Page 5 of Starlight Mates

I arch an eyebrow at the nickname and his tone. “Did you really think I was just going to stay here? Even I know it’s illegal in the Nexus and human world to kidnap and hold anyone hostage.”

He flashes his teeth as he smiles. “You’re in Starlight.” I knew it, but still, my heart nearly gives out in pure fear. “I’m not sure what you know, but Starlight is a completely fortified city in the middle of Scotland. Our capital. No one comes in or out of here without the Supreme Alpha’s permission. You’ve been avoiding this place for long enough, and now you get to live here. Yes, kidnapping and holding someone hostage is illegal for Nexus, but my father, two uncles and grandfather are half of the eight Beta Alphas and voted for special measures, considering how long it took to find you.”

I see red. Nothing but blistering fiery rage. “How dare you bring me here and get your fucking daddy to lock me up? You are a sadistic prick if you ever think I’m going to take back the rejection and happily bend over to be your mate. Go fuck yourself!”

He laughs. Actually laughs at me. “You have a real fucking dirty mouth, Gwen.” I’m still shaking with anger as he comes closer. Too close. I can smell him, how he smells like vanilla and fresh rain in a forest. “You were lucky to survive, and we are not risking you again. If you died, even with our bond rejected, it would fucking hurt my Nexus. No one is allowed to do that, so I have a mild interest in keeping you alive. That attack you ran from? It was only one of many, and it’s dangerous for all Nexus outside these walls right now. Until it is safe, you are staying here.”

Vian? He is using them to scare me into staying, and it’s almost laughably pathetic. “I don’t believe you. Those Vian were a random attack and bad luck.”

“You know, I’m Onyx, not that you’ve bothered to know my name. This is my house.” He spreads his arms out. “My father put those runes on you. Everybody has them in Starlight.” He shows me his wrists, where the similar runes are. “But yours are different. Ours make us traceable when we leave the city. If we need help, we can press on them ten times. Yours will make sure you’re not leaving, and pressing on it will just piss me off as it’s connected to mine.”

“Then I’ll press it all the fucking time.” He laughs again and I don’t like it. Well, actually I do like his laugh, but not when he is laughing at me. I’m not funny. “Are you going to let me out? I’ll carve off my own hands to escape this place, so the runes don’t matter.”

His eyes widen when he sees how serious I am. Little does he know I could actually do that and survive. The hands would just grow back. “You’re fucking insane.”

Now he’s starting to get it. I shrug, knowing it annoys him, and his eyes do that swirling darkness thing again. Oh yeah, definitely pissed him off. I step closer to the door, right before I run for it. I turn the handle and it opens. I knew the arrogantasshole wouldn’t have bothered to lock it because he wouldn’t have expected little old me to get past him. He’s on me in a second, though, grabbing my wrist to turn me around. Before I think about it too much, I bring the shampoo bottle up and squirt it straight into his eyes. He roars in pain, but he lets me go as he stumbles back, a loud growl echoing from his throat.

From his Nexus.

Time to leave. I don’t know where I’m running as I head straight out of the room and onto a staircase. I barely make it two steps before my feet leave the stone steps and I float upwards. Tipping upside down as a scream echoes from my chest. My hair falls down around my face, long enough to touch the stairs as I look down, brushing it aside to look right at another one of my mates.

His hand is in the air, clearly his power, telekinesis, controlling me. Fucking brilliant. I can’t even move as he wraps invisible arms around me and walks up the stairs until we are face to face.

So close his very minty breath blows over me.

“Put me down.”

He’s all blond hair and green eyes, tanned and a very pretty boy. He’s wearing a suit that screams expensive, with dark blue straight trousers and a white shirt. A few buttons are undone on his shirt, and a tattoo peeks out. He looks at me from head to toe. I can tell he doesn’t like what he sees. “All these years, we have wondered exactly what you look like.” He sighs and I can’t read his expressions. His face barely moves, and his green eyes reveal nothing. “Now, we were all really fucking disappointed that you were stupid enough to get caught and we have to deal with you.” He leans in, our breaths mixing and goose bumps littering down my spine. “I’ll tell you a secret: I’m not. I’m going to make your life hell for rejecting me, and I’ve been waiting five long years.”

“Hollis.” One warning from Onyx, who I think is still in the room.

Hollis walks away from me, even as it feels like he just stabbed me straight into the chest with only words. I knew it would be like this, but still, it hurts more than I thought it would do. Only when he is gone does a gust of wind blow me to the top of the stairs and drop me in a puddle right by the door. Onyx comes out of the bedroom with a towel in his hand, his eyes bright red, and he smells like lemon shampoo. I find it really, really hard not to grin at him, and I know I fail when his eyes tighten.

“Get in there and lose the smile. Now!” he barks.

No one bosses me around. I smirk and lean back. “No. I’m going to stay right here, and you can fuc?—”

I scream as he picks me up with a growl, his hands iron tight, and the first touch of his skin against mine is like a fire burning throughout my body. He carries me into the bedroom, even when I’m literally kicking and screaming, and throws me onto the bed. I run after him, but suddenly there’s a magic barrier in the doorframe blocking me. I can see through it, but it’s rock solid. It looks like a glossy, shimmering blue magic, and Onyx slides his hands into his pockets as he watches me from the other side. “You have to let me out. I can’t?—”

“I don’t want your excuses, mate.” There is so much hate in the wordmatethat it hurts my heart more than Hollis’s words. He walks away from me, and I slam my hands on the barrier, but it’s like a brick wall, and it only hurts my hands the more I smack it. If I don’t get out of here soon, I’m going to bring this entire city down with me.

There is only so long before my Nexus will take over and demand it’s time to play.

Chapter

Three

For three days, I’m left in this boring bedroom, and I spend every second pushing my Nexus away when the normal nightmares come to haunt me. The rest of the time, I spend tapping the runes on my wrists to annoy my Nexus mate who locked me in here in the first place.

I can tell it’s pissing him off, because he looks a little more annoyed every time I see him.

I’m thrown new clothes this morning, a little different from usual. Simple black leggings and a black top, which I appreciate, but I still don’t get my bag back, and no one talks to me. Onyx comes three times a day, every single day at the same time, I suspect, not that I have a clock. At least the food he leaves is good. He can walk through the barrier, which is permanently in place. No one even walks past the corridor outside. I know because I sat for hours staring through it, hoping to see someone, but there’s nothing. No one. I can just about see a window down the corridor, and that’s the only way I can see if it’s day or night. The house is too quiet. I almost wonder if anyone even lives here. In the afternoon, right before sunset as usual, the door opens, and the barrier actually fades away.

Onyx, in a dark shirt and jeans this time, strolls in. There are dark circles under his eyes, and I’m kinda proud of them. I spent all last night tapping the runes non-stop because I couldn’t sleep. “Come with me, Gwen. We need to have a discussion.”

“We can discuss it right here, and then I can leave Starlight,” I counter. “I’m not going anywhere with you otherwise.”

“Do you want to stay trapped in here for another three days?” He looks right at me with those dark eyes. Those eyes almost scare me. I know some Nexus hurt and abuse their mates, and for all I know, he could do the same. “Because, trust me, I can leave you in here for a year while we keep repeating this and not be remotely bothered about it.”

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