“Are you okay?” He asked, concerned.
It was hard to breathe with him on top of me, but at the same time, I didn't want him to move.
“Yes.” I whispered.
With his face so close to mine, all I could think about was what it would feel like to kiss him.
“You mind getting off my sister.”
Seb interrupted the small moment we were having. Simon’s expression turned fearful as he scrambled off of me. He did it so fast, he nearly fell again.
I smiled at the awkward boy and began to pick myself up. When I finally saw my surroundings, it took my breath away. Everything was bright and beautiful like a paradise. The sky was green and shining with a beaming sun. The grass under them was soft and as blue as the ocean on a sunny day. When I checked for the others, everyone’s expression mirrored mine.
“Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!” Lily said, looking around in awe.
“Look in the sky! It's two moons!” Simon pointed out.
Everyone gazed up, and sure enough, there was a moon on each side of the sun. This strange place was utterly amazing.
“Where are we?” Seb asked, picking Ana up from the blue grass.
I assumed the use of her powers had knocked her unconscious since the rest of us were seemingly okay.
“I think I know where we are,” Jace said.
The witch boy leaned down to pluck a purple flower, but as soon as he touched it, the flower retreated into the ground, disappearing from sight.
“Whoa! Did you do that?” Lily asked, stunned.
I couldn't help but feel the same way. I'd never seen a plant do that before.
Jace stood back up, dusting his hands. “I didn't do that. This place did.”
They were in a clearing, next to what looked like a lake. Beyond the water were outlines of mountains and in front of them was a forest. But this was unlike any forest seen before because the treetops of this land soared to the skies, lost in the clouds.
“We're in Nexus, birthplace of the supernatural.” Jace announced, taking in the huge unfamiliar place.
I gasped. I couldn't believe we were in another realm.
“How?” Seb demanded.
Ana stirred in his arms but still didn't wake.
“I told you I didn't know where the door would lead. At least now we know how the dwellers ended up in those tunnels.” Jace explained defensively.
“So how do we get back?” Seb asked. From his tone, it was easy to pick up his frustration.
“Obviously, we need to go back through the portal that brought us here.” Jace snapped.
“Which would be where, exactly?” Simon asked, cutting in.
We all looked in every direction, but there was no sign of the watery door that previously transported us. Everyone looked to Jace for a response, but he didn't have one. He looked as confused as the rest of us.
“We'll split into teams of two and search the lands. Stick close and stay together.” Seb jumped in, taking leadership role as he usually does.
He glanced at the still unconscious Ana in his arms. I knew my brother was torn between staying with Ana and searching for the portal.
“I'll stay with Ana.” Jace volunteered.
“No.” Seb responded quickly.
The tension in both men's bodies was noticeable. I tried to think of a fast solution. Hopefully, it came before the guys started a fight.
“I'll stay with Ana.” Simon offered “I'm her best friend, and besides, you both are needed in the search more than I am.”
My brother watched Simon closely for a moment before he finally gave a stiff nod. Everyone silently observed as Seb lay Ana gently on the odd-colored grass.
“Alright Marie will come with me. Lily, you go with Jace. We meet back here in an hour.” Seb ordered before turning to Simon “She'll probably wake up weak. Just let her know I'll be back soon to, uh, help with that.”
Simon raised his brow at the cryptic message, but otherwise, didn't respond. I knew my brother was referring to the blood Ana would need, but I chose not to say anything.
A few minutes later, the boy-girl teams split up and headed out into the unknown of areas of Nexus. I was still amazed at the brightly colored lands. I wondered if the treetops were green like the ones at home, but they were too high to tell.
Seb walked quickly in front of me, slashing shrubs and veins from their path. From his aggressive swipes, I knew he was bothered by something.
Scurrying up a tree to her left were the cutest white squirrels. Although a little larger than she was used to, they still seemed like normal animals. Hopefully, there weren't any larger creatures lurking.
“So, this is Nexus.” I spoke to no one in particular, still in awe of the place.
Other than the sounds of crunching twigs, it was silent. “It's beautiful here, right?” I asked, trying to engage my brother again.
He nodded once but kept walking.
I continued to follow Seb shile taking in the scenery. The sun was blocked by the trees, causing the surroundings to appear dark with pockets of light shining through the tree shade above. Every time they got close to the plants, they would zip underground. That was some defense mechanism. If flowers could do that back home, they could never be picked.
The rest of the forest was normal, and there were no signs of any other animals. This seemed a bit strange, but I shrugged it off. After twenty more minutes of silent searching, I finally had enough.
“What's bothering you?” I asked Seb.
“Nothing.” He answered simply, not bothering to turn around.
He cut swiftly between some shrubs. I followed, and soon, I began to hear the sounds of running water. The further we got, the louder it became. Not long after, we broke through a clearing with a waterfall.
The fall was magnificent. The water poured gracefully from a hill into a small pond. The shine of the sun hit it perfectly, making every drop sparkle.
“There it is.” Seb’s voice broke me from my trance.
