by Leia Stone
She looked down at the book and then toward the door. “You must go now.”
Okay … was that code for “Take the books with you?”
“So … can I borrow these?”
Another sound like the flapping of wings came from deeper down the hall, and her gaze sharpened. “Go!”
I grabbed the six books, spun, and pulled open the door, praying to every deity in all of history that the king and high mage would be gone.
Stepping into the Alpha Academy library, I sagged in relief to find I was completely alone.
Thank the mage.
My mind reeled with the conversation Kian and the king had had but mostly with the secret library and the silver-haired mage I’d met. This school held more secrets than a beach had sand.
Pushing all of that from my mind, I sank to the ground between the aisles with an overwhelming need to see pictures of my father. I missed him so much it hurt.
Thumbing through the top book, I found that it was my uncle’s graduation year. My father was two years younger and would have been a second year.
I flipped through it until I spotted my uncle smiling in his cap and gown, and a lump of emotion filled my throat. My father stood right next to him, holding bunny ears over his cap. He had his other arm around my Uncle Mackay. Mackay had the same lithe build and the same wide-set, pale blue eyes that both Dad and I had. What would he say if he were here now?
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I stared, and my throat tightened.
“Miss you, Dad,” I whispered, running my fingers over the page. My uncle and father were the best of friends. They did everything together growing up and never had the typical alpha sibling rivalry. I flipped through the pages, stopping when a group photo caught my eye.
My stomach dropped.
I knew it! I knew my father would never lie to me.
There was Dad, in a suit, at some party, grinning ear to ear. But my uncle was grinning like a lunatic, his golden-blond hair tousled and messy. Uncle Mackay leaned to the side, off-balance, pulled by another young man on his left. I stared, jaw gaping, at the young man … the spitting image of Rage, except this version of him was laughing, arm around my uncle like they were the best of friends. Dark black hair, green eyes, and swoon-worthy smile. It wasn’t Rage though; it was his dad.
I flipped through the other yearbooks, looking for pictures of my uncle Mackay. In every single group picture I found Mackay, Rage’s dad was there too—playing volleyball on the beach, studying in this very same library, both of them with arms around girls, one of whom looked a lot like Rage’s mom. Picture after picture told a story.
A bell sounded, jarring me from my trance, and I swore. Late for lunch service meant I got to march through a line of shame.
I shoved the six yearbooks into my bag and zipped it up. I mean, it wasn’t stealing, right? The mage lady gave them to me, and they were technically staying on school property. Totally legit. Now I had the proof of what I’d told Rage. I might be wrong about a lot of things, but this wasn’t one of them.
My uncle and Rage’s dad were friends. Best friends from the looks of it.
Somehow, holding the proof in my hand wasn’t nearly as gratifying as I’d hoped. In fact, the idea of going to Rage to shove this in his face made my stomach turn.
I ducked out of the aisle and then the library, racing through the building toward my lunchroom servitude, mulling over why I didn’t want to march over to Rage and show him the pictures in my bag.
It was like the ultimate I-told-you-so, and while there would be some sense of vindication for me … I spent most of my time on rocky ground with Rage, and this might push us past our breaking point.
I needed to wait for the right time, and even though I wanted it to be today… it wasn’t.
Chapter 15
The next month passed by in a blur of activity. The leaves on the trees started to turn golden yellow and burnt orange with the promise of fall and sweet pumpkin coffee. I went through the motions with Master Carn, letting him spoon-feed me while I studied by myself in the evenings. After weeks hunched over the advanced fire textbook, one night, at 1 a.m., I finally made a fireball!
The next day, I grinned like a lunatic when Rage made one and I stepped up next to him with one in my own palm. Master Carn nearly passed out and then fled the room—off to report to the king most likely.
I stood in Fire Studies with Rage watching me with his inscrutable gaze.
“How are your lessons with Honor?” His gaze traveled the length of my body as if he could see evidence of my progress on my exposed skin. Of course, he knew I couldn’t shift. They all probably talked about it at dinner. How embarrassing.
