Prologue: War Is Comingggg.

The moon was a clear crescent high in the night sky, stars twinkling in the darkness. A cool breeze swept through the island. Waves crashed gently onto the beach. The smooth sand's warmth contrasted with the Pacific Ocean's freezing water. A young man sat on a log by the water’s edge, dipping his toes into the lapping waves.

“Sire!” a breathless voice called from behind him. He turned, cocking his head to the side in question, as his advisor slid to a stop in front of him. The advisor bowed hastily. “We have news from Gabriel,” he said, trying to catch his breath.

The young prince raised an eyebrow. “What is it, Kazran?”

“Your brother was taken,” Kazran answered. “The human government must have found out they were going to the Mainland.”

The prince cursed in the Ancient Language. “You realize what this means?” he hissed.

Kazran visibly paled. “Sire, you know your brother would not agree with this course of action,” he protested.

“My brother isn’t here,” the prince retorted. A sly smile began growing on his face. “He also isn’t king yet. Just because he’s older, he thinks he controls everything. This is the reason we’ve been waiting for. It won’t be our fault. The humans escalated things by kidnapping my big brother, our future king.”

“Sire, please think about this before giving the order,” Kazran begged.

“I’ve had plenty of time to think this through, Kaz,” the prince snapped. “This is going to happen with or without you. The humans have declared war, and I’ll be damned if I don’t deliver. They’ve been begging for this since we arrived on this planet. We finally have a good excuse. It is a battle for the planet, and I refuse to lose. It’s time these pests realize exactly who they’re dealing with.” With a slight chuckle, he turned and headed back towards the ocean.

The prince reached the water's edge and stepped forward until he was ankle-deep, the waves licking at the bottom of his pants. He raised his face to the heavens and breathed deeply, letting it out slowly. He raised his arms outward with a smile that didn’t reach his ice-cold eyes. With a snap of his shoulder and back muscles, enormous, black, feathery wings sprang from his back. The wings beat powerfully, raising him from the ground and taking him away from the beach.

A war was coming, and they needed to be ready.

***

“Samara White! Get your ass out of bed!” The voice of doom, ladies and gentlemen. My twin brother, Saige. When I don’t move, he leaps on the bed, landing on my back and digging his bony knees into my spine.

“Get off, you spawn of Satan!” I snap. I rotate my body sharply, dislodging him onto the floor of my room. The idiot lies there laughing. “Get out of my room!”

“Come on, Sam, get up. It’s almost noon,” Saige says as he sits up. “We’re ready to leave. Everyone wants to say bye.”

I bolt upright in bed when I hear what he says. I completely forgot about their annual camping trip. I was the only girl in the family ever since Mom died when I was only six. Dad takes my five brothers on a yearly camping trip for some male bonding. I’m used to their overprotectiveness. I’ve always had a babysitter during their trip, but now that I’m eighteen, I finally get to stay here alone.

“Give me a second,” I state. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Saige pushes himself to his feet and heads for the door. “Don’t take too long, dear sister,” he sings as he leaves the room.

I roll my eyes as I slide out of bed and quickly change out of my pajamas. I comb through my unruly black hair and hurry downstairs where my family is waiting.

Dad is standing by the front door having a murmured conversation with two of my brothers, Forrest and Jesse. As the oldest, Forrest is always the most focused, worrying about all of us and taking care of us when Dad isn’t around. Jesse helps when he can. Those two have always been super close. Then there are the twins, Reid and Rhys, who are the middle brothers. Rhys is the one who manages to keep a level head while Reid likes to play practical jokes and get into trouble. They balance each other out perfectly and are also usually attached at the hip. Saige and I are the youngest, barely adults. We’ve always been connected on a deeper level, but lately, he’s turned into more of an overprotective sibling who annoys the crap out of me. Or maybe I’m the one who’s changed. My family doesn’t seem to realize that I’m not a helpless, little girl anymore.

“Finally!” Reid grins. “We’re losing daylight here, little sis.”

I roll my eyes. “You could have left without saying goodbye,” I retort.

“Not a chance,” Dad says gruffly. “We need to go over some rules.”

“Dad, I’m eighteen,” I grumble. “I don’t need rules. You know how responsible I am. Besides, Jaime is coming to stay for a few days.” My family has always loved my gay best friend. Jaime Stone is more responsible than me in a lot of ways. We sort of adopted him into our family after his parents disowned him for being gay when he was fifteen. He’s always been super smart and graduated high school a year early. Now he’s attending college across the country, so I don’t see him as often anymore.

Dad shakes his head, but I see a hint of a smile. “You always somehow manage to get the two of you in trouble when you’re together,” he answers. “I put the rules on a piece of paper and taped it to the front of the fridge, so you won’t miss it. Please make sure the house is at least still standing when we come back.”

