by Zelda Knight
Still, I wasn’t willing to undermine her position with the rest of the pack.
“Just wondering if we’ll have any new pack members on the ship.”
I felt Jade’s nod against my cheek and again fought back the urge to push her away. That was unusual, too—she didn’t generally irritate me this much. I had inherited Jade from the previous alpha when I’d fought him for primacy a year before, and I had taken her into my bed to solidify my position as alpha. It hadn’t been a hardship; with her red-gold hair and pale skin, she was beautiful and fierce, and many members of our makeshift pack were devoted to her.
She was an asset, and I tried to keep that in mind as she ran her fingertips along my shoulders.
At the dock, the crew members finished securing the transport ship and lowered the gangplank. A few moments later, guards began ushering the new inmates off the boat and toward the intake building.
The prisoners, shackled together and wearing gray prison uniforms, shuffled down the gangplank. The clothes were baggy and shapeless, rendering their forms indistinct and amorphous. There was no way to tell who was who.
But I knew the moment I saw her.
It was like her entire form was lit up by some kind of invisible magical fire. I could feel the pull of her from all the way in the yard.
Jade felt my reaction, despite my attempt to keep it under control. “What is it?” she asked. “What you see?”
This time, I really did shake her off, standing to move toward the fence to get a closer look at the woman.
Out of the corner my eye, I saw Clark moving, too. At the thought that the fae alpha might be fixating on the same woman I stared at, my wolf rose inside me, growling, insisting she was ours. She was pack.
Clark glanced at me, his lip rising in a snarl as he sensed my wolf’s response to him.
I shoved my wolf down, using the same strength I had employed to beat down Magnus, the alpha before me. He had been unable to control his inner wolf. That was what had allowed me to win against him. I wouldn’t let the same thing happen to me.
The rest of the shifters and fae took their alphas’ movement to the fence as a sign to start the gauntlet. They moved up around us, their feet kicking against the yard gravel as they began whistles and catcalls designed to throw the new fish off balance.
Clark and I simply stared out at the line of incoming inmates, equally entranced by them.
With a supreme effort of will, I pulled myself away from the fence—but not before I got a look at her face. She had mahogany brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and luminescent eyes the color of a hunters’ moon, glowing orange with her own inner wolf.
As she passed, she held her chin high, ignoring the jeers of the inmates on my side of the fence. For just a second, though, we made eye contact, and it jolted through me like a physical blow. Her, too—when she saw me, she stumbled, jerking the chains that strung all the inmates together.
That’s when I realize she was holding another woman’s hand. A tall blonde with bright blue eyes and fine bones.
If the blonde weren’t fae, I’d be surprised.
As it was, I was shocked.
Werewolves and fae don’t work together.
Chapter Five
MARA
As we moved into the main building, Evangeline reached up from behind me, her hand taking mine.
Maybe she sensed my distress. I reached back to clasp her hand, too, twisting just a little to do so and relying on my shifter reflexes to keep from tripping everyone linked in this chain gang.
The guards led us into the building, and we came to a halt in a room inside.
One of the guards who had brought us in moved to the front of the room. “Okay. We will be processing in all prisoners today. You’ll be assigned to your group by species and we will get you settled in tonight.”
I squeezed Evangeline’s hand harder, and she clasped mine back just as tightly.
By species? No one had said anything about separating us that way.
As Trumbull started sorting everyone out, Evangeline leaned forward. “Now,” she said.
I nodded in agreement. This would be our last chance. We had to either find a way to be placed together or get away.
I didn’t know if we could make our magic work under these conditions. But I was more than willing to try.
I closed my eyes for a second, calling on my wolf’s power to shift. I felt the rise of it inside me, but instead of pushing it into allowing me to change into my wolf, I shoved it out toward Evangeline.
I felt when she grabbed it, too, then spun it in with her own magic. Like a laser, she pointed it downward, shearing our chains away from the other prisoners’.
We backed up until we were next to a wall, one that faced away from the prison.
“Hey now,” Trumbull said. “What’s this?”
“Back off,” Evangeline said, aiming a small fireball to land near his feet. “We’re not going to be separated.”
Trumbull danced away from the magical projectile.
“Hell,” he muttered. “Wait here.” He glanced around at everyone. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
While he was gone, Evangeline and I passed our magic back and forth, letting it build inside of us. We were going to need it to escape.
When Trumbull came back down the hallway, he led the gorgeous shifter I had seen earlier and a tall, blond fae man. I felt more than heard Evangeline gasp.
And again, that scent washed over me. It really was the shifter’s.
Dammit.
