Ethereal Shifters (The Nexus #3)

Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

T here’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 and I 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 behind her. 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 word my .

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 falls out 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.”

“It’s fine, I feel this connection between us. I’m happy to help,” she sweetly whispers, blushing. I bite down on my inner cheek.

Hollis climbs to his feet, looking at me, and I can’t read his expression. He has some explaining to do. “Can we have a word?” I ask.

“No, thanks for getting me some help.” He goes to walk out.

Annie doesn’t move from the doorway, her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised in expectation. “I’m going to have to clean up your blood from the floor and miss precious hours of sleep because of you. Don’t you dare ignore her. You’re staying, Tutor Hollis.”

My best friend is a badass, and I love her. Hollis glares at her and she holds his stare with an expression that screams she isn’t moving. “Fine, but we talk out there alone.”

Annie sighs and moves to the side, and I chase after him as Hollis storms out. He pauses when we are nearer the staircase than the door. He steps closer to me, and I nearly scream as my feet lift into the air. Like invisible hands are wrapped around my body, Hollis flies us straight up the staircases and to the top level, landing us in an alcove that is dipped in shadows. He sits on the edge, hanging his legs over the edge. I shake my head as I sit next to him. “You could have warned me you were going to do that.”

“Are you going to cry about it?” he deadpans. “Oh no, Nexus magic. How could I have ever seen that coming?”

“You’re a sarcastic prick. I just helped you.” I’m almost tempted to push him off, but I haven’t got a clue how I’d get down on my own. “I smelt Onyx on you. Is he okay?”

“We were attacked by Vian,” he quietly explains. “It’s best no one knows about it, and it’s why we are up here. There are runes on this alcove that make it silent to all ears. It’s where we—Onyx, Aleksander, Finnegan, and Rhodes—come to discuss private matters. He’ll tell his father about the Vian, but it’s your fault. Your Vian prince mate sent them to capture us.” Fury and betrayal blast through me. So much for playing chess and not being a bastard. He hasn’t come back to my room since that first time, and clearly, he has been busy. I’m stabbing him in the heart the next time he comes into my room.

“How many?” I demand. He looks over at me, really sees me, in a small black tank top and black shorts. His eyes drift down to my bare legs, and my breath hitches until he looks away.

“A few hundred, maybe?” He huffs as he stares straight ahead. “Maybe more?” He flicks the sleeve of his suit. “I really liked this suit. Fucking bastards. It’s custom.”

“Oh no, how will you survive the loss of your suit?” I mimic his sarcasm, and his lips twitch. I’m certain he might have even smiled if it hadn’t been me. “And how are you still walking and alive?”

Hollis laughs low. “You’re not the only one with a strong Nexus, you know. We all have secrets.” He crosses his arms, his muscles tight against his ruined shirt. “A few hundred Vian? Nothing to us.”

“It didn’t look like nothing. You were half-dead when you turned up here.” He ignores me, figures. “Why did you turn up at my door? You could have gone to Finnegan or a healer in the city. You could have paid one to be quiet. You could have gone to Rhodes—your brother. You could have gone to Rochelle. I’m sure she would have kept your secret. Why did you turn up at my door?”

He doesn’t say anything. He just stares at me, and I stare right back, like staring at each other could somehow give each other the answers we want. It doesn’t, and he still doesn’t say anything. “Have a good sleep. You’ll need it for our lesson tomorrow afternoon.”

“Hollis—” I squeal as his power throws me off the alcove and I drop down, my stomach twisting, right before he slows my fall so I drop into the corridor with a soft bang. I hear him laughing above and I think it’s the first time Hollis has laughed with me, and not at me.

Georgina is gone when I get back to our room, and Annie is cleaning the floor. She looks up. “Is he alright?”

“Stubborn, but alive. You were right to suggest Georgina,” I reluctantly offer as I kneel down and start cleaning with her. I’m going to need a new pillow.

