Page 8 of Celestial Alphas

Alpha Paavo huffs. “The reason she must be disposed of is that she’s a murderer. Hardly just because she is different.”

“Fuck off, this is wrong on so many levels, and I’m done listening to you call her a murderer when she only killed Nexus that deserved it. Nexus you would have sent me after or brought here, anyway.” Finnegan’s voice echoes. His dad tries to grab his arm and pull him down, but it’s clear he won’t budge. He is defending me, and I don’t know what to make of it when he is the reason I’m in here. They all are, except Rhodes. Where is Rhodes? I thought he would be the one fighting for me the most out of them all and telling me everything is going to be okay, but he isn’t here. Rhodes is not here, and it’s killing me because I know how I feel about him.

“Every single one of the dead Nexus had done crimes that would be tried in our community and given a death sentence. For example, one of her victims was severely beating his mate. He had plans, which I recorded, to kill her. Brutally, might I add, and then kill himself. What was done may have not been allowed in the law, but every single one of them had done a crime against our own laws that were written in this room. Laws that would class her as nothing more than a ranger doing their job. She is aranger, and she has done nothing wrong. If killing bastards who deserve it is a crime, then lock me up with her!”

“Sit down or I’ll throw you out!” Alpha Paavo roars.

Finnegan smirks and holds his arms out. “Make me.”

Onyx nods at Hollis. Hollis only holds a hand out, and Finnegan flies down into his seat and is held there by an invisible force—Hollis’s gift. Finnegan struggles and swears, but Onyx says something quietly to him, and he glares but stops. I look away before I meet any of their eyes. He is defending me. What the fuck?

“I’ll continue then,” Beta Guili says into the silence. “Does your Nexus select them for their crimes? Does she feel she’s a hero, performing justice?” I don’t say anything. What can I even say to that? “Let’s start again at the beginning. You said you’ve been a killer since you were a child. Was that the first time that you shifted? Did you kill people by accident?”

My shoulders drop. Smart. I have to be smart. “Yes.”

Silence echoes loud. “Will you tell us about it?”

“Will it make a difference?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Trust me, it will. We want to understand you. We could have just killed you if we wanted to. Perhaps try fighting for yourself now and tell us the truth. Your parents took you away after rejecting your mates at the ceremony. We assumed it was because you didn’t want five mates. That’s a big bond to take on and accept, so when word spread, yes, we put out a reward for your return, but we assumed that was the reason. I knew your father personally, and he was a brilliant fighter. Your mother as well was known to be very quick-witted, and I knew the pair of them would do very well in keeping you out of trouble. I thought they’d bring you back when you were older, when things had settled down, when you wanted, perhaps, to settle down. It’s a big choice for a fifteen-year-old to take a bond like that. We know this. Yes, rejections in ceremonies are extremely rare, butthey happen. Having a bond to five mates is also extremely rare. But everything about your parents has always been that little bit of strange. Take your father, for example. He was at the top of his class, and then he walked out. No one, except Edvard over there, knows the reason for that. I would like him to stand—this is why he’s been invited today—to explain the reason. I feel the past is the key to understanding what happened with your Nexus.”

I turn to Edvard, who looks at me with sympathy in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Gwen, that this is the conversation we have to have here so publicly. It was not something that I wanted to discuss with you until I felt you were ready. Your father was the top of the class, as you say. Brilliant, almost. I had not taken over the role as leader of the academy, but my father had. My father was in that position towards the end of his lifetime. I was training, and I overheard when your father came in. I overheard the whole conversation. His mate had turned up pregnant and begged him to leave the academy. They had been arguing for a long time, and he felt like there was zero choice for him except to pull out of the academy to look after you when you came as a baby, because your mother wasn’t too keen on having you. He left to protect you from her. There was more to the conversation but nothing that needs to be added here. We can talk about it privately at a time when you’re ready.”

Protect me? My father couldn’t do that. Tears sting in my eyes as I look forward.

