Page 17 of Celestial Alphas

“Uh-uh,” I interrupt. She has her answer. I point my finger at him. “You called me a monster, and that’s true, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had family to fight for, and I do now. You don’t want to push this monster too far.”

“You can’t shift.” He lifts his chin. “The magic of this house is too strong, and even if you could, you’ll never shift with her at your side. As far as I see it, you’re injured and weak. Easy, really.” I blink. He’s smarter than he looks, at least. Still dumb enough to play with the enemy though.

The Vian guards, or whatever they are to him, take a step forward. Annie lifts her dagger. “I’m a ranger and I’ll fight to the death to protect her.”

My heart actually feels like it warms… She is going to fight for me? Even knowing what I am. A dark, dangerous voice fills the corridor. “You need to leave, betrayer. You heard exactly what she said.”

I turn around, my eyes widening when I see and feel Aleksander literally stepping into shadows at the end of the corridor. Hollis steps out next, blood splattered on his armoured black ranger clothes. Aleksander is wearing the same uniform, and my mouth parts, not just at the sight of them, but the fact they came for me. Why would they do that? I didn’t sense them at all. Stupid spells.

His eyes flicker down to the dagger holes in my side and the blood soaking the dress. The way his eyes darken, the promise of pure violence that fills the depths, makes my heart race. My Nexus loves it as much as I do. I don’t see Onyx behind Kos and the Vian, not until two bullets go straight through the chests of the Vian, and Annie screams as blood splatters over us, just before the bodies slump to the ground. Seconds later, Onyx’s holding a gun to Kos’s head. Annie rushes forward. “Don’t!” She walks right up to Kosma and looks into his eyes. “Just let him go. Like you said…he is a betrayer. Nothing.”

“Let him go, Onyx,” I demand.

Onyx lowers the gun. “The next time I see you, Kosma, you’re dead. Run.” Kos doesn’t even look at his mate before running around Onyx and abandoning her for his life. Annie sobs as I take a pain-filled step forward and touch her arm. She gives me a shaky nod to tell me she is okay, and I barely notice Alek until his hand is touching my waist, and his eyes are fixed on my wounds.

“How are you standing, Trouble?” He moves his hand away when I glare at him. “Can you walk? We need to get out.”

“I can walk,” I coldly answer.

“Gwen—”

“Stop being nice to her, she doesn’t fucking deserve it, and we don’t have time to have her hobbling around injured when Finn—” Hollis grunts when Alek shoves him. “Fucking hell, Finn is out there fucking destroying everything! We need to leave now because that Vian is powerful.”

“Severi.” Horror whispers through my blood. Finnegan is fighting him all alone, and he has no idea how powerful their prince is. I don’t even know the full extent. “What is Finn’s power?”

“You’re about to see,” Hollis answers with a bitter snarl to his words.

Onyx shakes his head. “Let Alek hold you up at least?—”

“No!” I protest at the protective tone to his voice, stepping closer to Annie in the same breath. “I don’t trust any of you. You’re the reason I’m here, injured again and fighting again. If you had just let me go in the first place, when I was first brought to Starlight, none of this would have happened!” Onyx and Alek look like I’ve just kicked them, and part of me regrets saying it. I’m scared and in pain, and I went too far. The apology gets lost when the ground shakes, and Onyx throws up shields around like a glowing blue bubble, holding the walls and floors together all the way to the door where Kosma left. Annie stays close to my side, and Hollis leads us down the corridor until we step out into the frosty night sky and the pure elemental chaos waiting for us.

Finn’s standing right in the centre of it, and every wave of power leaving his arms is nothing short of destructive, uncontrolled madness that is sweeping the forest and the Vian. The forest around us is burning in flame-engulfed tornadoes, and around him is a shield, Onyx’s shield, protecting him from his own elements he’s conjuring in waves of red. The ground isshaking and spitting with the power coming from him and his Nexus. “I thought I had a problem with control.”

“He controls elements, but it comes out in chaos, explosions and never-ending power. He can’t come back until one of us knocks him out,” Onyx shouts to me over the blasting of the mansion behind us. It’s falling down and I’m glad to see it. A red wave of magic, almost like water, blasts up from the cliff side, and it snatches the Vian, sweeping them over the cliff, and barely any of them have a moment to scream.

“What Onyx isn’t blaming you for, but I am, is”—Hollis turns his green eyes on me—“every time he uses this power of his, he loses more control. This is worse than I’ve ever seen.”

My Nexus watches from my one eye, curious. She isn’t scared and I have to be strong, too. “I’ll get him back. Protect Annie, please.”

Alek steps into my path, a second before Onyx joins his side. Hollis waves the way for me with a smirk that makes me think he would be happy if I got hurt. I really fucking hate him. “You’re not fucking walking to him, Gwen! Look at him!”

I defiantly lift my chin. “Haven’t you learnt not to underestimate me yet?” I cock my head to the side. “Because maybe I’m the only one that can stop him. I told you that you know nothing about me.”

“We saw the video footage of what you did outside the house.” Onyx crosses his arms. “And your Nexus? We will talk about this later, but I’m not underestimating you here. I’m worried Finnegan would never forgive himself if he hurt you.”

“He said he would never hurt me.” My heart races. “And his Nexus is in control right now. I think it’s time I met him. Sorry!” He doesn’t get to ask what I’m sorry about before I tap into my mother’s power of speed and move around him in a heartbeat. He doesn’t even see me, and I run right for Finnegan, letting time slow around my body until the elements are so beautiful,like Christmas lights on a dark night. I ask my Nexus to come out, and she ignores me as we get closer to Finnegan. “Shift!” I demand. But she doesn’t. She fucking refuses to come out.What the fuck is wrong with you?She is quiet but my head turns to the Vian, and who is right at the frontline? Severi.

He is pacing up and down a barrier of dirt, some stolen Nexus power that is keeping them safe from the fire. Severi seems to see me, even when he must not be able to with how fast I’m moving, but he looks. He looks and my Nexus doesn’t hide. She feels…well, strange. She won’t get in the middle of her mates because she likes them both. My Nexus has an enemy-to-lovers kink. Brilliant. Especially considering one of them is actively trying to get her to destroy the world. My psychopath Nexus might have seen that as a weird way to propose before screaming yes. They’re bad guys, not hot guys. Well, they are hot. I’m really not proving a good point right now.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

I’m in front of Finnegan within a second, and his eyes are no longer blue, no longer the colour of the purest water, but instead they are red fire pits of flames. Red fire highlights his veins, which travel down his cheeks, around his eyes, down his chest that I can see through his ripped shirt. He is boiling hot to stand near, and his Nexus is fully in control. “Hello.”

“Mate,” he growls, and I shiver, feeling that growl from the top of my head, right to my toes. “Our enemies are escaping. Shift and we will hunt.”

“No,” I whisper, reaching up and touching his cheek with my shaky hand. The pain is bad, making everything spin in a haze, but I don’t dare let myself pass out yet. Or die. Likely die with all this blood loss. I glance behind me to see Severi is getting into a car, as are the people he has left. “It’s over, Finnegan.”

His hand snaps out and wraps around my throat, and he lifts me up. I hear Onyx and Alek, Annie and Hollis shoutingfor me, but Finnegan’s Nexus doesn’t hurt me. He pulls us face to face and kisses me, running his teeth against my bottom lip. “Finnegan, come back to me. It’s over.”

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