The fireball I’d been building fizzled out in my palm, but I puffed my chest out and muttered, “Fine.”
“So you can shift on demand if danger appears?” Rage asked, stepping in front of me.
I took a step back and bumped into a table.
Rage inched forward. The weight of his attention made me aware of our proximity, and a thrill of excitement shot through me.
Gah! Why did I care about him or his attention? Worse, why did my body react every single time he drew near? Like my brain short-circuited.
Because he was a freaking hottie, that’s why. All the Midnight boys were.
Keep it together, Nai!
“Why does it matter to you?” I raised my gaze to meet his, but all my irritation fled at the heat I saw in his eyes.
His lips parted as his breath grew shallow. He placed his hands on either side of the table, boxing me in. His gaze dipped to my mouth, and for one irrational moment, I thought he might kiss me.
I licked my lips, feeling heat pooling low in my belly. Without thinking through my next words, I spoke in a low breathy whisper: “It’s not like you care.”
Oh, but I wanted him to. I wanted to close the distance and see if he tasted like my mate. I wanted to kiss him—feel him. This energy between us … could he feel it too?
Rage clenched his teeth and stepped back, shuttering his gaze. He swallowed hard, and when he spoke, his voice was rough. “It’s my responsibility to see that each student is safe.”
Meaning: he didn’t care. Not beyond his “responsibility” and possibly a physical attraction he was more than willing to fight. If he were my mate, would he be able to fight it?
The spell broke, and I cursed my body for wanting him. At least, Justice was polite—even nice usually. Rage? Except for the occasional possessiveness or concern he exhibited on behalf of his position, he didn’t care.
“Fine,” I snapped, spinning away from him. “Then why don’t you check in with my instructor, Honor? I’m sure he’ll give you a report on my progress or lack thereof.” I jerked my head toward the door. “Just like Master Carn is giving a report to your uncle.”
Rage frowned. “That’s not true.” He looked at the door with worry as if he’d only now noticed that Master Carn had left me high and dry in the middle of my studies.
I grabbed my books and headed for the exit. “Sure it isn’t. Just keep telling yourself that, Prince Rage.”
As the door clicked shut behind me, I tried to shove away the sense of gloom our interaction caused. I shouldn’t care what he thought of me or my clan.
Stupid alpha male.
After serving dinner that night, I headed out of the cafeteria, startled to see Justice waiting at the door.
“May I walk you home?” he asked.
Uh… “Okay.”
He smiled, and my stomach flipped.
My thoughts went back to when I’d gone to thank him for going to Dark Row to get the spell to wake me, and he’d just nodded, letting me speak with zero interruptions. Then, when I finished, he’d said, “I’d do anything for you.”
Total one-eighty from when they’d come to pick me up in Montana.
I felt like all the signs were there, declaring him as my mate, but … every time I was firmly in Team Justice’s camp, something happe
ned to throw me off. Every time … except now.
We crossed through the courtyard, and I felt like everyone was staring. One glance confirmed everyone was staring, which only made me feel weirder.
I stole a side glance at Justice and pulled to a stop at his intense gaze.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, facing me.
Was he joking?
“I know it’s one of you. It has to be.” It slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. I took a deep breath, but when I spoke, my voice still shook. “Just tell me.”
His eyes widened for a second before softening, and he shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mother Mage of all things holy, I was going to kill him!
It was torture not knowing who my mate was. I stroked the covered marks on my ring finger, and his gaze lingered there. “Why even walk me home, Justice? Why be so nice to me all of a sudden?” I shook my head and waved him away. “I know how to get home, okay. I don’t need company.”
Unless you’re my mate. Just tell me already! Then I can slap you for ignoring me all this time, and we can make out.
“No, wait.” His expression cleared, and he offered a soft smile of apology. “I thought we were friends.”
