Midnight Lies (Shifter Island #2) - Raye Wagner Page 0,67

rough … we were fleeing for our lives from the king, and then my dad dropped a truth bomb on us.”

Rage met my gaze, and I saw guilt in his eyes, mirroring my own.

Grandpa chewed at his lip, looking at the three Midnight brothers. “I cannot bring a soul back from the Realm of the Dead without a form for it to go into.”

Rage swallowed hard and consulted his watch. “We have thirty minutes.” He looked at me. “Is there a morgue or hospital or something else nearby? Maybe we could get a body that way and—”

Grandpa waved his hand. “We’re too far from a main town for that, and I’d need to know exactly where to find a body to make a portal there. We don’t have time for me to hop from place to place and have me teach Nai how to navigate in and out of the Realm of the Dead.”

Justice cursed again and delivered another frame-shaking blow to the wall and then apologized when my gramps shot him a stern look.

“There must be another way,” Noble pleaded, looking up from the couch, his expression haggard. “We’d do anything to get our brother back.”

My grandfather narrowed his eyes, regarding each of the brothers before he reached up and stroked his chin. “Anything?”

Chills danced down my spine, and my skin prickled as Rage and Justice pressed around my grandfather, but Noble remained dejectedly on the couch, his entire frame quaking with emotion.

“Anything. Ask, and we’ll make it happen.” Rage placed his hands together in supplication.

The high mage pursed his lips, and hope sprang into my chest when he nodded.

“Each of you has two forms, your human body and your wolf. If one of you is willing to give up your wolf, I can bring him back.”

My jaw dropped to the floor. What the what?

Rage sucked in a deep breath, and Justice stumbled backward.

“Do you know what you’re asking?” Rage rasped.

Grandpa exhaled and nodded. “I can separate your human form from your wolf, put Honor’s soul into your wolf, and you’ll remain human the rest of your life.”

“Human?” I asked, trying to clarify what they’d need to sacrifice. Even with my sometimes-skittish wolf, the thought of losing her—forever … caused pain to slice through my chest.

“There has to be another way,” I whimpered.

“There isn’t,” Rage said, his voice filled with anguish. “We’re out of time.”

“Would he … be himself again? Would it be Honor?” I asked.

In wolf form, you might as well be talking to a caveman; they were almost all instinct.

Grandpa Geoff straightened, his eyebrows lifting as he nodded.

Did that mean he…?

“His soul will be the same, and as such, he’d still be able to speak into his brothers’ minds through the bond they share. So … like his human self mentally but trapped in the body of a wolf.”

The heat and tension pressed against us as the reality of his words hit.

If we brought Honor’s soul back, one of the Midnight brothers would lose his wolf forever and become … human.

“I’m the eldest. I’ll do it.” Rage stepped toward Grandpa, but Justice grabbed my mate by the arm and yanked him back.

“Eldest by two minutes, Rage. Not that it matters. You’re the strongest so our best chance to beat Declan. Future king, bro. I’ll do it.” Justice tipped his head up, his chest heaving.

Tears flowed down my cheeks, and my throat clogged.

Noble cleared his throat and stood from the couch. With two long strides, he stepped in front of both brothers and turned around to face them as he rested a hand on each of them. When he spoke, his voice was steady. “Rage is our future king, and Justice, your strength is only minutely less. Besides—” he chuckled. “—you’re the spare heir. It has to be me.” Then, Noble faced my grandfather. “I want it to be me.”

My eyes burned, and my chest ached as my heart was shorn in two. I gritted my teeth, and my body trembled with the effort of keeping my pain inside. I wanted to protest—this was too much. But how could I deny Noble a sacrifice I’d make if I could?

Rage and Justice bowed to their brother, first their heads and then at the waist, and the demonstration of their respect made me choke back the sob I’d been wrestling.

Neither Rage nor Justice needed to exhibit such deference to their younger kin, and by bowing, they paid him the ultimate respect. And then Noble—sweet Noble—pulled them in for a fierce