Midnight Kisses (Shifter Island Book 1)

by Leia Stone

  The small group of about fifteen heirs dispersed along the paths outside the gazebo, heading back to the dorms.

  “Oh, don’t think you’re changing into sweats, Nai. The night’s not over.” Kaja smirked, and something about her expression screamed trouble. “My older sisters are going to the after-party, and I got us invites!”

  Her voice went up to a legit squeal at the end, and I chuckled. “You’re way too peppy for this time of night.”

  Kaja put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. “Don’t tell me you’d rather go back to your dorm.”

  Dust and rat-infested dorm with psycho Nolan? Or a party? “I’m in.”

  There’d better be food. I hadn’t eaten all day, and someone was going to get killed if I went too much longer without a meal.

  Like one hundred percent. I just wanted to eat and forget this day.

  An hour later, after Kaja graciously fed me snacks, I clutched a delicate blue mask in my hands.

  “Tell me again why we have to wear these?” I asked Kaja’s older sister, Nell. She’d loaned me a legit ball gown, complete with rhinestone heels, all of which I had yet to try on.

  “It’s tradition,” she said as she touched up my make-up.

  The Harvest Clan dorm was opulent and spotlessly clean, and I kinda wished they’d adopt me.

  “Some third years started it like a century ago. It’s our one night to hang out together without worrying about alpha status, challenge fights, or whatever might befall warring clans. We magically hide our clan marks, change our hair color, wear masks, and live with abandon until the sun comes up.”

  Warring clans seemed like a bit of an exaggeration, but I understood the concept and shrugged. “Well, I’ve always wanted baby blue hair.”

  Nell grinned. “You’ve got it. I’ve worked on the hair changing spell all year with my mage teacher.”

  She held her hands over my head, and I peered down and grinned as my white locks deepened into a soft powdery blue before my eyes. My gaze bounced to the dress, and my grin grew. Nice. She’d matched the same blue as the gown, only several shades lighter.

  “Holy mage, that’s sick! How can a water elemental change my hair color?”

  Her lips curled into a smirk. “Your hair has water in it. I’m simply manipulating the properties so light refracts off the strands differently.”

  My eyes widened while she spoke, and when she finished, I shook my head. “Dude, you do not look like you should be talking about light refraction, but I need you to teach me that. STAT.”

  Nell snickered, but I was serious. Blue was a good look for me, and I had both water and fire elements, so it was plausible, right?

  “Once you get through your basic water studies, I could probably teach you,” she said. “Maybe over the summer?”

  “That would be awesome.” Suddenly, the next four years didn’t seem too bad.

  “Is it true people hook up at this thing?” Kaja asked as she fastened her mask. With her new, jet-black hair and half of her face covered, I wouldn’t know it was her unless she spoke.

  Nell nodded. “It gets a little crazy. When you go in, you’ll prick your finger and place a drop of blood into a magical chalice. It keeps you from kissing anyone you’re related to.”

  “Eww,” I groaned. Kissing Nolan would legit make me vomit. Just thinking about it was enough to make me declare, “I’m not hooking up with anyone. I’m only going for the food.”

  Nell grinned. “I said that my first year too. You’ll see.”

  Her words sparked a rush of nervous churning in my gut, but I gritted my teeth and fastened my mask. Naima of Crescent Clan was no wuss. I’d go to this party like a normal socially awkward girl and have fun. If no one but Nell and Kaja knew who I was, then I might even dance.

  Kaja bounced on her heels. “Girl, get your dress on so we can go!”

  I’d been dreading the dress, or maybe that churning in my stomach was too many pretzels. Was that even possible?

  I creased my palms over the opening ceremony dress they had loaned me. “I just got used to this one—”

  Nell pointed at the closet. “Get in there and change, or I’m going to do it for you. You’ll look fab, so let’s get a move on.”

  Stepping into the large walk-in closet, I slipped out of my earlier dress, and when my gaze landed on my abdomen, I shrieked.

  “Nai?” Kaja’s concerned voice came through the door.