I didn't see what he was talking about at first, but when I gazed around further, I caught sight of the watery door right next to the waterfall.
“Great! We found it.” I exclaimed.
“Yes. Now let’s go get the others.” Seb said.
He started to turn away, but I wasn’t having any of that. I reached my small hand to stop him.
“We aren't going anywhere until you get it off your chest now, Sebby!” I reprimanded.
Seb looked like he wanted to argue, but when I crossed my small arms over my chest, he thought better of it.
“Jace is Ana’s mate,” He finally said.
After the words left his mouth, his shoulders deflated. He no longer looked strong and dominant. He looked defeated.
“Are you certain? How do you know this?” I asked, stunned.
Ana and my brother were meant to be together. I knew that with all her heart. But if Jace was her true mate…
“I overheard him telling Ana. As far as I could tell, she believed him.” Seb continued, running his fingers through his hair.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“What else did you hear?” I asked, thinking maybe he left something out.
“Nothing. I left after that. But it makes sense. We did catch them kissing when we first arrived.” Seb pointed out with anger in his voice.
I did remember that, but I refused to believe Ana didn’t love my brother. But did that mean she loved Jace as well? That was the question.
“Talk to Ana. She’s different, Seb. It could be different for her.”
I wanted more than anything for my brother not to be heartbroken.
“Ana may be different, but she can’t deny a mate. You know that.” Seb countered.
“I don’t care. Just promise me that before you give up on your love, you’ll talk to her.” I pleaded.
Seb stared at me before nodding. I knew he would try for me.
&
nbsp; I opened my mouth to say more, but Seb put up a hand to silence me. I didn’t understand what was going on, but he had a focused expression on his face.
“You hear that?” He asked, closing his eyes and listening to the sounds around us.
I tried to focus too but heard nothing.
“I don’t hear anything.”
When Seb opened his eyes, he looked panicked.
“There are eight of them. They’re angry. Come on. We have to get to the others now!”
He took off running away from the clearing. I had no clue what he was talking about, but if Seb looked panicked, it must be serious.
***
Lily
“Lily, can you walk faster?” Jace snapped at me for the hundredth time. He was really getting on my nerves
“I can’t! All these damn bushes keep tripping me!” I snapped back, tripping over another plant.
How come they moved for Jace but not for me? I felt like they were doing it on purpose. Jace power-walked ahead of me. I didn’t care.
We came to a fork in the road and the path split two ways. Neither direction looked appealing to me.
“I’ll go left and you right, okay?” Jace said as if he was giving me a choice.
I fake-smiled and nodded in agreement. As soon as Jace disappeared from sight, I flopped on the ground. I was exhausted. Besides, how would he really know I didn’t go searching? As I sat on the ground, a bug flew over my head. I swatted it away, but it kept coming back
“Go away!” I yelled, swatting at it again.
“You’re sitting on my favorite log.” It talked back.
I jumped and screeched.
“You can talk!” I yelled, finally looking at the strange butterfly-like creature.
It gave off an orange-ish glow. When I looked closer, the wings were a lot larger than the little body it was connected to. But the body was what shocked her. It had four arms, two legs and a face! It was like a human’s;a handsome human considering it resembled a man.
“You can see and understand me?” It asked, fluttering closer to my face.
I scooted away.”Yes! Am I going insane?”
“No, but that means you must be Lily,” it said.
“Ho-How do you know my name?”
The tiny creature was about to respond, but the sound of Jace approaching scared it off, and he flew away with an orange trail following him.
“Wait! Wait, please!” I called after it but it was gone. The glow behind it faded.
“Lily? Who were you talking to? And since when did you speak Croatian?” Jace asked after he broke the forest line and stopped in front of me.
“I-I was talking to this butterfly guy. He knew my name.” I told him
“Butterfly guy? Never mind. I don’t want to know. Did you find the portal?” He asked, changing subjects. My busted expression gave him the answer.
“You didn’t look!” He shouted, throwing his hands up.
“Well, I was going to, but this butterfly…”
“Just forget it! I’ll find it myself” Jace cut her off and brushed past her.
I had had enough of his shitty attitude.
“This isn’t about finding the portal! It’s about beating Seb!” I shouted at his retreating back.
Jace stopped walking and turned to face me.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shot back.
“Ha! I know you two are having some sort of pissing contest over Ana. I know you want to find this portal before he does. And I know that if this was a competition for Ana, you would be losing!” I told him with complete confidence.
Jace’s expression changed to anger. It seemed like I may have pushed a button.
“You’re wrong.” He replied through clenched teeth.
“Oh, am I? From my view, it seems I’m right. You got a point with the shield thing but he got two when he stayed back to help her fight those monsters” I taunted.
Jace took slow steps toward me. “Shut up.” He ordered.
“Make me. Better yet, prove me wrong.” I threw back.
Jace seemed as if he wanted to respond but the sound of loud growls stopped that short. We both turned away from each other to see what was making that noise. Creeping slowly from every direction, were the largest wolves we had ever seen.
