by Leia Stone
Huh. Why would someone from the academy want the A-team picking me up?
“Sure, I understand English just fine. Thanks for asking.” I ignored his huff and laid on another question. “Who sent the summons?”
That adage about curiosity killing the cat had no bearing on wolves. I was as curious as they came and not afraid of death.
Rage grabbed his ears. “Holy mage, woman, do you ever stop talking?”
What a baby! The last time I’d covered my ears like that was when I was five. Maybe he had issues; like eating paint chips as a kid or wasn’t loved by his mother enough. Whatever it was, it wasn’t my problem. With the sweetest smile I could muster, I pried one of his meaty fists away from his head.
“Nope.” I popped the “p” and let go of his hand. Every single wolf in the car grinned—well, almost everyone.
“I like her,” Noble declared.
Justice spoke up from the front seat: “Well, don’t. She’s not in our pack.”
I crossed my arms, secretly grateful for the reminder. I couldn’t let my guard down. “Damn straight, and I’ll never forget Midnight’s betrayal.”
All four of their eyebrows furrowed. “OUR betrayal?”
Rage grinned for the first time, and holy-mage-of-everything-beautiful, he just got hotter.
Bastard.
“She’s been lied to.” Rage shook his head, and his voice held a bit of pity.
My vision turned crimson, and I gasped. “Have not! The king ordered your clan to attack. They murdered half of my pack, including my uncle, before casting the rest of us out—and for what? No solid reason was ever given!”
My wolf pounded against my skin, demanding to be freed. Whose bright idea was it to put us all together in one small space? And why was my wolf so anxious to come out here and now? Maybe someone was trying to get me killed.
“Nai.” Honor patted my thigh tenderly as he spoke, and Rage’s gaze flicked to his hand, nostrils flaring. “Your uncle was convicted of a high crime by the High Mage Council. Our alpha was merely following orders from them.”
Shock ripped through me, and my mind blanked. High crime? There’s no way anyone in my pack would deliberately offend the high mages…
Dad never told me what his brother had done, just that it had brought trouble to our pack. He would’ve told me if it was a high crime though … right? The five high mages ruled everything, both in the mortal realm as well as that of the magic one. Most of the time, they left our kind, werewolves, alone to be governed by the alpha king. Even so, we all knew no one, including the alpha king, could refuse an order from the high mages.
The fact that my uncle committed a high crime couldn’t be true. They had to be lying—of course they were lying. This was Midnight clan. I wouldn’t let them drive a wedge between me and my dad, let alone my clan.
Nice try.
“Whatever. You’re the ones who’ve been lied to.” I crossed my arms and fell silent.
Damn, this ride was boring and never-ending. I leaned forward and glanced at the clock. Ten minutes? Ugh. Better keep on with my questioning.
“So, what are your jobs on the island? Let me guess. Security?” If they were last in line for the throne among ten or twenty siblings, they wouldn’t even go to school. They’d just be used for cushy jobs around the alpha king like security, war advisor, or breeding companion to females of good lineage.
Useless, basically.
All four boys shared a look I couldn’t interpret.
“Something like that,” Justice said, and the car went quiet.
The Virtues carried on between themselves, talking about random guy crap, and I tuned them out, resting my head against the back of the seat once again. I did my best to ignore Rage too. But that was easier said than done. Every time he moved, the seat dipped, and I slid into him. Eighteen times in sixty minutes, but who was counting. The guy must have werewolf ADHD.
I must’ve dozed off. One minute, my eyes were closed and my head against the leather headrest; and the next thing I knew, I jerked awake, all nuzzled up to the most lickable-male a she-wolf could hope to mate with. If said male wasn’t a member of the most traitorous clan in the world.
Oh. My. Flippin’. Mage.
I inhaled and nearly moaned before thinking. My mouth watered, and my wolf wanted to see if Rage tasted as good as he smelled. This wasn’t right. Rival packs were supposed to smell revolting. Not this bottle of pheromone yum.
