It would be unthinkable.

“If you don’t, you can’t go out there. You could be killed…” Rage’s order became a shout of triumph as Noble pulled a sphere of water from the air.

Relief crashed through me. I wasn’t sure he’d even be allowed to return to the magic lands if he were human, let alone survive with all of the danger there.

“Let’s go kick Declan’s ass,” Noble said, standing tall once more.

I waved goodbye to Grandpa Geoff, and then together, with Honor on my left and Rage on my right, the five of us stepped through the cabin door and out into—

Holy-frickin-Mother-Mage.

Acrid smoke singed my nostrils and burned my eyes, and a dark plume billowed into the air just above the gap in the trees where the pack lodge and family cabin would be. My stomach tied into knots as a strange, eerie glow lit the sky. If that asshole Declan burned down even one of our pack houses, I was going to lose it. He needed to die, pronto.

We raced through the path, but even hampered by distance and trees, I could smell them. Midnight Pack wolves. Hundreds of them.

The low hum of their collective growl filled the air as pervasive as the smoke. Even here, I knew Declan had brought a significant force. Were they all following him willingly or did he compel them? And what of Dad? And Lon? Did we have anyone still in the lodge? Because I was pretty sure, from the direction of the flames, that’s what was burning.

‘Crescent, protect home,’ my dad snarled, his voice pulling at all of the wolves in our pack. I could feel them racing through the trees toward the lodge.

The Midnight brothers and I stepped out of the woods and ran through the field.

Time seemed to slow as I absorbed the scene.

Four huge Greyhound buses sat parked on the road leading to the lodge.

Declan stood, surrounded by his wolves, with a ball of fire in each hand.

With a shout, he shot another blaze of heat at the side of the wolf lodge where we gathered for meetings, weddings, and funerals. That building was our place of community, the very heart of our pack. A vice squeezed my chest as the light licked along the sides of the building, illuminating the king’s vicious expression, one I could see even twenty paces away. Behind him, more Midnight wolves stepped out of the trees as they formed a sea of moving fur, hackles raised and teeth bared.

My heart jumped into my throat at the number of them. There must have been at least five hundred, nearly triple our pack.

‘That is a lot of wolves,’ I said to Rage.

‘Nearly the entire pack.’

Mother Mage.

“Where are you, Crescent trash?” Declan yelled, throwing another bigger sphere of fire at the lodge, dousing the entire roof in liquid flames.

That fricking bastard! I lunged forward, to reveal where I was tucked into the tree line, when Rage reached out and stopped me.

Noble raised his hands beside me and grunted.

“What’s wrong?” I looked at the … mage? What was Noble now?

“I’m trying to pull rain and snow over the building, but Declan has it shielded.”

My heart broke then into a million pieces. It was going to burn, and there was nothing we could do about it.

My father’s dark gray wolf stepped out from the woods on the other side of the field from us, shifting from wolf to man in less than a heartbeat. Like Rage, my father could use his magic to keep his clothes. Barefoot and wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, my father moved with lithe grace and confidence as he crossed the frozen land. “What are you doing on my land, Declan!”

The alpha king sneered and hurled a stream of fire in response —right at my father.

My breath hitched as I looked on in horror. My father ducked, tucking into a roll, and spun out of the way of the fire. When he popped back up into a crouched position, two streams of fire, like blowtorches, burst from his hands and headed right for the king.

Go, Dad!

The two alphas went head to head, throwing fire and dodging while the Midnight pack watched and waited for Declan’s command. Crescent wolves filed out of the woods, surrounding my father in a semi-circle as the two men battled with their element. Luckily, the woods being blanketed in snow meant our land wouldn’t catch fire, but the lodge was nearly gone. Long streams of orange flames licked across the sky and kissed my childhood home as I watched on in terror.

We needed to end this, now.

I reached for my magic to help my father with Declan as the king prepared to throw another stream of fire, only to discover … exhaustion. What the hell? Terror bubbled up from my chest, and I looked to Rage as if he could help. ‘My magic won’t work!’

Had Grandpa Geoff said something about this and I’d somehow missed it? Maybe.

‘Don’t worry. I’ve got your back,’ Noble said—in my mind.

What the mage!

How—? I swallowed. How was it possible that I could hear Noble?

Oh. Understanding dawned. Similar to the mental link Rage and I shared, my mate had said he and his brothers had one. Somehow, I now shared that link too, probably through our mate bond. Wow. Only 6.2% freaky … considering.

Noble raised his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, the light flurry of snowflakes drifting in the sky moved en masse toward his uncle like flecks of metal pulled to a magnet. With a hiss of steam, Declan’s fire extinguished.

Rage grinned. “He can’t hold a shield over himself and the house. He needs to pick one.”

Hmm, shield studies must be a second- or third-year thing because I’d only heard of them from my dad, not any of my teachers.

I wanted to do something to help, but I was weak without my magic, and I needed to conserve strength for when Grandpa got back with the spellbreaker herb. Dad—thankfully—seemed to be holding his own. My father thrust both hands out, and two fireballs headed right for Declan’s face.

The king snarled and caught the spheres, and the flames disappeared.

“I can do this all—” Declan’s gloating cut off as my father’s real attack appeared behind the ball of flames, which were just a distraction. My father had launched what looked like a comet, right at Declan.

The comet was headed right for its trajectory, and I held my breath, waiting for it to splash into the king. I was so enthralled by the hot orange glow that I almost missed the icy resistance that came from behind Declan.

What the…?

My eyes widened as a stream of water shot out from the trees and collided with my dad’s fire. A billow of steam hid all of the Midnight wolves from our view.

‘Noble?’ Rage asked, huffing as we ran over the uneven ground and into view.

Where the heck had the water come from?

‘Not me.’ Noble was breathless as we continued to race across the snow-covered field.

Then who? He was the only water mage here except for…

‘Do you think they brought the high mages with them?’ I asked, my gaze cutting to Rage and then bouncing back to his deranged uncle.

We picked up our pace, full-on sprinting toward the precarious standoff between our packs. Declan’s numbers were far greater than ours, so what were they waiting for? Why not attack?

The steam cleared, revealing a red-faced and blistered Declan, cursing. With another flick of his hands, he shot a blaze of fire at my father. “Your magic has never been stronger than mine, Nathan. And it never will be.” He followed with several more shots, each one bigger than the last. “You are nothing.”