I slapped my hand against my mouth to keep from myself from screaming. They were so big; easily eight feet tall and weighing at least five hundred pounds. The humongous grey-colored animals growled fiercely at the two of us.
“Jace, what do we do?” my voice was shaking and I was on the verge of tears.
Jace didn’t respond. The witch looked as scared as I was as he stared frozen at the large animals closing in on us. One darker gray wolf seem to lead the others as it drew closer to us.
“I’ma pee my pants.” I whispered with a few tears escaping my eyes.
I was so petrified that I could die soon. These wild wolves didn’t seem happy at all. I wanted to scream out for Ana to save me, but I was afraid they would attack if she yelled. The dark wolf was now inches from them.
Out of nowhere, Seb came bursting through the trees! He immediately jumped in front of them, putting himself face to face with the beast. Seb didn’t have an ounce of fear as he stared down the much larger animal. Seb exuded power and dominance. The wolf growled ferociously in his face. Drops of saliva even hit him. Seb didn’t bat an eye.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I wondered if Seb had temporarily lost his mind. He couldn’t fight that thing. He was outnumbered, one to eight. We all watched fearfully as Seb’s chest began to heave. It bounced up and down faster and faster. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and a deep rumbling growl left his lips. It stunned everyone. But that wasn’t the most surprising part.
All of the wolves began to bow their heads. One by one, each wolf bowed down to Seb. The leader got down on its belly and exposed the side of its neck to Seb. It was some weird submission. I got that much. But what I didn’t understand was what the hell Seb just did.
***
Ana
I knew as soon as I felt the warm liquid drop on my lips that it was blood. Whose? I didn’t care. My vampire instincts took over, and I latched on to it and sucked like my life depended on it. I was so weak from the power I used on the dwellers. I needed this blood. As I drank, the taste began to catch my attention. It wasn’t Seb’s. That I was clear of, but whose was it then? I opened my eyes to see the last person I expected to give me blood.
Simon.
Quickly, I took my fangs from his hand and pushed him off.
“Why the hell did you do that, Sy?!” I angrily questioned him.
“You needed blood!” He answered defensively, wrapping his hand to stop the bleeding.
“Not from you! Where’s Seb…” I trailed off after I took in my surroundings for the first time. It was really sunny here. The sky was a shade of green with a moon on each side of the sun. The clouds were fluffy and white. Beneath me, the grass was extremely soft and a beautiful blue color. I plucked a piece and watched as the once blue grass turned green. “Where are we?” I wondered, running my hands over the grass. In front of me was a long trail that led to a large forest.
“According to Jace, we are in Nexus.” Simon replied, sitting next to me.
My mouth dropped open. Nexus. That was unbelievable. This was definitely not like the Nexus I saw when I was in the vortex.
“How? Where is everyone?”
“Jace opened a door that happened to be a portal. We lost that portal. So the others went to find it.” Simon explained.
“And you just happened to stay behind.” I added as I elbowed him.
He smiled back.
“I had to! Those two would have fought over the right to be at your unconscious side. What’s up with that anyway?” Simon asked casually.
My mind began to run with thoughts of the two. I’d been trying to avoid dealing with the both of them, but it only made the situation worse.
“There’re both your mates, huh?” Simon said catching me off guard.
I whipped my head toward him. “How’d you know that?”
“First, I’m not blind. It’s clear they both have feelings for you. But the mate part, I figured from this book. As soon as I put together that you’re the daughter of Celeste, it was easy from there.” Simon’s words shocked me to the core. So much so, I sprung to my feet.
“What?! I’m in that book?” I asked in utter disbelief.
“Well, not exactly,” Simon said as he started to stand as well. “It doesn’t say your name, but after reading about Celeste and the war on Nexus it all made sense. I figured out how you fit in the picture. You’re the daughter she saved to end the war she couldn’t.”
From his tone, you would think he was talking about last night’s homework. Sometimes I forget how smart he was because no one else would have been able to piece that together as fast.
“So who is the lucky mate number three?” He asked cheerfully.
“Oh, uh, I don’t know.” I replied honestly. At this rate, I was in no rush to find out unless I already knew. I glanced over my best friend, trying to see something I may have overlooked before.
Could my third mate be right in front of me?
“Why are you staring at me like that?” He questioned with scrunched brows.
“Just thinking.” I mumbled back.
I started to do a slow circle around him. Simon squirmed a little. All these years, I’d never had that sort of connection with him, but we did have a strong connection. Was it more than friends? I couldn’t tell. I knew I didn’t feel towards him what I felt towards the other two. But no one said all my bonds would feel the same. There was one sure way to find out the truth.
“Sy, let me see the back of your neck.” I said.
He instantly put his hand on it to cover it.
“No, why?” He asked suspiciously, backing away.
“I need to see if you have my mark.” I replied back.
From his widened eyes and increased heart rate, he knew exactly what I meant. I took a step to him.
“Wait! Can I ask you a question first?” I knew he was stalling but I was willing to entertain it for a moment. I would see his neck whether he liked it or not. I nodded for him to ask away.
Pure: A Paranormal Romance Page 29
