by Stone, Leia
Wiping my eyes, I decided to forgo breakfast. I needed to get some fresh air and clear my head. Rushing to dress and brush my teeth, I darted out into the hallway.
“You look weird,” Donovan’s voice called over my shoulder and startled me.
I snorted with a little self-loathing. At least those closest to me were honest. “Yeah … I was crying. I need to go for a walk, clear my head.” I forced a smile. “Wanna come?”
Donovan held a breakfast danish in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. At my invitation, his expression lit up. “Can we go to the atrium to see the butterflies?”
I put my hand on my hip. “There’s a butterfly atrium here? Yes, let’s go there.”
A huge grin swept across his face, and he beelined down the hall, leaving me confused and running after him.
“Mom! Going to butterflies with Nai,” he cried as we approached the kitchen.
Sariah popped out and looked over the two of us, her lips pulling up into a big smile. “Okay, I have a shift on the mainland at the portal today. Be back before lunch. Annette is cooking homemade lasagna.” She handed me a Danish wrapped in a paper towel. “Have fun.”
“Thanks,” I said, accepting the meal gratefully.
We trotted down the hall, and then Donovan stepped out the front door with me following closely behind.
“Why crying?” Donovan asked through a mouthful of pastry.
“Huh?” I asked, momentarily confused, and then it dawned on me. “Oh, I was crying because Rage and I had an argument.”
“Rage? Husband?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at me, his brows furrowed.
I let the word husband roll around my head. They didn’t do mates here, so Donovan probably wouldn’t understand that term. Husband was as close as we’d probably get. “Yes. He’s the king of the wolves.”
Pulling to a stop, Donovan gaped at me, his eyes wide and his jaw unhinged.
Turning to face him, I asked him, “What’s wrong?”
“Bad man.” Donovan shook his head. “Alpha king is mean.”
“Rage isn’t—oh, yeah. You’re thinking of Declan. He’s gone. Rage is the new king. Nice king.”
Donovan relaxed, and we resumed our pace, passing the front garden and waving at
Bruno and Max. “Good king. Nai’s husband. Argument.”
I smiled. “You got it.”
After leading us out of the gated area, Donovan walked at a brisk pace through the large courtyard, passing by the other castles where I’d taken my elemental tests. Donovan tapped a rhythm on his thigh as we looked around at the flowering trees. We walked for more than five minutes through the campus, passing the records hall and the library then turning right where a looming atrium appeared in the distance on the other side of a large meadow.
The massive structure stood well over fifty feet tall and was made completely of glass, similar to a greenhouse. Some of the window panels were opened, but I could see black screen mesh, small enough to keep the butterflies from getting out. Large tropical palm trees climbed toward the top of the building, and tall shrubs and bushes in vibrant colors painted a beautiful scene. “Whoa…”
“Come on!” Donovan grabbed my hand, and together, we started to run. I trailed after him, both of us laughing as we raced down the gravel path that wound through the glen and led to the atrium door. We pulled to a stop, and I let go of Donovan’s hand. He reached out to open the glass door, and—
Bam!
Something heavy slammed into my back, and pain exploded through my shoulder blades, blinding agony stealing my vision. I pitched forward with a cry, and another strike exploded on my back.
“Smells like dog,” a catty female said.
I knew that voice.
Jane.
I rolled to the side and spotted the girl with black hair and upturned nose, as well as Julian and a beast of a boy with brown hair. Xavier, I presumed. These three tended to always be together, causing trouble. There was another young man, tall and thin with red hair. I didn’t know his name, but he’d been at the meeting the other night. The dark-haired girl held something in her hand, and the wind picked up behind her, pulling bits of gravel into a small tornado.
Orion’s heir.
I growled and hopped to my feet, ready to lay the smackdown, when she tossed whatever was in her hand right in my face. A puff of white powder clouded my vision, and I coughed, instinctively sucking in a breath.
Crap.
I recognized that taste.
Dread settled into my bones when I realized what it was…
The same powder the selkies had used to disable my power.
