Page 18 of Ethereal Shifters

“I’ll tell him. I don’t know why either. When…”

A Vian in a black cloak steps out of the shadows, a young woman in his arms, completely dead. He throws her to the side, and I send a quick prayer to the Mortal God to watch over her soul. “We have been looking for you two. There is a prince who wants an audience… He didn’t say if you had to be standing to see him.”

The Vian prince who claims Gwen is also his mate. Severi. Three more step up behind him. And more. And more. There must be at least fifty here, and they circle us. How the fuck did they get in?

Hollis and I risk a look at each other. I can’t speak into his mind without Finnegan nearby, but I don’t need to. We are fighting our way out of this. I pull off my jacket and fold it, putting it on the wall nearby and undoing my tie. “You picked the right time. I’m really fucking pissed off, and I could do with letting off some steam.” I let my Nexus take over. He’s a sadistic bastard, he likes pain. He’s very happy to be out and free. I rarely let him take control, and when he does, it’s chaos. Chaos magic, the same magic I use to make a barrier, swirls around my Nexus in thick green waves, and I grin at the fear in their eyes. They should be scared. “Hollis, leave one of them alive at the end. They need to tell their fucking prince what happens when he comes for us.”

Hollis has let his Nexus out too, his eyes blood red, and Vian are lifting off the ground as his magic spreads. The secret is, we are all different when our Nexus come out, and Gwenieve is the same as us, just stronger. Deadlier. They should be scared of what happens when they challenge us together.

I lose track as I start attacking one after the other, enjoying the blood, enjoying the sport. They came to my fucking city, where my fucking mate is, and tried to kill me. That isn’t happening. I lose track of Hollis in the chaos magic, but I don’tcare. I need this, and the streets are going to drown in Vian blood when I’m done.

Chapter

Ten

There’s someone banging at my door, and it’s too warm to get out of bed. Another bang and the feeling of one of my mates on the other side of the door has my Nexus muttering in my mind that I need to wake up. Annie is slightly snoring as I throw the covers back and switch on my lamp. Outside of her blaring alarm, it takes nothing short of a hurricane to wake her up after a long day of Hollis’s training classes. My own body is sore too, and I groan as my feet hit the cold floor when I climb out of my warm bed, wondering if it’s Finn. He’s been away for four days now, and it’s four days too long.

I don’t like that the alpha is using him to be the assassin and that Finnegan never speaks about it. There is a look in his eyes, a sinking feeling I get, that makes me wonder if Finnegan even wants to do the work he does. Even though things are tense between us, I’ve gotten used to his bear sleeping on my floor. I got way too used to him waking me up with coffee and sweet treats, like cinnamon buns or various other breakfasts he finds for me. I’m pretty sure his love language is feeding me, and Gods—I love food. My heart could easily be found in my stomach. I check the clock, just to confirm it’s the middle of the night andI have a reason to be grumpy with whichever mate is outside there.

I smell blood just as I pull the door open, and my eyes widen. Hollis is leaning against the frame of the door. Blood is all over him. Not just his blood but Vian blood, and he’s too pale. There’s a gash above his eyebrow, a black dagger wedged into his shoulder, and too many cuts. Too much blood. He feels weak and my Nexus flares to life within me, a desperate need to save him flooding my senses with her worry, her panic, her devotion to her mates that I didn’t know she felt for him, too. This is Hollis and he looks like he is dying.

“Hollis.” I reach for him on instinct. He doesn’t flinch away from me…damn, he really might be dying.

He looks up with his haunting green eyes. “I have nowhere else to go, and you’re the only person I know who won’t want me dead unless you did it.” He collapses straight on top of me, and I squeal as I fall. The weight of him slams us both onto the floor with a bang, and my ribs take the brunt as I gasp.

“Gwenieve?” Annie yawns, and her tone changes. “In the name of the twin Gods, Gwenieve!”

“It’s Hollis, help me!” I beg as I try to wiggle out from under him. Gods, he weighs a ton. I barely manage to push him off me onto the floor as Annie drops to our side. His blond hair is so soaked in blood that it looks red, and I push a strand off his forehead as Annie kicks the door shut. The last thing we need is for a student to walk past and start screaming. I grab one of his arms and pull him further into the room and away from the door with Annie’s help. I grab my pillow and lift his head to slide it underneath before frowning. He looks paler. I touch his neck, feeling for a pulse, and my own heart races when I feel how weak his pulse is. This isn’t a normal pale…a Vian has drained him. Maybe even more than one. “He’s alive, but we need help.”

