Rage clenched his teeth and stepped back, shuttering his gaze. He swallowed hard, and when he spoke, his voice was rough. “It’s my responsibility to see that each student is safe.”

Meaning: he didn’t care. Not beyond his “responsibility” and possibly a physical attraction he was more than willing to fight. If he were my mate, would he be able to fight it?

The spell broke, and I cursed my body for wanting him. At least, Justice was polite—even nice usually. Rage? Except for the occasional possessiveness or concern he exhibited on behalf of his position, he didn’t care.

“Fine,” I snapped, spinning away from him. “Then why don’t you check in with my instructor, Honor? I’m sure he’ll give you a report on my progress or lack thereof.” I jerked my head toward the door. “Just like Master Carn is giving a report to your uncle.”

Rage frowned. “That’s not true.” He looked at the door with worry as if he’d only now noticed that Master Carn had left me high and dry in the middle of my studies.

I grabbed my books and headed for the exit. “Sure it isn’t. Just keep telling yourself that, Prince Rage.”

As the door clicked shut behind me, I tried to shove away the sense of gloom our interaction caused. I shouldn’t care what he thought of me or my clan.

Stupid alpha male.

After serving dinner that night, I headed out of the cafeteria, startled to see Justice waiting at the door.

“May I walk you home?” he asked.

Uh… “Okay.”

He smiled, and my stomach flipped.

My thoughts went back to when I’d gone to thank him for going to Dark Row to get the spell to wake me, and he’d just nodded, letting me speak with zero interruptions. Then, when I finished, he’d said, “I’d do anything for you.”

Total one-eighty from when they’d come to pick me up in Montana.

I felt like all the signs were there, declaring him as my mate, but … every time I was firmly in Team Justice’s camp, something happened to throw me off. Every time … except now.

We crossed through the courtyard, and I felt like everyone was staring. One glance confirmed everyone was staring, which only made me feel weirder.

I stole a side glance at Justice and pulled to a stop at his intense gaze.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, facing me.

Was he joking?

“I know it’s one of you. It has to be.” It slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. I took a deep breath, but when I spoke, my voice still shook. “Just tell me.”

His eyes widened for a second before softening, and he shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Mother Mage of all things holy, I was going to kill him!

It was torture not knowing who my mate was. I stroked the covered marks on my ring finger, and his gaze lingered there. “Why even walk me home, Justice? Why be so nice to me all of a sudden?” I shook my head and waved him away. “I know how to get home, okay. I don’t need company.”

Unless you’re my mate. Just tell me already! Then I can slap you for ignoring me all this time, and we can make out.

“No, wait.” His expression cleared, and he offered a soft smile of apology. “I thought we were friends.”

At least I thought it was a smile of apology. “Then what’s up? What do you need?”

After a deep breath, he said in a rush, “Are you going to the Samhain party? Not that you have to, but it’s kinda tradition for everyone to go. I mean—like with Kaja and them, are you going?”

He stepped in front of me to block my escape. The heat of his body radiated warmth, but … it hit me in that moment: I didn’t want it to be Justice. For whatever cruel reason, I wanted my mate to be his slightly larger, definitely meaner brother. The universe obviously hated me because it was so clearly Justice. He was nicer, consistently nicer, and he’d basically just asked me to the Samhain dance.

“Not sure,” I said honestly. “The beach party turned out to be a shitshow, and the one before that…” I had no words for the yo-yo of emotions that had plagued me since the masquerade, so I shrugged. “Anyway, I’m not sure I want to go to another one.”

Justice nodded, his green eyes flaring. “I get that.”

“Really?” I asked, picking up my pace again. “Did you not have fun at the masquerade? Or did you and your hook-up get interrupted like Rage?”

Okay, I was prying, so he could sue me. Screw the stupid rules!

Furrowing his brow, he asked, “Is that what he said happened?”

I laughed. “What do you mean?”

Did Rage lie?

“Nai…” Justice said, leading me up to the door of my house. “No one talks about what happens at the masquerade.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I waved him off, annoyed. “I gotta run. Thanks for walking me and all that.” I moved to go inside, and his arm snaked out, his hand grasping me by the bicep.

I spun to face him, and he pinned me with his vibrant gaze, causing me to swallow hard.

“So,” he said, his voice low and husky, “about the Samhain party … will you please consider going?”

Was he asking me? Like on a date? Could you even have a date when everyone wore a mask and had voice modifications?

I shrugged again. “I dunno. The last party I went to, I almost died.”

The occasional nightmare about the beach party still woke me up.

He frowned, his gaze going to the puckered scar on my arm, and his eyes flashed yellow. “That won’t happen again. Ever.”

I didn’t mean to trigger his instinct to protect, but clearly, I had.

I studied his face, and even though his features were nearly identical to Rage’s, there was no way to confuse the two brothers. So why did my thoughts keep drifting back to the eldest brother? Probably because we had so much unresolved conflict.

But Justice was … nice. He was being nice. And he’d been consistently nice … for weeks.

After opening the door, I glanced over my shoulder.

Justice still stood there, watching me, his eyes wolf-yellow.

“I’ll think about it.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could think them through, and he rewarded me with a heart-stopping grin.

“Good.” He winked at me. “See you there, Nai.”

“Hey, I said I’d think about it!” I called after him, but apparently, we both knew I was going.

Dammit.

The entire next day, my mind was unsettled. I couldn’t wait until that night so that I could go for a run. When darkness fell over the island and the moon rose high in the sky, I quickly changed and shifted into my wolf, hoping to see my mate. We’d been meeting up now for the past several weeks, running and playing in wolf form. It was carefree and beautiful without any of the human drama.

The second my nose hit the damp earth, I smelled him.

His wolf came out of the tree line and nuzzled me. ‘Missed you.’

I nipped his tail. ‘You’re it!’

I took off into the trees, jumping over fallen logs, hearing him racing right behind me. His wolf was faster than mine, but he let me win. A lot. We raced into the forest, only stopping when we were both out of breath and panting.