck on the other side. I dig my teeth in as his hands grab my waist, and he groans.

Not in pain.

I pull my teeth away, tasting his blood in my mouth, and look up at him. He tilts his head to the side with a sneer, but his eyes are darkened. The blue now is like the depths of the sea, and I swear he is turned on. He liked the pain. “You’re feral,” he tells me.

“Then stay the fuck away from me. You. Do. Not. Scare. Me.” I make sure he sees into my soul for a second.

He drops me and I back away, looking at the blood on his neck as it drips onto his shirt. He shifts quickly, morphing into a furry brown bear that is the same size as my own wolf. It growls at me, deep and loud. I run away this time, knowing letting my Nexus accept the challenge from Finnegan is a bad idea. I don’t know how I get into the main room at the bottom of the stairs until I bump into Rochelle. She smells like Hollis.

I fucking hate her.

My Nexus slips out, catching me off guard. Rochelle screams, scrambling up the stairs and running from me. I barely get my Nexus under control by the time I get back to my room and burst into tears. I don’t know how long I cry before my door is knocked twice, and I wipe my face, pulling the door open to Rhodes.

He takes one look at me and pulls me into his arms, locking me in tightly before I can refuse. “I’m going to fucking kill them for doing this to you.”

“I bit him back,” I mutter into Rhodes’s chest. I like him holding me and I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t. Rhodes bursts into laughter and I can’t help laughing with him until he takes my hand and links our fingers. It feels too natural, and I don’t know if I’m in shock from Finnegan, but I let him lead me down the stairs… He takes me underneath the stairs and opens the door to one of the tutors’ rooms. “I always keep good snacks inmy desk. Sugar first for the shock, and then you can tell me what happened.”

I sigh. The way to my heart is definitely wrapped in sugar, and I don’t protest as Rhodes leads me in, kicking the door shut. He keeps his office relatively simple. There’s not much in here that even suggests he uses this office other than a few glass displays holding footballs on a cabinet. They’re all signed too. I’m staring at them all as Rhodes hands me chocolate buttons, mini pretzels and brownies. “When you don’t have class to get back to, I have better brownies we can try.”

“I didn’t have you down as the bad influence tutor,” I mutter before scoffing the buttons first and glancing at the display boxes again. “It’s a Nexus football. Who signed it?”

“My dad. He is the old captain,” Rhodes explains, which is a bigger deal than he is making out. Nexus football is a big thing from what I remember. They have championships every year, and teams from all over the world come together to play in Starlight. Starlight City has the best team, and Harry told me they won last year, like the four years before. “I play for Starlight with Onyx. I’m captain now. You should come and watch us if you like sport.”

He wants me to support him, and he is looking at me with big puppy-like eyes. Dammit. “I’d like that. If you can get me tickets and a pass out of here. Kids in my class used to talk about it sometimes, but my parents never took me to see a match.” I don’t blame them for that. There were too many people in those places for me when I was younger and didn’t have the control I have now.

Rhodes smiles brightly. “You’ll love it. Your roommate has open tickets. Maybe if you went with her, you’d be more comfortable than alone?” He steps closer and, to my surprise, he runs his thumb against my bottom lip to wipe away some chocolate before dipping it in my mouth for me to lick it off.Every bit of my body clenches as fire burns through me as I softly run my tongue across the tip of his thumb before he takes it out. He doesn’t step away, but his eyes fixate on my lips. I stare at him too. “It could be a date, instead. The offer is always open for you.”

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