A Warrior’s Fate (Wolves of Morai #1)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

I sla’s breathing was too loud in her ears. Ragged and rattling in her skull in a way that made it impossible to focus, to think.

The Trainee—no, Lukas, his name was Lukas—clutched onto the Gate like his life depended on it, one arm hooked through a glyph, while the other was speared by a finger in the hunter’s direction. His accusation hung in the air, keeping everyone mute and still.

Get away from him…he’s a wolf.

She had to have heard him wrong. The stench of magic had just…gotten to her head because he was fine when she’d last seen him. At least mentally. He knew who he was. What he was. What they were . But now…

“You see what I’m talking about?” Fury painted the hunter’s blood-smeared features as he cradled his side. “He’s lost his damn mind.”

Isla’s foot collided with something hard in the grass. As she stumbled forward, running into the back of the person in front of her, she glanced down, finding a rock jutting in her path.

She hadn’t even realized she’d been moving.

The terror that had once kept her rooted had given way to concern, her mind releasing its hold on her body. The person she’d hit didn’t respond to her muttered apology, just as dazed and dumbfounded as she was.

Two nurses beckoned from the infirmary tried to pry the hunter away. He needed help, like the man attacked by the bak who was already being guided up the field to some aid.

No one approached Lukas.

Isla continued to turn his words over like a stone, as if somehow she’d discover some hidden message—some secret laced in every breath, like the mystery of the pass or the supposed ancient strife between her homeland and her fate. He’d enjoyed things like that—riddles and games, the ominous, the foreboding.

But the light in his eyes was gone. The spark he’d possessed that first made her approach him at the feast was missing. It felt as if someone else were wearing his face. Like the man before her was a stranger.

The Wilds may have taken pieces of those who dared enter, forever changing them from who they once were. Sometimes, it took them whole—their lives. Bodies left in the bellies of beasts. But it never took everything and nothing. No one emerged a shell. Not like this.

“Maybe I lost my mind, too,” the hunter said, tone gravelly with ire. He rose to his feet and put some distance between himself and the approaching caretakers. She understood that well, at least. He’d tasted death only moments ago, and who knew what he’d dealt with behind the Wall.The transition to safety and normalcy wasn’t simple. “I should’ve left your ass in there, you piece of shit. You almost cost me my life— twice .”

“What do you mean twice?” Isla’s thought had been spoken aloud by another—the warrior who’d known Lukas. “What are you talking about?”

“This bastard tried to kill me.”

“ What ?” Isla’s shaken whisper blended into the murmurs and sharp breaths of others.

Her eyes darted to Lukas. The auburn-haired man remained upright in his spot, though faltered now due to whatever injuries were hidden beneath his damaged armor. His shoulder, she was sure. His leg, she remembered.

He blistered amidst the budding ruckus, and his wide, cautious eyes flittered over the crowd. It reminded her of a doe, the ones that dwelled in the few lush forests on Io’s landscape. Skittish and easily spooked, constantly used by Warrior Alina in training as an example of what the trainees couldn’t be.

“Why—why would you say something like that? Do you understand what you’re accusing him of?” the warrior woman asked sharply, a tinge of panic in her voice.

Isla understood and was sure that’s where everyone else’s minds had gone. Murdering a fellow hunter, a fellow wolf, in the Wilds—while they were utterly vulnerable and during one of their people’s most sacred rites—was viewed as traitorous. Being one with the monsters who wanted them dead. An enemy to their kind.

But perhaps Lukas wasn’t an enemy. If anything, an attempt to kill the hunter after he’d felt threatened may have proved exactly how much he was still one of them. With them. He didn’t cower. He didn’t run. His instincts, his nature, was to fight as a wolf. There was no malice in his intentions. He was protecting himself. Which meant he was in there. Somewhere. Not a stranger—though definitely strange—just lost.

If only she’d had a clearer head. It may have occurred to her sooner. And maybe then she could’ve stopped him from making a horrible mistake.

Lukas reached for his boot, those instincts kicking in and helping him put the pieces together. The hunter—the “monster” in his eyes—had brought him here . Here, where the monster was cared for. Here, where the spectators observed him like he had five heads.

The blade he drew glinted in a mix of lights as he tried to bury it in the chest of a member of Callisto’s Guard, but off-balance and hopelessly outmatched, he was brought down in one swift movement. Lukas hit the ground with a thud, a wheeze escaping his lips at the impact. The guard slammed his foot down onto Lukas’s hand hard enough that Isla heard the gruesome snap of his fingers. He cried out as he lost his grip on his weapon, the guard kicking it away. It collided with the Gate with a metallic, taunting ring.

The guard pressed his foot to Lukas’s throat and bared his canines, brandishing his claws. “Wrong move,” he growled, his eyes becoming iridescent.

Lukas screamed and thrashed beneath him. The sound roared down Isla’s spine.

