A searing pain pulsed at my lower back. I’d just gained another mark.
Earth. It had to be. I now had all four elemental marks, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it.
Sean leapt from halfway up the tree and landed before me. “I’m going to kill you for that!” Mallory bellowed with fury. They both advanced.
Crap.
I swallowed back my fear. One hundred percent I’d fight them as best I could. 99.9% certain their sister Heather would take our flag. Ten to one odds I’d get my alpha heir ass jumped by all three of them after they won.
But I was one hundred percent not prepared for the blur of black fur that arced through the air…
My jaw dropped as the Midnight wolf landed on Sean’s back, knocking him to the ground. Snapping his jaws, the wolf tore into Sean’s shoulder, and the young heir screamed.
Why was a Midnight wolf here?
A wolf who wasnotmy mate—which meant this was one of his three brothers.
I spun as Rage, in human form, barreled down on Mallory, fire shooting from his hands like flamethrowers.
“Justice, the tree!” Rage barked at the black wolf.
Mallory ran off into the woods, clothes smoking, screaming. Sean fled next, in the fraction of time when Justice in wolf form shifted, and then a very exposed Justice stood and yanked the third Daybreak Clan member out of the tree.
Heather squealed as she fell to the ground, her thud accompanied by the snap of bone.
“You haven’t won,” she snarled as she limped off.
Maybe not, but then neither had she. My flag still stood; I was still in the games.
Justice raised his eyebrows and looked to Rage, who nodded. He shifted back into his wolf form before trotting off to protect his flag.
But Rage stayed.
He stepped in front of me, his green eyes simmering with emotion as he studied me. “So what’s our plan?” he asked, his voice rough. “Defend until we show each clan they can’t take us and then go flag hunting?”
He knew me so well. My throat tightened with unshed emotion. “Rage,” I whispered, shaking my head, “this isn’t your fight. Just … go. Your brothers—”
“My brothers understand my mate is more important than a stupid school test,” he said, holding his hand up so that I could see the mate marks he clearly wore. “I’m not going anywhere.”
My stomach tightened. I wasn’t sure if the cameras in the woods had sound, or how clear the picture was, but Rage … with the king watching, Rage was showing off his mate marks. His courage shook me to the core. Now I understood how he carried his real name.
“I didn’t mean to say that last night. To askwhatyou are…” He swallowed hard. “You’re my mate. I love you.That’sall that matters.”
My lips parted in shock. What could I say? My emotions were more tangled than my magic, but under it all… “I lo—”
Nolan stepped into the clearing, and my voice disappeared.
The wind swirled around my cousin, and a wolf kept pace at his side.
A wolf?
I stiffened with recognition. The dark patches of fur, the menace in its gaze. That was the wolf who’d attacked me on the beach.
Rage stepped in front of me, squaring his shoulders, blocking my view.
“Nolan,” Rage growled, “leave now, and I won’t kill you.”
Nolan barked a hard laugh, and the dappled golden wolf separated from my cousin, stalking the right perimeter as if to come up behind me. A twig snapped, and my attention jumped to the left.
