by Leia Stone
I wanted to be alone and rock in a corner and cry—definitely not going to say that out loud though.
Instead, I just nodded. “You know what. A nap sounds great. I’m gonna head over to my place though and lie down.”
All five of them winced.
“That condemned rathole?” Kaja grimaced, her expression an exclamation point.
I chuckled. “Yeah, but it’s my condemned rat hole.”
Nell pouted, her bottom lip stuck so far out it was almost comical. “If we were allowed to co-mix, I would totally give you a room here. We have more than enough.”
Her sweet offer was so typical of Harvest generosity. I gave her a sad smile and patted her hand. “Thank you. But rules are rules.”
Grabbing my borrowed fire textbook, I forced a cheery smile. “I’ll catch you at dinner. I’m serving!”
Because my life was awesome. If the blood and guts weren’t cleaned up by then, I’d definitely be looking into therapy.
With that, I ran out of their house, afraid one of them would say something else about my weird beach encounter with the high mage. Hauling my butt across the courtyard, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Kaja wasn’t coming after me, and when I turned around, I skidded to avoid full-on crashing into—ugh!—Rage. I barely bumped into him, only a little. And then I stood in front of him, clutching my book with both hands and gasping for air.
We just stared at each other. I waited for him to yell at me, but he just kept looking at me, his gaze darting over every curve of my face. The silence stretched, weirding me out a little, or a lot, but legit, I could stare at his face all day and be okay with it.
Yummy ugly troll.
Finally, he sighed. “Thank you for your help today with the selkies.”
My mouth popped open.
Did he just compliment me? I reached up and felt his forehead. No fever.
“You feeling okay?” I narrowed my eyes. “Are you really Rage? Or maybe Noble beefed up a little?”
I tapped his giant bicep as if I couldn’t tell him and his brothers apart. A slow grin curled one side of his mouth into a lopsided, sexy smirk, making my insides melt.
Mother Mage, why did my internal compass point to the bad boy?
“You can’t tell?” He stepped closer, and I could feel the heat rolling off his body. “You’ve never seemed to have a problem telling us apart before?”
His gaze dipped to my lips, and I sucked my bottom lip in—to make sure I wasn’t drooling. Or slobbering. Or panting.
I wasn’t sure what was happening here, but I didn’t want to be done. I wanted nice Rage to stay and never leave.
“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” he asked, looking my body up and down like I was a prized specimen.
My cheeks warmed. “My father.”
And just like that, his expression fell into a mask of indifference. “Right. Almost forgot there—Crescent girl.”
He spun to leave, and I felt like I’d been slapped.
“Excuse me? How dare you!”
I glared after him, lifted my book high in the air, and threw it. Hard.
The solid thump against his head wasn’t nearly as satisfying as watching him lurch forward, which made me grin. But the smile slid from my face as the book landed with a thud.
Oh, shifter babies. What had I done?
He was the first prince to the king, in line for the alpha throne.
He froze.
“I … uh … I’m sorry.” I rushed forward and grabbed the book off the ground, holding it in front of me like a chest plate of armor.
Spinning slowly, he stepped closer to me.
“I like it better when you’re nice,” I said by way of explanation. “Grouchy Rage is an asshat. Why can’t you just stay nice?”
He glared down at me with those big, beautiful, green eyes. “You don’t know, do you?”
Pain flickered in his gaze, and the bravado he wore like a mask slipped. For the first time since I’d met him, he looked vulnerable.
“What?” I relaxed my death grip on the book and brought it to my hip. “What don’t I know?”
“Your uncle killed my father, and I’ll never forgive your clan for that.”
His words cut into me like knives. My jaw hit the pavement. Before I managed to find my voice, he spun and stormed off again.
“That’s not true!” I shouted at his retreating back. “Your dad and my uncle were best friends at school!” I marched toward where Rage now stood but stopped several feet away. Even so, I dropped my voice and whisper-shouted the truth. “The alpha king killed your father, not anyone from my pack!”
