Midnight Lies (Shifter Island Book 2)

by Raye Wagner

  Rage frowned at me, but the expression slid from his face as his attention jumped over my head. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Beo dead on the ground. But Rage didn’t go to his childhood friend. Instead, my mate jerked his head toward the open door.

  “Let’s go get Justice and Noble.”

  Chapter 8

  My heart climbed into my throat. We stood in the hallway of a legit dingy dungeon. The air reeked of blood and urine. Fear flickered in the low light, and splattered stains on the stone walls gave a whole new meaning to uber-creepy vibe. The two selkie warriors stepped to one side of the door as Kaja, Rage, and I hovered on the opposite side.

  ‘I don’t like it,’ I told Rage. ‘No guards? It’s like when we first landed on the beach with Sadie and Audrey.’

  Rage closed his eyes, and it took me a hot second to realize he was concentrating. Sure enough, the sound of Surlama’s voice trickled out to us through the other side of the closed door.

  “You said he would come for you, but maybe you’re wrong, Justice Midnight. Maybe he cares more about that bitch of his than you or Noble.”

  Hot searing anger burned through me. Worse than Surlama’s voice, what she said made me see red. When Justice wailed in pain, Rage strode to the door, lifted his knee to his chest, and then delivered a deafening blow. One kick, and the door flew open with such force it crashed into the wall behind it as splinters rained down onto the floor.

  Apparently, it was go time.

  With the now broken door swinging, we couldn’t wait for reinforcements. Hopefully, Rage’s mom and the other Harvest girls would show soon.

  Rage burst inside, and I raced in after him, blade drawn and ready for anythi—

  Oh Mother Mage.

  It was a trap.

  At least twenty guards, including the alpha king, stood armed to the teeth waiting against the far wall. Feral grins stretched across many of their faces, but none bigger than Declan’s.

  The room, if it could be called that, was huge, at least a hundred feet in diameter, bigger than the mess hall back home, bigger than the cafeteria of the school. Why did Declan need a torture chamber this big?

  The deep cavern of power crackling just below my skin roared forward, and I prepared to unleash the mother of all elemental power bombs.

  Until my gaze landed on Justice. His dark hair was clumped and matted with blood, his green eyes blackened and nearly swollen shut. Bruises marred his skin: arms, chest, neck…

  Of all the Midnight brothers, Rage and Justice were nearly identical. So seeing him with a twelve-inch blade to his throat tore my heart in two.

  Surlama sneered. “Use your magic, and I’ll drive my blade in so deep you’ll never get it out.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, and she pressed the blade tighter until blood beaded on his neck and Justice whimpered.

  The magic inside of me fizzled completely as tears welled in my eyes.

  ‘What do we do?’ I asked Rage.

  He stood stone still beside me, glaring daggers at his uncle.

  Noble lay curled in a ball on the stone floor, bruised, battered, and bound at Declan’s feet. The brutality and viciousness I’d only glimpsed before now lay before me in total shocking depravity.

  Kaja gasped as she entered, coming to stand on my left, and I felt, rather than saw, the two selkies join us.

  “Mother Mage,” one of them gasped.

  “So you’ve aligned with these traitors as well?” the king snarled at Rage, waving at the selkies with venom in his gaze. “Is there no limit to your desperation?”

  Was he joking?

  “What do you want?” Rage asked, his eyes darting from Noble to Justice and then back to his uncle.

  The veins in Declan’s neck bulged. “Turns out I’m sterile.” He made the declaration as if it were an accusation against Rage. “All this time, I thought it was your mother, but even magic cannot bring me an heir.”

  Whoa. TMI? That bomb drop wasn’t something I’d expected him to say in front of twenty of his guards.

  Rage frowned, his gaze darting about the room as if there were an escape from his uncle’s statement. “Okay…”

  The king kicked Noble and then stepped over his body as he stalked toward my mate. “Because you’re the strongest of my kin, I choose you to impregnate my concubines. You’ll give me a new set of heirs.”

  At the word impregnate, I nearly fainted.

  “I will have their loyalty—their fidelity. I’ll no longer have heirs who betray me as you have,” the alpha king growled.

