“Let’s get you into bed, and I’ll bring some food,” I said to Rage. Then I met Jeb’s gaze. “Thank you for your help. All of you.” Rage and I didn’t want to stay here too long. Honor was waiting for us, but my mate was still healing and could use the rest … so we would have to make it work.

I didn’t miss their wide-eyed gaze, but right now, I couldn’t offer them any explanation. I needed to tend to my mate.

After Rage and I shoveled two giant plates full of food into our mouths, I took a shower, rinsing the grime from my body. A few minutes later, I pulled on the borrowed sweats and t-shirt from Sara and crawled into bed where Rage slept, softly snoring. Okay, just an hour. I’ll just lay down for an hour. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.

“Where are you?” a familiar man’s voice called through the emptiness of my sleep. The landscape of darkness faded, and a flower garden appeared with stone pavers and a burbling fountain. Sure enough, my grandfather materialized on a bench near the stone fish spitting crystalline water into the air. He looked at me and patted the bench. “Nai, come sit with me.”

I casually walked over to the dream bench in the crazy dream garden, looking around the place in awe. “Is this magic?” I asked after sitting next to my grandpa.

He nodded. “Where are you? Are you safe?”

I gave him the rundown of the last few hours, including my discovery about my blood healing magic and ability to make Surlama’s healing elixir with Jeb’s help. And, most importantly, I told him we had to kill Surlama so that the Keeper of Souls would release Honor’s soul and we could bring him back.

Grandpa shook his head. “You’re lucky it was this Jeb fellow and not another dark mage. They would’ve bled you dry.”

“Please don’t make this a nightmare,” I muttered. “I can’t handle much more.”

Grandpa Geoff straightened and offered me a sharp nod. “I’m sure you’re right. You should take another day to rest with John and Sara before—”

I shook my head. “We need to get back to Justice and Noble. I don’t want to wait until the last minute to bring Honor’s soul back. I think we have”—how many hours had passed while Rage and I slept? Four? Six? How did I know that?—“maybe sixty hours left.”

It was just a guess, but I’d rather not run out of time.

He raised his eyebrows and asked, “What’s your plan?”

I gave him the briefest outline because that was all we had. “When Justice and Noble find us a recently deceased body—”

“You need to bring it to Montana where I will meet you and show you how to raise Honor.”

I nodded. “Hey, if the healing elixir can only be made with high mage blood of spirit, then—"

The entire garden shook, and the vibrant colors swirled and blended like abstract art. What in the name of the Mother Mage was happening?

As soon as the motion stopped, I looked to Grandpa for an explanation.

“Meet me in Montana. I can teach you how to raise Honor there without interference from the magic lands.”

The dream world trembled again, and I nodded.

Grandpa looked at the shaking trees, “I believe your mate is—”

The surroundings blurred once more, and even Grandpa Geoff melded with the strange muddy landscape, his words becoming a muffled garble.

“Nai!” Rage yelled. “Wake up!”

I shot up in bed so fast I cracked my chin on Rage’s head and then flopped back into bed with a curse.

“What the hell, Nai?” Rage muttered, rubbing his cheek. “You sleep like the dead!”

“I was in a magic dream with my grandpa.” I blinked the last vestiges of sleep from my eyes and mind as I took in the darkening bedroom. It looked like sunrise. We’d slept all day and night!

“What’s wrong?” I could tell from the pinched expression on Rage’s face that something was up. Something besides the fact that we’d slept way too long. The exhaustion of Rage’s injury and using my blood for all this healing was getting to us both.

“We’ve gotta go.” He tossed back the covers and stood.

Sitting up, I frowned. I didn’t hear any sounds of commotion. And clearly, Rage was fine—besides the clock ticking on Honor’s life.

“Okay, yeah. We need to get Honor back.”

Rage shuddered and then fixed me with his gaze. His green eyes were wide, and his expression stricken. “No, it’s not that. Declan is trying to find me.”

Hatred burned through me as my lips tightened and nostrils flared. “What do you mean?”

Rage sighed, and a look of agony crossed his face. “He’s … torturing Noble and Justice to find out where we are. Their screams woke me from sleep.”

Wait. What?

How did Rage know that? Oh mage. “How?”

I scooted closer. Rage pulled me onto his lap and rested his chin on my head. When he spoke, his voice was filled with anguish.

“We can speak telepathically. The king knows—” his voice broke “—and he knows I’ll come to help my brothers.”

Chapter 5

Rage and I got dressed, and by the time we stepped from the room, John stood at the end of the hallway, waiting. Was it his shifter hearing, or had he been keeping guard, watching for the king’s men? I tried to shake the anxiety crawling through me.

“We need to leave,” Rage told him.

John crossed his arms and frowned. “You’ve barely healed.”

Sara rounded the corner, appearing from the heart of the house, and sidled next to her husband as her gaze jumped from Rage to me. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” I said, glancing at Rage. When he didn’t explain, I faced our hosts and did the best I could without divulging the Midnight brothers’ secret. “We need to leave for Alpha Island at once. Our friends need us.”

John sucked in a sharp breath, and Sara’s eyes widened.

“You’re banished.” She shook her head. “They’ll kill you on sight.”

Rage sighed. “My brothers are there, and they need me. I have to go.”

Just then, the twins appeared, one after the other, Sadie’s blond hair rumpled from sleep. It was early morning, the sun just shining in through the curtains, and we’d clearly woken the entire house.

John looked at his daughters. “Take Sadie and Audrey with you. The king’s men won’t know them since they were born here after we were banished. They can ferry you across to the island—give you a better chance in case there’s trouble.”

It was a good idea. If the king’s men found us, would they try to kill me and take Rage back? Did they all know about the shield oath? In that case, they might just imprison me. Either way, I knew what the king wanted: his first heir back.

“All right,” Rage agreed. “But once we get to the island, they come right back. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

The girls nodded, but I wasn’t sure if that was in agreement or a mere acknowledgment of his statement. We could discuss it later.

I hugged Sara tightly. “Thank you so much for your hospitality.”