“Well, yes, we should have used her, but I’m mad. She flirted with Hollis right there in front of you and said she was Rochelle’s friend at the same time. That’s messed up, and she didn’t seem to care. I’m all for helping people, but she freaked me out tonight. It’s not the first time I’ve thought she is odd.” Annie clears her throat. “I’m sorry. I’m not going to be her friend. You’re right. You don’t trust her, I don’t trust her, end of discussion, and I shouldn’t have made you doubt our friendship for even a second.”

“Annie…” I throw a blood-stained rag into the bucket Annie has. “Thank you, and I’m so happy you see through her bullshit. I don’t just dislike her because of the connection shit to my mates. It’s because my Nexus wants her dead, and my Nexus usually kills the bad guys, or girls in this case.” I lean back. “And something in my soul makes me want to scream every time she is near. I don’t know what it is, but it’s wrong.” I look at her. “Maybe you should continue to be friends with her. Someone should be keeping an eye on her here.”

“A spy, I like it.” She nods.

“I’m not saying who you should be friends with. I don’t want you to think I’m being controlling and weird or anything,” I mutter.

“I know you’re not. But I get it. If someone had a connection to my mate, I don’t know how I would have felt about it.” She scrubs the floor harder and faster. I join her and soon it’s nearly all gone.

“How are you doing? You don’t really talk about Kos very often,” I enquire. I don’t want to bring him up and hurt her, but I want her to know I’m here for her. Always.

“Surviving. It’s all we can do, right?” She sits back on her bed.

“You’ll find someone who won’t betray you.” Her eyes flicker to the door, and I follow her gaze, but there is nothing there. “We can just keep going. We will keep the people we care about alive and what else matters for now.”

“You always have me.” Annie smiles.

“You always have me, too,” I offer back. I’m broken, messy, but I’m loyal as shit.

We continue to clean up in silence before getting back into bed without a pillow this time, and I fold Alek’s hoodie, one I stole from him after class last week, and use it as a nice-smelling pillow instead. Everything might be messy, but they are still my mates. She is still my best friend, and I’m not alone.

I feel like my alarm is going off the second my eyes shut, even if it’s not logical as early morning sunlight is streaming through the curtains. My body is aching, the room stinks of Hollis’s blood, and my neck hurts from sleeping on it funny. I quickly shower and get dressed for the day, losing myself in the normality of my life now. Annie and I walk to breakfast together, and none of my mates are at breakfast this time. I hope Finnegan is back today, and I have Hollis’s lesson this afternoon, so I’ll be able to see how he is. I’m sure he will be back to his insufferable self.

After breakfast, we make our way to Tutor Jettie’s lesson after picking up our books from our lockers. I actually enjoy her lessons now, even if we are deep in the middle of learning about another star constellation and how it might have been where the first of our kind came from. Every time I come into Tutor Jettie’s classroom, I admire it. The domed room with stars spread across the ceiling glitters from sunlight coming through the gaps and the windows at the sides, and it always smells like freshly baked cookies. I’m not sure how it does, but I love it. I sit down and turn to Annie. “Thanks for last night.”

“No need to thank me.” She shrugs. “But I have a feeling Hollis’s class is going to be painful for us both later.”

Isn’t that the truth? Tutor Jettie comes in after the last of our class, shutting the door behind her. Howard takes the empty seat next to me, and I blink in surprise. No one sits near us anymore, and he is brave to attempt it. Howard’s red hair is fluffy, and it reminds me of his fox shift. My Nexus doesn’t seem bothered by him sitting here, so that’s a good sign. He smiles. “Morning, Gwen, Annie.”

“Hi, Howard.” I turn my head to the side. “How come you decided to sit near us? Haven’t you heard I’m a dead person walking and my Nexus is scary?”