We backed away from the men, moving closer to the wall.
“Don’t come any closer,” Evangeline said threateningly.
Trumbull and the two men stopped.
“That’s better.” Her voice was clear and bright, full of our magic, and the fae man all but reeled at the sound of her voice.
Chapter Six
GAGE
When Trumbull, the head guard on duty, had stepped out of the building and murmured to one of the guards waiting there, sending him to retrieve me, I had known it wouldn’t be anything good.
“What’s up?” I asked as I approached Trumbull. It wasn’t good to be too friendly with the guards—the pack might take it as a sign of weakness. On the other hand, defying the guards too often led to its own kind of trouble.
Trumbull finished murmuring to a second guard, who moved out into the yard and called Clark to join us.
“We got a situation inside. We were sorting out the intakes to hand them over to you guys for their first night. But we have a couple of women in there who are refusing to be separated. Real wildcats.” He slanted a glance at me. “No offense.”
“None taken.” I shrugged. “I’m not a cat, anyway.”
Trumbull snickered and turned to lead us inside and down the long hall toward the common areas. “One shifter, one fae. I figure you two could sort them out better than we could.”
And that was the benefit of staying friendly with the guards—they pretty much let us rule our own kind.
“What do you know about them?” Clark asked.
Trumbull sighed. “Man, they were supposed to be low maintenance. A couple of cat burglars who banked on taking big-ticket items. Not this shit.”
As we rounded a corner into the intake room, I saw what he meant. The two women stood back to back, balanced on the balls of their feet, ready to move in an instant.
They were still chained together, but the rest of the chain, the part that had attached them to the other prisoners, had been sheared off. I squinted to see it a little more clearly and realized the links at the ends had been melted apart.
That impression was borne out by scorch marks on the floor around them.
My gaze flew up to their hands. Empty. Those burn marks were magical.
That shouldn’t have been possible. The manacles around their wrists and ankles were spelled. They were supposed to depress any magical ability until the prison doctor could surgically implant the inmates
’ suppressors.
The shifter shouldn’t even be able to take her animal form, even though that was low enough on the magical scale that the suppressors didn’t normally interfere with the shifting ability.
Not to mention, if the other woman was a true fae, neither of the women should have had any kind of true offensive magical ability. Certainly not the kind that would allow either of them to throw fireballs.
The women skittered away from us, dancing lightly on the soles of their feet.
Chapter Seven
MARA
The shifter held his hands up and away from his body. “I’m the alpha of the shifter pack here on the island.” He nodded toward the fae man. “He’s the alpha of the fae clan. Officer Trumbull asked us to come in here and talk to you. What’s going on?”
I snarled at him, feeling our magic changing my mouth, bringing my fangs out.
I want him, my wolf clamored inside me. I ignored her.
“We won’t be separated,” I snarled, the words half-mangled by the partial shift of my mouth.
The shifter alpha flashed a glance at Trumbull. “Is there a problem with her chains?”
Trumbull shook his head. “They register fine on all our equipment.”
The other guards began rounding up the remaining prisoners and drawing them out of the room. I watched them carefully until one of the guards stepped too close to us. Evangeline flashed a firebolt his direction, careful to aim so it hit the floor rather than the guard himself. He jumped back and the alpha shifter narrowed his eyes at us.
He’s smart. That could be a problem for us.
“Fae and shifters don’t stay in the same island sector,” he said. His voice was gentle, but the words pissed me off, and I snarled. A flare of magic swirled up in Evangeline’s hand.
“What are your names?” the fae alpha asked.
Nice try, asshole. He wasn’t going to sweet-talk us into anything.
“Evangeline Gray and Mara Blackwood,” Trumbull said, gesturing at us.
I had to get them to understand. ”You can’t keep us apart. It was part of our plea-bargain that we wouldn’t be separated.”
Trumbull took a step toward an office nearby.
“Don’t do it,” Evangeline commanded, sending a bolt of magic toward him.
Trumbull shook his head, but he stopped.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the alpha shifter’s gaze flicker down to Trumbull’s hands and I whipped around to stare at the alpha.
Oh, hell. The guard is doing something we won’t like.
I gave Evangeline’s hand a squeeze, hoping she’d understand I meant it was time to move.
And she did.
With a puff of pinkish-purple sparkles, Evangeline used her magic to boost herself up the nearest wall, executing our move as smoothly as we’d practiced it. I used her magic to boost my own and shifted, pulling my front paws out of the shackles that had held me and dropping to all fours.
Trumbull fumbled for his weapon, but before he could get it drawn, Evangeline pulled her knees to her chest, floating in the air by the ceiling. When she punched out with her legs, I braced against the force I knew was coming.