  Whoa. Whoa. Wait … could he—?

  “Are you insane!?” Rage shouted. “There’s no way—”

  The king moved so fast that I only saw a blur as he backhanded Rage. The crack of his hand against my mate’s face slammed into me, making my ears ring.

  How dare he?

  I lurched forward, intending to rip his head off, but Kaja held me back.

  “Careful, honey.” Surlama drew the blade against Justice’s neck, and a fresh trail of crimson rivulets ran down past his collar bone.

  What do we do? Think, think, think.

  That’s when I felt it, across our bond which seemed to be growing stronger every day, frustrated acceptance.

  My gaze flew to Rage; fiery indignation filled me as he lowered his head. In shame. Defeat.

  ‘Trust me,’ he whispered into my mind.

  “I’ll do it,” Rage muttered to the king and then swallowed hard. “But only if you let my brothers, Nai, my mom, and everyone else here go.”

  ‘No!’

  The king glanced at me, curling his upper lip. Then, he looked at Surlama. “Can you break the shield bonds and then bind Courage to me with an oath?”

  Surlama nodded, and my stomach dropped.

  No, no, no. No way would I let Rage go like that.

  We needed to do something. My mind calculated our threats—lots—and options—few—in seconds. Surlama had the knife to Justice’s throat, so I’d need to take her out first, but before the king could kill Rage, who would no doubt try to save me and definitely before the guards could kill Kaja and the rest of us. Maybe if I tried to boil her blood … but she’d probably notice and—

  A battle cry came from the doorway, drawing our attention, and then Fiona, Nell, and Elaine burst into the room, guns blazing.

  Legit guns.

  Fiona held a sleek handgun like the one Rage had used when he and his brothers had picked me up from Montana. She raised it into the air and pulled the trigger. The loud bang cut through the small space, making my ears whine. I shook my head and seized my opportunity, launching for Surlama.

  The dark mage’s hesitation at the gunfire allowed me to wrench her arm away from Justice’s neck a mere second before I crashed into her and we fell to the ground. She hit first, and the satisfying crack of her skull on the stone filled me with untold gratification. I tugged at the knife, desperate to wrest it from her grip as we rolled, gasping.

  As soon as I had the hilt, I popped up to my feet, ready to kick her face into the ground, but she flung her hand out, and her magic lashed into me. Agony raced along my nerve endings as a green mist settled over my skin. I screamed as pain tore through me, absolute anguish poured from my mouth. I fell and writhed on the ground.

  I had a brief respite from the pain, and I gasped as the tortured cries of my shields harrowed my soul. Noble, then Justice, and finally Rage bellowed. Their pain filled the air.

  Damn that shield spell!

  ‘Nai!’ Rage screamed at me in panic as he collapsed into a ball before the king.

  I glanced across the room and knew no extra help was coming.

  Nell, Kaja, Fiona, the two selkies, and the queen were taking on everyone else. Six against twenty. No bueno.

  Fire lashed across the room, water flooded the ground, and the earth shook as my friends tried with all their might to use their elemental powers to hold off the men trying to kill them.

  Tears leaked from my eyes as the pai
n reached a crescendo. It felt like I was being skinned alive, and I grew too weak to even pull for my magic. She’d incapacitated me—probably should’ve killed me, but my three shields had dispersed her magic. If only I could…

  “You stupid girl. Don’t you know how powerful I am?” Surlama stood over me, staring down at me in disgust.

  I blinked, and Honor appeared in my mind’s eye, his sad expression as he stared out over the lake.

  ‘You’re not real,’ he’d said.

  I couldn’t leave him like that. I wouldn’t. Any more than I’d let Rage, Noble, or Justice die because of me. I needed help. High mage help.

  ‘Grandpa!’ I shouted, picturing his face in my mind’s eye as I had with Kaja.

  An eerie calm washed over me. Then, I heard his reply.

  ‘Nai? What is this? I sense your end.’ His troubled voice echoed inside my brain.