His cheeks turn red. “Haven’t you heard I’m weak and get beaten in every class, so no one wants to be my friend in case I die?” He clears his throat, his blue eyes firm. “I want friends, and us outcasts need to stick together.” He offers me his hand. Annie and I look at each other, and she shrugs. “Basically I’m lonely. My sister told me to reach out and try talking to people because I can’t fix lonely by being silent.” He looks away. “I can go if?—”

“No, stay, Howard.” I stop him. “For the record, your power is awesome and your fox is cute as hell. You shouldn’t be an outcast.”

Annie leans over me. “Gwen is saying that you’re our friend now and you should sit down. I’m sorry you’re struggling in training. Maybe we can train you outside of lessons?”

“I can teach you to play dirty and win.” I shrug my shoulders. “And the weak spots of whoever you’re against. You might be smaller than the others, but that doesn’t make you weak.”

His eyes are wet. Please don’t cry. “I’d love that. No one has ever offered to help me before except for my sister, but she finished the academy a year ago, and she is working a lot at the moment.” He sniffles. “I can help with studying in exchange. I’m better up here.” He taps the side of his head.

“Then we have a deal.” I grin and he smiles back.

“Class, settle down!” Tutor Jettie shouts, and we all go silent. “We were going through the constellations, but I’ve decided another lesson is needed, considering what is coming. The Rite of Freedom.” Everyone shoots their heads to me. Awesome. I sink back in the seat as far as I can to hide. Truthfully, any reminder of the rite sends shivers down my spine. I can’t believe it’s coming up so soon, and I know nothing useful about it or any way to survive. I read about the last rite in one of the books, but there wasn’t much information on it, just stories, rumours. No one knows what was true and what wasn’t.

People are still staring. “Hello. Yes, I’m doing the Rite of Freedom. No, I don’t want to pray to the Gods with any of you, so please stop asking and stop staring.” I wave at them, and several turn away, but others still stare with this awe-struck look I really don’t like. I must have been asked a hundred times now if I wanted to pray to the Gods for luck from students who believe it’s the only way to gain the Gods’ favour. I doubt it.

“Yes, this lesson is mostly for Gwenieve, but it is also for everybody else who will be watching history. The Rite of Freedom was brought along, but because of the crimes of who? Does anyone know?” There’s silence. Seems no one knows. “Good, I wouldn’t expect anyone to know. It is classified information given only to priests and to rangers on a need-to-know basis. Some believe the rite was a way of making sure anybody could have freedom, but that is not true. The first child born to our great five Gods was a very powerful bird shifter. He had the power to make runes, and it is the first recorded use of runes in our history.”

Like Onyx and his father?

“The man was called Boterias and he was a builder. He built the mausoleum, and in that time, he took a lover. His lover was mortal and corrupted. She had been abused when she was a child. It twisted her mind, but it made no difference how much Boterias loved her. He could not save her from herself. His Nexus found his mate, a royal mortal princess, and his lover was angry. Furious. She killed the princess, Boterias’s mate, and she killed many mortals to get to her. This began a human war that killed millions, and the Nexus race was sent into hiding. His lover was locked up by his cousins for the unspeakable crimes she committed.”

Tutor Jettie moves around the podium in the centre of the classroom. “By this point, many laws were introduced, and to kill a mate of a Nexus being was the ultimate crime. There was no saving her. Boterias loved her anyway, and the death of his mate only made him more desperate to cling to the only person he had left, his lover. His lover was pregnant at the time and had a baby, who would go on to be raised by his cousins because Boterias wanted a way to save her. The mausoleum was nearly done, and he knew it best. He designed and built so much of it. It was his last hope.”