At least I thought it was a smile of apology. “Then what’s up? What do you need?”
After a deep breath, he said in a rush, “Are you going to the Samhain party? Not that you have to, but it’s kinda tradition for everyone to go. I mean—like with Kaja and them, are you going?”
He stepped in front of me to block my escape. The heat of his body radiated warmth, but … it hit me in that moment: I didn’t want it to be Justice. For whatever cruel reason, I wanted my mate to be his slightly larger, definitely meaner brother. The universe obviously hated me because it was so clearly Justice. He was nicer, consistently nicer, and he’d basically just asked me to the Samhain dance.
“Not sure,” I said honestly. “The beach party turned out to be a shitshow, and the one before that…” I had no words for the yo-yo of emotions that had plagued me since the masquerade, so I shrugged. “Anyway, I’m not sure I want to go to another one.”
Justice nodded, his green eyes flaring. “I get that.”
“Really?” I asked, picking up my pace again. “Did you not have fun at the masquerade? Or did you and your hook-up get interrupted like Rage?”
Okay, I was prying, so he could sue me. Screw the stupid rules!
Furrowing his brow, he asked, “Is that what he said happened?”
I laughed. “What do you mean?”
Did Rage lie?
“Nai…” Justice said, leading me up to the door of my house. “No one talks about what happens at the masquerade.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I waved him off, annoyed. “I gotta run. Thanks for walking me and all that.” I moved to go inside, and his arm snaked out, his hand grasping me by the bicep.
I spun to face him, and he pinned me with his vibrant gaze, causing me to swallow hard.
“So,” he said, his voice low and husky, “about the Samhain party … will you please consider going?”
Was he asking me? Like on a date? Could you even have a date when everyone wore a mask and had voice modifications?
I shrugged again. “I dunno. The last party I went to, I almost died.”
The occasional nightmare about the beach party still woke me up.
He frowned, his gaze going to the puckered scar on my arm, and his eyes flashed yellow. “That won’t happen again. Ever.”
I didn’t mean to trigger his instinct to protect, but clearly, I had.
I studied his face, and even though his features were nearly identical to Rage’s, there was no way to confuse the two brothers. So why did my thoughts keep drifting back to the eldest brother? Probably because we had so much unresolved conflict.
But Justice was … nice. He was being nice. And he’d been consistently nice … for weeks.
After opening the door, I glanced over my shoulder.
Justice still stood there, watching me, his eyes wolf-yellow.
“I’ll think about it.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could think them through, and he rewarded me with a heart-stopping grin.
“Good.” He winked at me. “See you there, Nai.”
“Hey, I said I’d think about it!” I called after him, but apparently, we both knew I was going.
Dammit.
The entire next day, my mind was unsettled. I couldn’t wait until that night so that I could go for a run. When darkness fell over the island and the moon rose high in the sky, I quickly changed and shifted into my wolf, hoping to see my mate. We’d been meeting up now for the past several weeks, running and playing in wolf form. It was carefree and beautiful without any of the human drama.
The second my nose hit the damp earth, I smelled him.
His wolf came out of the tree line and nuzzled me. ‘Missed you.’
I nipped his tail. ‘You’re it!’
I took off into the trees, jumping over fallen logs, hearing him racing right behind me. His wolf was faster than mine, but he let me win. A lot. We raced into the forest, only stopping when we were both out of breath and panting.
He led me to a creek where we both lapped at the water.
Why couldn’t it be like this when he was human? I didn’t need him to parade around and tell everyone we were mated, but…
‘Mate sad,’ his wolf said.
I faced him, studied his features, and wished for the ten-millionth time that I knew who he was.
‘Yes, I’m sad. I wish you trusted me—that your human trusted me.’
Before he could answer, a twig snapped, and we both scented the air.
‘Male wolf.’ I curled my lip in disgust. This wolf smelled of whiskey and smoke and foreign wolf.
My mate crouched low, growling.
Shit. The male was closing in.