My wolf and I needed to get on the same page—pronto. I yanked my head off of his shoulder and murmured, “Mmffttstff … sorry.”
Yikes.
I turned the color of a tomato but bit my tongue. The end of my incoherent babble was an apology, so it should count.
He looked down at me, and heat pooled in my abdomen.
No.
With a stony expression that could cut diamonds, he said, “No worries. This isn’t the first time a girl’s fallen asleep on me.”
My cheeks burned as his brothers chuckled.
“Won’t be the last.” Justice reached out for a fist bump, and I smacked his hand out of the way.
“Grow up,” I snapped. “You’re more likely to put a girl to sleep out of boredom—not exhaustion.”
“She’s like the sister we never had,” Noble declared, laughing as he pulled the car into a canopy of trees.
“Eww.” I crossed my arms. “I’d rather die.”
I sat up straighter. This wasn’t just any canopy of trees. An iridescent shimmer flickered within the opening, and anxiety tightened my gut.
This was the portal to the magic lands.
“Five dollars says she pukes,” Justice said, narrowing his eyes. “The weak ones always do.”
I flipped him off. Glare away, pretty boys. I was not going to puke.
The car crept forward, and a rainbow mist appeared between the trees.
My anxiety gave way to excitement, and the feeling thrummed through me. I squealed, bouncing up and down in my seat like a lunatic. “It’s the portal! It’s real.”
As soon as I realized we weren’t moving, I glanced at the guys—who were all staring at me.
Honor’s frown was filled with pity. “You really have been stuck in the human world your whole life, huh?”
Bless his heart.
“Yeah, because of your Al—”
Rage clamped a hand around my mouth. “Stop talking.”
Rage was too manhandly for my liking. He needed to be taught a lesson. Wrenching away from his hand, I then reached up and clamped my hand over his mouth with a sneer.
Oops.
His lips were still parted, and the second his tongue hit my skin, an electric current zipped up my spine. My thoughts fritzed—gone. What had I been saying?
I’d forgotten what I’d been doing.
Why did he lick me?
Oh yeah.
“Doesn’t feel so nice, does it?” I asked, ripping my hand away.
Ugh. Why did my voice sound so breathy?
Rage’s green eyes were wide, mirroring my shock. He swallowed hard, but his rough voice held a note of warning. “I meant for you to stop talking … so you can focus.” He swallowed again. “Or you could be ripped in two.”
What the what?
My eyes bugged. How did my father not cover that in his brief chat on portals? “How do I not get ripped in two? That seems like something important you should tell me.”
“Just calm down and focus on your breathing,” Honor shared with a snicker, and I suddenly felt like I was going to faint.
Noble reached back toward me. “Alpha Island invitation.”
Oh, the swirly thing my father had handed me this morning. Was that a part of this portal process?
I pulled it out of my back pocket and unfolded the paper. Noble then looked at Rage. “Crescent Clan heir summons.”
Rage held another thick piece of paper out to his brother, and I craned my neck to try and read it. Too late. All I saw were more magical swirly letters and t
he same embossed emblem.
Noble rolled down the window.
“What’s next—? Whoa!” I stared opened-mouthed as a man materialized out of freaking nowhere. Boom. One second, nothing; and the next, the guy was ten feet in front of the car … floating in the air. I looked closer. Not a man. A high mage.
My body froze and skin tingled. I’d never seen one before.
Honor tapped my chin. “It’s rude to stare.”
Holy crap.
I shrank down, half-hiding my face in Rage’s arm but also keeping one eye out to see the race who ruled us all.
Pretty much … scary as hell. At least, I couldn’t imagine anyone more so.
The high mage was close to seven feet tall, thin and wiry, wearing dark robes with swirling galaxies of stars that moved on the cloak. He didn’t walk so much as float, and the closer he got, the more his presence crawled through the car. The air charged with electricity, and I had to tamp down my fear. His eyes were the most unsettling because … eyes shouldn’t look like that. Like his robes, his eyes were dark with small universes swirling in slow circles within. My legs went weak. I wanted to ask about them, but I also wanted to live, so I kept my questions to myself.