She looks up at the stars. “The mausoleum was built around his father’s grave, and his uncles’ graves too. It was meant to be a sacrificial place to honour the Gods and for grieving Nexus to go and pray. He built something else in secret. An amphitheatre. Seats, ready to watch an arena he built around the graves…on a thousand bricks marked with runes. He cast a deep-rooted, powerful spell into the runes, and no one had the power to stop him. When it was done, he begged the Gods for a chance for his lover, the mother of his child. They told him, they told every Nexus at the same time, that the only way to live would be to win the Rite of Freedom, old Latin words translated now into English for us, but they still work the same. They were told there would be a test from each of the Gods, and only the strong of heart, soul, and will could win. The Gods would not make the trials easy, but anyone who stands in them has a chance to be free of all crimes. Winning the Rite of Freedom would make the winner untouchable.”

“Did she survive?” I ask in a whisper, but everyone hears.

“No. In our records, she survived three of the tests before she was killed in the fourth. The test by Boterias’s father. Boterias killed himself not long after, unable to live with himself, knowing that she was gone from this world. In our history books, the Rite of Freedom has happened three times. Each one of the three times it’s happened, they have never gotten further than the fourth test. The last one was a hundred years ago.”

“Good thing I can’t die, then,” I whisper to Annie.

Annie shakes her head at me. “Does it mean that the Gods can’t kill you? They made you like this. Maybe there’s a way around that. You need to be careful, not cocky.”

“It’s debatable how much the Gods have control over our Nexus beings at this point. We have mixed with humans and changed so much in the years since they walked this world. There is little proof they watch us at all. I believe you will win,” Howard offers. “I hope you do, and I’ll be praying for you alongside my family in the crowds.”

“Thank you.” I smile at him.

“We all wish you very well in the test to come, Gwenieve,” Tutor Jettie states.

I nod my head to her. “Thank you.”

Tutor Jettie claps her hands. “Class is over for today. You need to do more research on the constellations that I left you with yesterday, because there are two thousand stars, and I will be asking randomly the names of those stars.” The entire class groans and Annie even drops her head onto her books. My lips twitch, but it’s not funny. That’s a lot to remember. “Gwenieve, you are excused from this lesson due to needing extra training for the Rite of Freedom. Go straight to training with Tutor Finnegan.”

I smile now. Finn is back. Annie leans in. “Lucky bitch.”

I chuckle. “Bye!” Her laugh follows me out, and I glance back to see Howard moving over to my seat and both of them working together before I leave. I head straight to Finnegan’s office and suddenly Dartst steps into my path. His arm’s broken and held in a white sling, his face looks like he’s had one hell of a beating, and he’s actually got a tooth missing. His bloodshot eyes are frantic as he searches around me. “Are you okay?”

He leans in. “Please tell him to leave me alone. I’m sorry, okay? I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean to almost kill you. It was just an accident.”

“What?” I’m confused.

“Finnegan. Tutor Finnegan. Just tell him that I said sorry to you,” he pleads.

“Finn did this to you?” I ask, just to be sure. He nods. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know or tell him to do this. I promise you’re safe now.” I clench my fists and walk around Dartst, going straight towards Finn’s office. I kick the door open.

“When I say make yourself at home, I don’t mean break my door, Gwenieve.” He smiles at me as he sits back on the desk. “Why do you look angry?”

“I just saw Dartst. I told you not to kill him!” I slam the door shut behind me. “What part of trusting me to handle things and leaving him did you not understand?”

“I didn’t kill him. I mean, I edged him close to death a few times, but really it was just a growing exercise in personality for him and a lesson in respecting women.” He shrugs like it was nothing.

“Finn!” I snap and he grins. “I asked you to leave him alone. No one’s going to want to spar with me or go anywhere near me now because they’re all going to be scared of you. I wanted to be normal.”

“They should be.” He stands up off the desk, his voice completely unapologetic. “This is normal. You’re my mate, and no one fucks with what is mine.”

My cheeks feel hot as he stalks towards me. “You can’t just say stuff like that. I’m… You have to let me fight my own battles sometimes, Finn. I can handle him. We were due to fight again this afternoon with Hollis, and I could have beaten him. I wanted you to leave him. I wanted to do this myself, and you keep taking all these choices from me and assuming that’s okay. There is protective and there is overbearing. I’m not sure you understand the difference.”

