Nyxeris
Three Months Earlier…
It worked. I can’t believe it actually worked.
My heart pounds hard and fast as I grasp at my chest, try to catch my breath.
You put up a good front, Nyx. Nobody noticed how absolutely freaked the fuck out you were. Great work.
At least I didn’t get us all killed.
When Mira and her pack told me about what happened while I was playing stupid mandated war games, and then about how Aubrey was going to be sent away in the morning, I knew that I had to do whatever I could to get them out of here.
I never told anyone that I’d once been able to examine an old prototype collar control box years ago, and I knew that I couldshort the shield around the explosive charge. But shocking the charge itself was… not great. As in, doing so, created a small crater in the earth and scared me so bad I peed myself.
I’m not ashamed to admit it. I was fourteen and had never seen the destruction those explosives caused. And having one around my neck, and the necks of everyone around me, was terrifying.
It still is.
Now, at 24, I’d seen the devastation of those explosions more times than I could count. And the last thing I wanted was for my friend and her mates to end up blown to bits.
Or me. I don’t have a death wish.
I took a gamble that I could control the flow of electricity with enough delicacy that it would disable the shields on all four collars at once, then another gamble that Rai would be able to use his curse to disable the explosive charges without killing us all.
And we won.
I’d never gambled a day in my life, and I went straight for the highest stakes the first time around.
I don’t know if I should keep this train rolling or quit while I’m ahead, but there’s one more thing I have to do to help cover our tracks.
I stuff the four control boxes into the pockets of my hoodie, breath coming fast and ragged, then open the door to the hall. Where I’m headed, I have no clue, but it doesn’t matter when I come face-to-chest with a rumpled white button-down shirt, the top few buttons undone to reveal a small smattering of chest hair. I know who it is before his unique ocean breeze and bluebell scent fills my lungs and threatens to draw a whine from my chest.
I peer up into evergreen eyes behind wire-framed glasses and steal a gasp of air. I’ve never seen Andrew Laurant, headmasterof this military academy and undoubtedly my fated mate, wearing glasses. Nor have I seen him look so… ragged.
“Nyx,” he breathes, his eyes tight, that brown hair mussed like he’s been running his fingers through it again and again. “Did they make it out?”
I blink up at him, not surprised by his question. Colt had said Laurant knew about the rebellion, even told him to get his pack out of here. But although Laurant is most certainly connected to me by fate, someone I long for so badly it makes me ache everywhere, he’s also technically a member of the Global Beta Enforcement. He’s their tool, despite being one of us.Cursed.
His own collar glows bright gold like a halo around his neck, the small control box dangling above his parted shirt.
Can I trust him?
Something slithers inside my chest at the question, an unfamiliar coiling that makes me grasp my sternum again.
Before I can decide anything, Laurant grabs my closed fist at my chest in his large but gentle hand.“I’m not the enemy.”
I jump, lips parted, stare into his green eyes. He just spoke… inside my head. Like Colt.
I never knew he could do that...
It’s then that the alarm begins to wail.
Shit. They’ve already been discovered!
“Please. Come with me.”
He pulls on my hand, and I let him lead me from my room into the hallway, where we take no more than ten steps before someone shouts angrily from behind us, “Nyx!”
