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.
Whoa. Is that…?
Just beyond the misty shore loomed Alpha Island. From here, all I could see was the highest tip of the snow-covered mountain in the center of the island.
Without another word, Justice grabbed my duffle while Rage hooked a hand under my armpit, and then I was being hauled toward the boat like a criminal.
“Hey! What’s with the manhandling? I’m a willing participant here.” I jerked away from him.
He tucked close to me. “I don’t want you getting scared and running off. I have a package to deliver.”
I’m a package now? Great.
I stepped onto the boat while the boys chatted up the mage captain. He wore a long thick cloak and bore the mark of a mage on his forehead. The triangle with a single dot inside always fascinated me. I’d only met a handful of lower-level mages in my life, ones who came to trade on our farm, but they all bore this mark.
The man was tall and lanky as most mages were, but this one looked more powerful than a simple boat captain should. There was intelligence in his deep brown gaze, one that washed over me and gave me chills. The mages had a hierarchy: novice, adept, advanced, master, and then, of course, high mage, but there were only five of those in existence at any given time. I didn’t understand it much, but if I had to guess, I’d say this guy was advanced or master.
He stepped over to me, pulling a small, black palm stone from his cloak.
“Summons.” He held his hand out to Rage.
Rage produced the papers once again as my heart kicked up about a hundred notches. Any time someone asked for that summons, weird things happened.
His gaze bored into me. “Nai of Crescent Clan. Alpha heir?”
“Yes, sir.” I gulped. Hey, I wasn’t about to piss off an advanced magic-user. My own magic was piddly-diddly compared to this guy. As a wolf heir, we only had access to one of the elemental magics: usually earth or fire, and only once we went to Alpha Academy and learned to use it, but this guy … he could probably turn me into a toad.
He held out his palm, facing up, and the black stone began to glow.
“Upon entering this island, you are magically bound from speaking about your experiences at Alpha Academy. Do you accept?”
The hairs raised on my arms, and I swallowed hard.
This was it. This was the magical binding everyone talked about. For some reason, I looked at Rage as if asking his permission, which was stupid. He simply gave a curt nod, and my gaze flicked back to the advanced mage.
“I accept.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Then, touch the stone.”
Oh. Right.
I took a breath and steeled myself, reaching out to lay my hand over the stone. The second my skin touched the cool black surface, an electric jolt ran the length of my arm, exploding at my shoulder blade. I yanked my hand back with a yelp and grimaced at the mage.
Oww. He could have warned me.
“Interesting.” He narrowed his gaze at me.
Justice griped, “Come on, you big baby. I want to get back in time for dinner.”
Interesting? Why did the mage say that? Interesting meant strange, and I didn’t need to be any more strange than I already was—or am. Before I could dwell further on it, I was shuffled onto the boat.
After a few moments, the boat took off from the dock, and I gripped the sides, peering over into the water at something black swirling in its depths.
“Selkies. Don’t make eye contact, or they might sing for us,” Noble said. “They’re still pissed about Shifter Island becoming Alpha Island.”
So, what my father told me was true. Of course, they were pissed. The alpha king kicked out all other shifter species from the island and claimed it for wolves only. This forced other shifters to the fringe areas of the magic lands to mingle with the mage folk and live in less desirable conditions. I wanted to tell him being driven from your home sucked, but the consequence of dealing with Rage and Justice’s tempers and/or sarcasm was one hundred percent not worth it. Also, I’d heard selkies’ songs could be dangerous, so he was right.
Twenty minutes later, we approached the white crystalline beaches of Alpha Island. A shimmering iridescent barrier hugged the shoreline, stretching as far up and over the horizon as I could see. Nerves churned in my gut as I saw the group of guards standing with their spines erect, each one carrying at least two katana swords.
“Wow, they really guard this place,” I mentioned when Rage stood, and I knew from his furrowed brow and tight jaw that something was wrong. The other three Midnight brothers stood as well, and suddenly, I felt like hiding.
As the captain pulled the boat up to the group, over a dozen guards, all huge beefcakes nearly as large as Rage, stormed onto the boat.
“Prince Courage! Your uncle has been very concerned. The island has been on lockdown all day. Where have you been?”
The guard’s words registered and then rattled my brain like an electric fence.
Prince Courage. Rage. Rage was … a prince…
“Oh, mystic mages.” I facepalmed. The four brothers of Midnight, they weren’t distant heirs of the alpha king. No one carried the title prince unless they were directly in line to the throne. They were the heirs. But uncle? That meant the king had no children, fascinating considering how valuable heirs were. Maybe he was sterile.
Rage’s brow furrowed, and he handed beefcake the summons he’d shown the high mage earlier. “We were following orders to fetch an alpha heir. Surely, my uncle knew that, considering he signed the summons.”
That’s when Captain Beefcake took one long glance at me, and his lip curled. “Who are you?”
I raised my eyebrows and pointed at the paper in his hand. “Nai, alpha heir to Crescent Clan.”
The dude frowned, his gaze bouncing from the summons to me. “Is this a joke?”
I looked at each of the brothers, but none of them were laughing. I wasn’t laughing. Beefcake dude wasn’t laughing. Not even the captain was laughing. “I’m pretty sure it’s not,” I said dryly.
Like 99.6% sure. What in the name of the high mages was going on?
A deep crease appeared between his eyebrows. I was 99.7% sure he didn’t think I was funny.
“We have a problem.” He shoved the paper back toward Rage. “The king didn’t sign this; it’s counterfeit. We’d better go talk to your uncle.”
My stomach dropped. Counterfeit? How did he know that? And why did I feel like I was to blame?
I glanced at the four brothers, my attention bouncing from one to the next. All four of them wore similar expressions, making my situation clear as Arkansas crystal. Hello there, trouble, we meet again.
With every step, that one word replayed in my mind.
Counterfeit.
If the king didn’t send for me … who did?
Chapter 3
“She wasn’t due to start until next year!” the alpha king’s dark, gravelly voice raged behind the closed door on my right. Something crashed against the wall, exploding with a rain of breaking glass, and I jumped, gripping the edges of the bench.