The scents of moonflower and fire reached Anton. He latched on to both and ran past the guard in his way, dodging the blow to his head. Killing his opponent would have to wait. Nyx was close. Shifting into his human form, he charged into the large domed chamber. The scene before him tore an animalistic sound from his chest.
A funeral pyre had been lit in the middle. Molly stood behind Zaheer, who was fighting with one of his brothers. But Nyx…
Nyx was running toward the burning body.
Why? Anton couldn’t come up with a reason, but the sight of Tsar on a raised platform with an arrow notched in his bow directed Anton. He drew on his felines’ strength and ran, faster than he’d ever run as human.
Tsar drew the string and aimed at Nyx.
Anton screamed her name. “Nyx!”
His true mate didn’t look at him. She ducked. The flaming arrow missed her. She kept running. Her skirt billowed around her. Another flaming arrow flew at her.
Anton yelled her name a second time. She dropped and rolled. The arrow missed her. She scrambled toward the pyre and kicked at the burning logs, knocking them away from the body.
Bianca’s body.
Anton cursed. Hesitation gripped him. Instinct demanded he get Nyx away from the flames. It wouldn’t eliminate the threat to her life. Anton pivoted and launched himself at Tsar.
A different Yuran brother dropped from another ledge, knocking Anton back. His head whacked into the edge of a large rock. Spots danced before his eyes. After throwing the other male off him, Anton hopped to his feet. The Yuran guard pulled a sword from the holder on his back. He swung it at Anton.
Kade lunged at the sword-wielding shifter before Anton could raise his clawed hand. The two males fell to the ground, Kade on the guard’s back.
Anton didn’t bother watching. Kade would kill his prey. Anton turned his attention to Tsar. With a sick grin on his face, Tsar launched himself at Anton. They fell backward.
This time, Anton’s head cracked into the rock floor. He grunted and rolled Tsar beneath him. Warm blood flowed from the gash in Anton’s scalp. The room spun. Tsar’s claws dug into Anton’s sides. He didn’t jerk away even as Tsar’s sharpened nails scraped his rib cage. With Tsar’s hands occupied, he left himself open for the kill. Anton took it.
He fisted the front of Tsar’s throat and yanked. Blood sprayed. Tsar’s grip never wavered. He dug his claws deeper into Anton’s sides, cracking Anton’s ribs.
Tsar was old. Strong. Given the chance, his body would quickly heal the grave wound Anton had caused. Anton couldn’t allow Tsar that chance.
On a grunt, Anton grabbed Tsar’s head and twisted it, cracking his spine, then yanked his head from his body. With blood running down his sides and his body in agony, Anton stood. He tossed Tsar’s head and scanned the room, looking for Nyx.
Holding a book to her chest with one hand, she lurched toward him in awkward shuffling steps. In her other hand, she held the broken end of an arrow. Only one feather remained. Pain twisted her features, but she smiled at him. Then dropped to her knees. She hunched over the book she carried. The rest of the arrow protruded from her shoulder. Her shirt had been burned away. Her skin was reddened. Flames still licked at her hair.
“Nyx!” Anton was at her side in the next instant. He smothered the smoldering strands of her hair. “Oh goddesses, You’re—”
“Fine. I’m fine.” Nyx surveyed the room. “Molly?”
Kade crouched on the ground in front of Molly. Zaheer stood behind him. Anton exhaled in relief, but his inhale hurt. His muscles felt tight. Light-headedness gripped him just as it did when he normally entered the dungeon. He didn’t smell incense, just the scent of peat burning.
“She’s okay.” He held his hand above Nyx’s charred skin. Heat radiated from the intensive burn. “But you’re not.”
“It’s just a flesh wound.” Nyx smiled even as her breathing grew shallower. “And look, I saved the first Alexander’s book.”
The cover was burnt but still intact. Anton forced himself to match Nyx’s smile. While Anton was grateful she’d saved the book Tsar had been intent on destroying, Nyx had suffered. “You just need to hold on until we get upstairs. We’ll find some privacy, and I’ll mate you.”