I believed the story my father told of what happened to his only brother that fateful night. My father had no reason to lie, but the alpha king? All the reason in the realm, no matter what Rage said.
Rage spun and laughed in my face. “You naive little pup! A Midnight alpha and a Crescent alpha best friends? My uncle killing his own brother? Listen to yourself! You’ve been lied to.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. Did all of the Midnight princes think that? That my uncle killed their dad? The horror of it shook me even if it wasn’t true. No wonder they hated me that first day. Could I blame them?
“Rage, listen…” I started to tell him the story I knew, but he cut me off.
“I can see you believe what you’re saying, but you’re wrong. Uncle Declan was commanded by the high mages to attack Crescent after my father’s murder. It was my uncle’s first assignment after he became alpha, to punish your pack because of a high crime. What about that? If your uncle didn’t kill my father, what was the high crime?” His chest heaved, and tension rolled off him in waves.
“Well… I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug. Shame burned my cheeks as all of the fight left me. “My father doesn’t like to talk about it.” Was an alpha killing another alpha a high crime? Did the mages get involved with that? I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything apparently.
Rage shook his head. “Sounds like a guy who is all about the truth.”
When he turned to walk away this time, I let him go. I wondered then if everything my father told me had been a lie. Had my uncle killed Rage’s dad and that’s why we were cast out of Shifter Island? Was the alpha king only protecting his family when he’d taken over the throne and kicked Crescent out?
All the emotions I’d bottled up the last few days swelled beneath my chest until everything felt ready to explode. Turning on my heels, I raced into my dorm, slammed the door to my shitty room, and collapsed onto the bed just as the dam burst. Sobbing into my pillow, I cried for my father, my pack, and then finally for me. Had my father lied to me? Or possibly deceived me with a lie by omission? On the story of who killed who, I believed him. Even so, I wanted to know what high crime was committed that would have caused our entire clan to be cast out. Would I have to wait four years to find out?
Chapter 10
Master Jin taught my water elemental classes. Short and stocky with tattoos covering pretty much all of his visible skin, he looked like a Hell’s Angel biker dude. Unlike the fire mage, Master Jin had my books waiting for me the second afternoon.
“Any chance you did the summer reading?” he asked as soon as he dropped the books on my desk.
I stared up at the ceiling and snorted. “There was summer reading?”
How was I ever going to catch up?
“Don’t worry. Most of it is stuffy theory, mages pontificating just because they want to. I’ve highlighted the chapters you should read and X’d out the ones that are worthless.”
Wow. “Um, thanks for that.”
“Don’t thank me yet. After today, I’ll make you read on your own time. Here, in class, this is where we practice. You’ll need to have the first four of those chapters read by tomorrow so we can start training.”
A smile stretched across my face. What a contrast. “No problem.”
When I opened the textbook, my jaw dropped as I stared at the same three wavy lines that were burned i
nto my solar plexus. Without thinking, I raised my hand.
“Master Jin.” I pointed at the lines when he returned to my desk. “Do we get marks related to our affinities? Like after we graduate…”
His eyes lit up, and he chuckled. “Sorry, no. Nothin’ like that. You get magic. That’s enough.”
I frowned, debating whether I should ask him what it meant, when he continued.
“Though, if you really want something like that, I know a tattoo artist that can put one on ya.”
Hmm. “That’s okay. I was just curious.”
Note to self: ask old high mage man. He was the only one who seemed to already know I wasn’t normal.
I bent my head over the book and started to read.
The first week of school passed in a blur. There were no more selkie attacks, thank the mage. And I’d gotten a bit of a reputation for being a badass. The other students gave me respectful nods and glances, a far cry from that first day. All except Rage. Needless to say, our fire element classes were beyond awkward. I read my book in the corner while he shot nasty glances my way and ignored me when I spoke. I worked the coffee cart in the morning and then the lunch and dinner periods as well. By the time I got home to study, I usually fell asleep with my face in a book. But today was Friday.
