Page 23 of Starlight Mates

“Who was killed?” a man shouts out before Edvard can walk off.

He clears his throat. “Ian Castleton was found dead this morning.”

Sara’s Nexus mate was killed. The name makes my stomach feel like it’s going to drop out onto the floor, and my Nexus is downright smug. It all makes sense now. She went hunting for him and took over. My monster is a living form of feminine rage, and while I don’t mind that fucker being dead, she has to be more careful. We usually go hunting in the bigger cities where it’s easy to find men who make my monster look like a fairytale. But Nexus? She hasn’t hunted one of our own kind before, and it doesn’t bode well for me. Ian deserved to die, but why does it always have to be me? I don’t want to be a murderer anymore. I don’t want to be a monster. I suck in a deep breath, feeling the walls closing in around me, and I gasp.

Finnegan frowns at me, his hand tightening on my arm. His touch feels normal, like something to grasp onto in the shadows of my mind. “What’s wrong with you?”

“She is having a panic attack.” Alek is there, wrapping his arm around my waist and opening the door behind me. Finnegan follows us in, but I focus on my breathing, on the feeling of my heart beating so fast.Breathe, Gwen.I push away from Alek and rush to the other side of the classroom, yanking the window open and finally breathing when the cold air hits me.

They both are silent as I try to stop shaking. My knuckles are pure white as I grip the window until everything stops spinning. I can’t be weak in front of them. I can’t freak out. My mother used to punish me for having panic attacks, taught me they are a sign of weakness, and with what I am, I can’t ever be weak like that.Get it together, Gwen.Finnegan meets my eyes first when I turn, with nothing but cold indifference in his blue pits. “Where were you last night?”

“Finn—” Alek goes to defend me, and I hate that he does. I do not deserve to be protected like a doe when I’m the hunter.

“I didn’t want to sleep in the same room as you, so I went walking,” I answer, lifting my head up high. “Your bear snores.”

“Fucking liar,” Finnegan snarls at me. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to lie to your Nexus mate? I can see right through you.”

I snarl right back. “You are not my mate. I fucking rejected you, and it’s not fair I have to put up with you all the goddamn time!”

Finnegan storms out, slamming the door shut so hard it shakes the wall.

Aleksander stares at me, his arms crossed tight. “You don’t have to be scared. No one will touch you. We made a mistake in the shopping centre and risked you, but we have made sure no one will get close again. Can you tell me why they came after you?”

A half-truth slips out. “Because of you five. You make me a target, and you always will do.” His eyes splinter with pain, and my shoulders drop. “But that’s the Gods’ fault for making this bond between us all. I know I’m safe here, and thank you for trying to be kind. I never got to say sorry about your family you lost.”

“Thank you,” his gravelly voice washes over me. “The men I callbrotherand you are all the family I have left now. I will keep you safe, Gwen. Even if you hate me forever.”

I want to scream that I don’t hate him. I really don’t. We stare at each other, seconds ticking along as tension screams between us. He walks over to me, and I don’t move. I don’t dare make a sound. I can’t find the strength to stop him as his lips crash into mine, parting and seeking, and devouring, all in the same breath. I gasp as he kisses me, his hands digging into my rain-soaked hair and roughly gripping me so I can’t break away. I can’t run from him.

I wouldn’t anyway.

My hands grip his jacket as he parts my lips and sinks his tongue into my mouth, and I feel him harden against my stomach. The door is opened, and Alek pulls away from me, his eyes flashing dark as a sound vibrates from his chest.

A Nexus growl.

Was that really Alek, or was it his Nexus kissing me? Finnegan walks in with Tutor Jettie right behind him, both of them pausing. I can’t read Finnegan’s expression, but Tutor Jettie goes bright pink. “Are we interrupting a very unlawful moment in a castle on holy ground, Tutor Aleksander?”

Alek looks back at me with surprise. This time he seems more himself. “Do you remember yet?”

Remember what? The confusion on my face only makes him look disappointed in me, and it hurts. That was my first kiss, and he already hates me. Aleksander turns to Tutor Jettie. “She is mine, and I’ll kiss her whenever the fuck I want. Find another tutor if you have a problem with it.”

“Aleksander, you know the rules you have to follow because of—” I don’t hear the end of Tutor Jettie’s frustrated shout as they both slip out of the room.

Mine? Did he really just say that, and why do I like hearing it so much?

Finnegan nods to the door. “Go get dressed. You’re done for the day, and you are coming with me.”

“No, thank you,” I snap. That’s why he was with Tutor Jettie. He was getting her permission to take me out of the academy. “Spending any time with you sounds like hell.”

“Then we are both in hell, Sun. It’s been arranged by my father and the other tutors,” he growls right back. “I will meet you at the bottom of the stairs in fifteen minutes.”

I call Finnegan a whole load of nasty names while storming up the stairs and simultaneously wondering where the hell he is taking me. But whatever Finnegan is up to is the least of my never-ending problems. What if someone saw me in the city hunting? I know my Nexus is smart, but she can be reckless and rash on her hunts, and she has never been let loose in a city like this before. We hunt humans, not Nexus. Never our own kind.

I’m a monster and they should kill me.

Already feeling tired, I quickly shower and notice how much mud is on my feet, splattered up my lower legs. There is no way Finnegan and Alek didn’t spot it, and I don’t think they believed me. There’s still bear fur all over my floor, which is nothing but irritating at this point when it’s from Finnegan. I grab my clothes and quickly get changed, braiding my hair down my back.

I find Finnegan outside the front of the academy, with a group of girls watching and giggling a few feet away. I eye them as I walk past, where Finnegan is waiting on a beefed-up quad bike. He looks incredible in a black helmet and a black leather jacket I want to steal. But the bike…

---