by Stone, Leia
“When will your father let my mom go?” she asked, tears in her eyes. “It’s not fair to keep her—”
“Hush, Marji,” Nanny Bess said, stepping between us and the girl. With her back to us, our nanny kissed the girl’s head as the ferry pulled up to the dock. As Justice, Noble, Honor, and I all stared at one another in confusion, our nanny waved at the group of shifters and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Just as it had then, my stomach opened to a dark, fathomless pit.
‘Those people are her family,’ Honor said.
We all knew it.
‘Why is she with us and not them?’ Justice asked.
I shrugged, just as perplexed as my siblings. We were still young enough that we didn’t really understand that Nanny Bess was a hostage and our uncle was her captor.
‘You should ask,’ Justice said to me, his green eyes wide with worry. ‘You’re the one with courage.’
So I did—as soon as we were on the boat, I asked Nanny Bess.
“Before you were born, when your father was alpha king, all the shifters lived on the island together,” Nanny Bess said.
I stared at her in awe. “All of them?”
She nodded. “But after your father was killed—”
“By those Crescent scum,” I snarled, repeating what we’d heard from Declan, so eager to fill in this fact and show my brothers and my nanny that I was smart and on top of things.
Instead of nodding, Nanny Bess pursed her lips and then took a deep breath. “King Declan said the other shifters were inferior to the wolves and were taking up too much of his territory. We needed to leave. When we protested being kicked off the island, the wolves came into our territory and removed us by force.”
Her declaration had shocked me and my brothers, and we stared at her, slack-jawed.
“Now, I owe a ten-year penance to the alpha king.”
Her statement gutted me then.
‘That’s not right,’ Justice said.
“We’ll make Uncle Declan let you go,” Honor told her, hugging her waist. “You should be with your family.”
I agreed…
But Declan didn’t.
Later that night, when I’d asked him to let Nanny Bess go, he’d slapped me across the face and called me stupid and naïve.
He’d said my brothers and I had let ourselves be manipulated. We were too soft, too loving. Too gullible. We’d trusted a traitor—
And then, when Honor yelled at him to let Nanny Bess go as well…
Declan flew into a rage and hit us all.
With every strike, he admonished us to be wiser, stronger, tougher.
“You are the oldest and the strongest,” he’d said, looking down his nose at me. His expression was stern, his voice filled with disappointment. “And therefore, whether you want it or not, you are the alpha of your sibling pack. It is your responsibility, Courage, to make sure nothing like this happens to your family again. You let a traitor worm her way into your heart and steal your common sense. Just look at what that cost your brothers.” He waved at Justice, Noble, and Honor, all three of them holding their red cheeks. “If you can’t lead a group of four, how will you ever lead a pack of hundreds or thousands? It is time for you to grow up, young man. Lead with your head, not your bleeding heart.”
For years, I thought Declan was right.
I toughened myself, closed myself off to anyone or anything that could make me weak. I accepted Declan’s abusive words as truth. Even when I went with my brothers to fetch Nai from Montana.
The moment I laid eyes on her in those ripped jeans shorts and tank-top, standing barefoot on her land in Montana, my wolf had seized up inside of my body. When her scent had hit me, the drive to touch her, taste her, possess her nearly overwhelmed me. I knew then she’d be my ruin if I let her.
So I decided to never let her in.
And then, on the car ride to the portal, she clamped her hand over my mouth. Without even thinking, I’d tasted her skin. A small lick of her finger was all it took, and suddenly, I needed more. But every time I felt desire for Nai, I reminded myself of how weak it would make me. How thinking with my heart had gotten my brothers and me hurt.
Then came the masquerade party…
Hidden behind a mask, I thought a blind hook-up would be enough to satiate my growing desire for Nai, help me walk away from her.
