Page 6 of Celestial Alphas

Chapter

Four

Severi was right, and I really dislike that fact. The trial begins today. I bet they can’t wait to get the monster out and on show for them all to have a common enemy. My door slams open in the early morning, I’m guessing, and I haven’t slept. I pull my knees up and crawl to the back of the bed as Paavo walks in, holding a pair of handcuffs. “I hate to break it to you—I’m not really into kinky shit like that with old men. Especially not my mate’s dad.”

He nearly chokes on thin air. “Don’t be so disgusting. Get up, put them on, and I won’t have to put any runes on you again.”

“You think that rune was something I should be scared of?” I laugh in his face until he goes a satisfying shade of red. Making small men angry should be a favourite game of mine—I always win. “That was nothing. You don’t know torture. I was kept by the Vian for years. I know exactly how many days I was there because each day actually hurt. I know exactly what actual torture is at the hands of someone that’s far better at it than you. That was just child’s play, nothing. Pathetic really.” I lean forward, my Nexus pushing the very limits of the magic in here so he can see her through my one eye. She sends me a million thoughts of the horrible things she wants to do to him. All of itinvolves him dead at the end. “You want to break me into being your weapon? You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“The Gods be damned, you are a fucking—” He takes a step forward, but he instantly stops when another man comes into the room. I spot a mark on his neck, indicating a wolf. He’s a beta. I’d put him at the same age as Onyx’s father, with peppered brown hair and blue eyes, which are kind. Strange to see any kindness in a beta, at least from what I’ve heard of them.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Gwenieve.” The beta smiles. “My name is Beta Guili, and I will be one of the sentencing betas in your trial this morning. It is a closed trial except for invited guests, and we feel it will take five days. We aren’t the enemy, Gwenieve, and I’d like to take you to the sentencing hall without you fearing for your life. The trial room has currents swimming under the floorboards and in the walls, and it makes it hard for you to lie within the walls. Speaking the truth today will make everything easier.”

Great, sounds like the perfect room for me. I cock my head to the side. “Do I look stupid?” He opens his mouth to reply, but I cut him off. “I must do if you think I’d believe you’re on my side. You’re not.”

“Put the handcuffs on and make it easy, kid.” Finnegan’s father, Tutor Edvard, comes into the room with his arms crossed. I’m surprised to see him here, but wary too. I can’t trust Finnegan, and his father is likely going to be on his side. They both must hate me.

“Are you here to torture me, too?” I question.

He frowns and steps forward. “No one’s torturing you. Torture of a Nexus prisoner goes against our laws. No one would ever hurt you. But a lot of us are quite frightened of your Nexus. We would appreciate if you put the handcuffs on. They drain your magic and make you unable to shift outside of these walls for a limited time while we go to the trial.”

The handcuffs, the nasty black colour of the metal, is familiar. My Nexus whines, remembering bracelets that were so similar. I know they will make me wear them if I say no, and it’s not a choice. My only choice is between having them manhandle me, which Paavo the fucker would love, or doing it myself. “Fine.” I shove my hands out.

Alpha Paavo comes closer, and I slide off the bed, away from him. “Not you. Give them to Tutor Edvard, Alpha.” I sarcastically drag the titlealphaout. He isn’t an alpha I follow, and he will never be. Weak men shouldn’t be left in charge or with titles they didn’t earn—and don’t deserve.

He grits his teeth and chucks them to Edvard. He sighs as he comes closer to me, and he frowns at my face. I realise he’s seen my cut lip. My healing isn’t working in here. “Who did that?”

“Gwenieve threw a tantrum when she came in here and hurt herself on the bed,” Alpha Paavo smoothly lies. “But I believe she is calmer now. Hurry up.”

Liar. “Don’t worry, I’ve been hit a lot harder.” I let out a breath as he clips the handcuffs on me, and I can’t breathe for a second as they take control. My Nexus screams in my mind as she is pushed down, and my blood runs cold. I hate it. I immediately hate it. When everything isn’t spinning and I can breathe again, he leads me from the room. He stays at my side, while Alpha Paavo and Beta Guili walk in front of us.

