Page 109 of Starting a New Life

Nix laughed, patting my cheek. “Which is another sign of what kind of Alpha you are. I’ve seen many packs where no one would have dared to question you.”

Damn. I loved him.

I pulled him onto my lap and wrapped my arms around his waist, needing to feel him as close as possible.

“You’re amazing,” I whispered against his lips, then fused our mouths together.

So amazing.

Nix sighed into my mouth, opening up for me without me even having to ask. He melted under my hands, body leaning against mine as I licked into his mouth. His tongue was there to meet mine, nudging against me, giving as good as he got.

I hoisted him up and carried him over to my bed, the thought of sleep all but forgotten.

I needed my mate now.

Chapter23

Nix

I was staring up into the sky while the engine of Gray’s pickup rumbled on. The vibrations had turned my back and legs numb about two hours ago, leaving them weird and itchy.

Five hours down. Just a couple more minutes to go.

I pressed my hand against my stomach.

Just a couple of minutes to go until we found out whether my shields and barriers were good enough to smuggle me, Angelo, and fucking Heath onto Green Creek Bay’s pack lands without being detected.

If my barriers and shields failed…

My stomach churned, acid rising in my throat. I didn’t even want to think about it. At best, Gray would formally lose the challenge. At worst, there’d be charges against us. A whole different fight. Possibly an outright war.

“Getting cold feet?” Heath whispered. He was lying next to me on his back, staring up at the sky, just like I was. “You’re stinking up the place with your fear.”

I took a deep breath before I answered. “Just nervous.”

“Not so sure your barrier will hold up?”

Pressing my lips together, I gave a short nod.

It wasn’t news to them. The fact that I’d only had a couple of hours to prepare the truck meant I hadn’t been able to take as much time as I’d wanted. I hadn’t been able to carefully add layer upon layer or to funnel magic into it over several days like I’d wanted to. I’d done as much as I could with the time limit and resources I’d had, but I’d had to be careful about not spending too much magic.

Draining myself before invading enemy territory was a stupid idea.

“It’ll be fine. Levi said you did a great job,” Angelo whispered and gave me a smile. Having Heath on one side and him on the other felt like having an angel and a demon sitting on my shoulders.

“Because Levi, the newfound mage, knows so much about barriers.”

“Thank you, Heath,” I said, rolling my eyes.

The problem was that he wasn’t technically wrong. Levi didn’t know much, and everything he did know was because I’d taught him. But what if what I’d taught him wasn’t actually good? What if what I thought was vast knowledge about barriers actually wasn’t compared to what Callum knew?

What if…

Fuck.

Fuck you, Heath!

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then stared at the sky again. It had already darkened, pale grey making way for a night sky muted by clouds.