  ‘Help,’ I begged. ‘Surlama. Spell.’ That was all I could muster. My gaze landed on Rage, kneeling and panting on the ground, his mother standing over him, weeping to the king to spare his life.

  How did this happen? How had it gone so wrong?

  ‘Give me the spell.’ Grandpa’s voice was firm in my mind, and I felt a pull at my navel.

  ‘What?’ Confusion muddled my thoughts, and I struggled to make sense of his words.

  ‘Come into the spirit realm and give the spell to me,’ he commanded.

  ‘How?’ I asked—begged, really. What had I done to visit Kaja?

  ‘Let go, Nai. Picture me clearly and then let go.’

  I imagined the kind and wrinkled face of my grandfather, a man I barely knew, yet he’d already risked so much for me. Love for him filled me, and then…

  I landed on sand, panting, but no longer in pain. A shadow cast over me, and I raised my head to see Grandpa Geoff on the beach—the same one where he’d asked me to pick my affinity. He clasped either side of my face, and then my sweet gramps stared me down with blazing eyes.

  “Kill the witch, and meet me in Montana.”

  He sucked in a huge breath, right in front of my face, and the sickly green mist lifted off of me as if he’d breathed in the spell. It floated through the air and went into him.

  I gasped, and my eyes snapped open.

  To find Surlama standing over me with a long dagger.

  The entire room and all of its occupants seemed to be holding their breath, waiting. There were no screams. No voices. No more pain. My vision tunneled, and determination filled me.

  Time to die, witch.

  Magic coursed through me. My skin prickled as the power built, and I launched upright, grabbing her arm that held the knife with my left hand and yanking it over her head with a snarl. I slammed my right hand into her throat. Her eyes widened; she moved her mouth but no words came out.

  With a bellow of rage, I hurled my power at her. I threw so much wild, unrestrained, vindictive magic into her, my vision spotted. The energy left my body in a rush of light, leaving me dizzy while I held on to her neck, choking the life out of her. Her face turned purple as I cut off her air, and her eyes widened in shock. This selfish mage had stolen her last vial of blood. She’d manipulated her last victim. She’d experienced her last moment of sick pleasure.

  “Give my regards to the Keeper of Souls,” I growled.

  My blue magic traced over her skin, following the network of her veins, and then she … exploded. Like a sausage filled with too much heat and moisture, pieces of flesh and bone splattered onto the walls and floors.

  Holy mage.

  “Nai!” Rage bellowed from the other side of the room where he was again locked in battle with his uncle.

  It looked like most of the guards were down or fled, and Fiona was out of bullets.

  My hands shook as the adrenaline pulsed through me. I scanned the rest of the room, but it appeared we had the upper hand.

  I looked down at the hunks of bloody carnage on my boots, and bile churned in my stomach. What the hell? I was capable of exploding someone’s body? That was … scary and incredibly efficient. I wouldn’t miss Surlama, but the thought that I had this power made a dark feeling open up in my chest.

  I’m a monster.

  Justice crawled over to me, scooping me into his arms, and that’s when I realized I was shaking from the adrenaline and shock.

  “I’ve got her!” he yelled as his warmth wrapped around me, and I shook against his chest.

  Too much magic. I used too much magic. I felt sick.

  My attention turned to my mate’s battle with the king just in time to see Elaine step behind the king and crack something long and heavy over his head, causing him to crumble like a sack of wheat.

  Noble groaned from the corner, and Kaja ran to him, running her fingers over his body, checking for injuries.

  “Rip his dammed head off!” Justice roared as he stood slowly, me still in his arms.

  Rage looked down at his uncle, lip curled up in disgust, and raised his sword.

  “Wait!” Elaine stepped in front of Rage, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’d hoped to never have to tell you, at least not until after I’d found a solution.”

  With his chest heaving, Rage stared at his mom with wild eyes and growled, “Tell me what?”

  She sighed, glancing at the king on the floor before she hung her head. “He had Surlama do a protection spell two days ago. If anyone tries to kill him, I’ll die. It’s like a shield spell, only involuntary.”

  The room spun. Had I just killed the only witch powerful enough to break that spell? The thought made me nauseated. I couldn’t handle any more crappy news right now.

