I can barely move.
“I was the wife to the previous alpha male.” She changes the subject so swiftly. “He died of something foolish, not worth speaking of, but he’s gone, and I petitioned for the title. I was very lucky to be given it, and with it came responsibilities, obviously, but also privileges. When your mother came to tell me she was pregnant from a sort of one-night stand she’d had with your father, who disappeared on her, I didn’t know what to say at first. Eventually I told her to stop crying in bed and go tell her mate at the academy. It was the last time I saw my sister with light in her eyes.”
“We assumed she cheated on her mate based on the timing.” Aleksander fills the silence.
I look down, and my aunt continues. “They didn’t always get along, and not all mate bonds are made equal. He’d gone off to be a ranger at the academy and barely spoke to her for months sometimes, and she was bored. Coming to visit me was her only way of having any kind of life. When I first saw her friendship with your biological father, I did not see a sexual relationship between them. I don’t know what happened, but your mother was changed after that point. Her emotions changed. She told me she was going to go on the run when you were a child and that there wasn’t another way to do it, and it was all planned. Iasked her not to. I asked her to bring you here, to bring both of you, but she did not listen. She was obsessed with this new plan, and she wouldn’t even tell me where she planned to send the other baby.”
My eyes snap to hers. “You know about my twin sister?”
My aunt’s face softens as she sits gently across from me. “I know all about it, much to my own shame. I wish I fought your mother on it more, demanded that she listen, but your mother refused. She gave birth to you both somewhere that she never told me where. The next thing I know, she had only one baby and was living in a Nexus town, pretending to be normal. Yet, my sister was so broken, and it was almost like she had been drained of life. Your stepfather tried to bring her back, to help her depression, but it was pointless.” Her voice breaks. “I tried to help too. I gave them money, an extreme amount of money over the years, so they had security. I made safe houses for them. I always asked them to bring you here, but they refused. I saw you a few times over the years, but they were adamant about training you, that this is the way it had to be because of something she’d been told.”
“That’s where all the money came from,” I whisper. I clear my throat. “I remember you fixed the cooker in France, and you made the best pancakes. I remember you were kind.”
She smiles back fondly. “I hoped you remembered some of the better visits, as I enjoyed them too. I’m afraid pancakes are the limit of my cooking skills. I only learnt them to make them for you. There were little ways that I could help. Other than that, she would not let me. Now, I’ll answer more of your questions if you wish. Tell you the history of this very place. Somewhere you’ve been drawn to, I imagine. But please know that I swear on my own Nexus that I am no threat to you. That you are safe here for as long as I breathe. I don’t have other family. I have never had children. You are my heir. If I fall, you’ll be the alpha femaleof Morriganis City after me, with your mate the alpha of what is left of Starlight. That puts you in a very powerful position for the war ahead.” She rises. “One day, will you tell me of my sister’s last moments? Even apart as we were at the end, I felt her death like a knife in my chest.”
I can only nod. What if she hates me when I tell her what happened? “I will. I have one more question.” She nods for me to continue. “Do you have an army? An army big enough to stand against them?”
“No.” Her answer injects pure fear through my chest. My mates are silent on the other side of the room, but I know they heard. “My army is not half of what the king has, from my spies’ information.” She looks between us all. “But I believe the Gods have sent something more, if only you finally figure it out. Enjoy the evening. You’re free to go anywhere in the city. I’d like it to become your home, so explore and enjoy.”
“Last place I called home…it didn’t end well,” I mutter, more to myself than to her.
She looks over her shoulder at me as she moves towards the doors. “I intend for that not to be repeated. I knew when you came back to Starlight City, and I have watched you since then. I have waited for our paths to cross, and now that they have, it must be for a reason. Rest well, niece.”
Finnegan drops onto the sofa next to me. “So basically, we’re fucked.”
No one disagrees with him.
Chapter
Ten
“The city is pretty at night,” I whisper as Alek walks into the large open room. Tonight, we had three different flavoured pizzas ordered in, and two whole cheesecakes. It’s all gone, but my stomach is full and content. It was all absolutely delicious, so at least they have good takeout in the city. I should be sleeping now, but I can’t, even though everyone else has gone to bed. I think back to my dreams, half whispers in my mind of Severi, of Rhodes. Both of them are in some kind of danger that my mind has no doubt made up, because Finnegan has contacted his sister. Severi is recovered but still locked up, and everyone is fine, right down to Nibbles.
The city doesn’t get less beautiful the longer I stare, but truthfully, it has nothing on Starlight City. It’s pretty, but Starlight commanded the night like the city itself was a star.
“It is.” I turn to see Aleksander standing next to me. “We are going into the city. I know you want to, and it’s why you can’t sleep.”
He has a point. It’s hard to be somewhere new and kind of safe and not explore. “We shouldn’t.”
“We should,” he counters, stepping closer and offering me his hand. “This is a massive city, and we will easily disappear for a night. I want you alone.” I shiver at his tone. I don’t need to be convinced when it comes to Aleksander, and I wonder if he knows the sheer need I feel when he is near. I take his hand, which is warm against mine. “But what are we going to do?”
“Go shopping first, because we can’t go anywhere I want dressed in these enticing grey clothes they’ve given us.” He grins and I match it.
I glance at his grey sweatpants, which match my own, and his loose black shirt. I have a grey cropped top on, but everything in my wardrobe is the same. It’s equally matching and plain. The only thing that was slightly different was a pink fairy-like dress that would be more fitting in a Barbie world than it would be for me to wear. I’m certainly not wearing or touching it. “It’s not fair as you can pull off any clothes, Alek.”
“So can you. I think I’ll prefer you without the clothes though.” He winks, and I can’t help but blush. We go down the elevator hand in hand and in comfortable silence until we get to the bottom. The entrance hall is empty, but there are guards outside, who don’t even so much as blink as we walk out into the cold air, which smells like the flowerbeds dotted around. They really like their flowers here.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk much, not since…” I pause mid-sentence. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t have any family left in the city, but you must have known someone.”
“The reason we haven’t spoken about it is because I can sense how guilty you feel.” He nudges my shoulder. “And I want you to come with me to speak about processing those emotions when you’re ready, but not tonight. Tonight is just us having some time to be normal, and for the record, I see that dark day as our mistake for not protecting you as we should. That’s the king’sspilled blood. I do not blame my dagger for the deaths I take; it is on me. You are not to blame.”
He’s right. I blink, feeling the weight almost come off my chest as his words sink into my chest. I was the weapon, not the one who chose to wield it, and if I could have stopped myself, I would have. Maybe I am only guilty of not coming to terms with my Nexus before it got to that point. I should have trusted her, trusted myself, and it’s a lesson that came with a heavy price. I know that time will help fix how I feel about it all, but Aleksander’s words will linger. I was the weapon, not the wielder.
“Thank you for always being there for me and so…accepting.” I lean my head on his thick arm. “I always feel like I’m failing at sorting out messy bonds, and then you’re just here, not pushing or demanding. Just there for me, turning up and fighting. I think I love you for it.”
He kisses the top of my head. “Nothing could part us, my mate, not the stars, not the Gods, not the world or any force within it. It’s never been an ‘I think’ for me.”
It hasn’t been for me either, not for a long time. I knew when he held me on the roof that I was completely in love with him and that would never change.
