She hadn’t responded, but I felt slightly better watching Justice run out the side door to find her.
It was tempting to reach out to her again, but whatever she was going through had her in an emotional knot, enough so that her anxiety coursed through our unfinished mate bond. I wondered if it had anything to do with her ill grandfather. She was tough. She didn’t take shit. But … I had no idea how much she could handle before she broke.
Everyone had a limit, and I wanted to be there if something devastating had happened.
‘Where is she?’ I asked Honor while wondering how rude it would be if I left my own coronation party to go look for her.
‘She’s walking with her grandfather into the library,’ Honor said.
My chest squeezed, and I forced a deep breath.
‘The library? Follow her!’ I shot the thought out to Honor and started down the stage steps.
‘On it,’ Honor replied.
Why was she going to the library in the middle of my coronation party?
Regardless of how I felt or even how Nai felt, I needed to show strength to my people—especially right now. These first few days, and likely weeks, were precarious. I knew it. Hell, I’d trained my entire life for this. I knew every rule and social nicety, what behavior was acceptable, what would be tolerated, and what would earn me the scorn of my new subjects—like me disappearing at my own coronation. But when it came to Nai, I was willing to break all the rules.
I gave the biggest fake smile I could muster as I attempted to pass through the crowd, but they pushed in on me, wanting to shake my hand or say a few words. I tried to oblige them as quickly as possible, but they kept coming.
‘Honor? What is she doing?’
My adrenaline spiked when he didn’t immediately answer. Then, Noble stepped in front of me, frowning. I could see the terror I felt reflected in his face.
‘Honor!’ I clenched my fists, and my heart raced when he didn’t immediately respond. Noble began to part the crowd, making me a path to pass through.
The wolves cheered and howled, but now the sound grated against my nerves, leaving me raw.
‘She’s walking fast. I’m tracking them,’ Honor replied.
My panic went full-blown. ‘Tracking them?’ I snarled. ‘How the hell did they get away from you?’
He said nothing, and it was only Noble’s hands on my shoulders that kept me from losing my mind.
“Rage?” Noble’s eyes were wide and panicked, and his voice filled with urgency. My brothers and I had our own bond, and he could likely feel my turmoil. “What’s wrong?”
This time, I spoke into all of my brothers’ minds. ‘Nai was with her grandfather and Reyna. They disappeared into the library. Something’s wrong. I feel it.’
Justice growled in my head before I’d even finished the last word.
‘Honor!’ My chest heaved with each short breath. The only way she’d just disappear and not tell me what the hell was happening was if she was kidnapped, right?
Would her own grandfather kidnap her? No … he’d done nothing but help her. Then, what was she doing? My mind raced as panic clawed at me. Why wasn’t she answering me? Why did she feel so far away? ‘Nai!’
I finally got through the double doors and slammed right into Justice.
As soon as I saw the look on my brother’s face, I knew…
“No.” My legs went weak as I scanned my best friend’s face. White as a sheet, Justice looked on the verge of tears. He, of all people, knew how much Nai meant to me; he knew how much I’d struggled with hiding my fated-mate marks from her—and how much I’d struggled with being fated mates with a member of my pack’s sworn enemy.
“She’s … gone.”
Justice’s words sank into me, but everything in me rebelled at his statement.
“What do you mean gone?” My wolf surged to the surface. Pelts of fur bristled from my skin, and I clenched my jaw.
Justice frowned. “The guards saw her, Reyna, and Nai’s grandfather leave the castle and head toward the school. I picked up her scent. Honor was with them, but his scent is gone now, too.”
No.
She wouldn’t leave me… “Where did they go? Where does their scent end?”
Justice swallowed, and a pit opened in my stomach that grew wider the longer he delayed.
“The portal door in the library…”
My stomach dropped out as nausea washed over me.
No.
She wouldn’t.
There was a high mage portal in the library. But … her grandfather wouldn’t take her to High Mage Island, would he?
“Rage…” Justice’s voice forced me to look at him. “The guard who saw her said she went … willingly.”
No. I didn’t believe that. I couldn’t.
The party still raged; music from inside filtered throughout the courtyard. The smell of sweat and mage wine pressed against me, and all around, the sounds of joy and laughter and celebration…
She was supposed to be here. Supposed to be by my side. My mate. Nai wouldn’t leave.
Not willingly.
“Sound the alarm,” I barked to Justice. “Lock down the campus. Post two guards at every boat dock. Send out the scent dogs.” He gave me a pitying look. Then, I tore across the open courtyard, headed to the library.
Justice ran after me. ‘Brother, she’s gone. Honor too. I tracked their scent. You know I’m the best.’
Unbridled rage, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, surged up inside of me. ‘Lock down those damn borders, Justice! My mate has been kidnapped!’
‘Nai! Where are you?’ I pushed the thought into her mind, trying to search for her energy, but…
I couldn’t feel her.
‘Nai!’ I shouted, grasping the sides of my head as I ran.
Chapter Two
My wolf surged to the surface, and I let him take over. This form was better suited for scenting and was faster. We sprinted across the courtyard, entered the main building through a doggie-door big enough to let our wolf forms through, and then proceeded to the library as we followed Nai’s smell.
As my brothers and I approached the library doors, I shifted back to my human form and stared down the two guards posted at the door.
“Did you two let her in here?” I barked even as I wondered how in the hell they’d arrived here. I didn’t have anyone posted at the school during my coronation. Alpha Academy was closed.
“Rage,” Justice said beside me. “I posted them here five minutes ago.”
I shook myself, trying to get a grip on reality.
Reaching out, I grasped the door handle and shoved. I burst through the library doors so hard they hit the wall with a crack, and the glass insets shattered. Weaving through the aisles toward the back of the room, I ran, and my pulse climbed the closer I got to the black stone door.
It was closed.
On hands and knees, I inhaled, and a whimper ripped through me as Nai’s sunshine and homey scent filled my soul. Honor’s musky scent was there too.
I climbed to my feet as fury filled every corner of my being. She wouldn’t have done this to me.
My entire life, I’d never even tried to open that black stone door; the rules stated we weren’t allowed.