Trumbull and the alphas all flew back, crashing into the wall behind them with a resounding crack.
I ignored them, leaping over the rubble and out of the building. Evangeline floated out behind me, wrapped her arms around my neck, and dug her fingers into my ruff, just as we’d practiced.
With a swirl of bright magic, we rushed away, our flight aided by the magic we combined.
I didn’t know where we were headed next or how we would get away from this godforsaken island. I ignored my wolf inside me, crying to go back to the gorgeous, sexy, scary-as-fuck alpha.
No, I told her. We have to get out of here.
I knew that somehow, we would.
After all, Evangeline and I had always worked well together.
Chapter Eight
GAGE
I stared after the two disappearing women, running the last few minutes through my mind.
“We won’t be separated,” she had snarled, the words half-mangled by the partial shift of her mouth.
My wolf howled his agreement—but I realized that she hadn’t been talking about me at all, but about her blonde fae friend. Shut up, I told my wolf. We can’t do anything with her until we sort out this problem, and that can’t happen if you don’t settle down.
Feeling my wolf grumble, but then grow quiet, I continued reviewing the last few minutes.
If we don’t get this under control, it’s going to go sideways—fast and ugly. It was like Mara read my mind. As soon as the thought flickered through my brain, her head whipped around, and she pinned me with those glowing orange eyes of hers.
Then she and Evangeline moved as if they were one organism—or at least as if they could read each other’s minds, too.
With a puff of pinkish-purple sparkles, Evangeline used her magic to boost herself up the nearest wall, running lightly straight up as if she had forsaken gravity altogether, until she reached the ceiling, holding her hands first out and then down toward Mara, who lifted her own arms to follow Evangeline’s progress.
At the same time, Mara shifted, flowing into her wolf form more easily than any shifter I had ever seen before. By the time Evangeline reached the ceiling, Mara was pulling her front paws out of the shackles that had held her and dropping to all fours.
It took Trumbull that long to figure out what was going on. He fumbled for his weapon, but before he could get it drawn, Evangeline pulled her knees to her chest, floating in the air by the ceiling for a microsecond. When she punched out with her legs, I felt the percussive force of the magic she sent with them. It rocked past me, blowing me backward even as it exploded the wall outward.
Trumbull, Clark, and I all flew back, landing on our asses and fetching up against the back wall with a series of resounding thumps.
I cracked my head against the wall behind me, and stars floated in front of my face—but not enough to obscure the glorious sight of Mara leaping over the rubble and out the hole her partner had created in the wall.
Evangeline floated out behind her and wrapped her arms around her friend's neck, digging her fingers into Mara’s ruff.
With another swirl of bright magic, the two flashed away, faster than Mara could run on her own.
I realized that her movements had sent her scent floating across me and I almost swooned from it. She smelled like sugar and cinnamon and vanilla, like warm cookies baking. It was all I could do to keep from drooling.
Mine, my wolf insisted. I tried to shake off my response, but my inner animal dug in his heels. Mine.
Oh, hell.
This was nothing I had ever experienced before, but I knew what it was.
That was a mate-bond response.
We belong together. The knowledge raced through my entire body. It was all I could do to keep from jumping forward to claim her then and there.
Shit. Mate-bonds weren’t supposed to be possible on the island, either.
I reached up to feel the lump on the back of my head, wincing as my fingers made contact with the egg-sized bump.
Beside me, Trumbull spoke urgently into his walkie-talkie, barking out commands and instructions.
As alpha, I should have been angry that one of my pack members had so blatantly refused to work with me.
But as I pulled myself to my feet, my inner wolf lolled his tongue in lupine laughter.
There was definitely something satisfying about seeing my mate best the system.
Even if she didn’t know yet that she was my mate.
I indicated Trumbull with a nod that I would head back to the yard. He waved us away impatiently.
Strolling back down the long hallway, I made eye contact with Clark.
He didn’t say anything, but the corner of his mouth quirked up in something that was almost a grin.
Oh, yeah. He felt it, too.
Those two w
omen couldn’t get very far. They almost certainly couldn’t escape the island—not even with the magical ability they had shown so far. But even if they could, they’d be picked up eventually and brought back.
No, one way or another, we would be seeing them again.
And I couldn’t wait to see what they did next.
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About Margo Bond Collins
USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times bestselling author Margo Bond Collins is a former college English professor who, tired of explaining the difference between “hanged” and “hung,” turned to writing romance novels instead. Sometimes her heroines kill monsters, sometimes they kiss them. But they always aim for the heart.
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