Page 12 of Starlight Mates

“What happened?” Annie doesn’t get a chance to tell me as we get into the room. It’s kind of like a high school cafeteria, rows and rows of benches and tables. At the back of the room are rows of countertops with trays, some serving hot foods, like sausages, bacon, baked beans, and fried eggs. Others are for cereals, toast, and pastries. At the end is a tea station, and I smell coffee right away. I head straight to the one for the hot food, and Annie joins me.

After loading my plate and grabbing a coffee, we sit down together. Annie has two coffees, and she downs one in a second before even taking a bite of her food. Despite our table being in the middle of the room, no one sits with us. “Are you sure you want to be friends with me? I mean, I think I’m the social pariah here, and no one’s going to sit by you if you stay here.”

She snorts. “Yeah, no, it’s me who is the social pariah, Gwen.” She dabs at her mouth with a napkin. “They don’t sit by me because of who my dad is.” I raise an eyebrow and wait for her to tell me. I remember her dad a little, a tall man with a posh suit and a permanent frown. Annie’s mum is just like her, all blonde hair and big warm smiles. “My dad’s the Supreme Alpha of Starlight City. We moved here after I mated, and he got voted in pretty early on. He was always an alpha, but he wanted to be a father first, so he waited until I was older to apply for the job. He doesn’t always make the best choices, and a lot of people here are not a huge fan of him. So, therefore, they don’t want to be anywhere near me. Both in hate and fear, I guess. Which I understand if you don’t want to, either.”

My shoulders drop. She might not be the safest person to be around, because if she sees my wolf, the monster, she is going to tell her dad. My hands tighten on my drink and a fork. If I walk away, it’s another person who is going to hate me, and I don’t know if I can handle that, especially since we’re roommates. Selfishly, I smile back. I know this is a bad idea, but I can’t stop myself just wanting someone in my life. I hate being alone. “Sounds like we’re kind of perfect pariah friends.”

She grins widely. “Thank you for not running in the other direction. I promise, my dad won’t notice you. He doesn’t really bother with me as long as I do what he wants. Which is stay here and be a ranger. All the honour and all that crap.” I get the feeling she doesn’t want to be here. It’s an escape from her dad. I guess we are both hiding and escaping things. “No one’s notgoing to want to be friends with you, by the way. If anything, I think that they’d be sucking up to you, considering who your Nexus mates are. When you guys are mated, you could be one of the strongest Nexus bondings in history. There’s no one else here that’s had more than three mates and survived it…” She drifts off. “Is that why? You got scared?”

I swallow the egg and toast in my mouth. “No, and if we’re going to be friends, please don’t ask me again. Alright?”

“Alright. We all have our secrets. For the record, if you want to share some of yours at any point, I’m here.” She lowers her voice. “And I’m sorry about your parents’ death. My dad told me you lost them both, and that’s awful.”

The colour drains from my cheeks as a flashing memory of their dead bodies flickers into my mind. I gulp, pushing it away to the back of my mind like I do everything else. “Thank you. I miss them.”

We smile at each other, and it feels like there’s some sort of agreement of friendship. I really should have been friends with Annie sooner. I’ve barely finished scoffing down my breakfast before an alarm rings out so loud that it shakes the table. I slam my hands over my ears and look up just as Hollis walks in, holding some sort of blaring alarm speaker in his hands. I wince, nearly falling on the table, and Annie cries out.

So does everyone here. I remember the noise and I can barely control my wolf from making me shift into my Nexus form so it can attack the speaker. It suddenly stops after a few minutes. Hollis jumps on my table, right in front of me, his muddy boot leaving a mark. “First lesson, these are what the Vian use to subdue you out in the real world. Humans cannot hear it, but our Nexus are highly sensitive to the noise. We’re going to play it every morning until it doesn’t bother you at all. Now stand up and get outside! You’re all late for my lesson!”

Chapter

Seven

Hollis is brutal, and he doesn’t give a shit about anyone.

My ears are still ringing as I follow the crowds with Annie, who is noticeably pale now. Hollis leads us outside the castle, straight into the cold, brisk air near the cliffs at the back. There’s a grass track marked with white lines right on the edge, and Hollis barks at everyone to start running on it before he makes us. I know he literally could make me run it with his powers, so I make sure to stay near the front. He stays at the end of the group, but I feel his eyes burning daggers into my back now and then.

Eventually he stops, completely unfazed even though the rest of us are breathless and sweaty at this point, and he watches us finish the last part. We stay on the track, and my legs are burning from keeping near the front, but Annie keeps up with me. We run the entire track, which loops all the way around the castle until we are back where we began. I am panting deeply from the exhaustion, and none of us dare stop until Hollis lets off that blaring alarm again. It rings right through my ears, and I wince. I’ve heard it before, so it doesn’t make me throw up like quite a lot of the people here do, including Annie. I hold her hair backfor her and rub her back. Hollis thankfully turns it off after a few minutes, and I breathe in the cold air to cool myself down.