His gaze flickered to the papers held before him.
“Another heir from Crescent?” The mage’s voice sounded like a blend of French horn and wind chimes. More contrasts that were freaky when put together.
“Unfortunately,” Rage offered, making the high mage grin, “Rules are rules. If the council sends the summons, we’ll respectfully fetch.”
I didn’t know Rage well, but that sounded like sarcasm, and I didn’t appreciate the dog reference.
“Their last heir, sir.” Noble looked slightly less terrified than I felt.
“Well, thank goodness for that.” The high mage pinned me with a glare, and I dropped my gaze to Rage’s knees.
I could feel the galaxy dude looking at me, assessing me like spiders crawling over my body. Was that magic? It felt like he was touching me, and my wolf didn’t like it. I could feel her cowering. Breathing in deeply through my nose, I felt my wolf suddenly lurch to the surface.
Now?
I’d struggled with control over my wolf form since I was a young pup. In a fight, when instinct should take over, my wolf mostly stayed inside, so I was forced to fight in my human form. Other times, like this, she was too eager to come to the surface. She had it backward … and was wildly unpredictable.
She was not happy.
A small patch of fur bristled on the top of my hand, and Rage immediately reached out and clamped down on it. The contact was so sudden that it stopped my shift. Clutching my fist firmly in his, he pressed against me and nodded to the high mage.
“All set?” Rage’s voice held something I couldn’t place.
Protection?
I felt the high mage’s energy leave the car then, no longer creeping over my skin and stirring my wolf.
“Go ahead.” The high mage handed the papers back, and the portal started to swirl—like a rainbow inside of a washing machine. Then, he disappeared. Poof.
Gone.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. And Rage released my hand.
“Their last heir, sir,” Justice teased, mocking Noble’s voice far too well.
“Screw you, dude. They legit give me nightmares. I heard a high mage could make it so you shoot blanks—or even that you couldn’t get it up—”
“You can come out of my armpit now,” Rage muttered, shoving his elbow into my side.
Blushing, I straightened, not realizing until now how much I’d tucked into him. “What? I was … looking for my earring.”
I didn’t even have pierced ears.
A sly grin played at the edges of his mouth. “Mmm-hmm.”
Noble threw the car in drive and, as we inched forward, glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “No more talking. Focus on your breath. Got it?”
“Wait, I—”
He gunned the gas, and the tires squealed as the car beelined for the shimmering portal.
Blessed High Mage Council, don’t let me die.
As my breathing grew short and shallow, I pinched my eyes shut and then opened them because I didn’t want to miss a thing. I was going to Alpha Island, to the magic lands. Going through a portal. This was epic even if I was about to die.
The car got closer, and I sucked in my breath, tensing my thighs with an iron grip.
Rage reached over, grabbed my forearms, and slid his hands down to mine, stroking my skin.
Holy mage…
Threading our fingers together, he leaned into me and whispered, “Relax.”
Everything inside of me melted. That voice was almost as good as his lickable-pheromone-yumminess. Any witty response I might’ve had evaporated as we entered the rainbow washing machine.
The entire car lit up like the aurora borealis, colors splashing across the seats, ceiling, and walls. Not to mention me and the quads. With a flash of agony, my vision turned white as it felt like my skin was ripped away. My stomach flipped, but Rage’s grip on my fingers clamped down, keeping me steady. When I thought I couldn’t take the feeling of being spun any longer, the car shot out of the portal and to the other side. Rage dropped my hands as quickly as he’d grabbed them, and like a mist of cool water on a hot day, relief washed over me, followed by a sense of rightness. I took a deep breath, but my smile faded as I looked out the window.
What the heck? Where was the magic?
I blinked and shook my head. Staring at the trees, I nudged Rage with my elbow. “It looks exactly the same as before we went through the veil.”
Rage grunted. “What did you expect? Faeries?”
