Chapter One
“I’ll be right back,”Nai whisper-shouted in my ear, her breath fanning over my neck. She kissed me on the cheek and then followed her grandfather’s shield, Reyna, behind the stage.
As my mate stepped away, I followed her with my gaze until the throng of wolf shifters at my coronation swallowed her.Mother Mage, I love her.
As if to reinforce the thought, my memory produced an image of her lying beneath me, her head back and eyes heavy-lidded with passion. She parted her kiss-swollen lips and moaned my name. My body instantly responded, and I shoved the image away—for now. There’d be plenty of time tonight to make new memories with her.
I sucked in a ragged breath and turned my attention to the buzzing auditorium.
The shifters’ cheers filled my ears, and I grinned like a lunatic as my gaze roved over the crowd. These people,my people, cheered … forme.
Noble elbowed me.‘They’re waiting for you to announce the celebrations.’
Crap.
I’d been so wrapped up in Nai that I’d forgotten the task at hand.
“Let the celebration begin,” I bellowed over the noise.
The doors at the back of the hall opened, and dozens of serving staff filed in, bringing with them silver-covered platters heaped with hors d’oeuvres, prime rib, desserts, and crates of mage wine. A breath later, the air was filled with the scents of roasted steak, yeast rolls, and cinnamon. My mouth watered, and my stomach growled. That dominance fight had been a bad one even though Nai’s blood helped heal me. A good meal would hurry the process along.
“I’m so proud of you, Courage,” my mom said when she suddenly appeared, stepping around Noble with a grin. She hugged me tightly and then pulled back to study me closely. “I always knew you’d live up to your name.”
“Holy hells,” Noble said, shaking his head as he stared at our mom with wide eyes. “We have to live up to our names?”
My mom raised her eyebrows at Noble and wagged her finger in mock chagrin. “Swearing isnotnoble.”
I rolled my eyes behind my mom’s back, but I wasn’t about to step between them. Justice headed in our direction, weaving out of the crowd, and handed me a plate piled to the top, and his gaze flickered over the crowd nearby.
“Where’s Nai?” he asked, holding up another plate, this one piled with a different assortment than my own: chicken, not beef, lots of fruit, and a bowl filled with liquid chocolate.
I nodded at the corner of the room she’d disappeared to while taking a hunk of steak into my mouth. “She said she’d be right back, went off with Reyna. I think her grandfather is sick. He hasn’t been looking so well lately.”
Justice nodded. “He’s been a great help to us, but the old man is getting on in years.”
“Long live our alpha king, King Courage!” John bellowed.
More than my name, the title made me freeze. Alpha king. Somehow, despite every obstacle we’d faced, Nai and I had made it happen. Together.
Nathan took up the chant as well, followed by the alpha from Harvest.
The cheer built while Nathan, Nai’s dad and the alpha of Crescent, bumped into me.
“Come on,” Nathan said. His gaze jumped from me to John, the new alpha of Daybreak. “Help me hoist him up. Let the wolves see their king!”
Mom took my plate before I could drop it, and the next thing I knew, the room was filled with a chorus of “Long live the king!”
I was hoisted into the air on John’s and Nathan’s shoulders as a grin swept across my face. I’d waited for this moment a long time. My uncle was an asshole on the best of days, and although I respected his seat of power, I’d come to disagree with the way he ran the wolves. This was my chance, my chance to show not just the wolves what kind of king I could be but the other shifters as well.
After a few laps around the room, the guys put me back down on the ground, and the crowd erupted into another round of cheers as each of the pack alphas patted me on the back, offering their congratulations. I felt so proud to be their king, proud to be so warmly accepted by all of them.
Well,mostof them. When I scanned the crowd, I spotted Mallory and her sister as well as several others from Daybreak as they slipped out the large, front, double door.
Beyond disrespectful, but how could I blame them?
‘You’re frowning,’Justice growled, poking me.
Mallory and Daybreak’s dissenters were a problem for future-Rage. I wanted to enjoy this moment as alpha king.
