Yummy ugly troll.

Finally, he sighed. “Thank you for your help today with the selkies.”

My mouth popped open.

Did he just compliment me? I reached up and felt his forehead. No fever.

“You feeling okay?” I narrowed my eyes. “Are you really Rage? Or maybe Noble beefed up a little?”

I tapped his giant bicep as if I couldn’t tell him and his brothers apart. A slow grin curled one side of his mouth into a lopsided, sexy smirk, making my insides melt.

Mother Mage, why did my internal compass point to the bad boy?

“You can’t tell?” He stepped closer, and I could feel the heat rolling off his body. “You’ve never seemed to have a problem telling us apart before?”

His gaze dipped to my lips, and I sucked my bottom lip in—to make sure I wasn’t drooling. Or slobbering. Or panting.

I wasn’t sure what was happening here, but I didn’t want to be done. I wanted nice Rage to stay and never leave.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” he asked, looking my body up and down like I was a prized specimen.

My cheeks warmed. “My father.”

And just like that, his expression fell into a mask of indifference. “Right. Almost forgot there—Crescent girl.”

He spun to leave, and I felt like I’d been slapped.

“Excuse me? How dare you!”

I glared after him, lifted my book high in the air, and threw it. Hard.

The solid thump against his head wasn’t nearly as satisfying as watching him lurch forward, which made me grin. But the smile slid from my face as the book landed with a thud.

Oh, shifter babies. What had I done?

He was the first prince to the king, in line for the alpha throne.

He froze.

“I … uh … I’m sorry.” I rushed forward and grabbed the book off the ground, holding it in front of me like a chest plate of armor.

Spinning slowly, he stepped closer to me.

“I like it better when you’re nice,” I said by way of explanation. “Grouchy Rage is an asshat. Why can’t you just stay nice?”

He glared down at me with those big, beautiful, green eyes. “You don’t know, do you?”

Pain flickered in his gaze, and the bravado he wore like a mask slipped. For the first time since I’d met him, he looked vulnerable.

“What?” I relaxed my death grip on the book and brought it to my hip. “What don’t I know?”

“Your uncle killed my father, and I’ll never forgive your clan for that.”

His words cut into me like knives. My jaw hit the pavement. Before I managed to find my voice, he spun and stormed off again.

“That’s not true!” I shouted at his retreating back. “Your dad and my uncle were best friends at school!” I marched toward where Rage now stood but stopped several feet away. Even so, I dropped my voice and whisper-shouted the truth. “The alpha king killed your father, not anyone from my pack!”

I believed the story my father told of what happened to his only brother that fateful night. My father had no reason to lie, but the alpha king? All the reason in the realm, no matter what Rage said.

Rage spun and laughed in my face. “You naive little pup! A Midnight alpha and a Crescent alpha best friends? My uncle killing his own brother? Listen to yourself! You’ve been lied to.”

Tears sprang to my eyes. Did all of the Midnight princes think that? That my uncle killed their dad? The horror of it shook me even if it wasn’t true. No wonder they hated me that first day. Could I blame them?

“Rage, listen…” I started to tell him the story I knew, but he cut me off.

“I can see you believe what you’re saying, but you’re wrong. Uncle Declan was commanded by the high mages to attack Crescent after my father’s murder. It was my uncle’s first assignment after he became alpha, to punish your pack because of a high crime. What about that? If your uncle didn’t kill my father, what was the high crime?” His chest heaved, and tension rolled off him in waves.

“Well… I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug. Shame burned my cheeks as all of the fight left me. “My father doesn’t like to talk about it.” Was an alpha killing another alpha a high crime? Did the mages get involved with that? I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything apparently.

Rage shook his head. “Sounds like a guy who is all about the truth.”

When he turned to walk away this time, I let him go. I wondered then if everything my father told me had been a lie. Had my uncle killed Rage’s dad and that’s why we were cast out of Shifter Island? Was the alpha king only protecting his family when he’d taken over the throne and kicked Crescent out?

All the emotions I’d bottled up the last few days swelled beneath my chest until everything felt ready to explode. Turning on my heels, I raced into my dorm, slammed the door to my shitty room, and collapsed onto the bed just as the dam burst. Sobbing into my pillow, I cried for my father, my pack, and then finally for me. Had my father lied to me? Or possibly deceived me with a lie by omission? On the story of who killed who, I believed him. Even so, I wanted to know what high crime was committed that would have caused our entire clan to be cast out. Would I have to wait four years to find out?

Chapter 10

Master Jin taught my water elemental classes. Short and stocky with tattoos covering pretty much all of his visible skin, he looked like a Hell’s Angel biker dude. Unlike the fire mage, Master Jin had my books waiting for me the second afternoon.

“Any chance you did the summer reading?” he asked as soon as he dropped the books on my desk.

I stared up at the ceiling and snorted. “There was summer reading?”

How was I ever going to catch up?

“Don’t worry. Most of it is stuffy theory, mages pontificating just because they want to. I’ve highlighted the chapters you should read and X’d out the ones that are worthless.”

Wow. “Um, thanks for that.”

“Don’t thank me yet. After today, I’ll make you read on your own time. Here, in class, this is where we practice. You’ll need to have the first four of those chapters read by tomorrow so we can start training.”

A smile stretched across my face. What a contrast. “No problem.”

When I opened the textbook, my jaw dropped as I stared at the same three wavy lines that were burned into my solar plexus. Without thinking, I raised my hand.

“Master Jin.” I pointed at the lines when he returned to my desk. “Do we get marks related to our affinities? Like after we graduate…”

His eyes lit up, and he chuckled. “Sorry, no. Nothin’ like that. You get magic. That’s enough.”

I frowned, debating whether I should ask him what it meant, when he continued.

“Though, if you really want something like that, I know a tattoo artist that can put one on ya.”

Hmm. “That’s okay. I was just curious.”

Note to self: ask old high mage man. He was the only one who seemed to already know I wasn’t normal.

I bent my head over the book and started to read.

The first week of school passed in a blur. There were no more selkie attacks, thank the mage. And I’d gotten a bit of a reputation for being a badass. The other students gave me respectful nods and glances, a far cry from that first day. All except Rage. Needless to say, our fire element classes were beyond awkward. I read my book in the corner while he shot nasty glances my way and ignored me when I spoke. I worked the coffee cart in the morning and then the lunch and dinner periods as well. By the time I got home to study, I usually fell asleep with my face in a book. But today was Friday.