She nodded, her curls bouncing. ‘Anything.’
‘Rage and I will be at the docks in about fifteen or twenty minutes. We need the guards gone and—’
Bright light lanced through my skull, and I blinked as I was sucked out of the vision. Kaja was gone. Kaja’s bedroom—gone. My bestie—gone. All of it … gone. I shook my head and winced as another razor-sharp wedge of light cut through my head. With my next blink, the searing light melted into shadows.
“Nai?” Rage called, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. “Are you okay?”
I blinked again, and his face swam in front of me until my vision returned with a snap.
“Oww,” I muttered, grabbing my head. “That … hurt.”
The pain melted away through the shield bond, and as grateful as I was for the relief, I hated causing pain to my friends.
Rage winced for a second, but then his face melted into relief.
“Did you feel that?” I asked.
He nodded. “Only for a second … I think Noble and Justice take the brunt of your pain.”
Oh, mage.And they were being tortured. What an awful friend I was.
“Did you do it?” Rage asked, his voice just above a whisper. “Were you able to get in touch with Kaja?”
What could I say? “I think so? I hope so…”
Because if that didn’t work, it was seriously not worth it.
“You okay?” He helped me sit up.
I offered my mate a small smile. “Sorry. That was like getting kicked in the head, but I think it worked. Either that, or I have a really active imagination and Noble and Justice just got stuck with my tension headache.”
Rage quirked an eyebrow and his lips pulled up in a smirk. He threaded his hands into my hair and massaged my head and neck with a chuckle. “There are so many things I could say right now about your imagination.”
I spat out my tongue at him, and then he got up and crossed the space, sitting in the captain’s chair. The engine ripped to life, and he drove us toward Alpha Island. After about ten minutes, he cut the engine and faced me.
“We’re about a hundred meters out,” he said. “If we get any closer, the wolves will be able to hear and see the boat coming in to dock.”
“So … are we rowing the rest of the way?” I asked, shaking my head as I glanced at the bottom of the boat. “Because I don’t see any oars.”
“No,” he said, his gaze darting toward the tree-lined shore. “We’ll need to swim in.”
I didn’t bother to remind him of the octopus monster that tried to take me out earlier. I just nodded. At least we knew the selkies would not be a problem this time.
With a little help from Rage, we slid silently into the water.
Immediately, I felt something dark slither around my ankles and froze, eyes wide.
Two seal heads popped up from the surface of the water and looked at us, giving me a mild heart attack. I was about to ask them what they wanted or what was going on when their upper body shifted to human form—like a merman. “The king said if you got into the water, we were to help you get to shore safely.”
Relief washed over me. At first, I hadn’t been sure if they were about to attack or what.
“Thank you,” I told them, holding my hand out while I treaded water. “But it’ll be dangerous. We’re being hunted by the alpha king’s men.”
Rage cleared his throat. “If you’d rather return to King Ozark, I’ll not think less of you or your liege—”
“To abandon you would not only be dishonorable but a death sentence,” one said. “My name is Harp, and this is Gray. We’re at your service.”
Gray, the other selkie, nodded from the water. “I’d suggest no more conversation until we know what awaits us on shore.”