“No trouble, Dad,” I promise, flashing him a winning smile.

He doesn’t fall for the innocent look. “That smile spells trouble,” he says. He wraps me in a warm embrace, squeezing tightly for a few seconds. “Love you, kid.”

“Love you too, Dad,” I reply. My brothers hug me next and a few seconds later I’m standing in an empty house listening to the SUV peeling out of the driveway.

I’ve been excited for some time to myself practically the whole year, but now that it’s here, I’m not sure what to do. I’m about to head back upstairs when I suddenly hear the revving of engines. I peek out the window by the door and watch several black unmarked cars driving down the road at a speed that I’m pretty sure is illegal in a residential area. Usually, Reid is the one speeding down the road, but his driving is more playful. Something about these vehicles seems dangerous like they don’t belong here. I feel uneasy as they disappear from view. That was strange. Shrugging it off, I turn to head back to my room, but a pounding on the door startles a yelp out of me as I swing back around. I press my palm to my chest, feeling my racing heartbeat. The banging starts again a second after it stops.

“Let me in, bitch!” Jaime’s smooth voice calls from the other side. “I didn’t travel all this way for nothing!”

I can’t contain my squeal of happiness as I leap for the door, swinging it open. He barely has time to drop his duffle bag before I’m in his arms, squeezing the life out of him. He grunts, then chuckles and squeezes me back.

“Hey, Sammi,” he whispers in my ear.

I take a step back and study my best friend. He’s tall and thin with tan skin and dirty blond hair. Bangs are brushed to the side over his cloudy gray eyes. “When did you get in?” I demand after a moment of silence.

He steps into the house and closes the door behind him, leaving his duffle by the wall. “I flew in a couple of hours ago,” he answers. “I told your dad not to say anything. Wanted to surprise you.”

“It was a very pleasant surprise,” I grin. “I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow. I thought I was going to have a very lonely night here.”

“Not while I’m here,” he replies. “Although I did promise your dad we would be extra responsible.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, right.”

He laughs. “Yeah, your dad didn’t believe me either.” He grabs his duffle and makes his way up the stairs, heading straight for my room. “You gotta get dressed, girl. I’m taking you out.”

Giddy with excitement, I follow him up. He drops his bag on my bed and begins rummaging through my closet, pulling out my sexiest clothes. I raise an eyebrow in response. These are clothes that he bought me for my eighteenth birthday, and I’ve had to hide them in the back of my closet because if my dad or brothers found them, they would probably make a bonfire and toss them in. Then I would be in trouble and so would Jaime.

“Go take a shower,” Jaime orders.

I glance at the clock above my bed. “It’s not even one o’clock yet,” I complain. “I don’t need a lot of time to get ready.” He doesn’t have to say anything. He raises an eyebrow and points at the bathroom. I let out a huff but grab a towel from the linen closet and step into the bathroom. I’m just about to turn on the shower when I suddenly hear a loud shout followed by a crash.

I hurry back into my room. “Jaime, you okay?” I call.

Jaime appears from the closet with a frown on his face. “I’m fine,” he answers. “I think that came from your backyard.”

My heart skips a beat as I turn and race downstairs for the back door. I can hear Jaime right behind me. We skid to a stop on the back deck. I gape at my shed. There is a massive hole in the roof of the shed. Something fell through it. I jog down the deck steps and move closer to the shed, pausing in front of the door. I hesitate, my fingers twitching by my sides.

“I think we should call your dad,” Jaime says nervously.

I shoot him a surprised glance. “Since when do you pass up an opportunity for adventure?” I ask.

“Sammi, we have no idea what is in there,” he says calmly.

“It’s probably a bird or something,” I shrug. My heart won’t stop racing and something in my gut is urging me to get into the shed. It causes sweat to break out on my body. I ignore Jaime’s protests and pull open the shed doors.

“What the fuck?” Jaime whispers behind me.

I can’t respond to him. I’m too busy staring at the creature currently lying unconscious on the floor of my shed. It has to be some kind of person because it has a body like a person. He looks like a young man, not much older than us. He’s a big guy, built with a solid wall of muscle. His golden tan skin is smooth and flawless. He looks to be over six feet tall at least. He has shoulder-length, wispy silver blond hair that I itch to run my fingers through. I don’t understand my body’s reaction to this stranger. Sure, he’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, but I have no idea what he is. Because while a human just has a head, two arms, two legs, and a torso, that isn’t the only thing this guy has. My eyes don’t stray from the huge, fluffy white wings protruding from his back. As I continue studying this man in front of me, I can’t help the unmistakable feeling in my gut that my life will never be the same again.