by Leia Stone
Without him saying it, I knew the “we” he referred to was him and Noble. Sweet and caring, both of them. Or could that “we” also include the other two Midnight brothers? Probably, at least one of them—if one of them was my mate.
Gah! Why did there have to be so many green-eyed boys at this school?
Emotion clogged my throat, and I sank into Honor’s hug. “Thanks for trying.”
Honor kissed my temple and then pulled away. “We’re not done,” he said, crouching to look me in the eye. “I’ll meet you here same time next week.”
I watched him leave, guilt pressed against my breastbone. As soon as he disappeared around the corner, my wolf nudged me.
‘Run?’
Blessed Mother Mage. Really? Now that Honor was gone, she was willing to come out? No one told her what to do.
Granted, I’d been keeping my shifts to once a week so that I didn’t run into my mate again. Staring out into the darkness, I found the normal skittering and hoots served to reassure me that, hopefully, I wouldn’t see him. So long had passed that the odds had to be in my favor. Surely he wouldn’t be out in the woods this late. Right? The stress was going to kill me. Or drive me mad—except I might already be there.
Ugh. I needed to connect to the earth. To feel the air in my fur.
Before I could formulate any further arguments, I marched into the woods, stripping out of my clothes as soon as I’d cleared the tree line.
With a deep breath, I relaxed, letting my wolf surge forward. The fur prickled as it spread down my skin, and I grinned as my bones twisted and morphed. Seconds later, I let my tongue loll out of my mouth in the wolf-equivalent of a grin. I so needed this.
Racing into the forest, I left the tension of the last few weeks behind and thought of nothing but the night and the beauty of the woods. The scent of wolf was everywhere, but this deep into the forest, the other smells ruled. Early autumn’s foliage, decomposing mulch, the scat of small rodents and birds.
And then I sensed him.
‘Mate.’
I couldn’t say if it was by smell or just the feeling, but I had time to flee. Only I didn’t really want to. The large black wolf stepped from behind a tree, slowly approaching.
‘Mate.’
Closing my eyes, I let him approach.
‘Missed you.’ He nuzzled my neck. ‘Smell good.’
But the intimacy of the gesture—of his touch—upset me, and I stepped back. ‘No. You left me. You hurt me.’
I used small short sentences his wolf could understand.
‘Yes.’ He nodded. ‘Leaving you bad. Mate never leave. My human stupid.’
True that. The “human stupid” comment won him a wolfish grin.
‘Human very stupid,’ I agreed.
‘Mate. Home. Safe. No Leave.’ His voice brushed over me as he nuzzled my neck, and the sincerity in his voice melted me. I could feel his feelings just the way my father described as pack alpha. Did all mates have this? I could feel my pack back home. I let him continue to nuzzle my neck before nipping playfully at his fur.
‘I’m sorry I bit you last time.’
He cocked his head and then licked me from chin to ear. ‘Sorry I hurt you.’
My heart squeezed at his words, and I nuzzled him back. Why couldn’t his human be as nice?
Chapter 14
Two weeks later, and I still couldn’t shift for Honor, not even when he threatened me with a knife. Not even when Noble jumped out in all his wolfish glory—a big black wolf, incidentally—and shocked me. Nope. For one irrational second, I thought the wolf was my mate’s, but my wolf … she knew and didn’t even budge for Noble.
On a more positive note, I had made progress in my water elemental class, and fire was finally starting to click.
I watched the water stir in the glass I held, staring at the steady liquid as I pushed heat into the glass through my palm. The water stirred and started to boil, causing me to grin. When there was a good roiling boil, and I was confident that I held my magic energy tight within my being, I held the glass out to Master Carn. “There you are.”
The tall mage wore a furrowed expression, his lips flattened until they nearly disappeared, but he said nothing. After accepting the glass, he stuck a thermometer into the contents as if confirming I’d done just as he’d asked.
Like we both couldn’t see the water boiling.
“Now will you teach me fireballs?” I asked. Not that boiling water didn’t have its usefulness and all. “We still have an hour of class left—”
He shook his head. “Not today, I’m afraid.”
Then he turned, set the glass on his desk, and headed to the door—all without even looking at me. I stood slack-jawed, watching him practically flee after my success.
“Where are you going?” I asked. “I thought this was class time?”
“I’ve got a staff meeting,” he said over his shoulder by way of explanation, pulling the door open. “Can’t be late.”
His deep voice bounced back into the room, and I frowned. Master Carn was acting whack.
Rage was missing today too, so it wasn’t like I could ask him to help me. Not that he would. After our warm-fuzzy convo two weeks ago, he’d returned to pretending I didn’t exist. Who knew how that boy’s mind worked? Not me. One hundred percent not me.
Well … if Master Carn wasn’t going to teach me how to wield fire, I’d find a book in the library and teach myself.
I left the room, hefting the stupid beginner’s fire book, and practically skipped down the hall. If I never had to work with Master Carn again, it would be fine by me. He might be brilliant with his element, but the guy was stuffy and cold. Zero personality and unhelpful. Why become a teacher if he didn’t want to teach?
