Midnight Kisses (Shifter Island #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,45

house, afraid one of them would say something else about my weird beach encounter with the high mage. Hauling my butt across the courtyard, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Kaja wasn’t coming after me, and when I turned around, I skidded to avoid full-on crashing into—ugh!—Rage. I barely bumped into him, only a little. And then I stood in front of him, clutching my book with both hands and gasping for air.

We just stared at each other. I waited for him to yell at me, but he just kept looking at me, his gaze darting over every curve of my face. The silence stretched, weirding me out a little, or a lot, but legit, I could stare at his face all day and be okay with it.

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