  At the same time, Nell asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Anxiety crawled up my chest and burned the back of my throat as I stared at the three silvery squiggles several inches above my belly button, right where the icy pain had punched me during the affinity ritual. I traced the lines, and the veins in my hand glowed blue. Then a strange light, the same blue color, ran up my arm. As soon as I yanked my hand away from the peculiar marks, the magic faded.

  What the mage does this mean?!

  No one said anything about magic tattoos at the ceremony. Did this happen to everyone? The high mage who’d conducted the ceremony said it wouldn’t hurt, and no one else doubled over in pain, so my guess was no. Maybe I’d ask my new friends—

  Dread filled my belly with the thought. Our friendship was too new to trust them with something like this. At least, not yet.

  “I’m fine. Just, uh … saw a spider.” It sounded like a question, but I didn’t know what to say.

  Doing a quick scan of my body, I confirmed there were no more marks.

  “Some badass alpha she’ll make,” Nell said loud enough for me to hear, but the playfulness in her tone took out all the sting.

  “Shut up,” I called out, deciding to ignore the weird mark and deal with it later. Maybe there would be something about it in my classes—or the library. I pulled the huge sparkly royal blue ball gown up and stepped out of the closet before asking Kaja to lace up the corset-style back.

  “Dayum, girl, that looks hot with your blue hair.”

  I grinned. It didn’t matter if I broke my neck and died in these heels. I looked like a freaking magical princess.

  Nell beckoned us from the door. “Let’s roll, girls. Reality hits tomorrow. This is our one night of stress-free fun.”

  With that, we followed her outside and slipped into the night.

  “Finger,” a tall buff guy with black hair said, holding out his beefy hand. He wore a black mask covering his clan mark and was poured into an expertly-tailored black tux.

  After trekking at least half a mile off-campus, we’d arrived at the open door of a huge mansion, at least five stories tall.

  One by one, we held out our fingers, and he pricked them, squeezing a single drop of blood into the chalice.

  “This place is obsessed with blood,” I muttered to Kaja. However, if the magic kept me from kissing Nolan, I had zero protest.

  She laughed, and I stepped through the door, only to be stopped by the buff dude.

  “Hang on,” he said. “You need a voice mod, right?”

  “Huh?”

  “Yes!” Kaja whisper-yelled. “Do me too.”

  Before I could ask what the heck they were talking about, a blanket of pale gray mist shot from his hand and wrapped around her throat.

  “I’m only here for the food,” Kaja said, her voice lilting and musical. Definitely not sounding like normal Kaja.

  “What the—?” My eyes widened, and I nodded at the bouncer. The next thing I knew, my voice was a bit lower, still female but more like the singer Adele.

  Score!

  “Have fun.” He winked, and we stepped inside the giant entryway.

  Holy mage babies.

  Now this was a house. The large staircase led to an open loft area where half a dozen people lounged, chatting. A circular staircase led to the third floor, and I couldn’t see any more of the upstairs beyond the halls leading to separate wings of the house. Past the giant staircase, a massive three-story great room flowed into a kitchen. I stared at the group of chefs, and one in a tall white
hat barked orders at the others, making me avert my gaze. This party was catered?

  Yum.

  “Stop gawking,” Nell said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the wall of windows on the other side.

  Music blared from outside, and it was only as we approached that I noticed the wall of windows was a set of sliding doors, all pushed to the side and opened fully. We stepped through the opening and onto the back patio.

  “You know this place?” I asked, still freaked by the sound of my voice. If I knew no one would know, I’d be tempted to sing.

  Hello, it’s me…

  She nodded. “The Midnight princes grew up here before they moved into the dorms. They hosted the party here last year too.”

  Of course they did. I rolled my eyes heavenward and then looked around with increased scrutiny. The virtues grew up here? Pretty posh. Not that I expected anything less of the alpha king's children. Or nephews. Or whatever. Heirs.

