Ambushed

Not true, and my stomach promptly rumbled loudly, declaring my lie. Male wolves and their need to feed a female wolf were beyond sexist and annoying. I’d starve before accepting food from them. It was a move for power, and I wouldn’t play into it.

The brother to my left sighed, and I rolled my eyes at the roof of the car.

My attention was captured by the knobs and buttons; I wondered what they all did. Was that a television screen? I was going to ignore these jerks on the island!

The driver shook his head. "Listen, cub, I can't bring a hungry wolf to the island. We have an hour's drive before we hit civilization."

A green and gold package landed in my lap.

"There's a granola bar to tide you over," Kelly said from his shotgun seat.

Bravo smacked Kelly in the back of the head. “Why are you being nice to her? Let her starve.”

“Calm down.” Driver dude’s voice was softer than the others; he was clearly the voice of reason.

The brother to my left looked at the driver next. “Moral, would you like to offer her a refreshment as well?”

The driver’s hands clenched the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

“Piss off, Honour!”

Moral? Bravo? Kelly? Honour? What kind of freaking names were these?

I glared at Bravo beside me and leaned into him.

Placing the food bar in his lap, "Thanks for the offer, but I'll decline—on all counts."

The driver, Moral, chuckled. "I think this cub has claws."

I liked them better when they were mute.

"What's your name, cub?" Moral asked as he manoeuvred around the potholes on the road leading out of town.

Oh, now they were going to be friendly? I stared at my reflection in his glasses through the rearview mirror, wishing I could rip them off.

"Not a cub.”

I was nineteen, and they couldn’t be a day older than twenty-one. Was this a joke?

“Then what?” Bravo growled.

“Alpha successor to you, buddy." Might as well put these douchebags in their place right now. No island guard would talk down to me like this; I did not care how dominant they were.

All four of them laughed at that, and a blast of cold air hit me as the air conditioner came on.

"Be good, cub," Kelly growled.

"Or the next four years will really suck for you."

Was that a threat?

Fuming, I bent forward and angled the vents away from me, blasting Bravo and Honour with frigid air. How dare they?

Calm down, Fia. 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 Bravo, who wasn’t named after a virtue.

More like his personality. But the others were Honour, Moral, and Kelly.

Kelly grunted, but that was the only response I got.

“What’s your story?” Bravo asked, his lip curling.

“Didn’t Orbit Clan already send their heir last year?”

Henry.

I tipped my chin up. “Henry is the spare.”

Before Bravo could reply, the Land Rover swerved, and I was thrown forward as Moral slammed on the brakes.

What the…?

"Get down! Rogues!" Moral snapped.

That one word sent ice water through my veins.

Bravo 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. Did she want to come out now? With a snarl, I twisted and snapped at Bravo’s wrist, fully intending to bite him. He yanked his hand back just in time, and I bolted upright, peering out the window.

“Dammit!”

Mcben and his crew.

Rogue wolves were akin to feral cats. They’d left their packs, usually forced out after repeated offences. They had zero social skills and we're more wolf than humans. Mcben 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 Moral waiting for? A peace talk?

"Run him over!" I shouted.

Mcben stood in the road with his scrappy pseudo-pack of six wolves, blocking our way.

"I … can't," Moral 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 have seen this guy chew 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 lame trait to have as an alpha heir.

Spinning to my right, I stared at a fully shifted werewolf standing just outside our window.

"Moral, go!" Kelly 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, Bravo launched into me, his face connecting with my chest as he forced me down across Honour’s lap with a headbutt.

“Get off—” I grunted.

Bravo 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 on or all four of us would be deaf for the next hour. My ears just rang slightly.

A thud rocked the car as Moral ploughed 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 colour 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 Uktena royalty was on his forehead. These weren’t regular guards. Of all the packs, they belonged to my sworn enemy. Uktena.

Snarling, I shoved at Bravo, trying to wiggle the rest of my way out from underneath him.

“Get off me, Uktena!” I hissed.

I should have known it would be them. Of course, the alpha king would send Uktena Clan to retrieve me. To rub it in my face. But royalty?

Sending one of their heirs—or four of them to be exact—was not done. Most clans had at least ten to twenty heirs to ensure someone would be bred strong enough to take over the pack when the alpha died. I did not know much about Uktena Pack other than they were the ones who drove our clan out of the magic lands.

If the king sent his heirs to retrieve me, they must be distant spares, not even worthy enough to be in Alpha Academy.

His eyes widened as if I had slapped him, and he growled back.

"I said stay … down!"

His gaze darted to my lips, and then he licked his own. My mouth dried, and I blinked up at him stupidly.

“Hey, Bravo,” Honour said, his voice coming down to me from above.

“We are all good here. Sound and safe.” He cleared his throat.

“Get off her so she can get off me. Please.”

I was lying in Honour’s lap.

Awkward.

Bravo pushed up, his right arm confining me in on one side and his brother’s chest on the other.

My gaze bounced, trying to escape the dominance over me, and I sagged with solace when all I could see was the mangled ceiling … and Honour staring down at me.

He raised his brows, and I noted his eyes were hazel—not spring-grass green.

“You should sit up and wipe the saliva off your chin,” he said to me with a cheeky grin.

I shot up so fast my hair tumbled into my face as I bounced off Honour and smacked into Bravo by accident.

This damn car was too small for these giants!

“Oww,” I muttered between clenched teeth, pushing my hair back.