Page 21 of Starlight Mates

He looks at me and nods once. “I’ll make sure she can’t access the academy, and if you change your mind, let me know.”

“I spoke with Annie, by the way, about tickets. She’s asking her dad for permission for us both to go, and she finds out tomorrow when she usually speaks to him. Annie told me there is a big match in six weeks?” I inquire.

“Yes, Morriganis City are travelling to us. It was nearly cancelled with all of the attacks.” He turns onto the road for the academy, and I watch the muscles in his arms flex. Damn. “I’d love to have you there supporting me—as a friend, of course,” he quickly adds before pursing his lips.

“It won’t be a date but I’ll be there.” I have to draw a line right now before he gets the wrong idea.

I’ve upset him. It’s for the best, though. I know it is, but it hurts to do it. Rhodes tries to make small talk a few times, but I block him out, focusing on the window until the car stops. I don’t bother saying goodbye as I rush away, and I only slow downwhen I get to my floor. My shoulders drop as I turn the handle to our room, knowing Annie will be back. But she isn’t alone this time. There’s a curly-haired redhead sitting with her, and she is sobbing in Annie’s arms. Annie looks up. “Shut the door behind you before someone hears.” She strokes the woman’s arm. “You’re okay. It’s my roommate, Gwen, and she is lovely. She won’t say a word.”

“Do you want me to leave? I can wander around the academy?—”

Annie shakes her head. “No, you will get told off for being out of your room.”

I awkwardly move to my bed, where there is a boxed-up dinner for me and a coffee in a stainless steel mug waiting on a tray. It feels awkward to eat, so I sip on my coffee as Annie calms her friend down. I remember her from our trainee group, and she usually avoids me. I didn’t know Annie even knew her. Annie sits up as the woman straightens and wipes her eyes with a tissue. “I’m sorry I haven’t said hello before, Gwen. My name is Sara. I’m not… He doesn’t like it when I talk to new people.”

I frown. “Who doesn’t?” Annie and Sara look at each other. “What’s going on?”

Sara puts the tissue down and looks at me with bloodshot eyes. “I have one Nexus bond.” She sobs slightly and I don’t understand what she’s really telling me until she moves slightly and I see her wrists. There are lots of different coloured bruises on her lower arm. When she tucks her red hair behind her ear, I see a matching bruise on her cheek too. Fury feeds my blood. “Did he hurt you? Your own mate?”

She shakily nods. “Yes, he’s got a temper, and he says it’s because I won’t fully bond with him. Ian…he wants my power. I can see through any wall, anything really. I did the ceremony, so we are connected, but I don’t want to sleep with him and draw the runes for mates to fully share power. He has a littleof my power, but my power is a lot stronger than his, and he hates that. I honestly don’t want to be shackled to him for the rest of my life, though. He’s violent and cruel to everyone in his family, but he is seen as a perfect person to the rest of the world. I keep avoiding him the best I can, but he keeps trying to coax my Nexus out. Even she doesn’t want to bond, though,” she says quietly. “Tonight, he surprised me in my room. I hoped coming here would be a way to escape him for a bit. He pinned me down and tried to draw the rune on my chest.”

The mate rune on your heart is sacred, not something that should be forced. I’m not sure it would even work if she was forced into any of it. “My roommate came back early, and she got into a big argument in my defence. He hit us both. I got her hurt, and it’s all my fault.” She starts struggling to breathe through sobs. “I’m just…I’m scared that he’s going to force me at some point, and no one is going to stop him. He is a big guy, and his power is strength. There’s nothing I can do about any of it. I’ll just be bonded to him forever. No one will step in.” She is breathing heavily with each word, like it’s painful to get them out. Like the truth is actually choking her. I’m scared she is going to pass out.

Annie wraps her arms around her. “I’ll ask my dad. He will?—”

“There’s no one to help. No one gets between Nexus, not even the Supreme Alpha, because who would anger the Gods by telling them they were wrong?” she whispers, her voice broken. “They apparently make us perfect for each other, but what do I do? My Nexus mate is a monster.”

It feels like ice stings my heart. My mates would be saying the same thing as her if they knew what lies in my soul. “I’m sorry, but it is not your fault. He’s a prick, alright? Just because he’s got a bond with you, doesn’t mean he can abuse you.”

“Fate would deem otherwise,” Sara gasps.

When she has calmed down and had a drink of water, Annie rubs her back. “Can I ask why you didn’t reject him?”

“Ann, I didn’t know he was cruel to begin with. If I had, maybe things would have been different.” Sara softly looks at me. “Everyone says you were terrible for rejecting them, but I think you were lucky. Some of your mates are not nice men. Especially the assassin.”

“Assassin?” I blurt out.

She frowns and looks at Annie. “You didn’t tell her who Finnegan is?”

Annie clasps her hands together. “Gwen doesn’t like to talk about her mates.” She looks my way. “I can tell you about the rumours, if you want.”

“They aren’t rumours,” Sara mutters.

“Tell me,” I ask, crossing my legs on my bed. “Please. Maybe it’s time I’m not in the dark about them all. I can’t pretend they don’t exist.”

Annie sits back on the bed next to Sara. “Finnegan’s power makes him a threat to Nexus, and at the same time, he might be one of the most powerful Nexus in our race. He got through the academy without a scratch, and then he asked my father for a special job. My dad, well, he hires Finnegan to take out people and assassinate them if they are a threat. With Finnegan’s power…it’s easy for him. He soon grew a name for himself as the Starlight Assassin.”

“There are other not-so-nice titles,” Sara whispers. “And his friendship with the Supreme Alpha makes him not liked much in the city.”

“What did your dad do that people don’t like?” I ask. I remember her mentioning it when she first told me about her dad.

Annie clears her throat. “Dad rules with an iron fist and puts the safety of Starlight above anything or anyone. New laws onimmigration, leaving the city, and mandatory work have been the least favoured.”

“Not to mention the people that have gone missing. Many blame your dad, as it started when he first ruled,” Sara adds. I’ve not heard any of this.

Annie wrinkles her nose. “Dad doesn’t know anything about that, and he told me he has rangers looking into the disappearances. He’s not evil, not like some people make out.” Annie spends the next half an hour trying to cheer Sara up as I eat until she’s calmed down enough, and then Annie walks her back to her room. I lie back on the bed when she comes in. She sighs. “I’m so thankful my mate is a soft teddy bear, literal bear, but acts like a teddy.” She laughs at herself. “That was a terrible and distasteful joke. I just?—”

“I get it. Are you going to ask your dad to help her?” I question.

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