“Larson’s mate,” Landus said, coming to stand next to me. Our shoulders brushed against each other, and I shifted to put some space between us. I needed the space right now.
“Mate? How does that work for you?” I asked curiously.
“It’s different for each shifter but still just as strong. For some, the moment they meet, the need consumes them until they finally give in and mate. For others, it’s a slow burn, growing and growing until they finally explode. Those are a sight to see.” He chuckled. I looked over at him. His expression was soft as he looked at the loving couple.
“And you?” I asked. “What do you think it’ll be like for you when you meet your mate?”
He shrugged. “Maybe a slow burn. I have a feeling it would be.”
Something in his expression had me asking the next question. “Do you want to find your mate?”
He winced and finally looked at me. “Everyone wants to find their mate.”
“That isn’t really an answer.”
He ran his hand over his head. “I don’t know. I know when I find her, I’m never letting her go, I’ll treat her the way she should be treated, as if she were a goddess. But I’m not in a rush.”
Now I was curious. Didn’t people usually push themselves to find their mates? Wasn’t it the one part of their life they looked forward to, desperately wanted? “Why?”
“A mated couple are powerful, and I know my mate will be just as powerful as I am. But they also have the power to destroy each other. My parents were like that. They loved each other desperately. It was a little sickening.” His lip curled up before growing somber. “My mother was killed. Some beings raided the small village we lived in. She didn’t make it. My dad decided to follow her a few days later. He chose to die.”
“Shit,” I whispered.
He nodded. “I know if something were to happen to my mate, I would do the exact same thing. I would follow her.”
I looked away from him, unable to handle his pain. That was fucked up. To think Landus and his father would choose to die.
Landus turned to me, and I looked at him but then his phone rang. He swore before pulling it out of his pocket and walking away. I watched his broad back until he walked around the small building and out of sight.
I stared off into the woods for a few minutes until Landus came back around, the phone to his ear.
He looked irritated.
“No, you don’t need to find a hopper. Nyssa is with me, I’ll bring her.” He paused. “Yeah. Thanks for giving me a call.” He hung up and gave me a wary look. I braced myself for his news. “The mages were just attacked. One death. They’re searching for the gate, but it isn’t going well.”
“And you volunteered me to go?”
He shrugged. “What else is there for you to do?”
“Go to bed,” I grumbled. The corners of his mouth lifted in a nearly nonexistent smile.
“Come on, let’s go help the mages so we can get you tucked in before ten.” He placed his hand on my lower back and led me to his monstrous truck. “By the way, how did you know about the sand beetle?”
“I once found a body that was infested with them. Those things ate him from the inside out, devouring everything.” I wiped at my face, hoping to get rid of the flash of memory. He was nearly just a skeleton when I found him, waves of beetles crawling all over his body. They flowed over him like a body of water. There was no way of picking out one beetle among the thousands.
“How did you find a body like that?”
“Woodlands. The only place you can find those kind of beetles. How did you get your hands on one of them?”
He smirked as he opened my door for me. I crawled up, and he closed the door, going over to the other side and hopping up into the driver’s side. Looked like he wasn’t going to tell me.
Chapter Seventeen
I remember seeing a gate for the very first time. The swirls of blues and grays called out to me and I reached out with my tiny little fingers, wanting to touch it. I remember a slender female hand wrapping around my wrist, stopping me. “You aren’t ready yet, my darling baby.”
—Nyssa’s Journal
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the mage’s institute that housed over thirty full-fledged mages and around a hundred trainees. Chaos surrounded us the moment we pulled up to their building. Lights glared brightly, making sure no shadows existed for the enemy to hide in. People ran around, scared or irritated. Most of the trainees stood around, looking dazed and confused. Signs of a battle showed in the damage done to the building itself and also to the trampled gardens. Looked like the bad guys tried to get inside but didn’t make it through. Otherwise, more than one person would be dead.
We got out of the car and watched the flurry of chaos around us. A young man hustled out of the building and made his frantic way towards us.
“Landus, thank you for coming. Nyssa, I’m also really glad you came too.”
“Pookie, how are you?” I asked with a smile.
Aaron frowned as if the answer should be apparent. Or he still wasn’t a fan of his nickname. “Not well. We lost one of our instructors, with another ten mages injured. Many of the students are frightened and we have parents calling for updates, keeping the phones busy. We don’t have the manpower to find where they came from. We know they didn’t break our wards and yet they got in somehow.”
“We have an idea who did it,” Landus said. “He’s somehow managed to create gates within the boundaries of magical barriers. He’s already attacked us and the witches.”
“And I found a gate at the vamp’s place before they had a chance to attack them,” I said.
“No one really cares about them,” Landus said in a growly voice. Aaron glared at him in response.
I shot Aaron a warning look. He didn’t need to start a fight by pissing off the big bad Alpha. Shifters and vampires were cats and dogs, oil and water, fire and ice. They broke out in fights the moment they breathed the same air, and those mini skirmishes would build and build until they exploded into an all-out battle that occurred around every ten years with huge death tolls on both sides. The last fight occurred only a year after I came out of the Woodlands. I got to see the aftermath with the shifters because Cecil and her coven helped take care of them. I lasted about a day and then disappeared for a week.