I bade “Madam Scary Dark Witch,” aka Kalama, goodnight, and grabbed my box of cold pizza and cheese sticks before heading to the door. The cafeteria was mostly empty—all traces of the Selkie attack gone. A few groups of students still sat at the Formica tables even though dinner was over, all of them chatting about … who knew? Probably weekend plans or sucky class assignments. I had far too much of the latter to worry about the former. Not to mention the sorry state of my dorm.
Ugh. The only food I had was the three meals served at the school or what I could snake from the coffee cart if it didn’t sell and was near the expiration. We’d literally been given nothing. I was surprised we had running water.
“Hey, Nai,” Noble shouted from across the room.
I spun, and my boxed dinner slid from the stack of books I carried. Reaching out, I managed to swing the stack and prevent the loss of dinner and then looked up.
He sat atop the table with Justice and Honor on either side, a cluster of girls spread on the benches at their feet. Evil Barbie was one of them. Anyone who needed a reminder of pack hierarchy needed only to see this. The princes appeared as if ministering to a harem of admirers. Funny, Rage wasn’t here with them. Justice muttered something to Noble, who cut him off with a shake of his head.
“Are you coming tomorrow night?” Noble asked me, raising his chin, his smile promising mischief.
Sighing, I shook my head. “Nope. Not even sure what activity or thing you’re referencing. I’ve got too much work tomorrow.”
The corner of Honor’s lips turned down. “You don’t have work tomorrow. It’s Saturday. No work. No school.”
Must be nice.
I snorted. “I’ve got homework and housework, things I can’t do when I’m working my three jobs. No. Still not going.”
“But it’s the bonfire,” Noble explained. “You’ve got to come. We’re going to eat s’mores—”
“And drink mage wine,” Honor added. “Everyone gets happy drunk. You should totally come. You need happy—I can tell.”
The girls at his feet shot me a glare, which I gladly returned. Okay, maybe I was in need of happy, but I had no time for it if I wanted to pass my classes.
Justice took a deep breath and met my gaze, his green eyes searing into me. “You do look like you could use a dose of happy.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Everyone will be there,” Noble added as if that would sway me.
I tore my gaze from Justice and forced a swallow. “No can do. Sorry, guys.”
I was used to Noble and Honor being nice, but Justice? What was going on? Before they could intervene further, I bade them goodnight.
Their farewells followed me out of the cafeteria and into the evening. I crossed campus to Crescent House and entered through the side door. The kitchen lights worked as did the refrigerator now, a bonus of having Nolan and me working to pay our clan tax, so that was mage-freaking-tastic.
After devouring the pizza, I caught up on homework, reading ahead in the fire textbook until my eyes practically bled.
The biggest problem with sitting in class all day was the sensation of wanting to crawl out of my body. I was an active girl; I liked hiking in the woods behind our house in Montana or chasing my packmates down to the creek. Now that the school week was over, and I was at home, I had a solution.
Stepping outside into the cool night, I sucked in lungfuls of crisp clean air. After ducking behind a hedge, I stripped down naked, folding my clothes off to the side. Closing my eyes, I relaxed, letting my wolf surge forward and fill my being. I hadn’t shifted since I’d gotten here. A week without shifting felt like an eternity to a wolf. Taking deep breaths, I let the change come over me, my bones cracking and rearranging, my pelt of fur rolling down my arms and across my back until I was on all fours. It didn’t even hurt anymore; it just felt good to finally let my animal slide free of its human cage.
Run? her voice, my voice, our voice, asked.
Yes.
I darted into the woods, taking in the scents and sounds surrounding me with a sense of familiarity and wonder. Soft mulch, spongey beneath my paws, churned with the smell of decomposing leaf litter. Around me swirled the scents of verdant growth of the forest: pine, cedar, honeysuckle, lavender, sweet wild onions, and leaves—everywhere. Scat from rodents and deer, droppings of birds, and Nolan’s markings were here too.
Huh … I could fix that.
In wolf form, instinct usually ruled our being. Typically, only the very powerful or very practiced shifter could maintain full control of their human mind when in the being of their wolf. I was neither, and yet I’d always been able to access that rational portion of my mind that allowed me to reason, even as a wolf. Still, I was going to pee on Nolan’s markings as a big eff-you to my cousin.