Master Jin, my water teacher, was happy to have an eager student, and with his help, I was quickly catching up. Master Carn, on the other hand, treated me like a pariah, probably taking hints from Rage or even the alpha king. The fire mage left the room more than any other teacher I’d ever had, which shortened my lessons … like he wanted me to fail. Too bad. I refused to fail at anything.
I pulled open the door to the library, and the smells of parchment and leather assailed me.
“Can I help—oh … Nai.” Mrs. Edi blinked at me through her Coke-bottle glasses as I pushed the beginner fire textbook to her. The advanced spell mage glanced down at the heavy tome. “All done with this one?”
“Yep.” I grinned at the librarian. Her thick lenses made her eyes look bigger than they were. “I need advanced books on fire wielding, please.”
She frowned, scooting off her chair, and disappeared behind the desk. “Is there a specific question you have? I’m sure Master Carn would be the best resource for you—”
“No, he won’t,” I grunted, and she stepped out from around the corner, her brow furrowed with worry.
After a long exhale, I met her eye-to-eye. “Master Carn is useless. He’s always leaving me alone during class time. I’d like some additional reading. I need to learn enough to pass my test at the end of the term.”
“Oh, dear. That won’t do.” Her eyes widened, magnified by the thick lenses. She patted my shoulder and offered a smile filled with sympathy. “Let me show you where the advanced texts are.”
I followed the stout woman through the rows of shelves until we neared the back of the library.
Mrs. Edi pointed to a row of four bookcases filled with thick tomes and rolled parchments. “All the advanced practical information is here. It’s organized by affinity, so everything with the symbol of fire on it should be in the second case.”
She pointed to the second bookcase, and at the top of it, a dancing flame emblem stood etched into the wood.
My gaze flicked over the other bookcases, stopping at water, the three squiggly lines that matched the mark on my abdomen. “Thanks, Mrs. Edi.”
She patted my hand. “Always happy to help a student wanting to learn.”
Which is what all teacher
s should believe—like a motto or sworn oath.
She turned to go, and my gaze flicked past the shelves, landing on a black onyx stone door. Inlaid in gold was a symbol I didn’t recognize: a large triangle with three overlapping circles inside, all spread apart like petals of a flower.
“What’s in there?” I asked, pointing at the strange door. There wasn’t even a handle for it.
Mrs. Edi’s eyes widened, and she swallowed hard before following my gaze.
“That’s … not for students.” With a curt nod, she spun and practically raced down the aisle. “Good day, Nai.”
Huh. Okaaay.
I turned my attention back to finding a solution for my sucky teacher. Each of the bookcases was close to six feet in length. Stopping in front of the second one, I stared at the fire symbol. With nearly an hour before I needed to be in the cafeteria, I stepped back to the first bookcase … and stared at the three wavy lines—exactly like the ones on my abdomen.
Maybe instead of looking into advanced fire magic, I should look into why the water symbol was seared on my body. I didn’t even think about it anymore unless I was showering. I still hadn’t asked anyone else about the mark. Not even Kaja.
I glanced over the books, their thick, embossed spines so similar to the basic text Master Carn had given me. At the end of the bottom shelf, a thin journal-looking tome sat tucked between two larger books. I plucked it from the shelf. After wiping the dust from the top of it, I turned it over. The leather-bound book held only the wavy line-symbol embossed on it. No title or author on the cover. The blue leather was worn, and as I traced the lines one by one, a deep feeling of resonance hit me. My heart fluttered with excitement, and I opened the text. This book was old; the paper was stitched together—
A single sheet slid from the book. I snatched it from the air before tucking it into the back of the book.
Notes on Water was hand-written on the first page, followed by a bunch of chemistry-like equations.
Cool.
I kept the book, deciding to read it later, and moved to the fire shelf, scanning it for a similar tome to the one I held. My attention snagged on a title, and I nearly laughed out loud. Wielding Fire—An Advanced Guide for Self-Instruction.
Take that, Master Carn! I don’t need you.
I pulled the book from the shelf and sat on the floor, letting it fall open on my lap. There it was, in black and white on the table of contents page:
Creating and Transferring Heat I: Boiling Water
Creating Light I: From Lighting Candles to Live Flames in Your Palm
Creating and Transferring Light and Heat II: Fireballs
Grinning, I snapped the book shut.
Heading toward the door, I passed a shelf of books that all had the same width, height, and pretty gold lettering on the spine.
Squirrel.
I stopped and my smile turned into full-blown curiosity. These were yearbooks! The gold lettering on the spines were years from the 1900s up until now.
I traced my finger over the years, counting down to when my father would’ve been here.
But the yearbooks for the years he would have been here … were missing.
Gone was the year he graduated, along with the six before.
What the mage?
I climbed to my feet, intending to ask Mrs. Edi about the missing yearbooks, when I heard the large library doors squeak open, and the trickle of voices wound through the shelves.
“Edi, go to lunch early,” a man’s gravelly voice said. “And don’t come back for at least an hour.”
“But—” she interjected, possibly to tell them a student was still in here.
“Now!”
“Yes, sir,” she squeaked.
What an asshat!
