Page 55 of Gift from the Nexus

I do in fact feel better that everyone is now aware of everything, but I’m also petrified to know how they all feel, so instead of lowering the block around my chest, I keep it firmly in place and take my first look at my family in front of me. Starting with Gaster.

I don’t have to sense him to know what he’s feeling. There’re tears streaming down his face, falling from his eyes faster than he can wipe them away with his cloth. When his baby blues glance up at me, there’s a vast mixture of heartbreak, anger, and surprisingly, pride.

Oakly’s a weeping mess, but her face is set in a fierce mask that screams if she could, she’d eliminate every last Mastery member she could get her hands on. And her men are no different. Although they’re not openly crying like she is, their red-rimmed eyes promise they’ll be by her side, my side, when the time comes.

I didn’t realize at first what it was I was most fearful of seeing reflected back at me, but as they continue to stare with vastly different emotions, it dawns on me, I was petrified of their pity. Subconsciously, I was preparing for them to look at me like a fragile, broken woman that’ll need to be mended back together.

None of them have an ounce of that in their eyes, though.

Suddenly, my body becomes encased in shadows as I’m yanked off the ground and suspended in the air between my guys. The rapid movement makes my head spin, but I quickly shake that away when I get a glimpse at the true condition my men are in.

I don’t have a moment to speak when vines are wrapped around my waist, and I’m tugged against Tillman’s chest. Protectively wrapping me up against his body, his wild emerald eyes collide with mine a second before his mouth is on me, devouring any sound trying to slip from my throat. I try to throwmy arms around him, cling to him, but between the shadows and his vines, I’m locked in place.

The moment is over, and I’m spun around faster than I was prepared for, but no matter because Corentin grips my chin in a possessive grip before I can even catch my breath and he tilts my head back, kissing me just as passionately while simultaneously pushing air into my lungs so we don’t have to break apart and breathe. The wild beat of his heart pounds in tandem to mine and I wish I could lay my hand to his chest to calm its erratic beat. All I can do is give myself over to him.

With an impatient growl, I’m torn from Corentin’s arms and Draken’s fire consumes me. Blue flames lick across my body as the entirety of his eyes bleeds cobalt. A deep, demanding purr falls from his chest, calling my dragon to the surface, and she responds instantly with a submissive sound that has him swallowing the noise down in a second. I’m not sure how long he kisses me, long enough I know the man is back in charge but no less possessive.

My body becomes weightless as I’m moved through the air once again, but this time, when I crash with Caspian, my legs wrap around his waist as he catches me easily. His shadow-veiled eyes search my face for something, and once he sees it, the cool press of his mouth to mine is electrifying, awakening every one of my senses as I fall into his rare, hypnotizing embrace.

We both struggle to catch our breaths as we pull apart and my body ignites when all my men crowd around us. A small moment of mortification leaks through me when I seem to remember we have an audience, but it’s squashed out when I notice the wall of shadows concealing us from their view.

“Look at me, Primary.”

My head snaps back to Caspian’s at the command in his tone, and my pupils dilate as I stare at the multiple promises shimmering across his whiskey eyes. One screams that one daysoon, I’ll finally see all there is to see in my dark and damaged protector. Every bit of him. The other promise…

“I’ve seen all they’ve done to you. I’ve felt it, relived it through you. So I’m warning you now. Franklin, I’ll allow you to decide his fate as you please, but the other…He will relive it. He will endure it all. There will be no stopping me, us, as we deliver his punishment however we see fit, Primary.”

Nine

Draken

I’m not one to give a fuck if my mental block is up or down when we’re at home and it’s just us.

I couldn’t care less if Tillman caught wind of the crazy shit that runs through my mind and I purposely like for my little wanderer to hear all the things I think about her, but after what she showed us, yeah, I figured it’d be best to keep it up.

She could easily break it down if she wanted to. We’ve already learned all it takes is her naked body to distract me, but shewon’t do that without asking me first and right now, she won’t ’cause there’s no doubt she senses the emotions running loose through me and my dragon.

Every burning part of me is screaming to go to Rebel Castle and eat that sorry fucking excuse of a rapist. As someone who’s never known their father, I’ve liked to paint the picture fathers are good men. Like the Vito dads. I can’t imagine how she’s feeling finding out hers stole her mother from her Nexus and raped her. I couldn’t find that out about my own, fuck no.

Franklin’s going to die.

That little saber-toothed pussycat is lucky Daddy Dyce got to him and not me. He would’ve been a tasty snack. Probably a tad bit sharp going down, but I would’ve made it work.

And who the fuck does this Trex guy think he is? That wannabe Primary thief is lucky to be breathing. Why she insists on keeping that pitiful mind reader alive beats the hell out of me.

The other two…

Yeah, they’re fucking dead when we find them.

“There’s smoke blowing from your nostrils again.” Willow’s sweet voice wraps around the embers burning beneath my skin, extinguishing their heat immediately, and I reach out, pulling her into my lap.

“Sorry, little wanderer. Got lost in my thoughts.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for, just don’t get too lost in there.” She taps my temples lightly and I pull her hand away, kissing each of her fingertips.

My heart bleeds for her. I know she’s struggling with the fact her mating mark from me is ruined, and I can’t pretend that it doesn’t upset me, especially after watching what happened and why it happened.

It’s not the sight of it that bothers me. Not in the slightest. Nothing about her could be anything other than perfect in my eyes, but it’s the way it now makes her feel. That mind-blowing,amazing ceremony where our beast became one is now tainted for her because every time from here going forward, it’ll be the torture she remembers.

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