But today, I was king, so screw the rules. I was going after my mate.
I launched myself forward with an angry cry on my lips.
“No!” Justice shouted.
No sooner had my palm touched the Onyx surface than a searing blue light shot from the door. My fingers burned with pain. A yip left my throat, and my body arched. An electric charge filled the space, and I was thrown back by protective magic, crashing into a shelf of books, toppling it over. The smell of my burning skin filled the air.
“Rage!” Justice ran to me. When he reached down to pull me up, the pity in his expression made my entire body heavy with dread. I couldn’t follow her.
This isn’t happening…
My mate left me at my own coronation?
He must have spelled her. Her grandfather was helpful with getting Honor back, but who knew his real intentions? That had to be it.
With a heave, Justice got me into a standing position, but I just stood there, swaying as my mind raced through every horrible scenario possible.
“Cursed council,” Noble huffed, appearing at my side sniffing the air like a dog. “What did you do?”
I shot him a glare and raised my blackened, still-smoking palm, gritting my teeth to keep from screaming. He doused my hand with his water magic as the agony traveled up my arm and spotted my vision.
With a howl of frustration, I shifted back into my wolf-form and sniffed. Sure enough, not only was Nai’s scent all of the way to the edge of the black stone door, Honor’s, Reyna’s, and that damned High Mage Master of Spirit’s smell was there too. They all left. Together. Without me.
What a shady bastard!
I morphed back into my human form, grabbed the nearest wooden chair, and hurled it at the stone door.
“How dare you!” I bellowed. Fresh pain coursed up my arm, but it was nothing compared to the anguish in my soul. Betrayal. Either by Geoff or Nai or both. And certainly by Honor.
Justice cleared his throat. “Maybe—”
I reeled on him and snarled, “Don’t you dare defend her. Or him. Or any of them. Don’t. You. Dare.” I heaved a breath and pivoted. “Noble,” I barked at my more sensible brother. “I need to send a letter to the High Mage Council,” I growled. “If they do not return my mate immediately, I will start a war.”
Noble blanched. “Brother, wait a second. What if Nai did go willingly as Justice said and—”
“She wouldn’t do that to me,” I growled. Didn’t they know of our love? No. That wasn’t even a possibility.
Justice just gave me a sympathetic look that made me want to bludgeon something—or someone—anyone really.
“If she did,” Noble continued, “I’d advise you not to out her to the rest of the High Mage Council. If they’re not in on it, you could get her into trouble.”
Crap. He had a point.
Without looking at Justice or Noble, I returned to the door and the guards.
I kept my attention on the men, both from our pack and around our same age, but the one on the left was a year younger than us. “Richie,” I snarled, my voice still barely human. “Has anyone gone in or out since Justice put you here?”
The dark-haired guard shook his head. “No, sir. I mean, not besides you guys. The high mages came by—”
My blood boiled. “When?”
Richie swallowed. “Maybe a minute before you did. They said they wanted to use the portal to go home—”
My nostrils flared, and I struggled to keep my wolf in check. “And?”
“I … I told them we had orders from the alpha king that no one could go in.” He winced. “So they left. One of them said they’d use the other portal. Sorry, I hope that was the right thing to do. I overheard Prince Justice speaking about Nai—Queen Nai—disappearing, and I figured you would want to lock down the exits…” He dropped his chin to his chest.
I clapped a hard hand on his shoulder. “You did good.”
I wasn’t going to be an a-hole on my first day as king just because I was in a crisis. Besides, he might’ve just bought us time to catch up with them.
My thoughts jumped to the secluded area on Daybreak’s lands where the high mages could enter and exit our island, and I whispered to myself, “Other portal.”
“Noble.” I turned to my brother and ignored his wide, panicked expression. “I’m putting you in charge.”
“But—”
“No,” I growled, clenching my fists. “You’re the only one I trust to run things while we’re gone. If Justice and I aren’t back in an hour, send a letter through the official channels to the High Mage Council, requesting that my mate be returned. Promptly.”
Noble gulped but nodded his head.
Turning my attention to Justice, I took in his dark, murderous expression, mirroring my exact mood. He was usually the more reserved and stoic of us. He was my ride or die, loyal to me in everything. I didn’t even have to ask; he just nodded.
“Lead the way, bro,” he said, the words clipped and short, and waved for me to move ahead. As I passed him, he whispered, “We’ll get her back.”
Emotion wrung my chest and clogged my throat.
I knew he was right. I was being an irrational fool, but Nai wasn’t just my girlfriend or my mate. We were fated mates; she was the other half of my soul. Something horrific had to be going on for her to leave me—especially like this.
First, find Nai. Then, fix whatever it was that made her leave. No matter the cost.
My skin turned to fur, muscles bulking and tendons snapping over my cracking bones as I shifted to my wolf.
The other portal to High Mage Island—maybe there were more, but these two were the only ones I knew of—lay on the other side of the island, on Daybreak lands.
‘I’m sending five guards with you and Justice,’ Noble pressed into my mind. ‘You’re king now. You need proper security.’
‘Fine.’ Whatever. I didn’t care about protocol, security, or even my crown. My fated mate was missing, and she was the only thing I could think about right now.
Justice and I ran—faster and harder than ever before. The silence between us was heavy and taut, my emotions roiling through me as the darkened forest blurred past. I processed my anger at the situation, trying to make sense of it—any of it.
The trees thinned, opening into a large glade in front of us. Waves crashed below a rocky overhang. Daybreak’s lands butted up against the north shore of the island. Dense forest and rocky cliffs mixed with the salty air of the sea. Trails to the beach wound through the terrain, but this was the best place on Alpha Island for cliff diving and rock climbing.
My uncle had brought me here once each year since my twelfth birthday to show me the high mage portal and discuss battle strategies. If we were to ever be attacked, Declan always said it would come from our north side.
His voice echoed in my mind, and I cringed at how much I had wanted to be like him. I’d seen him as cold and distant but a strong, calculating leader—not for the psychotic maniac he was.
‘Nai?’ I tried her for the umpteenth time. The only other couple I had ever heard of being fated mates from two different worlds were Nai’s deceased parents. So I had no idea of what we were capable of. Hell, I wasn’t sure if anyone did. Not that it mattered; I wouldn’t give up.