When I came back, Cecil was frantic and put me through an hour-long lecture. After witnessing her extreme reaction to my disappearance, I didn’t leave without letting her know. I didn’t want to put her through that again, especially during a bad time with the shifters and vamps. She thought the vamps got to me or something.
Sighing, my bed came to mind, warm and welcoming. The dark circles were giving me panda eyes right now, not to mention my wounds still weren’t healed all the way. Baron’s wounds were taking an awful long time to close up. At least it didn’t have stinky pus coming out of it anymore. “Let’s just find this gate before we lose daylight. I’m not up to poking around in unfamiliar territory without proper lighting.”
“By all means, after you,” Landus said, giving me a sweeping motion to lead the way.
I walked to the edge of the pristine lawn and looked off into the woods, opening my senses slowly, not wanting to slip into my instinctual mode on everyone. I got the impression they didn’t like it. The shifters still watched me closely, waiting for me to go crazy. They needed to realize I couldn’t get much crazier than I already was.
Landus stayed close on my heels, with Aaron and a handful of mages followed behind. The shifters brought up the rear. We went deeper into the shadows of the woods. With the sun on its way down now, most of the shadows deepened, capable of hiding anything in them. Since Landus wasn’t defensive or worried, I wasn’t either. I doubted much could sneak up on him. Hell, I was sure he had the knack to sneak up on a stalker already watching him. He seemed like the type to defy reality.
“I’m starting to feel more like a bloodhound,” I grumbled as I made my way thr
ough the forest, following the tether to the gate.
Landus chuckled. “Well, you definitely have the nose for these gates. I don’t notice them until I’m practically on top of them, and I’m more aware of them than the other shifters.”
“Same here,” Aaron reluctantly agreed, as if he hated the idea of having the same problems as the shifters. Shifters and mages had a strained relationship, but not so crazy as the shifters and vampires. They were just uncomfortable with each other. At least they didn’t let that affect their jobs. “So what’s the game plan if we find the gate?”
“Go inside and kill them all,” I said.
“Tear the gate down.” Landus glared at me.
“What? Why? They attacked the mages and killed one of them. They’re fair game for retribution, and it isn’t like they’re hard to kill.”
“Nyssa, they killed a mage. Mages aren’t easy. I have a feeling these guys aren’t as easy as the ones we’ve been dealing with. I think they’re upping the stakes.”
I snorted. “Only way to find out is to go through the damn gate.”
Landus turned to me, his face a mask of fury. “You may be unstoppable, but my men are not. We are not going through that gate. We already took down a great deal of his bases, which means his men have to go somewhere else. I would rather not walk into an infestation of these so-called humans.”
“Then I’ll just go in alone. You may have forgotten, but that is my job after all.”
He snorted. “No. You’ll go through, and there will be another bloodbath. We don’t have the manpower to go in after you. And I don’t want to risk them coming out here while you’re in there.”
I glared back at him, not impressed with his bout of anger. His eyes were all beastly, typhoon of death making its way to its prey. His voice deepened until it turned into growls and his skin shifted underneath. Mr. Prime was about to lose his shit.
“Woof, woof,” I said.
He growled, but it didn’t sound anything lupine. There was an echo vibrating through the feral sound, projecting the growl, and anyone nearby could feel it in their bones. Well then.
Dropping my voice and keeping it serious, I said, “I want more answers than we were given. I want to know the rest of their plans and we won’t get it if we don’t take risks.” Besides, I still needed to return the favor for what they did to Cecil. I may have killed the man who hurt her, but I wanted his master. I wanted Baron.
Landus let out a massive roar and not long afterwards, a couple of shifters returned with their respective yowling and howling. He stepped closer, his chest brushing against my breasts, but we were too angry with each other to give a damn.
“You are a suicidal maniac. You just rush into danger without a second thought, and you don’t give a shit about how that can affect those around you.”
“If I wasn’t who I am, then I wouldn’t be a hopper. I love running straight into danger. I love being on my feet and knowing that I’m stronger and better than my opponents. I dance with death daily because I want to know that I’m alive because being alive means being a survivor. I won’t be prey to anyone, not by some overbearing Prime and definitely not by some guy who’s crazed with revenge. I’m me and that won’t be changing anytime soon.”
“And who exactly are you?”
I poked his chest with my finger. “The woman who will find this stupid gate because she can when no one else can. I’ll be happy to leave if you want. Hopefully, you’ll find the gate, but I doubt it. Baron isn’t playing games either, and he knows how to hide them because so far no one else has had luck spotting the thing. So if you want to do this alone, be my guest.”
Landus didn’t need to know I was bluffing with him. I wanted to find the gate, and I wasn’t one to bail on something like this. Landus growled low in his chest and then slowly reined himself in. His spiked energy levels settled down a notch—even if they needed to go down a couple more notches.
