suck for you."
Was that a threat?
Fuming, I leaned forward and angled the vents away from me, blasting Rage and Honor with frigid air. How dare they?
Calm down, Nai. Don't show weakness unless there's a reason. Recalling my father's teachings, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“What’s with the names? You guys named after virtues or something?” I glared at Rage, who clearly wasn’t named after a virtue. More like his personality. But the others were Honor, Noble, Justice.
Justice grunted, but that was the only response I got.
“What’s your story?” Rage asked, his lip curling. “Didn’t Crescent Clan already send their heir last year?”
Nolan.
I tipped my chin up. “Nolan is the spare.”
Before Rage could reply, the Land Rover swerved, and I was thrown forward as Noble slammed on the brakes.
What the…?
"Get down! Rogues!" Noble snapped.
That one word sent ice water through my veins.
Rage grabbed my head and forced me down by the back of the neck so I could no longer see out the front windshield.
Patches of fur rippled down my arms as I tried to control my wolf. She wanted to come out now? With a snarl, I twisted and snapped at Rage’s wrist, fully intending to bite him. He yanked his hand back just in time, and I bolted upright, peering out the window. “Dammit!”
McCain and his crew.
Rogue wolves were akin to feral cats. They’d left their packs, usually forced out after repeated offenses. They had zero social skills and were more wolf than human. McCain was the worst. Stripped of pack and magic, he always wanted blood—the only way to steal the mage-bestowed magic running through our veins.
What the hell was Noble waiting for? A peace talk?
"Run him over!" I shouted.
McCain stood in the road with his scrappy pseudo-pack of six wolves, blocking our way.
"I … can't," Noble faltered. "It's against wolf shifter law. They must strike first."
Was he kidding? I chortled at the lunacy of his statement. "Screw the code! I've seen this guy gnaw the flesh off a grown man faster than a royal betrayal. Run the rogue over before we—"
A heavy thump on the roof stole my breath, and I froze. I longed to shift into my wolf form, but my wolf was shy in times of stress. A really lame trait to have as an alpha heir.
Spinning to my right, I stared at a fully shifted werewolf standing just outside our window.
"Noble, go!" Justice shouted from shotgun, and the more tolerable of the brothers gunned the gas.
A loud scraping sound grated across the metal above, reverberating through the car. I looked up to see three inches of werewolf claws piercing the ceiling.
Before I could formulate a course of action, Rage launched into me, his face connecting with my chest as he forced me down across Honor’s lap with a headbutt.
“Get off—” I grunted.
Rage rolled to the side, and I gaped in awe as he held a sleek black gun up to the roof of the car.
A small snapping noise rang out, a burst of light exiting the barrel with each silver bullet, followed by two more. Good thing they had silencers or all four of us would be deaf for the next hour. My ears just rang a little.
A thud rocked the car as Noble plowed through the group of rogues, and a faint keening registered before it was gone.
My attention went from the holes in the roof to the giant dominant draped over me.
I blinked at him, and my lips parted.
Those eyes!
His glasses had come off, and my thoughts derailed as I stared. Fire danced across my skin, its heat soaking deep into my chest and melting my insides.
His startling green eyes, the color of spring grass, held me captive for one long breath. That warmth in my belly was not attraction. Nope. So, I pushed it down and reminded myself that this guy was an idiot … and an ass. But … I wasn't prepared for how hot a total douche could be. Striking and unique seemed inadequate adjectives—
What the hell?
My nostrils flared, and I closed my mouth with a snap. His baseball cap had flown off in the scuffle, and peeking out from under his tousled hair, the outline of a full moon shimmered across the surface of his skin. The mark of Midnight royalty was on his forehead.
These weren’t regular guards. Of all the packs, they belonged to my sworn enemy.
Midnight.
Chapter 2
Snarling, I shoved at Rage, trying to wiggle the rest of my way out from underneath him.
“Get