Page 61 of Starting a New Life

Chapter 13

Nix

This was getting ridiculous.

I sighed, turning in my bed again. Just like last night.

It wasn’t as if the bed was uncomfortable—quite the opposite. It was heaven on earth, the thick duvet like a warm cloud surrounding me, and the mattress just the right amount of firm and bouncy without being uncomfortable.

My body was melting into it, exhaustion weighing down my limbs.

Yet my mind didn’t seem to get the notice.

There were five wolves sleeping on this floor.

The two pups—as Gray had called them—were across the hall from me. Gray had told me they each had their own room, but I’d heard one of them sneaking across the hallway and into the other one’s room about an hour and a half ago. Now they were silent, their auras blissfully relaxed, sleep having pulled them under.

How would it feel to have someone whose company made you feel so at ease that you could just fall asleep like that?

Go downstairs, that voice inside me urged, the same voice that’d made me follow Gray’s presence a couple of hours ago. I’d find him, no problem. Hell, I was painfully aware of where he was. I could feel it in my bones. Could feel the bond tugging at me, urging me to get closer to him.

I sighed, then turned again, fluffed the pillow under my head, and closed my eyes.

At the other end of the hall, there were three bedrooms occupied by other shifters. I didn’t know if they lived here—apparently, there were quite a few who lived on the second floor—or if they just spent the night because it’d gotten late, but they were here, sleeping, their auras calm and floaty.

I opened my eyes again. It was a dark night, the moon just a small, silver crescent in the otherwise pitch-black night sky, the forest a looming, dark presence just across the snow-covered lawn.

I had a meeting with Rhett tomorrow. He had questions about the barrier, and probably about his mate too. He hadn’t said as much when he’d asked me to meet him in the morning for a trip to the barrier, but I’d seen it written across his face. And I got it. This pack didn’t appear to know anything about mages at all. They had a general concept that magic users existed, but to them, we were all the same. That’d become more and more obvious from their questions throughout the day.

It was confusing, really.

I groaned, thinking about that one teenage girl who’d been all excited when she told me about their community garden and all the herbs they’d planted and dried for winter. Followed by disappointment when I’d had to admit I didn’t need herbs for spells.

It’d been so… so weird. My brain still had trouble realizing they’d actually been nice and meant it. Like, she’d offered me supplies of what she thought I needed, just like that. She hadn’t even asked if I could show her a trick or whatever.

Maybe Gray had told them not to?

Was that something he’d do?

I thought back to the meeting he’d just casually pulled me into when he’d realized I’d been standing in front of the door. How he’d reassured me time and time again that I didn’t need to use my magic if I didn’t want to. How they wouldn’t force me. Even though the whole point of the meeting was to figure out how they could get rid of the enemies I’d brought to their doorstep.

It sounded too good to be true.

Like a trap.

Like they were trying to give me a false sense of security until I let my guard down. And then, one day, I’d wake up with a collar around my neck.

No, that voice inside my head insisted. Gray wouldn’t do that.

Gray.

My mate.

I followed the bond between us, the insistent pull that was getting harder to ignore by the minute. Pulsing, trying to get my attention.

He was so close.

A bit to my left, and down two flights of stairs.