by Raye Wagner
As my grandpa pivoted, I saw Reyna on his other side, fully supporting him.
Wait a minute. What happened? Why couldn’t he walk?
I knew Grandpa was old, but he’d never appeared frail like this before. Did this have anything to do with Surlama’s curse … the one he’d asked me to send him?
As my dad looked our way, he blushed …which made me blush, and I glanced down to make sure my clothes were on. Yep, all dressed—
“Where’s Nolan?” Lilith screeched again. She wrenched free of Lona and darted around Mack before stalking toward us. Her eyes and nose were swollen and red, and her skin splotchy. Gruesome scratches marred her face and neck, and the dried blood under her nails hinted her wounds were self-inflicted. “The school said the mid-year games were a mess.” She waved a sheet of parchment with a golden seal. “They said he died and that you killed him!”
Awkward didn’t even begin to describe this situation.
Unsure of what to say, I glanced to Rage for help.
His eyes glinted with murder, so better not count on help from him—at least, not if I wanted to smooth things over. “H-he attacked me, tried to kill me, and I—”
Elaine scooted past Rage and cut Lilith off midstride. “I was there the night your son died. What Nai says is true, he attacked her, and—”
“Who are you?” Lilith snarled.
“Elaine Midnight, the alpha queen.” Rage’s mother tipped her chin up with pride, and Lilith’s expression widened with surprise as she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Your son,” Elaine continued, “tried to kill Nai, and—”
“It says Nai killed him,” Lilith snarled, her lips pinching as her expression contorted with hatred. She flicked her gaze to me, and her eyes hardened. “Well? Did you?”
I swallowed hard … and then nodded. “Yes.”
Lilith shrieked and lunged for me.
Elaine grabbed my aunt in a surprising display of ferociousness, and Mack and Lona raced over, as did my other friends, surrounding my aunt while she sobbed about the loss of her only child.
Even though I disliked both my aunt and my cousin, I couldn’t gloat over Lilith’s grief. Considering the pain of losing Honor, I could respect my aunt’s need to grieve.
Dad cleared his throat and caught my eye. “From what your grandfather said, you’re going to need privacy.”
I nodded, and my gaze bounced to my aunt before returning to my dad. We definitely didn’t want Lilith to know what we were up to, or she might ask me to bring back her son—which would be a hard no.
“I suggest you take him and the Midnight boys to the back cabin,” my father said and gave me a sad smile. “Do you remember the way?”
Tucked away from the rest of the compound, hidden amongst the trees at the very edge of our property was the building he referenced. As kids, Lona used to take me and Mack there for overnight “vacations.” I’d always thought the somewhat abandoned building was a fun place to leave the hustle and bustle of pack life behind. Now, I knew the truth.
“Yep,” I said, suddenly eager to see the place again, knowing now how it had served to hide me that first year. “I remember.”
“Fiona, Kaja,” my dad called to my Harvest Clan friends. “If you two would be kind enough to help Mack set up patrols, I think it’d be best to start surveillance.”
The girls nodded and headed outside with Mack.
“Mom?” Rage’s brow furrowed as he stared at his mother. “Are you coming?”
Elaine glanced at us from over her shoulder and then shook her head. “I’d better stay here.” She tilted her head toward my aunt, who was sobbing into Lona’s shoulder.
Wow. No way would I stick around for this. Maybe she also didn’t trust that Lilith wouldn’t go postal and try to kill Lona or my dad or something. I suddenly felt grateful she’d be here.
“Your mom is a saint,” I whispered to Rage.
He grunted. “You have no idea.”
Which was probably true.
Justice said something to Noble, and they both crossed the room to us. Justice stepped over to Grandpa Geoff and offered him his arm.
We stepped out the sliding glass door and onto the back deck. A thick blanket of snow covered the bare fifty-acre field, the tree line hazy through the falling snow. But it was slow going with gramps shuffling like a hundred-year-old man with a thrown-out back.
Oh, mage. I would never forgive myself if I’d done that to him.
“Sir,” Justice said, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m concerned your pace may slow us down and impact our ability to bring back Honor in time.”