He stands on raised steps leading up to the side entrance of the castle towering over us. His clothes are similar to ours but more padded and thicker, and really suit him. He is pretty for a nightmare. It’s a shame I have to pretend to hate him, and he hates me back, but his is real. He doesn’t look at me once though, pretending like I don’t exist. Two can play that game. He is my tutor, nothing more…at least for today. I hold my head up high.

“We’re going to start with the very basics, because seeing how unfit all of you are, we cannot begin anywhere else. You took seventeen minutes to run the circuit around the castle, and by the end of this year, I will have you running it in ten. Nine, if you’re good like me.” Nine minutes? How the fuck does anyone do that? “This class isn’t easy, and I expect you not to be throwing up at the back within a few days. If you are, I’m kicking you out.”

What a surprise, Hollis doesn’t show any of them any mercy. “Today we’ll take it in turns to combat against me. I want to see exactly how strong you are, and don’t worry, I am your tutor, and I will take it easy on some of you.” He chooses that moment to look at me, his forest green eyes taunting my soul. Oh fuck. “Everyone over here.”

He leads us over to a training square, into the grass right next to the cliff edge. He’s definitely going to throw me off that cliff. If he does, jokes on him, I can’t die that easily.

Annie looks paler than I’ve ever seen her. “Do you think running away is still an option?”

I know she is joking, but damn, it sounds like a good idea. “Gwenieve, up here.” I freeze at Hollis’s shout. Why me? Whispers break out round the crowd as I leave Annie and walk through them. I steel my shoulders and close the gap between us. The wind is blowing around him, harsh and as unforgiving ashe is, and I know this is all a fun game to him. I can tell by the cruel smirk of his lips as I move into position on the other side of the square. He curls his fingers. “Go on then, show us what you’ve been doing in Spain.” He cocks his head. “Other than getting a nice tan.”

“You seem obsessed with my tan. Do you want to see where I have tan lines? What I covered up and what I didn’t?” I tease, touching the edge of my top, lifting it a little before letting go. I know it’s a low blow to tease him with the fact I ran away, but I don’t care at this point.

His eyes turn fiery before morphing into disgust. “Shut up with that smart mouth and train. I have other students more deserving than you.”

My Nexus claws in my chest, almost rising out of me like a tornado, but I push it down.Calm, my monster.I can’t let it be riled and come out to protect me. Nor can I show him how good I am at defending myself, because he will ask questions that I cannot give him answers to. But I can hold my own at least. Hollis is like a wall when I go for him first, and he dodges me almost effortlessly. I have no chance of dodging him back as he slams right into me, and I fall to the ground with a thud. Air is knocked out of my lungs as he picks me up, pulling me up by my hair to arch my neck, and I wince as he glares at me.

“You can’t even defend yourself? Pathetic.” He throws me down. I feel tears stinging in the back of my eyes, but I don’t allow them to fall. Angry, I swing my leg out to knock him on his ass, but he stops me with his powers. My leg hovers in the air for a second before he throws me backwards in the air. I roll, smacking my chin on the ground, and I taste blood in my mouth. He must cushion my fall, because I don’t slam too hard onto the ground with the rest of my body. I spit out blood between us, and his eyes flare as he looks at my blood on his boots. “I’m done with you. You’re useless.”

He raises his voice. “This is an example of what a ranger should not be. She won’t last a week. She is weak, untrained, surprised by Nexus powers even though she knew what my powers are. The Vian have powers. The most trained of them, the ones who will come after you at some point, will have countless powers to use against you in a battle. You should expect anything and never once let yourself be surprised and on the ground like a victim. Rangers are not victims.” I climb to my feet, my cheeks burning red. “Next. Anyone can do better than her, so don’t worry about following her shitty example.” Everyone laughs at me, and I have to push down the tears that threaten to fall. I willnotcry in front of him.

I walk away to Annie, who just holds my hand and squeezes it once. She didn’t laugh. For the rest of the lesson, Hollis is nicer to everybody else that he trains with. He doesn’t use his powers once. Even going as far as smiling at the girls and teasing them with flirty jokes and running his fingers down their arms as they all but faint from his charm. He does all of it in front of me, and I know it’s a punishment.

After about two hours of standing in the cold, he walks away. “You’re dismissed. Head to your next lesson with Tutor Jettie on the second floor. Room two.” I look up to see Rhodes standing on the steps, watching Hollis come towards him, a frown on his pretty face. Hollis tries to go past him, but Rhodes grabs his shirt and stops him. They clearly argue for a second before Hollis storms off inside. Rhodes searches the crowd until he spots me and waves me over.

“I’ll wait here,” Annie tells me, and I nod at her before heading to Rhodes. He comes down the steps, standing way too close to me. “Hollis is a dick, and you didn’t deserve that. I know you likely hate us all now more than ever, but he took it too far. He always takes it too far.”

“I deserved it.” I shrug my shoulder. “You should hate me, too. Why are you being nice?” I question.

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