“No, you won’t. You’re going to let me heal on my own. That’s what you’re going to do.” Her words came out strained.
“Are you okay?” Anton studied her face. She looked paler than she had moments ago.
“I can’t breathe, Anton.” Nyx touched his chest. “The fire. I’m not a Royal.”
Anton met Kade’s eyes. He tipped his head to the door. They had to get out of here. Anton drew Nyx close, the book held between them. He wrapped his arms around his true mate and lifted her with an arm under her thighs and another at her upper back.
She cried out, then buried her face against his chest, muffling the sound.
“I’m sorry.” Anton pressed his lips to her hair and hurried from the room, following Kade, Zaheer, and Molly.
“Just go.” Nyx wheezed. “Don’t want to be here any longer.”
He agreed. A sense of urgency settled over him. His cats compelled him to run. He didn’t need to question why. Instinct directed him. He adjusted his grip on Nyx and fled the chamber. After a moment, a loud crack and bang shook the tunnel. More crashes sounded.
“Anton.” Nyx clutched at his back. “What—”
“The chamber’s collapsing.” The heat of the fire had no doubt unsettled the rocks. They needed to get their treasures out of these underground chambers. The modern world awaited them. And Anton was ready to greet it. With Nyx by his side, he could handle anything.
Chapter 29
The goddesses had paired him with the stubbornest female ever born. Anton squeezed water over Nyx’s bare back. In the hours since she’d been burned by Tsar’s flaming arrow, the outer layer of her skin had flaked away, leaving pink but raw skin underneath.
At this rate, by tomorrow night there’d be no sign of the injury she’d endured. Her shifter genetics allowed this remarkable recovery. It wasn’t fast enough. Every minute she healed, she hurt. The pinched skin around her eyes told him how much she suffered.
“You could’ve been healed by now.” Anton took a clean sheet from his bed and ripped it into strips. He spread one over her back, covering the pink and tender skin. “You realize that, right? As my soul-bonded mate, you’ll share in my strength. You’ll never grow old. You’ll never suffer from injuries like this. You’ll live forever in perfect health.”
“Unless one of us loses our head or heart.” Nyx supplied the truth he left out. “Yes, I know this. Brock knew it too. That’s why he hid Bianca in the dungeon. He didn’t want anyone to know she was pregnant.”
Nyx had filled him in on what Boris and Tsar had told her. For as much as Anton had disagreed with Brock, he could empathize with his situation. Anton was living it now. The only difference was the first Alexander’s book. While it didn’t guarantee Nyx’s safety if she mated him, it did ensure she’d be protected by the same Code of Conduct he enjoyed. At least she would once she claimed her uncle’s seat on the Council.
“Brock soul-bonded to her.” Zaheer had confirmed this. “She died when he did.”
“And her babies?” Nyx propped her body on a bent elbow. Pain twisted her features as she moved, but she turned her head to look him in the eye. “Did Zaheer say what happened to her babies?”
After returning to his house and getting Nyx situated, Anton had met with Zaheer and Kade, while Nyx had spoken with several of Boris’s friends on the Council. She’d insisted on the meeting and had another planned for later tonight. The first Alexander’s book did grant equal rights to women, and Nyx wanted to announce her bid to claim her uncle’s vacant seat. As the closest blood relative to Boris, she’d get it since none of her uncles were vying for it.
“Anton? Please tell me. What happened to her babies? Did they die too?”
“Baby, not babies. But it�
�s alive. Zaheer’s twin took the baby to live with a guardian after Bianca died.”
Nyx flinched, but lay down with her hands pillowed under her cheek. “Did he say who?”
“No. I didn’t ask.”
“Why not?”
Anton shrugged. “Zaheer said the details were registered with Shifter Affairs. If we want, we can find out from them. I had more pressing matters to discuss with the last Yuran brother living on campus.”
“And that was?” Nyx gave him a look that questioned his priorities.
“How we’re going to get everything safely moved from the dungeon and into a high-security facility.”
“He agrees?” Nyx’s brows shot up. “Boris said the Yuran brothers have been fighting a move for decades.”
