Page 56 of Midnight Deception

Of course they did. Why doesn’t it surprise me that the council would twist this around and blame it on me, even though I was the victim? Looking up at him, I wish we were together and not just communicating through a dream. A niggle in the back of my mind has me thinking of my other alpha mate—Syn. This is two dreams in a row where I’ve not seen him, and I have a strange feeling in my gut. Not like he’s in danger, but that something is off.

“Is Syn okay? I can sense that he’s alive, but that’s it…”

Joel’s expression causes me to trail off, and fear spreads through me, settling like a dark cloud inside me. “Joel, what happened?”

Muttering a prayer for strength, Joel slowly meets my gaze, his mouth set in a tight line. “It’s Syn, he’s not coping well with being separated from you.”

A sensation that I’m beginning to feel familiar with settles over me, and I know that I’m being pulled from the dream. Gripping onto him as if it will stop this from ending, I hold on tight. “No,” I shout in frustration, needing to know. “Is Syn okay?”

His face twitches, and as he opens his mouth to speak, he disappears, leaving me alone. Screaming my frustration, I don’t have long to stew in my anger and fear as everything goes black.

* * *

I gradually come to, knowing that I’m in my bed and surrounded by people. Waking up this way is becoming a bad habit, one I’d really like to stop. Someone is wrapped around me, their warm body supporting mine, and a possessive hand rests over my abdomen.Mate, my mind instinctively tells me as Nicolai’s scent washes over me and the bond hums in my chest. Movement from my other side makes me realise that the heat surrounding me isn’t just from the two of us, and the warmth on my right side is actually Atlas. That on its own is almost enough to make me open my eyes in shock, but I make myself keep them closed. Partially, it’s because I can’t open them, my body is so exhausted that even lying here is difficult. However, there may also be a tiny part of me that wants to hear what they are saying.

The fact that Atlas is on the bed, holding me at the same time as Nicolai, shocks me, and for a moment, I wonder if I’m still dreaming. The throbbing pain in my shoulder tells me otherwise, and I force myself to pay attention to what’s happening around me. Extending my senses, I discover that there are at least four of them in my room, two of which are my mates. A scent that’s becoming familiar tells me that my half-brother is here, pacing the length of the room.

The fourth scent is familiar but takes me a moment to place, and I only know I’m right when he speaks, answering a question I hadn’t heard.

“She managed to hold off three fully trained witches.” It’s Dune, my instructor. He sounds amazed, and a hint of pride sneaks into his voice. There was a time when I might have been offended that he’s so surprised at my skill, but I’ve been struggling to master what he was teaching, and my panic nearly got me killed as a result.

“Not only did she survive,” he continues, “but she controlled herself enough not to kill them. That would be hard for any witch, so for a trainee, that would be almost impossible.”

Hearing him describe it like that makes it sound a lot better than the panicked, unplanned blasts of magic that I used to disable my attackers. However, Dune isn’t one to give out praise easily, so perhaps I’m being too hard on myself.

“Yes, but it nearly killed her in the process,” Nicolai retorts.

“She’s stronger than you give her credit for,” Kano says. “Shejuststarted training, and look what she achieved. Her magic was drained, yet here she is, alive.”

“She shouldn’t even be here. You obviously can’t keep her safe,” Nicolai growls.

“Safe?” Atlas scoffs. “You were making her try to save her own father from a huge, man-eating reptile. You think that’s safe?”

“No, it isn’t, which is why I was trying to get her out. I’m pretty sure that’s why the council poisoned me. They knew I was going to break her free as soon as I was able to.”

“Don’t fight,” I grumble, my voice tight and scratchy.

I’m in Nicolai’s arms, our bonds humming happily, and when I open my eyes, I turn to find Atlas pressed against my other side. He’s scowling, but I’m pretty sure it’s not aimed at me, but the situation in general. Sharing me is going to be a huge task for him, but the fact that he’s doing this for me makes me re-evaluate how much he wants this to work.

There’s a comforting weight on my legs, and a glow catches my attention. Star is curled up with her head resting on her paws, staring lovingly up at me. My heart swells, knowing she’s safe. I couldn’t assess it at the time because I was trying not to die, but I realise now just how fearful I was when she blinked out of existence. What I could have lost and how close I was to that happening hits me. Tears sting my eyes, and I vow to learn to protect myself properly, whether that’s physically or with magic.

“How do you feel?” Nicolai asks quietly from his position behind me, nuzzling his nose into the crook of my neck.

“Like I was just ambushed.” The croak of my voice makes me wince. I sound like I’ve smoked a hundred cigarettes a day for my entire life, which makes me wonder just how long I’ve been out. It must have been a very heavy sleep, as I didn’t hear any of them enter the room.

I glance around the room and take in the expressions of those watching me. “How long was I asleep?”

“Two days,” Atlas murmurs, his own exhaustion showing in the tension of his jaw.

If I had the strength to jump up and exclaim, then I would have.Two days. How can I still feel so awful and tired when I’ve been sleeping for so long? My body is weak, and I can barely feel the well of power inside me that is usually pulsing and demanding to be set free. I also notice how I almost can’t feel the dark presence at all, which is something that’s never happened to me before. She’s always been there, and she only got stronger when my magic was released on the night of my birthday.

“What happened to the males who attacked me?”

Nicolai stiffens behind me but says nothing, and I watch as different emotions pass over his face. They change so quickly it’s difficult for me to work out what he’s feeling, but he emits a general sense of wrath that makes me glad I’m not at the receiving end of his anger.

Realising that I’m not able to move, Master Dune steps around the bed until he comes into my line of sight, Kano slowly following behind with his arms crossed and a frown etched on his face.

“Three males were found in an abandoned corridor,” Dune begins, his expression giving nothing away, but I can hear the annoyance in his tone. “Despite the fact that they’d clearly been in a fight and were in the exact place we traced you back to, they are denying everything. We might need you to identify them.”

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