But of all of the masked ladies at the party, I’d been pulled to her—like a magnet. Her kiss was sunshine lighting up the darkest abyss inside of me. It was water in the desert, sustenance to my starving soul. As soon as I kissed her, tasted her, I knew Miss Blue was Nai … and then the butterflies descended on us. I knew then Nai was my fated mate.
I fought it. Fate had to be wrong. Crescent Clan was to blame for my father’s death, so how could I love her? If I gave in to my desire for a traitor, it would surely make me weak, too weak to lead. Hadn’t Declan threatened exile and disinheritance before? If I accepted Nai as my mate, it’d put my uncle over the edge. I tried to convince myself “Crescent trash” wasn’t worth losing everything for…
Ironically, it was my brothers who’d refused to let her go.
Guilt gnawed through my gut for how I’d treated her that whole first semester. Hiding my mate marks, my identity, rejecting her like that. It nearly killed me; it definitely drove me to the brink of insanity.
And all the while, I watched in awe at the beauty of her soul. Her kindness, her enthusiasm, her persistence, and her loyalty all proved time and again how she was more than worthy of being my mate. She was my queen.
I dropped my head into my hands and sighed.
‘Nai…’ I called out through our bond, begging fate to grant me a boon. Instead, sinking dark horror filled me when there was no response. If—no, when—we completed our bonding, would I be able to hear her no matter which realm she was in?
Exhaustion burned my eyes and weighed down my limbs, but I wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet. I couldn’t go to sleep without a scrap of good news. I turned away from the fireplace and returned to the desk.
‘Did you find a mage powerful enough to break the protections on that portal?’ I asked Justice, slumping into the chair.
His response was immediate. ‘No, but I have a lead. Get some sleep. I’m on it.’
What did I do to deserve such loyal siblings?
‘Thank you.’
I set my head on the desk, allowing myself a minute of rest while thinking of Nai’s searing blue eyes and how she could look right into my soul. Then the pull of sleep took me.
Chapter Five
“We have a problem.”
Noble’s voice pulled me from slumber, and I shot upright. A piece of paper stuck to my face. I batted it away and looked up at my brother wearily. Fatigue, both physical and emotional, clung to me, making my vision blurry. One glance at the dark windows revealed the sun had not yet started to rise.
“What time is it?” I asked, blinking to clear the last vestiges of sleep. “And what do you mean by problem?” I stood and rolled out my neck and shoulders, then took in my brother’s serious expression. Crap. “You mean there’s another problem?”
“It’s five a.m.,” he said, nodding. He grimaced like his next words tasted bad. “Mallory is asking for her father to have a proper alpha burial. Said she can’t sleep until she’s guaranteed it.”
What. The. Mage?
I barked out a laugh.
A proper alpha burial meant he’d be buried in the Garden of Alphas alongside my father and other alphas who’d died after serving their packs for decades. That piece of trash could be buried in the woods, or we could burn him like Declan.
“No way. Proper alpha burials don’t go to shady challengers,” I growled as I walked to the adjoining bathroom off the study.
Noble grimaced again. “That’s what I told her. But she’s asking for an exception. Begging, really, saying the high mages spelled her father and tricked him into attacking you. She’s saying he was loyal t
o you.”
Tricked? Doubtful. Magically spelled I could buy but with his permission, no doubt. I ran the cold water and cupped my hands, splashing it on my face. As I straightened, Noble set a toothbrush and toothpaste on the ledge.
“Thanks,” I told him.
I brushed my teeth, noting the dark circles under my eyes as well as the five o’clock shadow. I looked beyond tired—pathetic, really.
“Any news on Nai?” I asked with a mouthful of toothpaste.
Noble was quiet, but I wasn’t sure if he didn’t understand my garbled question or if he didn’t want to answer. ‘Justice? What’s the word on that lead?’
Did my second-in-command even sleep last night? He’d said he had a lead, and then I fell asleep. I should be the one staying up all hours of the night, looking for her.
‘Sorry,’ Justice said, his words slurred. ‘I just nodded off for a second.’