“I’m sorry this upset you. I’m not sorry for teaching him a lesson. Let me take you somewhere, because when you’re angry, you’re so fucking hot, Sun.” He takes my hand.

I dig my nails into his hand. “Finn, we’re not done with this discussion!”

“I never said we were.” He tugs me to the door. I shake my head as he pulls the door open. He takes me higher and higher up the castle, through the empty, dark corridors, and out on top of the roof. There is a raging storm, and it is pouring down with rain as we step out. It’s pitch black up here from the dark clouds, almost like it’s not the middle of the day but the night instead. It hasn’t stopped raining for two weeks, and I don’t think I’ve seen sunlight in two weeks either. Scottish weather is awesome. The roof is empty other than a few old half walls and chimneys connected to them that one uses anymore. It’s silent up here except for the storm.

“What are you doing?” I ask as he leads me to the middle of the roof and looks at me, my heart racing in my chest. Gods above, he looks handsome in the rain. The heavy rain drops down his forehead, down his face in streams as he stares at me.

“I want you. I want you angry at me, maddening and messy, and everything that makes you mine,” he breathes out, gripping the back of my neck. “If you tell me to stop, I will. If you don’t want me, tell me now and I’ll long after you while I try to get you to be as obsessed as I am with you. Every day, I see death, I create death and I’m a monster. You’ve never looked at me like I’m one because you get it. You dance with death, too.” He rests his forehead against mine. “I want to show you exactly what I feel for you, and we can figure the rest of this mating out after.”

“I’ve never…” I whisper. “I don’t know what to do exactly.”

“Good. I fucking love the idea of teaching you.” He pulls down the zipper of my shirt. The sound is loud even against the rain and the thundering clouds.

“It’s forbidden to do this here. It insults the ancestors to do this here,” I whisper. I’m not stopping him.

“Fuck the ancestors. You’re the only soul to exist that I worship.” He kisses his way down my chest, pulling my shirt down, along with my bra, which rips at the back. “And technically, this doesn’t break the rules because you’re not in the academy or on the academy grounds. The roof is a neutral space, and I’m about to make it ours.”

I watch him as he pulls my leggings down slowly. He’s enjoying every inch, seeing every inch of me. My cheeks burn as he continues to stare. I’ve been fully naked in front of anyone like this before. Finnegan leans down like he can’t stand not to be closer, and he kisses my hardened nipple, making me gasp in pleasure. His thumb rubs the other, and he looks up at me as he softly bites down.

“Biting you was the moment I became obsessed. Then you bit me back and, fuck, it was hot. It was maddening. It was the moment you took my heart. It was the moment I knew I was in love with you, Gwenieve Autumn.” He runs his thumb over his bottom lip. “I’m not sure anything is going to compare to the sight of you.”

He just told me he loved me, and I know he meant it. He loves me… Damn. “I want to see you too,” I demand, pushing my hair over my shoulder. The rain is slowly soaking my skin, but everything comes to life in my body as I watch him undo his shirt and tug it off, and then his belt and his trousers, pushing them down slowly. As he undresses, I tell him the truth too. “I’ve been in love with you for a long time, too. I was scared to admit it because it might mean you tear my heart if you didn’t feel the same. Biting you? I loved that too.”

I admire all of him, the ripple of muscles that go down his chest, his hard cock that looks bigger than I thought cocks were, and I nervously move my eyes down to his thick thighs that I want to sit on. How is he going to fit inside me? He is a powerful man, and he is all mine, so I’m going to try. I never really thought about what he would look like with no clothes on, but I love the Gods that gave him to me. “Keep looking at me like that, darling, and we are never leaving this roof.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t.” I shrug with a teasing grin.

“You are so much trouble for me, Sun.” He leans in.

