Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 216

Chapter 216: Look Who I Found

"She’s a semi-Nexus?" Kira asked, following close behind Braxton.

He was leading her down the brightly lit, heavily secured corridor of his private wing, straight toward the room where their mother was staying, and with every step Kira’s heart pounded harder against her ribs, so hard she half feared it might snap one of them.

What if she doesn’t like me?

It was the thought she could not shake. She had stalled this reunion since yesterday morning, inventing one reason after another, trying to gather her courage, trying to prepare her mind for whatever might happen when she finally laid eyes on her own mother.

For a girl who had been hated and rejected her whole life by the very people meant to love and protect her, she did not know what to expect. She had no idea what a normal mother’s reaction was supposed to look like.

Braxton nodded before he answered. "Yes. A semi-Nexus. Growing up, Father used to tell me that semi-Nexuses are the ones who give birth to true Nexuses. I didn’t inherit those powers myself. Father always said my twin must have been the one to carry them." He glanced back at her. "He was right, it seems."

"How did you know you hadn’t inherited them?" Kira asked.

"There are always telltale signs when we’re young," Braxton said. "For one, a Nexus doesn’t wait until eighteen to shift, the way the rest of us do. A true Nexus can shift even as a baby. The power runs too strong to be contained."

Kira opened her mouth to tell him that she hadn’t shifted at all, not once in her whole life. In fact, she had spent her entire existence being mocked as a wolfless runt, not until two nights before. But the words died as understanding bloomed in her instead.

She slowed, her brow furrowing. "When I first came to Dravengard," she said slowly, "the doctor examined me. And she found something. I’d been poisoned my whole life. I was being fed with aconite extract and fadevine to suppress my wolf, and keep it from ever surfacing."

She looked up at her brother. "I never understood why anyone would bother. But now... now I’m starting to. Someone knew exactly what I was. And they wanted to keep it buried."

Braxton nodded grimly. "Whoever it was must have discovered the truth about you early. And spent years hiding it."

Kira’s brows knitted together in confusion. "But why?" she asked.

Braxton stopped and turned to face her fully.

"Because you, my dear sister," he said, "are the real thing. Do you have any idea how few people truly understand the full extent of what a Nexus can do?"

Kira didn’t understand it herself. But she knew that whoever had tried to suppress her powers wasn’t trying to protect her. They must have done it for something else.

She shrugged. "I tried to read about it after a kind couple told me about it in Snow Crest, but I couldn’t find a single book that explained any of it properly. Just vague mentions, here and there."

"That’s by design," Braxton said, turning to keep walking. "Those texts are mostly classified. There’s too much fear of the wrong hands getting hold of that kind of knowledge. But Father told me everything I needed to know."

His voice softened. "Especially after the fire at the old Moonfang packhouse. The one that happened when we were eight years old. The one that swallowed everyone inside."

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