by Raye Wagner
Jeb held it out to me. “You should give your mate a good dose of that, and then I suggest you leave the rest of the bottle with John and Sara for their troubles.”
He stepped away from the table and started to collect his instruments.
My jaw dropped. “That’s it?” I asked. “The healing elixir is just mage wine and magic blood?”
Jeb shook his head. “It’s mage wine mixed with blood from a high mage with the mastery element of spirit. It’s blood magic. And it only works if the blood is freely given.”
“Whoa, so my grandpa—?”
Rage moaned.
“I suggest you help your mate,” Jeb chided softly.
Of course! I’d been so shocked with his huge reveal I’d forgotten pretty much everything.
Spinning back to Rage, I held the shot glass to his lips. He’d regained consciousness, and after the second swallow, his color returned in his cheeks, and after the third I looked down to see his skin on his side knit back together smoothly, his chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths.
Phew. Thank the Mages.
“Rage…” I grasped Rage’s hand.
“Nai,” Rage said, his voice rough. “Hey…”
John corked the bottle and said, “You kids should get some rest.”
“Thank you.” I offered him a smile and then noticed that Sara and her twins’ jaws gaped open as they watched me. Maybe my high mage heir status shocked them or maybe because I’d just made freaking healing elixir! Hell, it still shocked me. I pivoted just in time to slide my arm around Rage’s waist as he stepped up next to me.
“Let’s get you into bed, and I’ll bring some food,” I said to Rage. Then I met Jeb’s gaze. “Thank you for your help. All of you.” Rage and I didn’t want to stay here too long. Honor was waiting for us, but my mate was still healing and could use the rest … so we would have to make it work.
I didn’t miss their wide-eyed gaze, but right now, I couldn’t offer them any explanation. I needed to tend to my mate.
After Rage and I shoveled two giant plates full of food into our mouths, I took a shower, rinsing the grime from my body. A few minutes later, I pulled on the borrowed sweats and t-shirt from Sara and crawled into bed where Rage slept, softly snoring. Okay, just an hour. I’ll just lay down for an hour. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.
“Where are you?” a familiar man’s voice called through the emptiness of my sleep. The landscape of darkness faded, and a flower garden appeared with stone pavers and a burbling fountain. Sure enough, my grandfather materialized on a bench near the stone fish spitting crystalline water into the air. He looked at me and patted the bench. “Nai, come sit with me.”
I casually walked over to the dream bench in the crazy dream garden, looking around the place in awe. “Is this magic?” I asked after sitting next to my grandpa.
He nodded. “Where are you? Are you safe?”
I gave him the rundown of the last few hours, including my discovery about my blood healing magic and ability to make Surlama’s healing elixir with Jeb’s help. And, most importantly, I told him we had to kill Surlama so that the Keeper of Souls would release Honor’s soul and we could bring him back.
Grandpa shook his head. “You’re lucky it was this Jeb fellow and not another dark mage. They would’ve bled you dry.”
“Please don’t make this a nightmare,” I muttered. “I can’t handle much more.”
Grandpa Geoff straightened and offered me a sharp nod. “I’m sure you’re right. You should take another day to rest with John and Sara before—”
I shook my head. “We need to get back to Justice and Noble. I don’t want to wait until the last minute to bring Honor’s soul back. I think we have”—how many hours had passed while Rage and I slept? Four? Six? How did I know that?—“maybe sixty hours left.”
It was just a guess, but I’d rather not run out of time.
He raised his eyebrows and asked, “What’s your plan?”
I gave him the briefest outline because that was all we had. “When Justice and Noble find us a recently deceased body—”
“You need to bring it to Montana where I will meet you and show you how to raise Honor.”
I nodded. “Hey, if the healing elixir can only be made with high mage blood of spirit, then—"
The entire garden shook, and the vibrant colors swirled and blended like abstract art. What in the name of the Mother Mage was happening?
As soon as the motion stopped, I looked to Grandpa for an explanation.