No .

The crowd divided further than they already had been. The brave who’d been pulling at the Gate pressed closer while the weary, simple spectators pulled away. Some sprinted up the grass, likely wanting to forget the horror they’d seen and wanting to get the scent of magic out of their noses. The hunter had been pulled away, too.

Isla stood in the middle, lingering in empty space. The air became charged with power—their true power—raw and untamed. Feral. Deadly.

No .

The horde surrounded Lukas, nearly shielding him from her view. In a way that reminded her of the bak who’d taken him away. When she’d let it take him away.

She couldn’t let it happen again. Couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

She took another step forward—then something pulled her back. Strong and intangible. Distinct. Wordless, but the message was clear.

She turned and, like a moonlit path had been drawn, teased Kai from the bodies. He wasn’t a part of the brutes she was prepared to confront. Instead, he stood by a farther section of the Wall, keeping his distance. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t seem concerned with Lukas at all. Instead, his eyes were on her, only her, like she was all that mattered.

Just like the Hunt. It was all just like the Hunt.

She winced as guilt gripped her, remembering the moment clearer now than she ever had in her nightmares. Not only had they been so distracted by each other that they let Lukas get so far out of reach, but they’d been a distraction themselves. Lukas had warned her to stay away from the alpha, but then, there they had appeared side by side, catching him off-guard.

“Stop!”

Isla jumped to attention at the familiar voice. Adrien pushed his way to the center of the fray, and relief washed over her. If she knew anything about her friend, he’d be the last to support whatever vigilante-esque brutality was about to occur. The pack relations nightmare would be the least of his problems.

“Imperial Heir.” The guard sketched a shallow bow but kept his foot firmly on Lukas’s neck. Beneath him, Lukas grew more sluggish, losing his fight for air. For consciousness .

Bastard.

Isla snarled and moved a few more steps.

The tug came again, harder this time.

For the love of the Goddess. Leave me alone.

She whipped around to Kai just as he leaned back against the Wall, folding his arms across his chest almost like he was about to run out to stop her, but for some reason, elected not to bother. He was the picture of confidence, of coolness, and never broke eye contact as he shook his head as if telling her no, to stay back, to not get involved.

Isla initially ignored how her mind began to feel fuzzy—itchy, if that was any way to describe it. Instead, she narrowed her eyes, ready to slice him with them…until her features softened in realization. In shock.

She looked away, but not before noting their lack of proximity. At least twenty paces lay between them, only their wolfish senses allowing them to see each other from the distance in the waning lights. Before, their bond had only connected them and allowed them to communicate in the most primitive ways.A pull here, a tug there. Unintentionally. Typically because of some burning lust or overwhelming fear. But this…

Kai had wanted her attention, called to her for it through a link, their bond, whatever it was, andhad got it. Once. Now twice.

Isla scratched at her scalp to no avail. The itch wasn’t physical. Not tangible.

But they hadn’t touched. They weren’t completely bound. Communicating like this, it wasn’t…it shouldn’t…

She glowered at Kai, who returned it with raised eyebrows.

Get out of my head. She hoped he could hear the thought. That he could sense how angry she was for whatever he was doing, how ever he was doing it. You get the hell out of my head, or so help me.

She wasn’t sure if it was her outcry’s doing, but the sensation faded to nothing.

Too close. For keeping things separated, for keeping their bond broken, that was too close .

She ground her teeth so hard that she waited for them to break.

“Bring him up to the infirmary. ”

At Adrien’s demand, she drew her attention back to the mob, to Lukas.

“Are you insane?” Any formality and respect the guard had shown earlier faltered.

Nearly everyone tensed at the out-of-line proclamation.

Adrien’s eyes flashed, a deep, smoldering fire that was not quite the blood-red of an alpha but not the bluish luminescence of a common wolf. A reminder. In this crowd, he was the Hierarchy. A conduit of his father’s highest power. His decisions were law until deemed otherwise.

“ Bring him to the infirmary,” he repeated. “He’s one in a list of anomalies this week, and lucky for us, unlike everything else, he can speak. He may be able to give us some idea of what’s going on out there.”

The guard didn’t have an immediate response. Neither did anyone else. But it was only moments before the glow left the burly man’s eyes, and he lifted his foot off Lukas’s neck.

Lukas choked down air in gasps, clawing for his throat.

Isla hesitated rather than run for him, a keen eye on Kai in her periphery.

The group lowered their heads to Adrien, submitting before they obeyed. Two of them hauled Lukas to his feet, his head limp and armor rattling before they trudged him up the field. Isla watched as they went, flinching every time they wrenched Lukas’s body the wrong way—on purpose, of course—making him whimper. She scowled but stayed in her place.

Later. She’d get to him later.

Spinning back to face the Wall, she scanned who remained, preparing to ask Adrien what the plan was. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t that her friend had gone straight to Kai.