Chapter 1
Starlight Mates by G. Bailey
There’s a wolf watching me from the tree line.
I can spot him in the corner of my eye, even with his mud brown fur almost the same shade as the bark of the surrounding trees.
I wait, seeing whether he’ll pounce first. He usually does.
He always attacks my left side, never the right.
Clearly, he has a preference, but he’s always too slow.
Just as he jumps at me, I easily step to the side, missing his claw, making him skid across the ground.
Hard dirt kicks around me as I grin, turning around to face the wolf.
I’m on him in a second. Two steps, my glowing dagger pressed an inch away from his eye, and the wolf freezes.
He whines slightly as I pull my Nex dagger back, tilting my head to the side, my long hair falling down around my waist. I should have braided it back this morning, but I was being a bit lazy and enjoying a lie-in instead.
The wolf’s body shimmers, like looking through cloudy glass for a second.
It always amazes me what a Nexus shift looks like.
I can just about make out his features spilling from wolf to man before Harry is kneeling in front of me—completely naked.
He’s good-looking, muscular in all the right places… I have to admit it sometimes.
While he’s on his knees for me, we stare at each other, and I wonder if crossing the line is a good idea.
It’s almost tempting to return the feelings that he has made no effort to hide from the moment we met.
Just to know what it’s like to kiss someone.
Just to know what it’s like to escape in pleasure, like the books I’ve read. I’m almost tempted.
But there are five reasons why I won’t.
I turn away first and wait for him to grab his clothes he left out earlier before he used his Nexus to shift into a wolf.
He runs a hand through his blond hair as he turns me around, resting his hand on my shoulder with a grin that shows off his dimples and white teeth.
His eyes are the same shade as his wolf, and when I look into them, I can see his wolf staring right back.
His Nexus likes me too. Which is odd because most of them can sense what I am and immediately hate me.
“You’re so fast, Gwen. Am I ever going to beat you? ”
“No.” I arch an eyebrow. “Where would the fun in that be? Let’s go home, I’m hungry.”
“Good thing I went shopping with dad this morning while you were still snoring.” He bumps my shoulder, and I stick my tongue out at him.
His eyes linger on my lips for a heartbeat before he meets my eyes.
Doll-like eyes, as my mother used to say.
Too big, too knowing. Harry is a year older than me, and he is a good person.
Rare in this world. Especially for Nexus.
He shouldn’t be my friend, but he is. I got lucky with him and his family.
We live in a nearly deserted town in the middle of Spain.
It’s quiet here, and no one comes this way.
Perfect for a monster like me to hide from the world.
After what happened two years ago, I desperately needed somewhere to hide.
Harry’s dad knew my father before he died, and my father always told me to come here if anything happened.
That it would be safe. After I lost my parents, I turned up on their doorstep injured, covered in blood, and with at least ten bones broken. Harry’s mum screamed.
My heart drops to my stomach as I let myself think of the day I lost my parents, knowing absolutely that I don’t want to think about it again. I can’t go back there. There are two memories I don’t let myself dwell on—the rejection and my parents’ death.
Harry’s house is right on the outskirts of the pack, nestled within a human village in Spain. Most of the humans speak Spanish and don’t like the English, and they stay well away from us, which works out pretty well for me.
Harry’s parents took a massive risk taking me in, and I owe them a debt.
But not enough to have a relationship with their son, like I think his dad is hoping will happen.
Harry never found a Nexus mate bond, and while it’s rare, it happens.
Some just don’t. He has already had bad luck, and I know I should run away and not be selfish.
I’m selfish because I need to be around him, be around someone.
Because when I’m left alone…when it’s just me and it—the monster—that’s when I go mad.
That’s when I really believe I’m going to completely lose my mind and be the villain forever.
Harry picks up a tiny orange lizard off a tree, holding it in his hands as I take several steps away.
I really, really don’t like bugs or things that crawl.
He shakes his head at me and puts it down.
“There’s been some Vian spotted near the pack yesterday.
” My lungs freeze in fear. He pulls me to him, completely unaware of the struggle in my mind right now.