“Tsar has been fighting it. He didn’t want to leave the campus or his underground home. Too many things have changed since he last moved.”
“He was unstable, Anton. When Colin and I delivered the book, Tsar snarled at me when I interrupted him. He didn’t recognize who I was.”
“He was old.” Anton didn’t want to excuse Tsar’s behavior, but many of the oldest members of their species had issues. Living for so long, especially in seclusion the way Tsar and his brothers had, took its toll on a man. “He didn’t have anyone to balance him.”
“The way you have me.”
“Yes.” Anton stretched out next to Nyx and rested his cheek on her pillow. “I love you, Nyx.”
Nyx’s eyes misted over. “I know we have this mystical connection, but you haven’t known me long. How can you be sure you can trust me, let alone love me?”
Anton kissed his true mate, letting his emotions speak without words. She sighed and returned his gentle kiss. This position didn’t allow for passion. Nyx was in no shape for it either. She needed this moment, though. She needed to feel his love.
After he was sure she understood, he eased back. “Our souls will be bonded. My innermost thoughts will be yours, and yours will be mine. Trust isn’t an issue for soul-bonded partners.”
“What if I don’t want to share everything with you?” Nyx studied him, judging him. “What if I want to keep some things to myself?”
“What kind of things?” Anton couldn’t imagine what Nyx would want to hide from him. Partners shared everything.
“Private things. I don’t know what they’d be yet. As a councilwoman, I’ll be fighting for my constituents. For other women.” Nyx turned pleading eyes on him. “They might tell me things in confidence. Things that are embarrassing or they’re ashamed of. Things they blame themselves for happening. And if I promise to keep their secret, I’m promising to keep it from you too.”
Anton sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He dropped his elbows to his knees. Then stared at the floor. “I don’t know.”
He’d never considered such a thing. Soul-bonded mates shared everything. That was the beauty of their bond. They’d always have someone to keep them grounded. They’d always have a confidant. They’d never be alone.
But didn’t he already have that?
His true mate gave him those things, and they didn’t share a soul bond. Nyx had trusted him with the truth about her uncle hiding the first Alexander’s book. She’d believed him when he told her he hadn’t killed Bianca. She saw past his cruel attempts to protect her. She made him laugh and smile.
Nyx made him a better man.
“I want to spend my life with you, Anton.” Nyx rested her cheek on his back and wrapped her arms around his chest. “I want to wake up in your bed and know that I am yours, and you are mine. But I also want to fulfill my dream of being an advocate for women and for the jaguar shifters I’ll be representing.”
He covered her hands. “You can still be a fierce councilwoman as my mate. Loving me shouldn’t stop you.”
“And I do love you. I want to spend eternity with you, whether that’s here on this earth or in heaven.” She lowered her voice. “I just need to know you’d trust me to be your mate and your fellow Council member while we’re alive in this realm.”
“I don’t want to be your adversary on the Council.” Anton lifted Nyx’s hand to his lips. “If we have disagreements, I want us to work through them.”
“Exactly.” Nyx leaned over his shoulder. “I want us to talk about them. I don’t want you to take the knowledge of why I feel a certain way from my mind.”
“If you don’t want me to look into your past, I can respect that.” There were things in his past he’d rather her not know too.
“I don’t have any secrets.” Nyx smiled. “When we mate, you can walk through my soul and relive every memory I have. But there might be things I don’t want to share with you in the future. Molly might tell me something in secrecy. I want to be able to assure her or anyone who trusts me enough to bare their soul that what they’re sharing will be safe with me.”
“Molly? Why would Molly have secrets?” Surely she’d share her issues with Kade or the other Alexander pride members she’d be living with.
Nyx kissed his cheek. “Molly is a little girl. Everyone seems to be forgetting that. Being a pride leader doesn’t change the fact that she’s learning her place in this world. It won’t stop her from going through puberty and dealing with teenage emotions and boys. It won’t stop her from getting mad at Kade or whoever is raising her. And when those things happen, she’ll need someone to talk to. I plan on being that someone if she wants.”