“You don’t belong here, mutt,” Julian sneered as two of the other heirs stepped up behind him, sneering down at me with malice in their eyes.
I glanced at Donovan, who was flattened against the door in fear and shock.
“Run,” I whispered. “Get Rage or Honor.”
Sariah was gone, and I had no idea if Reyna was around or with Gramps. Rage was mad at me, but he would still come, right?
‘Rage, I need help,’ I called out to my mate.
‘What’s wrong? I just felt something in my back, but then it was gone.’
I was about to get my ass handed to me. I could still fight one on one, but this ratio was beyond my abilities without my magic. I had no idea if this was a razzing welcome beatdown or if they, like their fathers, intended to kill me. With the shield bond, that could mean the death of Honor, Noble, Justice, and Rage—as well as my own.
Donovan took off around the backside of the atrium, and I hoped he’d be able to get help.
‘Go to the library door. My cousin will let you in.’ I hoped! ‘I’m about to get jumped,’ I told Rage.
‘What!’ His anger flooded through our bond so quickly that I growled.
Jane glanced at Julian with an evil grin. “Let’s make sure she doesn’t even know her name by the time we’re done with her.”
I couldn’t focus on Rage or Donovan. I needed to stay alive.
The wind Jane had called up slammed into me, bringing grit and debris with it. Sharp, hot pain ripped through me as small rocks tore into my skin. I felt my wolf rise to the surface before backing down with a whimper. I couldn’t shift with the powder! Forcing myself upright, despite the pain, I burst forward, arms outstretched, ready to strangle this witch…
A blast of heat surrounded me, and orange and red flames appeared suddenly, drawing close to me. I gasped, terrified that I was going to burn alive. The rocks slashing into my skin became bits of glass under all that heat.
“Hey, man, that’s taking it too far,” one of the kids spoke up. “You’re going to kill her!”
“So what?” the biatch said. “Her grandfather is about to die, and if she’s gone, then spirit power will go to our fathers!”
Oh crap! This was so much worse than I’d thought.
‘Rage!’ I cried out as the ground suddenly opened beneath me and I fell, dropping several feet into a dark hole. My ankle twisted on impact as I crashed to the damp soil.
“I said stop it!” yelled the young man, who I guessed was the master-heir of earth.
Relief washed over me with sudden reprieve, and I panted inside of the dark hole.
“Get the hell out of here, Carson. You’re such a pussy!”
I heard the sound of a fist smacking against bone and then someone—Carson?—scampered away. Looking up, I noted three faces looming over me. Julian looked at Xavier, the boy with dark hair, and said, “I’m going to drown her.”
The moment he said that, panic fully seized me.
He sucked in a sharp breath and glanced away as something crossed his face like maybe he realized this was going too far, but then he gritted his teeth and held out his hands.
‘Honor!’ I called out in my head. As my shields, I knew the boys had to be feeling this because the glass cuts on my skin were already healed. Did Donovan go home or to the portal in the library? If he went home, was Sa
riah already gone on her shift? Where the frick was Reyna?
I clawed at the dirt, trying to climb up, but the earth was soft, and it crumbled, giving way before I was more than a foot off the ground. I fell back, splashing into a puddle of water that dripped from Julian’s hands.
“Don’t do this!” I called out to the three people looking down on me.
The girl crouched down and glared at me. The silence stretched as we continued in an epic staredown until the water reached my knees.
“If you deny your right to the house of spirit and banish yourself from this realm forever, then we’ll stop,” she offered. “By your own free will, if you sign this”—she produced a piece of paper and a pen—“and renounce your house and lineage, we’ll let you leave alive.”
Wait a minute, was this … had this entire thing been to get me to agree to leave? They were trying to scare me into signing my rights to spirit away?
Anger filled my entire being. I didn’t like blackmail or torture, and there was no way in hell I was letting her family get one ounce of my grandfather’s magic—my magic.
‘I’m coming!’ Rage’s voice suddenly boomed in my mind.