The struggle to hold it back when it knows enemies are nearby. “It’s okay, I’ll keep you—”
I shove him away, gasping in the warm air. “I told you, you don’t touch me when—” I stop in my warning before I say too much. Harry isn’t stupid. He knows something is wrong with me, but he doesn’t know the truth. He doesn’t know what lurks under my skin, and he would hate me if he knew.
He holds his hands up. “Sorry, sorry. You just, you looked really scared.” He rubs the back of his neck. “You never really told us what happened with your parents, but we put two and two together. That it was the Vian who killed them, and you escaped.”
“Yes.” I lie so easily now. That’s not what happened at all. If I told him, if I told anybody, they would hate me. Gods, they would hate me so much. I wonder if my parents hate me too for what I did.
He searches my eyes and thankfully changes the subject.
“Anyway, the rangers and alpha gave the order for us to stay in after eight. No going out. You know they’re more powerful at night, and at least in the day, we can fight them off.
” No, he can’t. He doesn’t have a clue what they are really like.
I glance at the sun setting in the sky, how close it is to disappearing.
It must be at least six already. I nod before turning and going to the house.
“How did they even find us out here? Normally, they go after the bigger packs, not us. There are few Nexus here that make it worth attracting the attention of the Nexus capital city.” Starlight City and the Vian.
Both threats to me. Every time I hear Harry talk about Starlight, my stomach drops.
It’s the very place I’ve avoided for years because my mates live there.
They practically rule it from what I’ve heard.
The city usually sends teams of rangers to investigate any Nexus deaths, and if they sent one of them out here…
Harry laughs. He is too innocent for his own good. “Well, any Vian would be eliminated in seconds if the city rangers came. It was stupid of them to try to attack us. Their numbers are tiny after the war.”
“Maybe they were just lost, wandering, and got lucky. Let’s always think positively.
” He shakes his head at me, and I smile at him.
We race up the steps into the house. It has a wrap-around porch, and it’s kind of cute.
The whole house is almost an off-pink colour, all made of wood from the nearby trees, and the bricks on top match the stained wood.
It’s tiny inside but cosy, like a family home should be.
We don’t get a lot of space, but they gave me the attic room so I can get away from them sometimes.
Harry’s father is a lovely person, but his Nexus mate is not.
She doesn’t like me, and I don’t blame her.
If I didn’t pay my way—thanks to the big inheritance I have in bags of cash hidden in dozens of towns around England, France, and Spain—I would be kicked out by her in a heartbeat.
I wouldn’t like me either. On the second day I was here, she told me that her Nexus hated me and knew I was trouble.
She wasn’t wrong.
After dinner, where I scoffed down an almost embarrassing amount of barbeque mini steak burgers and chilli salt fries, I head up to my room and lie back on the plush bed.
The skylight is right above my bed, letting me have free rein to look over the stars when they appear later.
It’s only then do I let myself think about them, my Nexus mate bonds.
I let myself imagine what they’re doing, whether they’re okay.
I’d know if they were dead, but would I know if they’re injured?
Would I know if they’re trapped? Would I know if they hate me?
Duh, of course they hate me. Why wouldn’t they?
Near immediately after I was gone, a price was put on my head.
Two million to bring me in. Two million pounds for me, uninjured.
I heard rumours that the price even went up after a few years, but my father…
his gift kept me hidden. He could make people see things, and he used his power to make everyone see a normal human family when they looked at us.
We became invisible as long as I was at his side.
For the first two years, I was. The next two…
well, I would have prayed for anyone to find me.
My Nexus mates haven’t stopped looking for me. They won’t stop.
But I can never, ever go to them. I curl my arm around my pillow as a wave of sadness slams into my chest. I don’t know if my Nexus is sad or if I am, but I get the joy of feeling it all.
Do they want to find me to kill me? I think I must fall asleep crying, because the next thing I know, it’s dark out, pitch dark, and stars have burst across the sky.
My door slams open and Harry flicks the light on, his hair sticking up in every direction like he just woke up himself. “Gwen, we need to leave. Wake up! Now!”