Grandpa and Reyna shuffled toward us, the former chuckling as he drew near.
“Don’t be absurd,” my grandfather said, wheezing as if he were on the last mile of a marathon. “I’ll most certainly slow you down. That’s why we have Reyna here.”
I wanted to ask him if he was okay, but I also didn’t want to prolong this trip to the cabin any more than necessary. “Do you want one of the boys to carry you?” I asked.
“I’d be happy to, sir,” Rage said, stepping forward.
Reyna shook her head and snarled, “Not happening, Midnight. You worry about your mate. Let me worry about my Master Mage of Spirit.”
Alrighty, then.
“Which way?” Reyna asked, crouching on the first step leading off the deck.
“We gotta clear the tree line, and then I can show you—”
My grandfather leapt up onto Reyna’s back with the exuberance and energy of a five-year-old.
I gave him a side-eyed look. “How are you feeling?”
“Never better,” he said with a chuckle that turned into a whoop when Reyna bounded across the snow-covered field toward the trees, giving my grandfather a piggyback ride.
Okay … so, that happened.
Rage, Justice, and Noble all shifted into their wolves, and the latter two raced after Reyna. I slipped out of my clothes and shifted, gathering my clothes in my mouth for when we got to the cabin.
‘You should do that more,’ Rage said, giving me a wolfish grin.
‘Do what, shift?’ I asked, trotting after him. ‘Like when you and your brothers scared me into shifting? Because that experience sucked.’
‘No, love. I meant you getting undressed in front of me.’
Oh.
‘You like that?’ I teased.
‘Just a bit,’ he said with a chuckle.
We raced across the snow, and once we cleared the trees, I took the lead until we arrived at the single-room cabin about a mile or so away at the very edge of our property.
I shifted back to my human form, dressing quickly, and kicked through the snow until I found the hide-a-key rock. The main room had two cots near the far wall, and the couch was a pull-out. There was a wood-burning stove that served as a hot plate as well as the heater. No running water unless one counted the stream out back, and I had vague memories of peeing in the snow.
How had Lona raised two babies out here all alone?
‘That Lona is my hero,’ Rage said, shaking his head and clearly thinking the same thing.
‘Right?’ I wanted a moment with her later, to thank her for everything she did for me, but it would have to wait.
Rage strode past me, letting his fingers trail over my skin on his way to the woodstove. Then he piled wood into the box and adjusted the flue. By the time Grandpa Geoff and Reyna arrived, Rage threw another log on his well-stoked fire.
Justice closed the door, sighing as he looked at his watch. “Thirty-five minutes.”
Halle-frickin-leujah. We were totally getting Honor back.
“Soo.” The high mage of spirit looked around the sparsely furnished room and frowned. “Where’s the body?”
We all froze. Justice swore and punched the wall. Noble sank onto the couch’s dusty sheet and dropped his head into his hands. Rage facepalmed himself, and I groaned.
If ever someone needed a “time turner” thing, it was now. In
stead of Rage and me getting hot-and-heavy, we should’ve been locating a body for Honor! Between killing Surlama and finding out the true story about my mother, I’d completely forgotten. We all had.
“We … forgot that we needed a body,” I told my grandfather. “Today has been rough … we were fleeing for our lives from the king, and then my dad dropped a truth bomb on us.”
Rage met my gaze, and I saw guilt in his eyes, mirroring my own.
Grandpa chewed at his lip, looking at the three Midnight brothers. “I cannot bring a soul back from the Realm of the Dead without a form for it to go into.”
Rage swallowed hard and consulted his watch. “We have thirty minutes.” He looked at me. “Is there a morgue or hospital or something else nearby? Maybe we could get a body that way and—”
Grandpa waved his hand. “We’re too far from a main town for that, and I’d need to know exactly where to find a body to make a portal there. We don’t have time for me to hop from place to place and have me teach Nai how to navigate in and out of the Realm of the Dead.”
Justice cursed again and delivered another frame-shaking blow to the wall and then apologized when my gramps shot him a stern look.