“Meet me in Montana. I can teach you how to raise Honor there without interference from the magic lands.”
The dream world trembled again, and I nodded.
Grandpa looked at the shaking trees, “I believe your mate is—”
The surroundings blurred once more, and even Grandpa Geoff melded with the strange muddy landscape, his words becoming a muffled garble.
“Nai!” Rage yelled. “Wake up!”
I shot up in bed so fast I cracked my chin on Rage’s head and then flopped back into bed with a curse.
“What the hell, Nai?” Rage muttered, rubbing his cheek. “You sleep like the dead!”
“I was in a magic dream with my grandpa.” I blinked the last vestiges of sleep from my eyes and mind as I took in the darkening bedroom. It looked like sunrise. We’d slept all day and night!
“What’s wrong?” I could tell from the pinched expression on Rage’s face that something was up. Something besides the fact that we’d slept way too long. The exhaustion of Rage’s injury and using my blood for all this healing was getting to us both.
“We’ve gotta go.” He tossed back the covers and stood.
Sitting up, I frowned. I didn’t hear any sounds of commotion. And clearly, Rage was fine—besides the clock ticking on Honor’s life.
“Okay, yeah. We need to get Honor back.”
Rage shuddered and then fixed me with his gaze. His green eyes were wide, and his expression stricken. “No, it’s not that. Declan is trying to find me.”
Hatred burned through me as my lips tightened and nostrils flared. “What do you mean?”
Rage sighed, and a look of agony crossed his face. “He’s … torturing Noble and Justice to find out where we are. Their screams woke me from sleep.”
Wait. What?
How did Rage know that? Oh mage. “How?”
I scooted closer. Rage pulled me onto his lap and rested his chin on my head. When he spoke, his voice was filled with anguish.
“We can speak telepathically. The king knows—” his voice broke “—and he knows I’ll come to help my brothers.”
Chapter 5
Rage and I got dressed, and by the time we stepped from the room, John stood at the end of the hallway, waiting. Was it his shifter hearing, or had he been keeping guard, watching for the king’s men? I tried to shake the anxiety crawling through me.
“We need to leave,” Rage told him.
John crossed his arms and frowned. “You’ve barely healed.”
Sara rounded the corner, appearing from the heart of the house, and sidled next to her husband as her gaze jumped from Rage to me. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” I said, glancing at Rage. When he didn’t explain, I faced our hosts and did the best I could without divulging the Midnight brothers’ secret. “We need to leave for Alpha Island at once. Our friends need us.”
John sucked in a sharp breath, and Sara’s eyes widened.
“You’re banished.” She shook her head. “They’ll kill you on sight.”
Rage sighed. “My brothers are there, and they need me. I have to go.”
Just then, the twins appeared, one after the other, Sadie’s blond hair rumpled from sleep. It was early morning, the sun just shining in through the curtains, and we’d clearly woken the entire house.
John looked at his daughters. “Take Sadie and Audrey with you. The king’s men won’t know them since the
y were born here after we were banished. They can ferry you across to the island—give you a better chance in case there’s trouble.”
It was a good idea. If the king’s men found us, would they try to kill me and take Rage back? Did they all know about the shield oath? In that case, they might just imprison me. Either way, I knew what the king wanted: his first heir back.
“All right,” Rage agreed. “But once we get to the island, they come right back. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
The girls nodded, but I wasn’t sure if that was in agreement or a mere acknowledgment of his statement. We could discuss it later.
I hugged Sara tightly. “Thank you so much for your hospitality.”
“Anytime,” Sara said, offering me a sad smile. “And if you need a place to live once this is over—”
“We’ll welcome you with open arms,” John finished for her as he shook Rage’s hand.
“Maybe after Rage takes me to Hawaii. He owes me a vacay,” I said with a grin. Like Kaja and her sisters, these people were gold—total opposites of the shady occupants of Dark Row and the current alpha king.
First things first, we had to get Honor back. Then, we could think about the future.
“Thanks,” Rage told him, and we exited the log-style home.