‘That lead?’ I prompted, swishing out my mouth.
‘Yes, so Surlama’s sister, Kalama, is still indentured to the crown, and she has enough power to break those spells.’
And not high enough status to be brought back to High Mage Island with the master teachers for the meeting.
My eyes widened, and I looked at Noble. ‘Surlama’s sister? Can we even trust her?’
‘Do we have a choice?’ Noble and Justice both said in unison.
Touché.
‘I’ve strongly encouraged Kalama to break those spells.’ Justice yawned, the long, drawn-out breath echoing through our bond. ‘She’s working on them now.’
‘Strongly encouraged?’ I asked.
‘I may have threatened to kill her if she didn’t do it,’ Justice shot back. ‘It was three a.m., and I’m not in the mood for pattycake.’
I grinned.
‘I’m giving you a promotion,’ I said just as he strolled into the office.
He looked even worse than I, his black hair messily flattened on one side and sticking up on the other.
“I’m already your second.” He yawned again. “You can’t promote me any higher than that.”
I looked to Noble, who held up his index finger. “Technically, he’s right, but … you can make him head of the interrogation team.”
I faced Justice with a grin. “Done.”
Justice cracked his neck. “Since when do we have an interrogation team?”
“Since now,” Noble chuckled.
We all laughed with our normal brotherly banter, and for a brief moment, I almost forgot Nai was missing. But with my next breath, the gaping hole in my heart returned. Honor. Nai. They were family, the missing pieces of my heart, and I needed them.
‘Nai?’ I inhaled and shifted my thinking from my mate to my brother. ‘Honor—’
A loud knock at the door shattered my thoughts, and I groaned.
Please, don’t be Mallory.
Noble crossed the room and opened the door.
An ashen-faced guard stumbled in, covered in dried blood. His eyes were wide, and he worked his jaw, but no words came out.
Fur rippled down my arms at the sight of the older shifter, and I looked him over for injuries. “What happened, Simon?”
He was a guard from before my father’s time even. He shook his head, and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “Kirkland is … gone.”
Kirkland and Simon had been in the royal guard together for decades. They were two of the contingency I’d sent with Justice to Dark Row last night, two of the best—because I knew they’d take their responsibilities seriously.
Justice and I exchanged a look, and I could see the guilt in my brother’s eyes.
‘This isn’t your fault,’ I told Justice. I knew my brother; he was a protector, sometimes more so than me. These men were probably attacked right after he left, and he’d feel guilt over that.
Justice turned from me to Simon. “Was there an attack?”
It’d take a strong force to bring these two men down.
To my surprise, Simon shook his head.
“I don’t really know,” he said. “One minute, Kirkland and I were patrolling the east side of Dark Row, talking about the alpha fight, and the next thing … he was gone. There was a rustle of leaves, and I followed after it, but he was pulled away by something so fast my eyes couldn’t track it.”
I frowned, considering what could take one of my most seasoned guards. “Bear shifter?”
They weren’t that fast, but I had no other explanation.
He shook his head and swallowed hard. “No, there are a couple bear shifters helping guard the mages down by Dark Row, so I don’t think it’s them.”
“Bears?” I bristled. “They don’t usually help mages.” Shifters tended to stick to their own kind after Declan exiled them all.
Justice nodded, rubbing at his face. “Forgot to tell you last night. The mages pleaded for their help as well, and the bear king sent them.”
Bears and wolves working to protect mages at Dark Row? Unheard of…
I shook my head and turned back to Simon. “Tell us what you remember of the attack.”
He nodded. “As soon as he was dragged away, I tore off into the woods to find him. Only took a couple seconds to shift, but by the time I got to him … he was dead.”
“How long did it take you to find him?” Justice asked.
I knew what he was looking for, and I waited to hear the guard’s response. If it took Simon more than a couple of minutes to track someone, then his skills were suffering—either from age or neglect.