“There must be another way,” Noble pleaded, looking up from the couch, his expression haggard. “We’d do anything to get our brother back.”
My grandfather narrowed his eyes, regarding each of the brothers before he reached up and stroked his chin. “Anything?”
Chills danced down my spine, and my skin prickled as Rage and Justice pressed around my grandfather, but Noble remained dejectedly on the couch, his entire frame quaking with emotion.
“Anything. Ask, and we’ll make it happen.” Rage placed his hands together in supplication.
The high mage pursed his lips, and hope sprang into my chest when he nodded.
“Each of you has two forms, your human body and your wolf. If one of you is willing to give up your wolf, I can bring him back.”
My jaw dropped to the floor. What the what?
Rage sucked in a deep breath, and Justice stumbled backward.
“Do you know what you’re asking?” Rage rasped.
Grandpa exhaled and nodded. “I can separate your human form from your wolf, put Honor’s soul into your wolf, and you’ll remain human the rest of your life.”
“Human?” I asked, trying to clarify what they’d need to sacrifice. Even with my sometimes-skittish wolf, the thought of losing her—forever … caused pain to slice through my chest.
“There has to be another way,” I whimpered.
“There isn’t,” Rage said, his voice filled with anguish. “We’re out of time.”
“Would he … be himself again? Would it be Honor?” I asked.
In wolf form, you might as well be talking to a caveman; they were almost all instinct.
Grandpa Geoff straightened, his eyebrows lifting as he nodded.
Did that mean he…?
“His soul will be the same, and as such, he’d still be able to speak into his brothers’ minds through the bond they share. So … like his human self mentally but trapped in the body of a wolf.”
The heat and tension pressed against us as the reality of his words hit.
If we brought Honor’s soul back, one of the Midnight brothers would lose his wolf forever and become … human.
“I’m the eldest. I’ll do it.” Rage stepped toward Grandpa, but Justice grabbed my mate by the arm and yanked him back.
“Eldest by two minutes, Rage. Not that it matters. You’re the strongest so our best chance to beat Declan. Future king, bro. I’ll do it.” Justice tipped his head up, his chest heaving.
Tears flowed down my cheeks, and my throat clogged.
Noble cleared his throat and stood from the couch. With two long strides, he stepped in front of both brothers and turned around to face them as he rested a hand on each of them. When he spoke, his voice was steady. “Rage is our future king, and Justice, your strength is only minutely less. Besides—” he chuckled. “—you’re the spare heir. It has to be me.” Then, Noble faced my grandfather. “I want it to be me.”
My eyes burned, and my chest ached as my heart was shorn in two. I gritted my teeth, and my body trembled with the effort of keeping my pain inside. I wanted to protest—this was too much. But how could I deny Noble a sacrifice I’d make if I could?
Rage and Justice bowed to their brother, first their heads and then at the waist, and the demonstration of their respect made me choke back the sob I’d been wrestling.
Neither Rage nor Justice needed to exhibit such deference to their younger kin, and by bowing, they paid him the ultimate respect. And then Noble—sweet Noble—pulled them in for a fierce hug.
I looked up, and even Grandpa Geoff and Reyna’s eyes were glistening with tears. Gramps cleared his throat a few times as Rage yanked me forward, pulling me into the group hug.
“Confession time,” I muffled against Noble’s shoulder. Justice clung to me tightly and Rage’s arm was tucked behind my back. “Noble, you’ve always been my favorite.”
Everyone laughed, but the rumble of chests did nothing to assuage my grief. Instead, knowing how much they’d all suffered, because of me, sank deep into my soul. This solution was the best option we had, but it was terrible. These boys, they were special, their bond unbreakable. This sacrifice was unthinkable.
“We must move quickly,” Grandpa said.
We broke apart, and Rage checked his watch.
Tears streamed down my cheeks unchecked, and my dear friend Noble brushed them away. Offering me a sad smile, he said, “I’ll still be me.”
What was a wolf shifter without his wolf? But I nodded. “I know a few human girls from town. I could probably hook you up with one.”