“Is this why you wouldn’t let me heal you? You feared I wouldn’t agree to respect your boundaries?” While he understood where she was coming from, her lack of trust in him hurt. He felt as if she’d kicked him in the gut.
Nyx rolled her eyes. “No, though I’m glad we are having this conversation now and not later, but this isn’t why I wouldn’t let you heal me.”
“Then why?”
“Don’t you think it was odd that I insisted Boris’s friends on the Council come see me immediately and that I’ve requested they come back tonight?”
He had, but he also respected her for wanting to handle the practicalities of her uncle’s passing and for waiting to make her bid for his seat. “Yes, but I couldn’t exactly ask you in front of Kade and the others. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer if it had to do with not wanting to be around me.”
“You’re not getting rid of me, Anton Alexander. Ever.” A fierce stamp of determination burned in her expression.
“Then why?”
“I don’t want the rumor to spread that we’re more than lovers. If I heal quicker than what’s considered acceptable, people will talk.”
“It’ll be hard to hide our mated status once my bite mark is scarred into your shoulder.” Assuming she was still planning on mating him. She’d alluded to it, anyway.
Nyx sat back and folded her hands in her lap. “I don’t want you to lick the wound, Anton. I want your mate bite to heal completely so nobody will know I’m yours or you’re mine.” She lifted her gaze to his. “It’s the safest way.”
He had his answer as to whether or not she still planned on joining their souls, but he couldn’t say this was the outcome he wanted. “People will realize we’re involved. You’ll be living in my house. Sleeping in my bed.”
“Council members are allowed to have lovers. Even committed lovers. And if it’s safer, I will get my own house.” She flashed him a naughty grin. “You can come sleep over.”
He chuckled. He couldn’t help feeling amused. Nyx brightened his life with her humor and ability to have fun. “Yeah, that won’t look suspicious at all. Neither will you staying young forever.”
Nyx waved off his words. “Eh…I wouldn’t even start aging for a couple hundred years. That’ll be plenty of time to establish myself. Once I do, nobody would want to threaten me or you. They’ll look to us for guidance.”
“Those are lofty goals, Nyx.” Anton laughed. “Change happens slowly in our species.”
A seriousness slipped over Nyx’s expression. “That’s g
oing to have to change. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to face the realities of being the minority in the humans’ world. The day some bored teenager gets ahold of a shifter’s picture and decides to play with face recognition software or some other modern advancement, our secret is going to come out.”
And they needed to be ready. The Council had been debating for decades about how exactly to prepare for that day. The only decision they’d made so far involved different ways to hide their longevity and strength.
Anton took Nyx’s hands in his. “Thank you, Nyx Mercer.”
She tilted her head and studied him as if he’d lost his mind. He’d never have to worry about that fate or facing the utter loneliness that had plagued his life for centuries. Nyx had saved him in more ways than he could count.
Her features softened the longer she watched him. She exhaled. The corners of her mouth lifted in a small smile. “For what?”
“Answering my ad. For seeing past my callousness. For not believing the rumors about me.” Anton pressed a closed-mouth kiss to her lips. “For loving me.”
“I do love you. I love you more than anything.”
Anton traced the delicate slope of her nose. “I’ve debated saying this because I don’t want you to change your mind about loving me, but it’s important for you to understand everything about me before we mate.”
A teasing smirk brightened her features. “You lied to me, didn’t you? The only food you can make is cookies. We’re going to starve or live off takeout forever.”
“No.” Anton nipped the nose he’d just caressed. “I can cook. Very well, actually.”
“Then you lied about cleaning—”
“I really like your nose, Nyx. Don’t make me bite it again.”
“Okay. Let me guess for real.” Nyx smiled. “You didn’t actually create those beautiful paintings in your room.”
Anton focused on Nyx’s chin, hoping his embarrassment wouldn’t show in his eyes. “I wouldn’t call them beautiful. They’re grotesque and brutal depictions of our world.”
Forbidden Mate: Shifter World: Royal-Kagan series book 8 Page 24