“What happened to him, and why is our tutor bleeding on our floor?” Annie asks, pulling off my blanket and throwing it over Hollis. “I thought he hated you.”

“I don’t know, he just turned up, and he’s… Clearly he wants his condition kept a secret, or he wouldn’t have turned up at my door. He would have just gone to the healers,” I mutter to myself, trying to make sense of it. I flinch as I tap into my Nexus and feel her rage. Oh, she wants to kill for this. Revenge is a messy parlour trick she loves to do.

Annie reaches over to touch my hand. “I know you don’t really like it, but I should go and get Georgina. She can heal him and she won’t tell anyone if I ask her not to.”

Anyone but her. Dammit. I don’t know anyone else to ask for help who could heal him, and Finnegan is away. Aleksander can’t heal, and Rhodes wouldn’t be able to do anything either. I think he is at the shelter tonight, so I can’t even grab him. I look at Hollis and how pale he is. I can’t let him die, and I don’t want to call for the healers. Reluctantly, I nod. She touches my arm once more before rushing out of the room to get Georgina.

I lean down to Hollis’s ear. “You’re making me bring her in here to heal you. You can’t go fucking dying on me. Where have you been and why come here?” I swear I can smell Onyx on him, too. Like his scent is woven in the blood. Was Onyx hurt? “Please wake up and be a dickhead again. My life would be boring without you to piss me off.” He doesn’t wake up. “Your lessons are my favourite because they push me to the limit of what I know, and when I’m lost in combat, it’s the only time I feel like everyone else. Normal. If you die, that’s over.” I can’t admit anything else to him, especially when he is with Rochelle, and it’s not fair. Not fair for me to lay my feelings out, as complicated as they are, and watch as he laughs.

It takes longer than I’d like before Annie opens the door, rushing Georgina into the room before shutting the door behindher. Georgina’s blue eyes widen, her skin pales as she looks down at Hollis, and for a second, she looks familiar again. For a moment, I see my mother, and then it’s gone. I don’t know why she reminded me of her at all.

“Did you do this to him?” She looks at me and her voice is protective.

“No, I’m not a monster. He’s my mate.” I drag out the wordmy.

Annie steps forward. “No, she didn’t hurt him. He just turned up like this. Can you heal him? Secretly.”

Georgina rubs her arm. “Why don’t we just go and get the healers? They can work on him, and you’re stronger than they are. I was just in Rochelle’s room, and she is my friend. I could get her. She should know about Hollis while we wait for the healers to come?—”

“Look, we just need to keep this a secret, please.” Annie stops her. “I know you don’t understand, but we trust Hollis and he doesn’t want anyone to know.”

I’m glad that Annie says please, because I really don’t want to. But I reluctantly would for Hollis. I don’t want him to die. He’s right, because I’m the only one who gets to kill him. Usually because he’s running his mouth and pissing me off. Georgina rolls her eyes. “Fine, but only because I have a connection with him. But stand back, both of you.”

Connection. I hate that word. I move off the floor and take a few steps back until my back hits the wall. Annie stands by the door. Georgina leans over, kneeling at Hollis’s side, and cups his face with her hands. My Nexus roars about him touching her, sends images of me murdering Georgina, and begs me to let her out all in one second. I dig my nails into my palm and remember to breathe. Georgina’s magic glows like pure starlight, white and pretty. It echoes around the room as she sings, her voice just as perfect. The dagger that was in Hollis’s shoulder literally fallsout onto the floor, and the cut heals up. The one in his eyebrow does, too. I’m sure everything is fixing itself. The colour slowly returns to his cheeks, and he gasps, opening his eyes.

“Gwenieve.” I almost move forward, even as he realises it’s not me but Georgina. I don’t heal…I only destroy.

After a few more minutes, she stops singing and lowers her hands. The tension leaves my shoulders a little now that she isn’t touching him. He sits up, groaning. “Thank you, Georgina.”

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