  Nell led us outside and down a set of patio stairs, through a garden pathway lit by ground lanterns. When the walkway opened up into a large clearing, I gasped.

  I don’t know what I’d been expecting but … not this. This was absolutely magical.

  “I heard their mom, the headmistress, does all the decorating,” Kaja whispered.

  Mom … headmistress? That’s where I recognized her! The woman who gave the concluding speech had the same dark hair as her boys, and those green eyes were a dead ringer for Justice and Rage.

  “The king’s wife?” My brow furrowed in confusion. “Wouldn’t that be their aunt?”

  Nell shook her head. “Their father, the king’s brother, died. So when the alpha king took over, he took her and the boys in. Married her and made them his heirs.”

  Whoa. That was actually kind of sweet for a total douchebag psycho who screamed abusively at them. King A-hole had to be sterile, or maybe their mom wouldn’t sleep with him. Before I could ask any more questions, my gaze was pulled to the party.

  The back yard, if you could call it that, was like a mini forest, at least an acre of manicured green land with thick canopy trees with glowing purple flowers.

  I pointed to the flowering tree. “My dad told me about those.” These were all over the island, not just the academy grounds, so my father was able to talk about them. Too bad everything else about this school was a mystery.

  Kaja nodded. “Those flowers make a powerful sedative.”

  I knew that too. The extract was distilled and sold both in the mortal and magic world. The exclusive location of the flower accounted for a large portion of the werewolves’ wealth. Well, most werewolves’ wealth, the ones who weren’t excommunicated.

  My gaze ran over the white silk tents set up on the lawn and the swimming pool, glowing blue to green to purple. The most amazing part was the fireballs suspended in mid-air, illuminating the magical space.

  “Like what you see, ladies?” a man asked, his deep voice unfamiliar.

  I spun to see a large muscular guy in a black tuxedo and black mask grinning at us like a fool.

  Hmm. Nolan? Rage? Justice? Could be anyone. All the males were huge and probably said douchy things like “Like what you see, ladies?”

  “You live here?” I hedged to him.

  The dude scoffed. “Breaking the rules. You must be a newbie.”

  I crossed my arms. “Second year actually.”

  Hey, if I was going to be someone else tonight, I might as well go all out and full-blown lie.

  The guy looked from me to Kaja to Nell, who’d just joined us, and the music slowed to a soft and sexy beat.

  “Dance with me?” He extended his arm to Nell, who grinned.

  “I’d be delighted.” She took it, and the two of them strolled over to where two other couples swayed to the beat.

  Kaja eyed a food tent and yanked me toward it. “Let’s grub. I heard they serve mage wine at this thing.”

  Mage wine. My dad let me have some once. A trader had brought it in with our usual haul. I’d laughed hysterically at everything Lona had said and then started crying and told my dad I wished I’d grown up with a mother. Suffice it to say, a full glass was not recommended for me. Train wreck city. I’d be staying far away from that stuff tonight.

  “Ohh, chocolate fountain!” I squealed, spotting the liquid deliciousness, and ran over to the tent. I started plucking strawberries and marshmallows from beneath the flowing decadence and dropping them on a plate.

  “I’ll be right back. I’m going to track down the mage wine,” Kaja told me and left.

  I saturated a marshmallow in chocolate and then shoved the whole thing in my mouth.

  Yummmm. Food was one hundred percent my love language.

  “A woman who isn’t afraid to eat. I dig it,” a deep voice said from behind me.

  I quickly swallowed the food, wiping my mouth with my hand. Turning around, I faced a giant of a man. At well over six feet tall, he towered over me. His black tuxedo strained against his muscles as if they were begging to be freed.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just looking for the salad bar,” I joked.

  The dude grinned, and my stomach flipped. Straight white teeth and a killer smile was my kryptonite. This dude had both.

  “Wanna see something cool?” he asked, holding out his hand.

  My heart pounded in my ears. What if this was freaking Nolan? Or Noble? The latter had already become like a brother to me. I remembered Nell’s warning that I’d not just be here for the food…

  I must have paused for too long because he dropped his hand. “It’s cool. I get it.”

