A Warrior’s Fate (Wolves of Morai #1)

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

I sla felt like the floor had dropped out from under her, that the past week had been a ruse.

“You leave your family, become my luna, bound to my pack, to me forever. Is that what you want?”

What complete and utter bullshit.

None of this had been about what she wanted. None of this was about doing “right by her”. None of this was a rebellion against Fate for all the goddess had taken from him.

“There’s a lot of darkness in the pasts of Deimos and Io. A lot of bad blood. It runs back far—and deep.”

Bastard. Bastard. Bastard.

Kai had to have known all along what was likely to occur if their bond came to fruition. How horribly her being from Io would be received, how much doubt it would cast on him. When he’d met her that night on the terrace, figured out who she was and where she hailed from, he’d laid out his plan, smooth-talked her right into the palm of his hand, and played her like a fiddle.

Stupid. Stupid.

“You’ve been in my life for a long time, Ezekiel.” At Kai’s voice, even Isla’s bandaged fingers managed to curl in her fury. “And I’ve left you as beta to aid me in this transition for that reason and out of respect for my father, but this is your last warning. Don’t go behind my back to go beyond my authority again.” There was the echo of footsteps, and his voice darkened. “And this is the last time you speak of her to me or anyone else. Are we clear?”

His secret. She was to remain his dirty little secret.

Isla didn’t linger to hear if anything else was said or if the beta had agreed to negate her existence for the rest of time. She was out of that shadowy hall and down the stairwell before she even needed to gulp air in a gasp. Her mind buzzed as she powered through the lower floor’s corridors with no qualms about who she crossed as she stormed her previous path.

“She’s nothing to me.”

Said with conviction. The words rattled in her brain, leveling her, taunting her with all she’d been blinded to.

“I’ve handled it.”

Handled.

She wasn’t something that needed to be “ handled ”, not some bother or nuisance in his life to be cast aside. She was supposed to be his mate, for the love of the Goddess, and even if she didn’t want him, he, at least, owed her the damn respect to let her know the whole truth about what was going on, how he really felt.

That son of a bitch.

“Isla?”

A voice rang in her rageful fog, and she shook her head to jolt herself back to reality.

As she blinked at the man who’d approached, the vaguest sense of who he was in her head, his eyebrows drew in concern. “Are you…okay?”

Saying yes felt like a complete lie, but still, she nodded. He was so familiar, yet her mind kept sputtering. “Do I know you?” she asked before wincing. “Sorry, that was rude.”

The man smiled, flashing crooked teeth as he reached out a hand. “I get it—long week. Declan of Rhea.”

Isla stretched to grasp his hand but stuttered in her movement when he extended beyond her palm, instead grabbing her forearm—a warrior’s greeting.

Finally, something clicked. His face had floated around the feast. It had been down the line that beheld the Gate.

“You were in the Hunt.” She returned his tempered squeeze with one of her own. Judging by the fact he was here and offering the gesture, she’d take it he was successful in his endeavor. “Congratulations.”

Declan beamed. “You as well. Two bak and second-best in the run to an alpha. That’s impressive. Though, I shouldn’t expect any less from Io.”

Isla returned the grin, though a sourness lingered behind it that she hoped he couldn’t detect. If she had to hear one more person speak beyond who she was, relegating her existence, her accomplishments, dismissing her due to the pack she happened to be a member of, she’d scream. For now, she thanked him.

“It’s nice to see you upright,” Declan said as the two pulled away. “You were in pretty bad shape when I carried you out.”

“ You carried me out?” Another reason she recognized Declan. His voice. It had been one plaguing her waking nightmares, taunting her as she hovered just above sleep.

“Is she even still alive?”

“After we found you in that house, we weren’t sure what to do with you. You were pretty messed up,” Declan said.

“A house?”

That hadn’t been where Isla remembered being before she’d blacked out. She’d heard stories of how figurative ghosts lingered from a life once lived among the Wilds—the foundations of old cottages, the rotting fabric of old robes, the ruined parts of children’s toys—but she never crossed any of it herself.

“I think that’s what it was before…you know.” Declan shook his hands as if casting a spell. “A roof and four walls. Decrepit, creepy. You were left on the floor of it, unshifted, and…well, we thought you were dead.”

“We?”

“Me and another hunter. Alpha’s orders to track you down.”

At the mention of Kai, Isla’s fingers twitched at her sides, anger roiling. First, at him, but then at herself. For the fact that, just for a moment, she thought he’d actually cared.

“I wasn’t going to leave her in there to die.”

A courtesy. It was just a courtesy.

“No offense to the alpha,” Declan began, “but we thought he’d lost it. He was facing a bak, and there was no guarantee you were even alive. But if we jumped in to help him, I’m afraid both he and the beast would’ve turned on us.” His eyes scanned her before throwing out a light-hearted, “I don’t know what makes you so special.”