Sadie and Audrey each carried a pack and now approached a small shed near the gate. They ducked inside, and when they emerged, they carried a small canoe.
“We’ll say we’re traders bringing goods to the island. We have two bear furs, and winter is coming.” Audrey patted her pack and nodded toward Sadie’s.
Rage nodded. “Good plan. Say the queen ordered them. Tell the guard to say, ‘A penny for a dry noodle.’ Then, my mother will corroborate your story.”
They both looked a little surprised. Maybe because of the strange saying. Maybe because he’d called the queen his mother and, earlier, he’d called the king his uncle. I don’t think many people on the outside of Shifter Island knew what went down, that his uncle swooped in and married his sister-in-law, not a day after his brother died.
Shady. He got the crown, a beautiful wife, and four heirs overnight. Just what any alpha would want.
“And we’ll see you get payment for the furs,” I added, suddenly worried what they would do come winter without them.
With that, Sadie waved at someone in the guard tower, and the gate grated opened. Then we started our trek through the sparse woods. After every few yards, one of the girls sprayed the special deodorizing spray so we couldn’t be tracked. After a few hours, we stepped onto a well-worn path leading down from the mountains. As we descended, the foliage changed. The pines fought for space amongst the cedars, and the sound of water pounding against the rocks below crescendoed.
Audrey and Sadie led us around the next bend, balancing the canoe overhead, and one of them said, “Watch your step here. The path gets pretty narrow.”
I followed them, practically hugging the solid stone to my right as I rounded the corner. Below, the surf crashed against dark stone, sending sprays of white up into the blue sky. I swallowed hard and, glancing back over my shoulder, spotted another path leading down to a large, rocky overhang. Just looking over the stone ledge made my hands and the soles of my feet tingle. Narrow: aka fall-to-your-death-if-you’re-not-careful. I was 87.3% sure this wasn’t the way we’d come. “Is this the path you guys always use?”
“No,” Sadie said over her shoulder just before leaving the narrow cliff behind and stepping into the safety of the thick trees. “But it’s the fastest to get us to a dock that leads to Alpha Island.”
“That is a long way down,” Rage muttered after peeking over the ledge behind me as I hurried to the safety of the forest. “I’d rather be in my wolf form if we have to do that again.”
Though I’d rather not have to do it again. Ever. Wolves weren’t meant for flying.
The path disappeared into the woods again, and the underbrush was much denser at this lower elevation.
As we reached the edge of the thick woods, smoke hung in the air, and pieces of ash floated in on the breeze. I frowned. We’d been walking just over two hours on foot, so maybe four or five miles. I was totally lost but…
“Are we near Dark Row?”
Audrey nodded, but before she could speak, Rage answered.
“Dark Row stretches about ten miles along the coastline of the magic lands. When we come from the main dock at Alpha Island, we land on the south side of it.”
“And we’re now near the tip of the east side,” Sadie said. Her gaze flicked up to Rage, and she added, “Just a heads up, it was Shifter Island until your uncle took over. You should think about that.”
I ducked my chin, embarrassed on behalf of my mate. Through our bond, I could feel Rage’s sentiments echoing my own.
“Noted,” Rage offered back to her.
We continued our journey until we hovered just inside the tree line, and I raised my gaze, up past the edge of the forest, and gasped. Destruction stretched as far as I could see, which wasn’t far given the air quality. The ground still smoldered, and glowing embers gave the thick blanket of smoke and ash an eerie glow. Bits of charred rubble jutted up from the ground like broken, rotting teeth. The king burned it all?
Why?
“Let’s hope that most of the king’s guards are gone now,” Audrey muttered as she and Sadie set the canoe down. “We’ll spray you, and then the two of you can carry the canoe through town over your head. If we see anyone, let us do the talking.”
Smart. The canoe would practically cover our faces, and the spray would mask our scent.
Audrey turned to us. “Lift your arms and hold your breath.”
We did as she asked and then were promptly engulfed in an oily mist of the scent-clearing spray. After it settled on our skin, we backed up and took a deep breath.
