Page 31 of Starting a New Life

Then again, Levi didn’t know about his magic abilities, or rather, he hadn’t known about them until he’d tried suffocating me with magic in his attempt to help. Now, he definitely knew something was off.

“What’s going on, Nix?” he asked, his thumb stroking the back of my hand.

I shook my head, keeping my lips firmly pressed together.

I’d already said too much. There was no chance in hell I was gonna say more.

Look where I was. As soon as they’d noticed I was a mage, they’d thrown me in a fucking cell. My mate had thrown me in a cell. The one who was supposed to support and protect me. He’d taken one look at me and imprisoned me. And as the Alpha of the pack, the rest would follow.

I couldn’t risk it.

Bile rose in my throat as I looked at Levi.

“Nix, it’s okay.”

I shook my head again.

Nothing was okay.

There were five shifters outside the cell, watching my every move.

There was his mate standing merely three feet away, his eyes tracking me relentlessly, his aura showing his agitation.

Levi sighed, his eyes never leaving me, questions warring with frustration.

“Can we maybe get him out of this cell?” he asked, finally turning his head to his mate. “Please. He’s clearly uncomfortable being here.”

Rhett scoffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he gave a curt headshake that sent his longish hair flying. “No can do, sweetie. We don’t know if he’s dangerous.”

Levi snorted. “Nix isn’t dangerous. I told you about my friend. The one I’ve been trying to help.”

“How can you say that? He attacked you,” Rhett exploded, and I shrank further back. If he really thought I’d attacked his mate, I was in deep trouble.

But it might mean Levi’s safe, a voice in my head supplied. If I kept my mouth shut, they might forget the fact that I said something about Levi’s magic. Maybe they won’t find out…

But Levi shook his head. “I don’t know what happened, but he didn’t attack me. You didn’t, right, Nix?”

I pressed my lips together, not willing to answer him.

This was such a mess, but it was my mess, not his.

“See, he’s not even denying it.”

I closed my eyes, shutting the world out, and focused just on their auras and what I could feel. Levi was still happy to see me, but worry made his aura swirl. He also kept reaching out to me, or his magic did. Was he trying to recreate a reaction? Trying to find out what’d happened himself? Exploring a newfound ability?

Then there were the others. Not just wolves. A fox and a lion too. The fox was a Mountie. I’d seen him investigating after I’d stolen from the grocery store.

One of the wolves bled hostility. The one closest to the staircase.

If I wanted to get past them all… what did I need to do?

I could probably knock them out with a controlled blast of energy, but at what cost? Even though the magic was doing a spectacular job at healing all the small aches in my body, I was still beat. Still tired. Still so utterly exhausted, I wasn’t sure how far I could run.

Also, I had no idea what was upstairs.

If I was at the packhouse, getting out of this cell would be the easiest part.

No.