Midnight Lies (Shifter Island Book 2)

by Raye Wagner

  He was dead.

  The crowd burst into thunderous applause as Rage dropped Clive’s limp body. Mallory’s grief-filled screams echoed throughout the space.

  I sank to my knees with relief and faced my mate just as Rage’s head hit the carpet—

  And he didn’t move.

  Terror ripped through me, and I screamed.

  Chapter 15

  Kneeling on the carpet, I scooped Rage’s head into my lap as tears burned my eyes. I blinked, my mind reeling, but then Justice thrust a bottle of mage wine in front of me.

  “Healing elixir,” he snarled, his voice barely human.

  Right. I’m glad someone was focused.

  While Justice poured the elixir down his brother’s throat, I clung to my mate and let my tears fall unchecked.

  ‘Don’t you dare die on me,’ I hissed at him.

  He groaned, stirring in my arms. ‘No intention of it, love.’

  Relief flooded me as Rage sat up. I tackle-hugged him to the ground, bursting into a fresh round of tears.

  All around us, a murmur of congratulations filled the air.

  My gaze roamed over my mate: his face, neck, arms … all of the wounds were healing.

  “You okay?” I clung to him tightly.

  “I’d be better if I had a kiss.”

  I leaned in, and Rage pressed his lips to mine.

  The cheers turned to awws. I pulled away, my entire body feeling like a smile.

  Rage pressed his forehead to mine. ‘I love you, Nai Crescent.’

  I nodded, pressing my head against his. ‘I love you too. Tonight … we should complete our bond.’

  He jerked back like I’d stung him. Then his green eyes went half-lidded. ‘Complete it like…?’

  ‘I’m ready. So ready.’ V-card was getting cashed in once and for all.

  Rage wet his lips. ‘I guess. You don’t have to beg.’

  I smacked his shoulder, and he winced.

  Oops.

  ‘Let’s get this show over,’ Rage said, climbing to his feet with a groan. Then, he pulled me up next to him and slid his arm around my waist.

  A female wailed, and my gaze bounced to Mallory, losing her mind with grief as well as the rest of Daybreak.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  He squeezed my waist and then turned to the Daybreak clan. “Who will be your new alpha? Who is next in line?“

  To my surprise, John stepped forward. “I’ll take my rightful place if you’ll allow me and my mate to remain together.”

  Halle-frickin-leujah.

  “Absolutely,” Rage said.

  John faced the rest of Daybreak and said, “Unless any of you want to challenge me?”

  I silently cheered when the entire clan took a knee and bowed their heads. Even Mallory. I suspected it wouldn’t be long before someone tried to challenge his place.

  Then, John faced Rage. Taking a knee, the alpha of Daybreak bowed his head, “As alpha of Daybreak, we pledge fealty to Courage Midnight as alpha king.”

  The room exploded into cheers, and I sagged with relief.

  It was done. My mate was alpha king. Now we could finally move on.

  Someone tapped on my shoulder, and I turned to see Reyna. Her face was ashen, beaded with sweat as she spoke in a shaky whisper. “Master Geoff needs to speak with you now.”

  Oh, yes. He’d been trying to tell me something last night in the barn. I’d forgotten.

  “I’ll be right back.” I kissed Rage on the cheek and followed Reyna to the stage. As we passed, I noticed Kian speaking hurriedly to a young man, the spitting image of himself. My stomach churned, and then I stumbled as my gaze zeroed in on his robes. Seafoam green.

  “Who is that?” I asked, my voice hoarse with shock. Please … somehow, let me be wrong.

  Reyna’s attention followed my gaze, and a low growl emanated from her throat. “Julian. Kian’s heir.”

  I was about to ask more when she opened a door at the back wall of the stage and went through.

  Okay … weird. Apparently, this meeting was super-secret style.

  I followed, crossing the threshold, and my gaze fell to the old man crumpled on the floor. Grandpa heaved with each breath, his body curled in a ball as if he’d just fallen.

  “Grandpa!” I ran forward and fell to my knees.

  “Reyna, fetch the healing wine! Justice has it right out—”

  “No.” Grandpa’s voice was strong—much stronger than I imagined it would be, given his state.

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  Reyna gave him a nod and then left the room.

  “Is she going to get something to help…?”

  “There is nothing to help what I have…” Propping up on one elbow, he gently grabbed my face. “I hate to ask this—especially of you. To put this pressure, this burden on you,” he wheezed. “If I had any other option…”

  My heart beat frantically in my chest, but dread sank into my gut, tethering me to the stone floor. “What is it?”

  He sighed. “Sweet Nai … I’m dying.”

  “What? No!” I tried to stand, intent on grabbing the healing elixir, but he yanked me back down with surprising force.

  “There’s nothing anyone can do about it. I have reached my end. One thousand years old.”

  Holy mother! That was … older than I could even contemplate.

  “Every high mage comes with the same expiration date. Millennia. As I near my birthday in three more moons, I’ll continue to grow weaker … until I finally expire.”

  Oh mage.

  Tears filled my eyes, making my vision blurry. “But … I only just met you.”

  He brushed the tears away. “I know. And I need every single day of that time to train you.”

  My nerves tightened at his words. “Train me?”

