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 the 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.