“Fine. Let’s just go already instead of wasting daylight.” He leaned forward, his nose brushing up against my cheek, his breath warm on my skin. “Just so you know, I will learn your secrets. I will learn who you are.”
I turned my head just slightly and commenced dragging my tongue up along his cheek as payback, enjoying the explosion of flavors dancing on my taste buds. He was yummy. Landus flinched, and stepped away from me with a surprised look. I smirked, triumphant. Surprised was a good look on him.
“Good luck with that,” I said cheerily.
Even I didn’t have a damn clue. Maura said she would try to find out but where did one begin to look. She wanted answers just as much as Landus did.
~ * ~
The gate was hidden next to a small cave. The mages gathered around and worked at dismantling it. I felt the tether tightened before snapping as the gate crumbled away into nothingness. The emptiness inside my chest widened.
Fingers brushed against my cheek, and I jerked back before snapping at Landus’s fingers and missing by a mere hair’s width.
“Why did you touch me?” I asked.
“Because you had that sad face again, like when you watched the witches take down the gate on my land.” He cocked his head, his eyes inquisitive. “Why? Why do you look like someone precious died?”
“Do you ever wonder why I can find gates so easily?”
“Of course.”
I let out a breath and turned away from the mages. They whispered with each other frantically, trying to come up with a solution to prevent another gate like that showing up again.
“When I get close to a gate I can feel them because I form a tether to them. When they’re torn down, I feel that tether break, and that’s why I feel sad.”
Landus stayed quiet for a few moments, processing the new information. I could see it in his expression as he worked to understand what I said.
“You are connected to gates?” he asked.
I nodded. “The connection forms when I get close to them and stays until the gate goes away.”
“All gates?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t found one that I didn’t connect with yet.”
He pointed at my chest. “How many connections do you feel?”
“In the past few days I’ve formed at least thirty new bonds to gates just from driving around the damn city. Normally, there are only ten or so, depending on which ones get taken down. Whatever Baron is doing is working, confusing everyone and also managing to hide his own movements. I’m sure everyone is focused on their own territory and securing it, which makes the rest of the city fair game.”
“Don’t do it.”
“Don’t do what?” I looked at him.
“I can see it in your expression. You want to search all the gates. The city and the people in the city aren’t your responsibility.”
I laughed at his reasoning and shook my head. “I couldn’t give a shit about the people in this city.” Cecil’s broken body flashed in my mind and my anger rose. “Who I care about is Cecil, and right now she’s on her fucking death bed. The others can all die for all I care. It’s life. They’ll get over it.”
“You don’t act like a human,” Landus remarked, and I snarled, hating those words.
Human. Act like a human. Pretend to be a fucking human. Those words were beginning to sicken me. I wasn’t a human, why did everyone expect me to act like one?
“And you act too much like one. So much in fact that I’m sure your instincts have dulled to where you might as well be human.”
He growled and stepped closer to me, trying to use his size to intimidate me. Not going to work. My warm darkness within pulsed at the idea of going head to head with Landus. Maybe it was time to see what being a Prime meant.
“What?” I sneered. “Are you going to howl and growl without backing it up with anything?”
His hand snapped up and wrapped around my neck, lifting me up slightly so I was on my tippy toes, my breath blocked from my windpipe. The light chattering that surrounded us went dead silent, all eye
s on the new show before them.
“I’ve been very patient with you, Nyssa, but I will not tolerate you questioning who I am.” I could feel the energy in his words, the power boiling underneath his skin. I’d finally pushed him too far. If I could, I would be smirking right now. “I am Prime, and I will kill you if you push me too far. Do not do it.”
He let go and I fell onto weak legs, taking in gulps of breath. Then I laughed. Hard.
Landus stiffened as he watched me laugh, the muscles in his neck ticking with his anger.
I straightened up. “Hon, you just proved my point. Instead of giving me a warning, you should have just torn out my throat and then called it a day, Mr. Prime. Instead, you warn me.” I laughed again, shaking my head.
My neck throbbed, but it would heal in an hour or so. I walked back to the institute with Landus stalking from behind and the mages keeping their distance. The shifters were around, but they kept out of sight, not wanting to get in the middle.
I was pretty damn sure the bets they had going between Slade and me were now shifting to Landus and me. I just had a way with people, bringing the worst out in them.
“Get in, I’ll take you to the witches,” Landus said through gritted teeth and got into the driver’s side.
The drive back to the witches was long and quiet. When we got there, he barely waited until I got out of the truck before taking off, leaving me behind with gravel kicked up in my face.
Oh, yeah. I’d really pissed him off.
Chapter Eighteen
I remember rough hands holding me down. A shadow of a man chuckling, entertained as I fought back. I remember the terror that sped through my body. He wouldn’t let me move. I was weak. And when I looked him in the eye, I knew I stared at my death.
—Nyssa’s Journal
Cecil still struggled for her life, and I couldn’t do a damn thing. I hated being powerless. In fact, I hated it so much I put myself through hell to not feel it. I had felt it once before. I remembered the feeling, the hopelessness, the heavy suffocation in the chest, the racing of my heart. The pressure from all around. I despised it.
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