Midnight Kisses (Shifter Island #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,70

Rue said, appearing over Nell’s shoulder.

Kaja pushed aside her sisters, forcing her way into my room and shutting the door behind her. She held two paper cups in her hands, both full of French toast sticks. Crossing the room to my bed, she shoved one at me as she sat on the edge. “Everyone is talking about it.”

She took a large bite, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she moaned. “You should eat those before I decide to take them back.”

Nell grabbed my left hand to hide my mate marks while the last remnants of a bad night’s sleep left me.

Rue chewed on her lip. “Attacks on students don’t happen on Alpha Island. Like … ever.”

Here we go. I sucked in a deep breath and then blurted, “I know, I was there.”

All three of them gasped, and Nell’s grip on my hand went slack as it fell to my lap. Still, I trusted them. More importantly, I needed someone to talk to since the school failed to offer therapy. A big oversight, in my opinion, especially with their sucky security.

Rue’s eyebrows hit her hairline, and Kaja gaped.

“You were … there?” Nell asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. With my mate, who… got injured.”

“Holy shit!” Kaja stammered, leaping to her feet, her breakfast now forgotten. “Mother of mages!” She paced the room, shaking her head. “I can’t even…”

Weird reaction.

Not that I was exactly Zen about the whole thing, but … picking up one of the sticks, I nibbled on the flaky sweetness. Oh, yummy. Around a mouthful, I asked, “What? What’s wrong?”

A sly grin pulled at Nell’s lips. “The student who was injured, the one sent away for a special royal healer off-island, was one of the Midnight princes.”

The room swam, and the color must have drained from my face because Nell reached out and grasped my shoulders. “You okay?”

I gulped, nodding. This was it, the proof I’d been waiting for. I told myself my mate could be a close friend of the Midnight brothers. Hadn’t he said as much in the garden when we first kissed? That his friend told him of the place. But this … this was proof. “So, my mate is…”

Kaja shook a French toast stick at me, flinging syrup onto the floor. “Obviously Rage or Justice! Oh, my stars, what I wouldn’t give to mate with either of them.”

Something about her statement made me laugh, but the sound was hollow. Having it confirmed that either Rage or Justice was my mate … hurt. Why wouldn’t he tell me? I could think of only two reasons:

embarrassment

cowardice

Well, plus, there was that whole thing about who’s family member killed who. I’d call that resentment. So maybe three reasons. But the first two were stupid, and the third one was wrong.

My thoughts drifted to the two Midnight princes. Despite Rage’s hot/cold and sometimes ugly personality, he lit a fire inside of me. Then, there was Justice. Equally icy at times, but lately … he was definitely thawing.

All of Nell’s excitement fell from her expression, and then she shrugged. “No details were given, so no idea which one it was. I heard the alpha king freaked out. Livid. But their mom sent them to a special healer off-island for a rapid recovery.”

Huh…

An epiphany hit me like a truck then, and I grinned. This would be easy. If Rage was missing from class today … he was my mate. And if he was there, my mate was Justice. I’d find out once and for all who he was and then confront him.

Everyone grew quiet. I got dressed and forced myself to finish eating. As the morning progressed, a weight settled beneath my breastbone, echoing my fears from last night. My movements felt like walking through quicksand, and icy depression settled over me like a heavy blanket. Not knowing who my mate was but knowing he was a Midnight prince should’ve made me happy, but the confirmation only unsettled me, making me feel melancholy.

I didn’t need a Ph.D. in psych to know that beneath my anger was fear. Fear that either Rage or Justice was ashamed to be mated to me, and that stung hard. I understood the rules, that we couldn’t be public about it, but for him to not even tell me? His distrust stung the most.

When I opened the door to my Fire Studies class, Master Carn looked up from his desk, but the rest of the room was empty. The lack of Rage’s presence sent my heart into my