Whoa.

The furniture was pushed to the walls, the coffee table gone; their entire living room had become a battleground. Fiona was graduating this year, so I knew she was taking it especially seriously.

Nell popped up and glared at her sister. “I’ve got it! I did this last year, remember?”

Fiona laughed, a harsh, brittle, mocking sound. “They grade first-years way easier than upperclassmen.”

Ouch.

“I said I’ve got it.” Nell turned, and her furrowed expression melted into a smile. “Oh, Nai is here. Hey, girl.”

Nell broke away from her sister, shooting her a parting glare, seemingly grateful for the distraction my presence brought.

Fiona and Mele started to spar, ignoring me while Rue and Nell came over to greet me.

“Where did you go last night?” Nell asked.

Rue cocked her head to the side and added, “We were worried until we saw your broken heels at the back door of your dorm.”

I took in a deep breath. I needed to get this part off my chest. “Rage is my mate. He confessed.”

Jaws dropped, and silence descended on the entire group of girls as their eyes widened. I sucked in a breath, followed by another, and then finally, one by one, they recovered from the shock.

“I thought it was Justice,” Rue said.

Nell grinned. “I knew it was Rage.”

“Are you okay?” Kaja reached for me, her eyes narrowed.

I wanted to tell them more, about the marks, about his question: What are you? His words burned their way into my soul until I felt empty.

But if I told them now, I’d become an emotional wreck, and I needed to concentrate on tonight. First things first. I’d tell them everything tomorrow.

“I’m okay. But … it didn’t end well,” I confessed.

Kaja pulled me in for a hug. Then Nell and Rue joined until we were all sandwiched together, and tears leaked from my eyes.

Fiona’s voice shattered our love powwow.

“Nai, you’re next!” she shouted.

We parted, and I wiped my eyes, nodding. I needed the distraction. The games were happening whether I was ready or not. I needed to win.

I strode over to the center of the carpet, and Fiona stared down on me, her eyes yellow.

“They will try to break you,” she warned. “You’ll be outnumbered. Nolan won’t help you, so you have to be smarter.”

Whoa.

Fiona was scary as hell, but this was how she showed love. She wanted us all at our best—even me. All the years I longed to have a sister, and now I did. Five of them. The Harvest girls were my pack.

I nodded, bringing my arms up into guard as I slid my weight back into a defensive stance.

Fiona assessed my stance, and then her gaze flicked behind me.

I spun.

Too late.

A duct-taped bag of flour slammed into my back, and I fell to my knees with a growl.

“You need to have eyes in the back of your head!” Fiona snarled. “Try again!”

I stood, readying my stance for another blow.

Thank the Mother Mage I had these girls.

Tonight would test everything within me, and may the healing mages have mercy on any wolf who got in my way.

“Welcome, students!” Headmistress Elaine stood in the clearing of the forest on the east side of campus, her voice amplified by magic.

She looked beautiful and healthy, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit of personal pride at that.

“And welcome, clans and esteemed guests,” she added.

Just like that, my confidence waned to almost nothing. Nerves churned in my gut as I scanned the crowd. Wolves from the outer fringes of the island sat in risers like an arena. Harvest Clan, Midnight, Daybreak, every one but mine. My gaze snagged on the High Mage Council, sitting high up on a platform stage with the alpha king among them. Why were they here?

Behind them, suspended in air, hung a huge hundred-foot white cloth as their backdrop. I smiled at the kind grandpa mage, and then the headmistress was talking again.

“At Alpha Prep, we pride ourselves on turning out the most dominant, battle-ready alpha for each clan.”

The packs standing around the clearing roared their approval as the students tipped their heads in pride toward their kin.

Nolan and I stood alone, no pack present to care.

“In an effort to hone our students’ skills, we do twice-yearly practical exams.” The headmistress turned to us. “This exam is a display of your elemental power. The power that separates you from the others in your pack, those who do not carry royal blood.”

Another roar from the crowd. A row of guards approached us, started to hand out colored vests, and a stone sank in my stomach when I was handed a bright green vest, the same color as Nolan’s.

“For this test, you will be paired on a team with the other heirs in your house,” she said boldly.

Two. There were freaking two of us.

Midnight had four.

Harvest girls had five.

And Daybreak, even with the recent loss of their sister, had three.

We were totally outnumbered, and I was on freaking Nolan’s team. My breath grew shallow as I considered our odds. Stab-me-in-the-back Nolan … so not fair. But I remembered Nell saying they changed things up every year.

I felt Rage’s gaze burning into me from a few feet away as he and the Midnight heirs put on their blue vests, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of looking. Keep your head in the game, Nai.

Four guards entered the field then, each holding a colored flag, red, blue, yellow, and green, all colors that matched our vests.

“The midyear practical is Capture the Flag, magical version.” The headmistress smiled, and again, the packs went wild. Nell and Fiona rolled out their necks, appearing seasoned, and even Nolan bounced on the tips of his toes.

I, however, stared into the air, stunned. How was I going to get anything done with Nolan on my team?

I don’t know why I assumed they would scramble the teams evenly.

The guards disappeared then, running off into the forest to hide the flags.

“It’s less about capturing the actual flags than it is about showcasing your skill while you defend your territory and seek out other teams’ flags,” said the headmistress.

Okay … I exhaled with a modicum of relief. So … even if our flag was taken, if I could show a little bit of good magic defending it, I shouldn’t be kicked out.

“Now, listen carefully.” Her voice dropped low in ominous warning. “The rules clearly state you cannot openly attack a fellow student without cause, but you can and should defend your territory, or life, by any means necessary.”

What the what?

Nolan peered at me with a grin, saliva glittering on his teeth.

“We’re on the same team,” I hissed.

Creep.

“This battle-like scenario separates the weak from the strong.” Her voice was hollow like maybe she didn’t believe that line. She took a breath and then said, “So be careful, and let’s have a clean game.”

The crowd went wild, roaring and howling and stamping their feet.

A chill rolled through the night air, and I hugged my arms around my waist.

Father once told me Alpha Academy separated the alpha from the second in line. Getting in was easy—that was a birthright—but getting through four years here was what made one ready to lead a pack of animal shifters through any situation.