Page 116 of Starting a New Life

Otto was a fucking monster.

“Please. Please don’t hurt me,” he pleaded, eyes darting from me to Angelo and Heath, who’d entered the room behind me. Their rage flared, eyes flashing as they studied Callum.

“Stay back,” I told them, and to their credit, they both did, taking up posts at the door, their hands raised, shoulders rounded as if they were trying to make themselves smaller.

I turned back to Callum and swallowed down the lump in my throat. He didn’t look good. Thin, with too long, matted hair, his skin pale with a sickly greyish hue. The shirt hung from his frame, torn in several places, revealing dark bruises on his stomach.

“I’m Nix,” I introduced myself and forced a smile I didn’t feel to my lips. “Connie sent me.”

The mage blinked at me, green eyes clouded in confusion.

“Conrad,” I elaborated.

The mage blinked again, a heavy book clutched to his chest. “Why?”

“Nix,” Heath said. “We don’t have…”

I glared at him. “We do have time for me to explain everything at least once.”

Callum watched our interaction with his mouth wide open in shock, his eyes rapidly darting between us, knuckles turning white where he kept clutching the book.

“Look, I can’t explain everything right now because we need to hurry. The short version is that we’re here to free you and get you out.”

The mage started shaking his head, tangled strands falling into his face. “No, no, no, don’t play with me like that.”

“We aren’t…” I gasped when pain sliced through my gut. I doubled over and pressed my hand against my stomach, expecting it to come back red and wet, but… nothing.

I desperately sucked in a breath through my nose, the pain blinding my vision.

“Nix?”

There were footsteps, and then someone was holding me up, inspecting my stomach that looked… completely normal. My eyes widened as a wave of fury echoed through my chest.

“Nix? What is it?”

“Gray,” I whispered, looking at my hands that should be bloody. But they weren’t—because Gray was the one bleeding, not me. I swallowed, my eyes filling with tears, but I pushed them away. Gray was alive—and well enough to be furious. “He’s hurt.”

My mate was injured, and I wasn’t there to help. It felt like someone had sliced him open with a fucking scalpel, even though that wasn’t possible. Maybe a claw?

The pain was still sharp and burning hot, threatening to blind me, but I forced myself to look at Callum again.

At one point, he’d taken a few steps towards me, and was now standing a couple of feet away from me in the middle of the room, looking uncertain about what to do.

“My mate is fighting your Alpha,” I said, clenching my teeth as more pain rolled through me.

Instincts had me reaching for my magic, sending it along my bloodstream right into my gut where it felt like I was injured—even though I wasn’t—my magic desperately trying to heal me though there was nothing to heal. Still, the pain lessened, and the sharp edges dulled.

“He’s not my Alpha,” Callum spat, lips pressed into a tight line.

“I’m sorry. I meant that my mate is fighting the bastard who did that to you,” I said, nodding at the redness peeking out from under the collar. It wasn’t even something sleek like stainless steel. It was iron. Not smooth either, with sharp edges. Meant to hurt. “He challenged him, so—” I took a deep breath, breathing through the pain while funnelling more magic into my gut. “So he can keep Connie with us. Away from this place.” I slowly let out my breath. “And we’re here to get you out. We’re not leaving you behind. Please come with us. We don’t have much time. I promise I’ll explain everything later. My mate is hurt, so we don’t have much longer, and we need to get all the way to the packhouse.”

Callum took a step back, hand darting to the collar around his neck. “What happens to me when I come with you?”

More magic was running through my bloodstream, following the pain until I could breathe again and the wound felt as if it was closing. Which was some weird-ass placebo thing going on, but I’d take it. I needed to focus.

“You can stay with us if you want. We’re currently two mages at Cedarwood.” I smiled at the thought of Levi, babbling and nervous and oh so kind. He’d be a great friend for Callum. “Maybe you could help me teach Levi. He only found out that he’s a mage a couple of weeks ago.” I shrugged. “Or you can heal at Cedarwood and leave. Your decision.”

There was a spark in his eyes. Just for a moment, but I’d seen the hope. The longing.