Just then, two guards appeared out from the smoke like ghosts. We quickly ducked into the foliage, unseen, and waited.
Thank the mages we were covered in that special spray.
“The king wants them found,” one of the guards growled, shoving the man nearest him.
“Eventually, Prince Courage’ll show,” a familiar male voice said. “We’ve locked down the other docks, so this is the only way on or off the island.”
My eyes widened, and I darted a glance toward Rage. Yikes.
His nostrils flared; he gritted his teeth, glaring daggers at the guard who spoke. ‘Do you see who that is?’ Rage’s voice in my head was still not something I was used to.
I stared at the guard through the leaves that cloaked us, studying his features. Holy flippin’ mage. ‘That’s herpes Beo.’
‘Yeah,’ Rage spoke in my mind. ‘We grew up together. I can’t believe he would…’
‘I’m sorry.’ I rested my hand on Rage’s, a pathetic attempt to comfort my mate. That kind of betrayal would sting.
“Don’t harm them when you find them either,” Beo continued. “Until their shield bond is broken, we need to make sure she isn’t killed. The king needs at least one strong heir.”
Two of the men laughed, and the sound sank into my chest like an anvil.
The guards disappeared into the cloud of soot and smoke, and my gaze jumped to the twins.
“Now what?” Rage asked, his voice just over a whisper. “Is there another way we can meet you in the water? Because there is no way Beo will let us just waltz through Dark Row.”
Yeah … strolling past the guards with a canoe on our heads was so out of the question now.
Sadie nodded. “You’ll have to hike back up the path a bit to the cliff. We’ll go ahead through to the main dock and meet you in the water.”
I knew what she was going to say next, and I shook my head. Don’t say it. Don’t say it.
Her twin confirmed my worst fear: “When you get to that narrow bend, go onto the cliff’s edge. You can jump in from there.”
Jump. From. There.
And then what? They’d fish our mang
led bodies from the water?
“Is it safe?” I asked. Swimming, I could do. Cliff jumping? In selkie infested water?
Hells no.
“Tide is in,” Rage said with a stiff nod. Then, he squeezed my hand. “It’s only a sixty- or seventy-foot jump or so.”
Only sixty or seventy feet?
“You go around and meet us in the water,” Sadie told us. “Swim out a ways, and we’ll pull you in the boat when we’ve lost sight of any guards.”
Swim out a ways?
I gulped. Normally, a good swim would be refreshing, but swimming in these waters infested with selkies…
This plan sucked. Not that we had another option.
As if in confirmation, a gust of wind cleared some of the smoke, revealing several destroyed streets of Dark Row—all of them crawling with guards.
Okay, time to scram.
Both girls picked up the canoe and the furs and nodded to us. “Meet you in the water, straight out from the cliff.”
Rage slipped his hand into mine and gave the girls a quiet salute. I turned to go back into the woods—to the path of our probable death, and without a word, he tugged me back.
‘Let’s go jump to our deaths.’ I hurled the words at him, my anxiety getting the better of me. Wolves were not made to fly.
The trees thinned, and Rage paused, looking left and right across a dirt road where a lone shack remained, leaning into the destruction as if mourning. After confirming the area was all clear, we bolted across the street, my hand still in his, and then tucked behind the shack where a tarp hung from the crude hut, its edge staked into the ground.
‘What are we doing? We need to go the other way.’ I nodded to the woods.
Rage knelt in the ashes and ran his hand through it, searching the ground.
What in the name of the Mage Mother—?
He grinned as he plucked something up, and my confusion disappeared. He produced a small dagger and wiped the hilt on his pants before offering it to me. ‘There used to be a weapons dealer here.’
Now, that’s what I called romantic. I slid the weapon into my belt at my lower back, and we stole back into the woods and then raced to where we’d been, the underbrush still trampled from where the canoe had sat. Tracing our way up the path to the narrow opening that led to the cliff, I felt my insides churn.