Hope filled my chest, and I grinned up at the girl. “Go to hell, Jane.”
Donovan must’ve opened the portal door to the library on Alpha Island and let Rage through.
Thank you, cousin.
The water reached my stomach, and my grin turned feral. “Fair warning, my mate is coming. He’ll kill you all if I’m not out of here in three seconds.”
The girl’s expression of confidence faltered, and her gaze darted to Julian. The papers clutched in her hand shook a little.
“Sign the papers, or you can join your mom in the Realm of the Dead!” Julian growled in response.
“Wrong answer,” Rage said, his voice coming from behind Julian, and then Kian’s son was yanked backward. Jane took off running with a screech of terror, and then a familiar face loomed overhead.
Justice crouched on the edge of the pit and reached out to me. “Why does trouble always find you, sis?”
Then he pulled me up and out of the muddy hole like I weighed ten pounds.
When my feet hit the ground, I took in the scene before me.
Honor’s jaws were latched onto Jane’s ankle. She screamed in pain when he jerked his head to the side and tore through her ligaments.
Ouch.
Noble, sweet Noble, stood over Xavier, pummeling his face with blow after blow.
Donovan hid in the bushes, watching it all in wide-eyed terror.
My gaze flicked to Rage, who was pounding on Julian’s head with enough force to kill him, and Justice left me with a wink to go to the king’s side.
Holy freaking battle zone.
“Stop!” I raised both my hands as if to do magic and promptly rolled my eyes … at myself. Nevertheless, Rage, Justice, Noble, and Honor all ceased their beatdown of the high mage heirs and looked at me.
Jane started to crawl away, leaving a trail of fresh blood, but Honor blocked her, his lips pulling back into a vicious snarl. She whimpered and collapsed back into the grass, moaning in pain.
I knew then, in that moment, that my shields would defend me to the death.
“Let them go,” I said to my shields.
Noble raised his eyebrows, and Justice frowned.
“Nai,” Rage growled, “they were going to kill you. We’re merely meting out justice.”
“Literally,” Justice said, deadpanning.
“We weren’t going to kill her. We just wanted her to sign—” Jane’s words were cut off when Honor lunged for her; she buried her face in the ground.
I ignored Jane. Killing me or making me think I was about to die really didn’t make a difference to me. “I know,” I told Rage, crossing the gap between me and my mate and putting my hand on his arm. “And they deserve it.”
Rage narrowed his gaze. “But?”
“But I want to be better than them. I want to find a way to bring peace to all our people—to all my people—both my mother’s side of high mages and my father’s side of alpha heirs and the wolves. I believe we can—”
“That’s a dream,” Justice said, shaking his head. “The high mages have lied to you at every turn.”
I nodded but held Justice’s gaze. “I’m not saying we should roll over for them. But we have to start somewhere.”
“You want to show them mercy?” Rage asked.
I nodded. “Starting with not killing off their heirs.”
Although, Reyna had said each high mage had half a dozen other heirs in their castles, training away.
“Fine,” Rage replied. “Then I want you to stay with me, in the alpha castle, between your lessons here every single night. I want to know you’re safe—and clearly, your grandfather isn’t able to guarantee your safety here.”
The urge to defend Grandpa swelled within my chest, but I tamped it down. Rage was right—even more than he knew.
“King Rage is strong,” Donovan said, darting a wary glance at my mate.
With that, Rage dropped a barely conscious Julian to the ground and then leaned low by his head. “If you ever even look at my mate again in a way that makes her uncomfortable, I’ll remove your manhood and force it down your throat.” Rage sucked in a breath: “And that will be the warmup. The only reason you’re alive is because of Nai’s mercy. Don’t make either of us regret this.”
Julian nodded, a whimper dying in his throat, and then Rage turned to Donovan and offered an apologetic smile. “Thank you, young man, for helping me and my mate. The alpha king owes you a debt of gratitude.”
“Family,” Donovan said, dropping his chin to his chest.