Isla resisted a roll of her eyes.

There wasn’t much, apparently.

Before she could draw a conclusion herself, Declan offered, “Imperial Beta’s daughter, maybe he wants some points with your father.”

“Yeah, that must be it.” She battled to keep impassive.

Imperial Beta’s daughter could join from or of Io in the list of phrases she didn’t want to hear in her vicinity for at least a month.

“You weren’t the only one in there either.”

Her irritation subsided. “I wasn’t?”

“It’s hard to scent anything in those woods, but there was blood in that house, fresh blood, and definitely not yours.” Declan went quiet before he pulled something from his back pocket. “And then there was this.”

Isla’s breath caught.

Lopsidedly perched on its decayed edges in the palm of Declan’s hand was the marker from the Ares Pass.

“Where was that?” Desperation leaked into Isla’s voice, and she struggled to keep her optimism at bay. So she’d learned, not everything was as it seemed, and the possibility that this shoddy ball of wood presented was so grand, so miraculous, it seemed too good for it to be Fate’s will.

“On the floor next to you.” Declan brought the sphere up to his face. He examined it as the Trainee had, though indifferent, clearly not realizing what he was holding. Not only a hope that their comrade may still be alive if the room had been barren of armor or weapons—something bak, unless all had gone mad, surely didn’t consume—but a relic from one of the hierarchy’s greatest secrets.

Isla confirmed the hall was still deserted, uneasiness gripping her. She wondered if anybody else would know what the marker was if they saw it. If anyone else knew the “right” or “wrong” people as the Trainee had.

“It’s some old kids’ toy or something. I was thinking it would be a good souvenir that wasn’t scraps of bark or dead leaves, but the longer I have it, the creepier it gets.” Declan grimaced, scratching hard at the surface. “For all I know, that hag’s curse carries on in it. Maybe I should go slip it back through the Gate.”

Isla jumped forward. “Wait, no, I’ll keep it.”

Declan’s eyebrows knitted together, and she knew she had to rein in her enthusiasm, or else he may have thought it was something of value. Which it probably was, but he didn’t need to know that.

So, she shrugged, playing aloof. “If you don’t want it, I’ll keep it.”

“After I just said it might be cursed?”

“I like to live on the edge.”

Declan peered between her and the sphere considerably before outstretching it. “If you start bleeding from your eyes or grow a second head, no blaming me. I’m not dealing with the Imperial Guard.”

Isla took the ball from his hand, not bothering to tell him her falling victim to a curse was the last thing the guard would ever be dispersed for.

She was startled by how much weight it had to it, how the worn edges didn’t feel like the wear of curse-induced decay, only served purpose. Just holding it felt like she was breaking so many rules, like she was ransacking the vaults of Io’s Pack Hall, poring through the hidden archives.

“Declan, right?”

Isla stiffened and spun, hiding the marker behind her back as she pressed herself against the nearby wall.

She’d been too entranced to notice Declan straightening as someone approached, too entranced to hear the intruder’s footsteps or sense his presence around her. She didn’t think it was possible for anger to come on in the rush that it had.

Kai stood tall over them both, dressed in plain dark clothes, bandages peeking out beneath the neckline of his shirt. Isla hated how her body buzzed in his presence.

A few feet behind him, Ezekiel watched like a hawk. His eyes narrowed on his alpha’s every movement, on hers, like he was searching for their connection, testing Kai’s insistence of her nothingness to him, his handling it. Isla held back her glare, biting her tongue to keep from saying every disrespectful curse floating in her mind.

She needed to get away from here, from him, or be unable to guarantee she wouldn’t cause a scene.

Isla squeezed the marker tighter in her hand, trying to envelop it entirely with her fingers, shielding it from view. Would they know what it was if they saw it? All of this was tied to Kai’s ancestors, right?

Isla remained tall as his gaze flickered to her. His eyes weren’t cold, not how she’d pictured them looking while he spoke of her to Ezekiel. It was the same dance of emotions she was accustomed to, the ones she’d spent time trying to break down to have some idea of what was going on in his head. But those days were over.

“Alpha,” she said, face flat—no inflection, no emotion, mirroring it in her voice.

One of Kai’s eyebrows went up, thrown off by her disposition.

Good.

“Warrior.”

The address didn’t fill her with any of the mirth that it would have if from another’s lips.

“If you’ll excuse me.” Isla pushed off the wall, maneuvering so the marker would remain hidden.

She could feel Kai’s stare on her back as she walked away, every fiber of her being trying to get her to turn and go back to him.

But she fought it harder than she wished she needed to.