“Seconds, sir. Less than a minute after Kirkland disappeared, I found him—or rather his body. But … it didn’t look right.” Simon blanched, his ashy-gray coloring going even more pale, and he swallowed repeatedly before he managed to speak again. “His body was … husk-like, all around his neck, face, and chest.”
The room swam, and my stomach sank as I considered what could cause a death like that.
“A husk?” Noble asked, shooting me a look of horror.
Simon nodded. “Completely … drained of blood.”
What the hell did he just say?
“Drained of blood?” Justice parroted.
My brothers both echoed the guard’s statements as all three of us reeled with disbelief. Because there was only one thing that could drain blood that fast. Only one species who would—
The guard’s lip quivered, and then he started to shake. “His skin was all shriveled…” Simon swallowed, and tears dripped down his weathered cheeks. “Stuck to his bones…” He sniffed. “Like he was sucked dry.”
Justice and Noble turned to me, their eyes wide.
Shit.
The vampires chose now to come down from the cliffs? I sighed. “Thank you, Simon. From now on, we patrol in teams of four. Noble, have Simon checked by a healer and then get an additional dozen guards to Dark Row ASAP.”
He nodded, and Noble escorted him to the guard at the door and then returned.
The second the door closed, I turned to my brothers. “We need to make sure our patrols here have sufficient numbers to withstand—”
“You don’t really think the rumors about vampire nobility being alive are true, right?” Noble asked.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, wishing there was some way to deny the reality facing us.
Justice cleared his throat. “I heard Uncle Declan speaking once about them. Something about a blood payment.”
I jerked my chin up and stared at my brother. “A payment? Of what?”
Because there was only one thing I knew they’d want, and if Declan was paying them in blood…
“Oh, Mother Mage.” Noble shook his head. “Don’t tell me—”
“Knock-knock.” My mother entered the room, holding a tray of food, and we all quieted. As she crossed the room, I noticed her features—even her frame—reflected a strain or tenseness, and I had an epiphany. Whatever horror we’d suffered under Declan, our mother had probably suffered far more. I should have killed him sooner—a lot sooner
.
‘Don’t say anything to worry her,’ I said to my brothers. ‘She needs time.’
Probably a lot of it.
Her face brightened when she saw me. “How’s my new king? Any word on Nai?”
I shook my head, forcing a smile even as my heart sank. “Still working on it. I did get a message to her, I think, and Justice has a mage trying to break the protection spell on the portal.”
She nodded, setting down the tray. My brothers and I dug into the honey-baked ham, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns that were piled high on the platter but diminishing quickly.
My mom gave me a tremulous smile. “Honey, while you’re here, I need to talk to you about the main kitchen remodel.”
My shoulders tightened with fresh, additional tension. “Kitchen remodel?”
She nodded. “Chuck has been asking for a remodel budget for a decade now, and I think—”
“Give me a list of what you and Chuck want as well as pricing, and we’ll get it done,” Noble said. “Rage has enough on his plate without having to worry about a kitchen remodel.”
‘Thanks.’ I shot my brother a smile filled with relief and gratitude. ‘That would’ve been the straw that broke my camel’s back.’
Mom smiled. “Will do, dear.”
After giving us all a kiss on the cheek, she left, and I felt both worse and better because she seemed to stand a little taller.
Was this really what my uncle had done all day? Because it was a lot harder than I thought it’d be. I was constantly putting out fires with barely any time to think about Nai or myself.
“I’ll handle the kitchen remodel,” Noble told me. “But I’d also like to hire an assistant.”
I nodded. “Done. Approved. Whatever you need.”
Justice and I met each other’s gazes.
“I need you to tell me everything you know about the vampire situation, preferably before we get to Dark Row to check out where Kirkland was killed.”
Justice nodded. “We can talk on our way over. First, let’s go check in with Kalama.”
We all stood, and I looked from Justice to Noble and back. “If anyone hears anything about Nai—”