“Too soon,” he said with a grin.
“Alright, Nai, this might be my last time to train you to do this, so come close to me.” Grandpa patted his side, and my brow furrowed as his words registered.
“Last time?” I asked.
He winced and gave a nervous laugh. “A discussion for another time.” Grandpa then gave me a tight smile, waving toward the brothers. “Courage, lay out one of those blankets from the basket there, and Justice”—Gramps held out a small canvas bag—“place one of these crystals on each corner.”
I watched as the two eldest brothers did as Grandpa directed, no questions asked. Talk about trust.
“Now,” Grandpa said, resting a hand on Noble’s shoulder. “Noble, dear boy, please lie down on the blanket.”
I copied everything my grandfather did: he sat, and I sat next to him. Placing my hands on my lap like he did, I waited for further directions.
“Look at Noble,” he commanded.
I did, and Noble gave me a nervous look before his gaze bounced to the high mage.
“This can’t like backfire and kill me, right?” Noble asked nervously.
Grandpa winked. “Not with me in charge.”
Okaaay. Did that mean it could’ve with me in charge? Grandpa’s statement was a bit vague for my liking.
“Nai.” Grandpa’s voice sharpened, yanking me out of my panicked loop of thoughts. “Look at him.”
My eyes widened. “I am looking.”
He grasped the back of my neck, pushing me closer to Noble. “With your other sight.”
“Uh… how?” In the past, I’d closed my eyes and thought of the person to travel through space to them, but this time, Noble was right here.
“Relax,” Grandpa said. “Keep your eyes opened but don’t focus on any one part of your friend.”
After taking a deep breath, I forced my eyes to relax.
“Good.” Grandpa Geoff’s voice softened, and he waved his hand in front of my face. “Zone out, so all you see is a blur. Let yourself go, until you see the black fur of his wolf.”
He continued talking, and I let his monotone voice lull me until that trancelike feeling settled over me.
I gasped as the transparent form of a b
lack wolf appeared, hovering just a few inches over Noble’s entire body. Where Noble’s hands and feet were, I saw wolf paws and legs and his big furry body … all of it see-through—like a ghost.
“Holy Mother Mage.”
“Okay, so hold that vision—don’t let the wolf get away,” Grandpa said. He ran his hands over Noble’s body, grazing the soul of his wolf. “Now, we must separate them.”
Noble’s eyes widened.
As my grandpa grasped the wolf’s spirit by the neck, the beast snapped his jaws. “Nai,” Grandpa Geoff said. “Help me wrangle him.”
Oh mage!
I grasped the front paws of his wolf and startled at the strange sensation. The animal’s limbs felt cold yet solid in my hands. “It’s okay,” I crooned. “Come with me so Honor can come back to us.”
“That looks weird,” Justice said. “It’s like you’re grabbing air.”
Noble winced. “I promise it doesn’t feel like air.” Gasping, he added, “It’s burning … a little … or a lot.”
We’d started to tug upward, but when gramps and I pulled his wolf up, Noble’s body came too. The high mage turned to Justice and Rage. “Hold him down. It will hurt them both less if you apply pressure.”
Rage and Justice knelt before their brother, Rage at Noble’s shoulders and Justice at his feet, gripping his ankles tightly.
“We’ve got you, bro,” Justice said, his voice rough. “We’ll get through this.”
“Nai…” Gramps looked at me. “As we extract his wolf, Noble may try to shift as a survival instinct—to keep the two of them together.”
Almost on cue, fur rippled down Noble’s arms, and the wolf form I held grew taut as it tried to suck back into Noble’s body.
Whoa.
“Already there.” Noble’s voice was barely human.
“Fight it!” Justice shouted.
Rage squeezed his brother’s shoulders and said, “Do this for Honor.”
Looking at me, Geoff raised his eyebrows. “Now, you made the deal with the Keeper of Souls, you must call for Honor.”
My jaw dropped. “Uh … how?”
“You’ve done this before,” my grandfather said. “Don’t let go of the wolf, but close your eyes and feel for Honor’s energy. Then go to him.”