  “More guards incoming,” Fiona said after poking her head out into the hallway. “We need to go.”

  Rage’s mom glared down at the king. With a snarl, she raised her foot before crashing it down right over his crotch. If he hadn’t already been sterile…

  “I want a divorce.”

  Rage strode across the room to us, and Justice relinquished me into his brother’s arms. “Thank you, brother.”

  Justice nodded. “Of course.”

  Rage pressed a tender kiss to my forehead before leading us out the door and back into the secret passageways.

  “Nai, where do we go?” Kaja asked.

  I was silent as I reeled in thoughts of the Surlama meat explosion and whether I was a dark mage or something else equally evil. Where could we go…?

  “My uncle will scour the realm, searching for us,” Rage said. “He won’t let us go after that.”

  Weakness pulled at my limbs. “Montana. My father’s pack will protect us with their lives.”

  Chapter 9

  Our small group spilled out of the corridor, and I blinked, taking in the very modern garage filled with shiny cars. Rage led us to a line of SUVs, all exactly like the one the Virtues drove when they’d picked me up from Montana. Was that only four months ago? How could such a short amount of time have changed everything? My gaze slid to Rage, and I wondered if he thought the same. His entire life was upside down now too.

  Nell pulled on Fiona’s arm. “I have to go back for Rue.”

  She nodded. “Take Mele, and when you get Rue, go back to our lands and tell Father what happened. He’ll need to hide you.”

  Nerves churned in my gut at her instructions.

  Kaja nodded. “Fiona and I will go with Nai and make sure they stay safe—or as close to safe as is possible.”

  Tears pricked my eyes as I was pulled in for a Harvest girl hug.

  We then piled into two vehicles, me in shotgun with Rage driving. I glanced back to find Harp and Gray sitting on either side of Elaine. Rage’s mom offered me a small smile before Rage pulled the SUV out behind the one Justice drove with Noble, Kaja, and Fiona. I faced forward as we raced away from the castle—away from the alpha king.

  The silence in the SUV pressed against me. Unease, trepidation … guilt.

  What would I say to my father when we arrived? How could I explain? Worse, I w
asn’t naïve enough to believe that Declan wouldn’t come for us—sooner or later. My arrival would serve as a portent of more woe to come.

  Rage shifted his weight and tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles blanching. Was he tortured by similar worries?

  We raced down the road toward the docks, and I gasped with an epiphany.

  “How are we going to get out of the mage lands?” I asked him. But his only response was to shake his head, so I turned to his mom. “Can you get us out?”

  She swallowed hard before answering. “We need a document signed by either a member of the High Mage Council or the alpha king to go through the portal to the mortal realm. I can get us on the boat to the magic lands, but getting through the portal to the human realm is a different matter.”

  Great. A problem for future Nai I suppose.

  As we approached the dock, the male mage captain straightened, displaying the thin triangle and dot mark on his forehead. He wasn’t the one who had driven us to the mainland before. Sitting on the railing, he smiled pleasantly as we drove past him and onto the small ferry, the bumper of our car inches away from the one Justice drove. The mage captain followed us, stopping only to gather a loop of rope that tied the boat to the dock. He jogged up the plank, and with a wave of his hand, the metal grate we’d driven over slid under the dock.

  Please don’t let him stop us, I prayed.

  We stepped from the vehicles, and the mage greeted Rage and then Elaine with the same warm smile.

  Somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties, the blond-haired man had a boyish appearance with two dimples that made him seem much younger than his alleged years.

  “Headmistress! Nice to see you, ma’am.” He nodded to the Midnight brothers as we exited and then circled around the vehicles. “Are y’all heading to the mainland for a bit of shopping?”

  His gaze bounced from each of us to the next until he spotted the selkies, and then his eyes widened.

  Shopping? I glanced at our haggard group and nearly laughed. Rage’s shirt hem was singed from his firefight with Declan, and both Justice and Noble looked like victims of torture—which was pretty much spot on. Headmistress Elaine’s clothing was splattered with blood, and Kaja and Fiona weren’t looking any better off than the rest of us.