  He nodded. “When I die, the high spirit magic will seek a new master. If you aren’t strong enough to hold it and bind it to you … it’ll filter out into Kian and the other high mage masters, giving each of them two elements to wield. This cannot happen.”

  Chills prickled my arms and danced down my spine. No way should Kian or the others have more power. And if they could all raise the dead? However, that didn’t mean I wanted the job.

  “But my aunt … can’t she become the high mage master?”

  He shook his head. “I had her before your mother … with a human. She’s not strong enough to hold that amount of magic.”

  Oh mage.

  “Okay … well, yeah, I’ll try my hardest. I can delay taking my Alpha Academy classes, and we can just work together here, and—”

  He shook his head. “I need you to come with me to High Mage Academy. Right now. Today is the last day to declare my heir. You need to start training. It’s why I sent the summons for you early.”

  Shock ripped through me for multiple reasons. “Leave today? Go to a new school?” I shook my head as I continued to absorb his words. “You sent the summons?”

  He nodded. “I did. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure you were my granddaughter. Your mother told me in the Realm of the Dead that she left you with the Crescent alpha, but I’d never seen you at that point. I only knew that Nathan had a daughter the same age as the girl I was looking to find. So I sent a summons early. The second I saw you, I knew you were mine. But we’re running out of time.”

  Tears rolled down my cheeks.

  “I … have to leave? Leave Rage? My pack…” My mind whirred with this information. “For how long.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know … maybe … forever.”

  For—what? Shock gave way to panic at the thought of not seeing my mate again. Surely, he wasn’t asking me to give up my fated mate. Right?

  Sadness crossed his face. “Forgive me. It’s too much for you. I can see that.”

  “No,” I growled. I’d be damned before I let Kian and the other high mages steal my grandfather’s magic. They’d already tried to rob me of my mate. I wouldn’t let them steal his magic t
oo. Mage knows what untold evils they would do if they became that powerful.

  “Rage will understand. We’ll … work it out.”

  Right?

  I had to believe fated mates meant our love was strong enough to cross worlds. “How much time do we have?”

  “A couple hours. If I haven’t penned your name in the master scrolls before midnight, you’ll need to fight to earn your right as heir.”

  Shaking my head, I helped him stand. “Not to sound like a whiner, but I’m kinda over fighting. At least for right now.”

  “I understand.” Grandpa took a few steadying breaths. “Shall we go and talk to your mate together?”

  There was no way in hell Rage would let me go to another school, to live in another place. Especially not now that he was king.

  I shook my head, letting a single tear fall down my cheek. “No,” I whispered. “I’ll send word to him. Let’s go now before he notices I’m gone.”

  After Gramps signed the scrolls, I’d ask him to bring me back to explain. I’d rather ask forgiveness than permission. Not that I needed to do either, but I knew Rage well enough to know he wasn’t going to let me go without a fight, and I wanted to avoid that.

  We slipped out of the door and snaked along the back wall of the room toward a side door, and I caught one last look at my fated mate. Justice and my Dad held Rage on their shoulders, and the crowd chanted, “Long live the king!”

  Rage’s grin stretched from ear to ear, his green eyes shining like emeralds, and he radiated joy. If this was going to be my last memory of him, I told myself I should be glad it was this one. He had his family, his people. He was safe.

  I swallowed hard and turned away, clenching my teeth and fists as I stepped out of the throne room and into the night. I’ll find a way to return to him.

  Reyna slipped out the side door behind us, and we hurried down the garden path.

  “Will you make a portal to the high mage lands?” I asked my grandfather as he leaned on me and Reyna.

  He shook his head. “Not strong enough. We’ll use the library portal.”

  Library portal.

  It hit me then. That black door, that place where I’d met my aunt for the first time, was a portal to the high mage realm! Maybe even the academy. What if the libraries connected? Maybe I could still attend High Mage Academy and be with Rage.

  We weaved in and out of the school buildings until we arrived at the double library doors. No one stood guard, and it was easy to find our way to the black onyx door. I placed my hand on it and pushed it open just as the main library door slammed shut.

  Reyna pulled my grandfather into the ornate hallway that led to the mage realm as I steeled myself, waiting for Rage to burst down the aisle and catch me. But the aisle remained empty. I dropped my gaze and spotted the black wolf and the sweet eyes of Honor Midnight.

  Honor cocked his head to the side. ‘Where are you going?’

  My mind raced. Tell the truth and risk him telling Rage?

  “You’ll need a shield,” Reyna spoke from behind me. “If you trust him with your life, I suggest you consider telling him the truth.”

  I nodded, acknowledging the wisdom of her counsel, and forced a deep breath before speaking.

  “Long story short,” I said aloud to the wolf. “I’m going to High Mage Academy. You coming?”

  Honor narrowed his hazel eyes and then slipped past me through the doorway and into the cavernous mage library.

  Together, we walked through the tunnel into a whole other world.

  Preorder book three here!

  Acknowledgments

  A continued thank you to our families for dealing with the late night tippy tapping on the keyboard while we wrote this story. To our ARC team and reader groups, thank you so much for your enthusiasm for this series! We heart you. Lee and Dawn, our editors, this book would not be polished without you. Thank you to all our readers who help us get to follow our dream every day!

  Also by Raye Wagner

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  www.RayeWagner.com

  Also by Leia Stone

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  www.leiastone.com