  He started to walk away.

  Damn my curiosity! I did want to see something cool, especially if it was with that giant dude carved of stone with kissable lips and a nice smile.

  I grabbed a strawberry and tore after him. “What cool thing?”

  He looked back with a grin, and I nearly melted. Whoever this dude was … he was majorly yummy and, so far, super sweet. No way in hell could it be Rage or Nolan. They didn’t have a sweet bone in their bodies.

  He reached out again, and this time, I took his hand. I had no idea why because touchy-feely on the first date, or whatever this was, wasn’t my thing. But I did. It felt … good. Warm and tingly. I stepped closer, my heart fluttering when he tucked my hand in the crook of his arm.

  “I heard this place has a secret garden.” He cut into the woods, and I froze.

  “Umm.” I pulled my hand back. He could be a murderer. “Out here?”

  He looked back at me with a halfcocked grin. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. Besides, aren’t you an alpha heir? I’ll bet you could wipe the floor with me.”

  Hah!

  He had a good sense of humor too. I laughed, genuinely. “I could probably make you wish you weren’t born, yes.”

  Maybe, but not before he overpowered me with his ‘roid monkey physique. Dude was jacked, and if he was at this party, he was an alpha heir too.

  “Look, I get it.” He retraced his steps, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. “If you don’t want to come, it’s cool, but my friend said this place is magical, and … I like your blue hair.”

  His rambling softened my heart, but still, I hesitated.

  He dropped his hands, and his voice softened. “I would never hurt anyone at this school. It’s just … this is the one night a year we get to be … free.”

  Something crossed his face after he said the last word, and his lips turned down. He looked … sad. Like every other day of the year, he wasn’t free.

  “I really do like your blue hair.” He reached out and touched the end of one curl before lowering his fingers.

  Every other girl here had done normal colored hair, black, blonde, brown, red. I was the only one crazy enough to ask for blue…

  He turned then and walked into the forest, leaving me by myself.

  I like your blue hair. Gah! That was kinda sweet!

  “Fine!” I shouted and
traipsed after him. “You don’t have to beg!”

  I heard him chuckle as I caught up.

  “I think it’s right over here. If my buddy is telling the truth.” He took a right.

  Trying to maneuver over a log, I lifted the hem of my dress. My foot caught, and I sucked in a breath as I pitched forward.

  But I never hit the ground. Somehow, the dude spun faster than lightning and caught me mid-fall. As he pulled me back upright, my body pressed into his chest, and all rational thought left my brain.

  The music. The cool night air wafting his yummy scent to me. The glow of the moon through the trees. This was magical. A night to be free, like he said.

  “Careful.” He backed up a few inches and I found my last two brain cells. “That’s why I was trying to hold your hand earlier. Those shoes are weapons.”

  I smiled. “They are. Thanks.”

  His hand slipped into mine again, and we continued our walk until we happened upon a magnificent steel gate.

  “Are those … wings?” I gasped, dropping his hand to caress the metal in the shape of two giant angel wings. It was stunning.

  He nodded. “I think so.”

  Reaching out, he plucked the gate open, and I was grateful it wasn’t locked.

  He bowed. “After you, Miss Blue.”

  A grin tugged at my lips. He was a charmer, and that was dangerous. I loved a guy who could give a good compliment. Hopefully, whomever my father picked to be my breeding partner and mate would be a charmer too. Pushing those thoughts from my mind, I stepped past the sweet talker.

  “Thank you.” I whisked forward, my huge dress skimming the sides of the gate as he stepped in behind me and closed it.

  My breath hitched. “Whoa.”

  Every single flower in here was glowing—blues, pinks, purples, greens so vibrant it looked like paint. Even tiny white flowers crawled along the ground, covering the garden floor in a soft glowing blanket.

  “It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” I spun, and he watched me.

  He kept his gaze on me. “It’s a close second for me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re a charmer.”

  He shrugged. “I call them as I see them.”