I glared at the air, offended for the librarian, and her shuffling footsteps disappeared, followed by the door clicking shut. Oh crap! What was I supposed to do now? I stepped toward the aisle to let whoever was here know of my presence when someone else spoke.
“It stinks like wet dog in here,” another man said. His voice had the musical quality of a high mage, specifically the one in the royal blue robes who seemingly had it out for me.
Nervous anxiety crawled down my spine.
Hiding might be better.
“Are you certain there are no other wolves in here?”
Peeking through the shelves, I saw the high mage from the council standing near the door, and beside him was none other than the king himself. Not that I’d ever met the jerk, but his pictures were plastered everywhere. He had the same dark hair as his nephews as well as the jacked body, but his chin jutted with belligerence, and his muddy-brown eyes glinted with malice. Rage and Justice clearly took their mean-lessons from this douchebag.
The king locked the library doors with a click and then turned to the high mage.
Raising his eyebrows, the king said, “I’m sure you’re not implying that I stink, Kian.”
“How’s our project going?” the high mage asked, ignoring the king’s statement. “Any idea how Crescent trash was summoned early? I was hoping things would be further along than they are, Declan.”
“The investigation is still ongoing. We’ve had some odd interferences.” The king groaned. “Also, we’ve had our first fated mate-pair of opposite clans, but no one knows who they are. Another project I’ve been pursuing.”
My throat went bone dry. The fact that they were working together was scary as hell, especially because both “projects” centered around me. I strained to hear more regarding the fated mates.
“A mated pair, from opposite clans?” Kian asked. “That’s impossible.”
“Indeed.”
“That’s… a high crime.”
I swallowed hard, and then my heart stopped when the high mage said, “Find out who they are, and have them report to the High Mage Council.”
Frick. I knew fated mates from opposing clans was bad, but a high crime?
Kian continued to talk, but I wasn’t paying attention anymore. I needed to find a place to hide … because they were coming this way.
I raced to the other end of the row, at the very back of the library, and my heart dropped when I realized the only way out of here was that black onyx door. The one not for students.
“I’ve put a lot of faith in you,” Kian said, his voice louder as they drew near.
If they got any closer, one of them would smell or hear me. I reached out and splayed my palm on the cool black stone, hoping it was unlocked, and pushed.
Best luck ever.
The door opened without a sound, and I slid inside, closing it gently.
A light turned on automatically. I ducked down on my hands and knees, wishing for invisibility.
Please don’t walk through the door.
Then, the strangest thing happened. Even though the door was closed, I could hear them while they continued their conversation—as if they were standing in the same room.
Okay. Maybe I shouldn’t have opened the magic black door.
“…and the selkies killed four of our guards—”
“How did the selkies get past the barrier?” Kian, aka Shady High Mage, asked. “Something is amiss here, and I’m going to look into it. I suggest you do the same, Declan. We need to know who is sabotaging us and put a stop to it.”
“Of course I’m looking into it, but only high mage magic could allow them to cross the barrier—and I don’t have that magic.”
The accusation was clear. Silence descended on their conversation.
There was no answer, and after counting to ten, I stood, intending to crack the door and peek out when a cold hand clamped over my mouth.
My shriek died in my throat.
“Shhh,” a woman whispered from behind me. “If they catch you in here, you’re dead.”
My heart hammered in my chest, and I nodded to let her know I understood.
Slowly, she pulled her fingers back one by one.
My blood pumped through my ve
ins, my heart slamming against my ribs so hard my head spun. I pivoted and came face to face with the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
“Holy mage.” My eyes widened as I took her in. Silvery blue hair fell to her waist in a cascade of soft curls. I knew from the way she carried herself and her golden cloak that she was a mage. A high-level one.
The room I’d ducked into wasn’t a room at all but a grand hallway leading to what looked like an even bigger library—of sorts. Bookshelves lined the walls with domed twenty-foot ceilings and stained-glass inlay. It was beautiful.
And I wasn’t supposed to be here. “I … well … you see—”
She waved her hand at me as if she didn’t want me to speak and reached for my hand. Pulling it up to her face, she traced the lines in my palm.
“You opened the door?” she asked.
Her expression showed no fury or menacing power, more just a quizzical nature, so I relaxed a little.
“Yes … ma’am. It was unlocked.”
She winced. “Do I look old enough to be called ma’am?”
I grinned and shook my head. “Sorry. Miss?”
She nodded, dropping my hand. “That’s better. Now, who are you?”
I swallowed hard. “Nai, of Crescent Clan.”
Her gaze narrowed and seemed to run the length of my hair. “Crescent Clan?” A strange look of shock? Surprise?—something I couldn’t quite place—flickered across her face, and then it was gone. “You really shouldn’t be in here—”
Someone cleared their throat, farther down the hall, and a book snapped shut.
I frowned. “What is this place?”
She chewed her lip as if mentally wrestling with something.
With a snap of her fingers, a little table appeared with a chair on either side. The quality of the stained wood was excellent, the surface completely unmarred of graffiti or even nicks or pen marks.
Several books sat on the top, and my eyes widened when I realized they were a stack of yearbooks, the six missing ones from the shelf.
But how did they get in here? And why? Did she know I’d been looking for these only minutes ago?
