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 Naididgo 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 thatmy matebe 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 ineverything. 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 werefatedmates; 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 whateveritwas 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.