“Did your father raise you, or was it more your mother?”

“I was five the first time I shifted. Quite normal apparently, but we were out at a human shop. It wasn’t a big one. There were probably twenty people there, going about their day shopping, elderly and adult humans. Thankfully, no children. I was the only child in there. I shifted in the middle of the aisle, in front of my mother, and everything turned grey. The floors, the people,and everything except for my mother. She…I don’t know. She ran out, ran away from me so quickly that I suppose my Nexus never really got to touch her. She abandoned me and I don’t blame her. When I shifted back, I was naked and alone in a shop full of dead bodies, and my father was just there. He picked me up, took me to the car, obviously covered me up first, went inside and lit a fire. He called a friend with a fire ability—I don’t know who—and burnt it fast. The human authorities just assumed that there had been a bomb or an explosion. That’s why there were no survivors. Everything was so severely destroyed that there was no investigation to be had. My father made sure that every camera nearby was destroyed. My mother helped with that too. There was no evidence, no trail, nothing. They made sure that everything disappeared, including those people, because of me. I couldn’t control it, and they were both scared of me.” A tear falls down my cheek. “But they loved me. They both loved me, and I wish they were here now.”

Beta Giuli’s voice is soft. “When’s the next time that you shifted?”

I rub my wrists with the handcuffs. “My father used to have things like these handcuffs, but they were bracelets. It managed to keep her under control for years. But when I got to my teenage years and closer to the ceremony, things got harder. The bracelets were no longer working, and my Nexus began to hunt in the way that she does.”

“You call it hunting?” Alpha Paavo questions.

“Yes, I feel that’s what she does.” I stop touching my wrist and stand straighter.

“Did your parents tell you to reject your mates?” one of the other betas asks. “Did they force you?”

“No, that was my choice,” I lie. I need to hold on to that. To tell them that it wasn’t really my choice, well, that would give them some kind of shitty power over me, and I can’t stand it.

Onyx stands and I glance at them for the first time. They look as broken as I feel. Even Hollis is still and watching me. “I think that’s enough for today. She’s clearly upset, and law seventy-two demands that she is given time if traumatic events are brought up.”

Alpha Paavo looks at his son and nods once. “We’ll begin again tomorrow. We have much to discuss before making a choice.” He looks at Beta Guili. “Escort her down with four rangers.”

“No!” Finn shouts. “You let her out. She belongs to—” He pauses and looks right at me. “The academy. We’ll be able to keep her there and her Nexus restricted.”

Paavo shakes his head. “We both know that she escaped from the academy, and at this current time, I do not believe she isn’t a threat to everyone in Starlight City. Her power is wrong on every level, and she could let her Nexus out in the middle of one of our shops, one of our schools, and endlessly kill. She is not in control, and nothing we learnt today makes me believe she is.” He looks right at me. “The trial will continue tomorrow.”

Alek stands and slams his hands on the banister. “Then we take the handcuffs with us, and she can stay in the academy. She will have control. Anything is better than my mate down in a fucking prison!”

Onyx clears his throat and looks right at his father. “Your Honours. Excuse our emotional outburst, but the stakes are high, when we feel our mate is being treated like she chose this life. We can’t kill people for being different and, as Finn pointed out, she didn’t kill anybody who didn’t deserve it. You saw how she battled the Vian. We need her on our side. The Vian are increasing in attacks, and at this point, we are on the edge of a war. They are killing indiscriminately throughout towns and villages. The way that she is might be the way of our future, andmaybe she was sent to us by the Gods to aid us in what is to come.”

My heart leaps as he looks at me, and all I feel is confusion. So much confusion. He doesn’t think I’m a monster, even when he knows the truth. Alpha Paavo’s voice cuts through the moment like a knife. “She is your mate, son, so we’re going to ignore your outbursts and wild theory about the Vian. We have everything under control.”

“She’s also needed for Rhodes, and you are ignoring my requests—” Alek protests, but he is cut off quickly. Rhodes?

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