Well, clearly the hand holding was to keep me alive, not because he enjoyed my presence.
“You okay?” Noble asked.
I nodded. “Never better. I think someone owes you money, right?”
He grinned and held his hand out to Justice. “A fiver, please.”
“Is this seriously happening right now?” Justice groaned. “She’s like the scrawniest wolf ever. How did she not puke?”
I looked at Noble, and he winked.
Hah! I had an ally in these brothers.
Now that we were in the magic lands, that meant we’d be to Alpha Island shortly and then on Academy grounds … an academy I knew nothing about.
“So … first day of school…” I said, tipping my chin high. “Do I get one of those Alpha Academy shirts like you guys?”
Justice just growled at me.
Clearly, he was a poor loser. Note to self: don’t be on Justice’s team.
Noble shot me a look of pity, and my confidence disappeared as fast as it had come. “Yeah … about that. I think you’ll find things here on the island are a bit more formal than what you are used to.”
Rage’s gaze went to the hem of my cut-off shorts. I played with the frayed ends and shrugged. I didn’t do formal; I was from Montana. When I wasn’t training with my father, I milked goats and lay in the cornfields with Callie and Mack, talking about pack stuff. Not a single dress in my entire wardrobe.
I was about to ask another question when we drove up to a normalish quaint town that resembled something out of a Harry Potter movie. Over the next ten minutes, I inched closer and closer to the window on my right, not because Rage smelled good but the view was better. I think.
A red barn stood on a hilltop, and my jaw unhinged as I stared out the window at a huge black bear, ignoring Rage’s groan of frustration.
“Holy crap, is that a shifter or a regular bear?” I pressed my face to the glass, ignoring Rage as he pushed me back.
As if answering my question, the bear started to contort and shift, losing fur and mass until he was a naked male staring out at our passing car with stony eyes. My cheeks went red as I averted my gaze.
“Listen, if you want to keep your head attached, don’t stare at them,” Rage said. “Bear shifters have nasty tempers.”
/> I had no idea if he was joking or lying, so I reeled back and took it in with the buffer zone he provided.
I’d only ever grown up around wolf shifters, but my father said there were bird, seal, panther, bear, coyote, deer, and countless others living in the magic lands. Along with the mages…
The mages had nothing on humans, numbers-wise, but a mage lived anywhere from two to ten times longer than humans. A couple thousand mages could do a lot of damage in a mortal war—which was why they mostly stayed here, in the magic lands with the shifters.
Whether shifter or mage, all magical creatures were ordered to stay in the magic lands unless given permission to leave or were exiled, sometimes with their power stripped.
The Crescent Clan’s exile was instituted by the alpha king, confining us to a few hundred acres and limited access to town. If we did anything in Montana without the alpha king’s approval, there could be hell to pay. Thankfully, Amazon delivered. Eventually.
“Are there really fifty different kinds of shifter?” I asked Noble now that we were buddies. Why did everyone else need a throat punch? Maybe they didn’t. A lobotomy might work instead. But in either case, I was saved by the noble Noble.
He nodded. “But the high mages, alpha wolf shifters, and vampires are the most powerful.”
My blood ran cold. Vampires?
“I … I thought all the vampires died out in the last war?” I hated that my voice shook a little.
A creature that sucked blood from your veins to become more powerful? A shiver ran down my spine. Nightmareville.
Rage groaned and shoved his fingers into his ears.
Legit baby.
“Someone forgot their happy pills this morning,” I muttered. “Maybe you should see a healing mage for that. Or get therapy for life skills.”
He glared at me, and I glared back, unwavering. Take that, bully.
Breaking my glare-off with Rage, I turned as Honor said: “A few vampire nobility are still around, but they live off in the cliffs and don’t come to the island.”
Thank the mages for that!
“We’re here.” Noble pulled the car into a parking space, and I looked up to see a ferry sitting on a shore of deep blue water that lapped onto a black sandy beach—just like the colors of the night sky.
