Upside Down (COMPLETE) Inside Out, Book 2 [BoyxBoy]

Nathan

The last thing he could process with his brain was simply a number: three.

The first bullet went into a wizard on his furthermost left.

The second one flew right into the one next to him.

The third one right at Ivan's feet.

Ivan yelled and slumped forward.

The last thing he could be hearing was Ivan's cries. That fucking bitch couldn't even stand a simple pain of a bullet wound at the feet, considering all the shit that he did to others ... the irony ...

An explosion of spark ... it could be another spell. Then the sensation of falling came again. The impact didn't hurt this time. Finally, the weight of being confiscated by magic left his body, and the way it exited was so abrupt, as if it couldn't fit into Nathan any longer.

His face touched the cool marble tiles on the floor. He felt blissful.

He took a peek, and his mate was also in the same position. He willed to take a better glance, and saw his mate struggling on the ground, too. Probably he, too, wanted to take a look at Nathan.

Then a pair of feet walking past him disrupted his view of his mate. He sighed as the tip of the figure's black robe brushed past his face.

Ivan's cries were getting louder.

"Sir ... sir ... you're here ... uh ... ouch, no, sir ... please ..."

Nathan wondered at the moment how many magicians could be in the room. And when exactly they were going to make a move to kill him? No ... Nathan had that part wrong ... he wouldn't be killed ... he'd probably be contained somewhere for training to mind-control others ...

"You've proven what I'm most worried about ... you're nothing but a useless stray dog."

"No! Sir ... please ... wait! I—I'll do better next time! Sir, take me in!"

"You're nothing like your father, and you will never be!"

The group of men in red hauled him up—Nathan could feel as multiple arms slid under him. He wondered why all the physical effort while they could be using more spells to make him mobile ... oh well. His muscles went numb; he forced himself to glance at Keith, but the view was blocked by Ivan, wounded and crawling on the floor, right at the feet of another wizard, who was in all black. The end tip of the robe flowed to the ground, and Nathan could only see his mouth, as his face was completely concealed in an oversized hood that started from the back covering all the way to his nose.

"Please give me one more chance to prove my worth, Your Honorable Mage," Ivan pleaded. "Please—"

"Fine, fine ..." the hooded man said. "I'll give you one last chance."

Nathan was already dragged outside, but he still wanted to steal a glimpse at Keith. He wanted to be sure that they were going to stop hurting him, now that they already had Nathan, ready to enslave his mind.

"Undo your Change, Young One," said the man to Ivan. "Release yourself of the abomination of being a shape-shifter by reclaiming your true soul from the one who cursed the monster upon you, and I shall take you under my wing."

Keith. His heart.

"No!" Nathan yelled for the last time, but it was too late—the wizards already held him captive.

He really wanted to see Keith again. As Nathan felt his senses shutting down, he thought of how neither of them deserved this. He wanted so bad a moment of happiness after being sealed with his own soulmate. He thought of all the sleepless nights he had just to contemplate on reclaiming the one that belonged to him.

There were black huge trucks outside; before Nathan could be pushed inside one of them, explosive, high-pitched shots came out in the air, fiery sparks flying all over. The spell battles caught the wizards off guard, and Nathan instinctually shoved one of his elbows to the person next to him.

The wizard screamed, and Nathan took off. He skidded a few steps ahead before fumbling down to the ground again. But he kept moving forward. He crawled on the asphalt, heading towards his father's car still sat at the driveway—he could be taking cover under the vehicle ... yes, maybe that would work ...

Just as he attempted to crawl underneath it, a hand grabbed him from behind. That's it, he thought. Maybe surrender was the only answer.

If it were up to this, he understood why Ravelle took the route. He got why she gave up her sanity.

"Hey ... hey!" the wizard who got him said as he shook Nathan awake. "Wake up."

Nathan opened his eyes barely and recognized the golden eyes. It was the vampire wizard—not long ago, everyone thought of him as the bad guy. He'd wanted to hurt Callan, but it turned out to be the mate bond all along.

Parker. Parker might understand. Nathan shut his eyes again, reaching out for any sense inside his head. And he felt it.

He felt the lingering euphoria of him simply thinking about Callan. It reminded him of something similar that Jace had when he found Jordan.

It was so familiar, because he used to have it with Keith.

And now Keith was no longer with him.

"P ... Parker," Nathan croaked and fell right into his chest. He heard the vampire wizard muttering things he couldn't decipher—some of it were spells, because as he was holding Nathan, he was fighting a fight that shouldn't have mattered to him.

But it could matter, if Parker understood.

Nathan gave a push and gave out all of his sorrowful pain into the man holding his dying body.

The vampire jerked up androared fire out of his magic wand.