I raced through the woods, smelling hundreds of different wolves, some scents old and others very recent. Not surprising, considering the school was crawling with wolf shifters. Beneath the layer of wolf, there were other scents: fox, hawk, and, as I drew close to the shore: seal. All of the shifter races had once had a place of royalty among the elite of Shifter Island.
Rumors trickled out to us in Montana that the High Mage Council had supported the division of shifter races right after my uncle died. They said that the new alpha king, Declan of Midnight, was given permission to remove all shifter races from the island but for the wolves. Most of the hawks/falcons flew away; the selkies shifted and swam away. The kitsune, bears, panthers, and other land-based shifters were given boats, but one old woman, who visited years ago, said only a few boats escaped. I shivered to think what happened to the rest.
Suffice it to say, the new alpha king was not known for his mercy.
Slowing my pace, I caught the strong scent of a wolf, and I turned, facing the woods behind me with a snarl.
A low growl answered back as a black wolf stepped from the trees. He sniffed the air and then dipped his head low, rear up in the air and tail wagging with his ears erect like he was going to pounce on me. His sleek fur was as dark as the night sky above us. My heart flipped, and a deep yearning pulled at me when I recognized him.
Mate. My wolf’s instincts identified the wolf just before my rational human side, but I strangled down the portion of me filled with excitement.
No freaking way. This was the same guy who knocked me out, dumped me on my bed, and left me not even a week ago. I wouldn’t let him near me except to rip his eyes out!
My fur bristled, and my ears remained erect, tilted toward the offender. I curled my lips back as I crouched, ready to fight if necessary.
He might be an alpha heir, but he wasn’t my alpha, and I had zero problem showing him that I was dominant too, somet
hing many males on this island seemed to forget about the females. My father had trained me in multiple fighting styles. I was not going to be dominated by Mr. Kiss and Leave.
‘Mate?’ The wolf’s eyes narrowed as the low timbre of his wolf’s voice coursed through me, filling me with want. ‘Mine.’
My heart stopped. No way. This wasn’t happening. I knew mates could speak into each other's minds in wolf form, but having it actually happen was another story.
‘Mate,’ he said again as if wondering why I wasn’t pouncing on him and humping his leg. He stepped forward, his posture relaxed; his tongue lolled out as he wagged his tail.
Bullshit.
His wolf might have been into me and protective, but his human surely wasn’t. I slammed the door on desire and pulled my lips back so my incisors displayed as I snarled with menace: ‘Don’t you dare come near me.’
I pushed the words into his mind, hoping he understood me.
He stopped, and his eyes narrowed in question. The way he cocked his head to the side reminded me of a scolded dog. ‘Mate mad? Why?’
Damn right mate mad. Mate gonna mess you up if you get close to me.
‘You don’t get to be with me,’ I growled again, gnashing my teeth to reinforce my point. ‘You betrayed me.’
‘No.’ He stepped closer, but the only act of submission was the slight drop in his tail, which could mean nothing more than a drop in his happiness. ‘Mate. Protect. Happy.’
Was he kidding? I laughed, the sound of short barks hard and cutting. He stepped closer, closing the gap between us, and I lunged. With a sharp snap, I grazed his muzzle, and the coppery taste of his blood filled my mouth.
He yipped and jumped away from me, landing in a crouch of bunched muscle with his teeth bared. ‘No.’
His wolf looked like he was in shock. Clearly a far cry from his human side.
‘Damn straight, no,’ I snarled at him again. ‘Don’t follow me. I hate you.’
I turned my back on him, keeping my tail up in a clear show of dominance, and walked away.
Mate … my wolf practically whined to me in protest. The urge to go back to him, to lick his wound and nuzzle his neck, swelled as I ran. I couldn’t sprint fast enough to escape the bombardment of my instinct. But I refused to give in. Refused to be with a wolf who would hurt me and abandon me like he did.