‘Rogue. Get down!’ my mate snarled to me.
Something in the tone of his voice told me this wasn’t a matter of dominance, and I ducked as he launched himself forward—into the air and over me, crashing into another wolf with dark, honey-colored fur.
Feral snapping bounced between the two males, their fur a moving blur as they snapped so fast I could barely tell who was who. My heart raced as I watched the fight, but for me to jump into the fray could make things worse, not better. A blur of fangs precipitated a flash of crimson…
Oh Mage! The moonlight came through the trees just in time to light up the two wolves fighting. The honey-colored wolf bit down on my mate’s shoulder, and his low growl became a high-pitched whine.
‘No!’ I lunged forward, snarling, intent to intervene when the crunch of bone punched me in the gut.
Instinct took over.
Charging forward, I snapped at the attacker’s tail, biting clean through the end.
The golden-colored animal yipped in pain, releasing my mate, and I darted away, spitting out the chunk of bone and fur. My mate pushed off the ground where he’d been on his back and lurched forward, reaching out with his uninjured paw to swipe at the rogue wolf’s face. The hit was so hard it knocked the wolf off balance, and that’s when my mate attacked.
The second the honey-colored wolf fell backward, my mate launched on him with the grace and speed of a seasoned hunter. The two wolves slammed into the dirt, and my mate dove forward with a vicious snap of his muzzle.
The golden wolf’s howl of pain cut off with a wet gurgle.
The human part of me winced, but my wolf felt nothing but pride.
Much like watching my father fight, I was pleased my mate was fast and precise.
With one jerk of his head, my mate threw the hunk of honey-colored fur right at my feet like a prize. He’d just torn out the other wolf’s throat.
He faced me then, his muzzle covered in blood.
I blinked, stunned with the emotion welling within.
‘Go,’ he said, drawing near me. ‘Go
home.’ He limped forward, nudging me with his bloody snout. ‘Must keep mate safe.’ He nuzzled my neck.
‘No, you’re hurt.’ My wolf sniffed his shoulder injury, and a high whine emanated from my throat. It was bad, the meat and bone exposed.
‘I’m fine. Go home.’ He nudged me with his head.
When I didn’t move because both my wolf and I didn’t want to leave him, he dipped his head low, in submission. ‘Please? Guards coming. Go.’
He’d asked, not as an alpha. As an equal. As if he knew this would be the best way to get me to agree. Fierce pride and … love? Or … maybe just pride flashed through me, and I nuzzled him back. If guards were coming, this would turn into a shitshow, and he was trying to protect me. My clan already had enough infractions on it—maybe this would get me kicked out? But not him…
‘Go. Mate be safe. Please.’ He pushed my chest with his head, and my wolf skidded backward a little.
‘Okay.’ I finally agreed. ‘But send word tomorrow that you’re okay. A letter. Something,’ I begged him.
I couldn’t leave him like this. It was torture. A howl rose up in the night, and I knew the guards were coming. Had they scented all that blood? Maybe there were other rogues on campus.
With one last look at my injured mate standing over his kill like a hunter claiming its prize, I ran.
My heart hammered the whole way home. This strange feeling crawling through me tethered me to my mate—willingly—for the first time. Was this sensation love? Loyalty? I had no idea what to call it, but it was binding and freeing all at once.
The wolf of my mate fought for me—which meant the wolf part accepted our bond—accepted me—even loved me. But had the human side of him changed his feelings? Was he in agreement with his wolf? Or would he treat me as he had after the party—as something to hide, to be ashamed of?
If only I knew who, I could ask him.
After making it back to my dorm, I lay awake for hours, tossing and turning. How bad was my mate injured? Would he need more skill than a normal healer could give?
Why did I leave? I should’ve stayed and helped him or called a healer. The temptation to sneak over to the healing unit in the castle was nearly overwhelming. The only thing holding me back was the risk. If I got caught by one of the guards, what would I say?