“You can ask me about Finn, if you wish?—”

“Why would I want to know anything about the mate that betrayed me and put me in here?” When he doesn’t reply, I roll my eyes. “No, I’m not going to ask about him. I don’t want to know anything.”

I truly don’t want to know anything. They’re dead to me. They betrayed me, and that’s all my mates are destined to ever do, apparently, to betray me and hurt me. Yes, I rejected them first, but this is worse. I completely understand why they wouldhate me, but this? This is a fate worse than death, and they could have just let me leave Starlight. They could have not made me trust them. They could have not put me in here. I look away before any of those emotions are portrayed on my face, before it makes me cry. Again.

“Do you know Finn has a little sister?” My head shoots his way. “She’s not my biological child. His mum had another relationship after me, and I’ve rarely met her to be honest. We weren’t mates, but his mum passed in childbirth with his sister. His sister lives mostly in the hospital here because her Nexus is sick and?—”

“We don’t talk to our prisoners,” Alpha Paavo stops him.

The look Beta Guili gives him is interesting. Maybe not everyone is up his ass after all. “I don’t remember reading that law, and I’ve read every law in every rule book that’s written by the Nexus. As Supreme Alpha, you should have read all the laws too. Communication with our prisoners is not against the law.” I’m shocked that he is defying his alpha and protecting me. Strange.

“Maybe it should be.” Alpha Paavo straightens his tie.

“Unless you’re going to pass a law too quickly through all the betas, I highly doubt that you’re going to be able to stop anyone talking to this prisoner.”

“Fine.” They both walk ahead, but Beta Guili looks back and gives me a soft smile before carrying on. I frown at him.

Clearing my throat, I glance at Edvard. “I really don’t want to hear more about Finn or his sister.” Even though I’m slightly intrigued about this sister who I saw him hugging, but he never mentioned she is sick. Not sure why I’d think he’d mention it to me anyway. He clearly hates me. Still hates me. He must have been lying and pretending, because whatever I saw on his face in that warehouse can’t be true if I’m in here. I’m not delusional enough to let myself believe anyone could want me anymore.My mother always said no one would accept and want me. She is right. She was always right. For a moment, just a moment, I thought someone accepted me and she was wrong. That I had a reason to live, a reason to keep going. That it was real. That moment was crushed the minute I woke up. Destroyed, trampled on, and made damn sure that I know mother was right once and for all.

My father…he told me once to love and trust my mates. That the Gods were rarely wrong and that I had to trust in the fate destined for me. Yes, he agreed to reject them, but in the end, in his last moments, I remember them clearly as if he was right in front of me. He told me to give them a chance. I told him I couldn’t, because of this. Because I knew, if I let my mates in, that they’d probably be the ones that would break me much more than I’m already broken.

Edvard tries to start a conversation in the walk up endless staircases that are cold and smell damp. “You still belong to the academy, you know. The trials circumvent the rules of the academy attendance. But, if you’re found not guilty or they don’t have enough evidence to convict you for murder, you’ll be given back to us. Back to your home.”

The funny or sad thing is, the academy was probably the first place I called home. My childhood house wasn’t really anything more than a house, and it lacked the warmth of a home. I never laughed much there. I never really enjoyed it. Not like the academy or nights in with Annie. The training that made me feel alive. The mates who made me feel the most dangerous thing of all—hope. The fact I was never hungry there or so cold my lips turned blue. That my bed was warm when I went to sleep under my duvets, and I didn’t have to be scared of training with my mother or Severi hurting me if he found me again. That I was never truly alone. Because independence sometimes masks loneliness, and it’s not until you’ve been independent for so longthat you realise you’re lonely. I miss Annie…and a sad part of me misses my mates. Well, not Hollis. I’m glad that fucker isn’t around, and at the same time, the bond makes me want to know he is okay. That all of them are. “One question. Are they okay?”

“They are alive,” he answers, but I can tell he isn’t telling me something.

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