“It’s because I’m yours.” I rise to meet him. He groans as he kisses me, picking me up and putting me on the small half wall. It’s a little rough under my thighs, but I don’t care because he kneels in front of me, running his hands down my breasts again, over my hard nipples, sending pleasure straight down my spine. My breath quickens as he looks at me like I’m everything. It’s so much better when he touches me, when any of them do. It’s better than touching myself, it’s better than anything. He parts my legs open and looks up at my core like it’s gold and he has been digging for it for his whole life.

“This is crossing a line; I won’t be able to stop.” He groans. We both know he would be able to stop. If I asked him, he would. But I won’t be asking that today.

“Don’t stop,” I beg him. His grin is wicked and sexy as he buries his face between my legs. The first lick of his tongue is like electricity bouncing straight through my body, and I gasp as my back arches. I dig my nails into the brick, and I moan as his tongue swirls around my clit again and again, pushing me closer to an orgasm. Thunder bangs in the sky, and the rain falls harder and faster as my body tenses. I’m so close. He pushes his fingers into me, and the fullness of them, his tongue, everything, sends me into a screaming orgasm that the storms swallow the sound of as my skin flushes.

When I come down from the high, he picks me up, moving us around to sit on the wall himself and pulling me onto his lap. I kneel over him, stroking his wet locks off his forehead and drifting my hands down his face, down his chest. “Take me as you want. Because I’m yours.”

I run my hand up his hard cock, and he groans. Finnegan arches his neck back, and it’s one of the sexiest things I’ve seen. The tip of his cock rests against my entrance, and I slowly drop myself down on him inch by inch, his hands digging into my ass to guide me before… So big, he is so, so big. Time stills as I get down as much of him as I can and he stretches me, almost painfully.

“Fuck,” he groans before pulling me down in one long stride. Pain rips through me as he breaks through, and fuck, it hurts. I dig my fingers into him and gasp, and he holds me in place as I get used to the feeling of him filling me. My Nexus is content, happier than I’ve ever felt for her, and she leaves us alone.

“You’re too tight,” he groans. “There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from filling you with my come. I want to mark you as mine in every way possible.” He pulls me up and down until I get the movement of what feels good and what I can see he loves. The pain starts to ebb as pleasure takes over like a drug, and sex is amazing. Why haven’t we been doing this all along? His thumb rubs against my clit as he pulls me closer and closer to the edge again, and I know when I tip over into oblivion, I won’t be coming back.

“You’re mine,” he demands, gripping the back of my neck, kissing me deeply, his tongue swirling round my mouth. This is the sound of us clapping together, us and the storm around, as we finally become one. The feeling of us being as one is addictive, and I know I could have him inside me a million times and it would never be enough. He picks me up, turns me around against the chimney, and pounds into me. The chimney snaps and cracks under the pressure, but he doesn’t stop, and I don’t care. My nails spread out into black Nexus claws as my pleasure crests, and I drag them down his back to mark him too. He is mine . He growls, kissing me deeply again, his tongue marking and thrusting in and out of me as much as his cock is.

Then I crash into the best orgasm of my life. He joins me, roaring to the sky as he comes, and we both breathlessly stare at each other before he sweetly kisses me. I smile at him. “I didn’t expect my first time to be on a roof, but that was perfect.”

He kisses the tip of my nose and laughs low, which I feel all the way through me because he’s still buried inside me. I’m still a little sore from the wall as he picks me up and sits us down on the roof floor, his cock still very much inside me and hard. “Isn’t this meant to go down?”

“Around you, it never goes down,” he mutters and grins. “Now we get to use that very useful fact.”

He picks me up and moves me, putting me on my knees, my ass in the air, and he kneels behind me before slamming back inside me. I moan from the pleasure I feel from that. For the next hours, so many hours, he shows me every position on this roof. He makes me come so many times, and the world is nothing but a blurry mess. I’m completely addicted to him because he’s mine, my mate, and this is what having happiness is actually like.