“Donovan is my cousin,” I explained, approaching him. “His mom is my aunt Sariah.”
“Cool,” Noble said, and Justice nodded.
“Then I’m doubly indebted to your family,” Rage said, sliding his arm around my waist. He pressed his lips to the crown of my head, taking a deep breath while he held me. ‘I nearly lost my mind,’ he admitted through our bond. ‘I’m sorry it took so long to get here, and I’m sorry about our fight.’
I nodded, nuzzling into him. “Me too.”
“Which is why I want you where I can get to you—on Shifter Island.” He doubled down.
After giving Rage a kiss, I pulled away and held my hand out to Donovan. “Let’s go talk with Grandpa.”
Donovan shuffled out from behind the bushes and took my hand. “Grandpa keeps us safe.”
I think that was Donovan’s adorable way of challenging what Rage said, but sadly, I didn’t have the same faith in my grandfather’s ability to do that anymore.
We all returned to the spirit castle and found Grandpa and Reyna in the kitchen, having a late breakfast.
When I explained what had happened, Gramps and Reyna looked surprised.
“Why didn’t Donovan come here and get me?” Reyna asked, her brow furrowing.
Donovan shook his head. “Rage is good king.”
Yep. I’d told him to get Rage, and he did.
‘I like him a lot,’ Rage told me. Then he explained to the room how he’d felt me getting attacked through our bond and that he’d spared the heirs at my request. “I won’t allow Nai to stay here overnight anymore since it’s clear that you can’t ensure her safety. I’d like her to stay at Alpha Castle unless she’s here having a lesson.”
Grandpa’s shoulders fell, and his eyes filled with tears as he looked at me. “I’m so sorry, my girl. It isn’t right that you should be at risk here. Your mate is right.”
Whoa. He agreed.
“I can stay with him … in Alpha Castle?” I asked Gramps as I slid into the empty chair next to him at the table.
The old mage nodded. “I think it would be best. Today, I’ll watch you create a portal in the real world a few times, and by the end of the day, you’ll be able to portal right into the castle and be there with Rage in case the mages close them.”
Ra
ge frowned next to me, ‘Portal? Close?’
‘I was trying to tell you about the high mages threatening to close the portals to keep us apart when you stormed off,’ I told him, and he winced.
‘I’m sorry, my love. If they closed the portals to keep us apart, that’d lead to a war.’
I nodded. ‘That’s why I’m learning to create them.’
He sighed, and everyone around us seemed to understand we were communicating mentally. Rage then reached up and cupped my face. ‘Are you okay with this? Staying with me at night and coming here for lessons?’
‘Definitely.’ I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. Then, facing the rest of the group, I winced. “I still have a problem. One of the mages blew that magic-canceling powder in my face. I don’t have any of the special flower to counter that.”
Reyna snorted. “Those stupid selkies should have never discovered that.”
“In all fairness, it was a mage that created it,” I said, thinking of Jakko.
“Yeah, but there are selkies selling it in Dark Row now,” she replied. “The selkie king needs to put a stop to that or we’ll continue to have problems.”
Rage growled low in his throat. “I’ll have a chat with Ozark when I get back to the island. We’ll stop the sale of that powder before Nai gets home tonight. Reyna, if you come with me, I can send you back with a remedy flower for Nai.”
She nodded.
“Well, that’s settled, then,” Gramps said, patting my hand.
Rage, Justice, and Noble all left with Reyna, and Honor stayed with me, Gramps, and Donovan.
‘I’m not allowed to leave your side until we get back to Alpha Castle,’ he said. ‘So please don’t ask me—’
‘I get it,’ I told him, threading my fingers into his fur. ‘I’m glad you’re here.’
I turned then, trying to make eye contact with Donovan, but he was staring at something in the corner of the room. “Donovan? I want to thank you for getting Rage. I know that must’ve been scary.”
He tapped his fingers in a quick rhythm on the pads of his thumbs. “They hurt Nai,” he mumbled. “Nai is family. Rage is good king.”
