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.