A Warrior’s Fate (Wolves of Morai #1)

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

I sla was somewhere on the outskirts of the city, but she wasn’t sure where. All that mattered was she was away from everyone, everything. It was only her and this ravine, the flowing water rushing below her swinging feet high above it as she sat at the edge of a cliffside.

She’d killed Lukas.

He was dead, and it was all her fault.

As the words went through her mind like a shot for the umpteenth time, she didn’t put her face in her hands. She didn’t cry. She’d run out of tears now. Had been wrung dry of any feeling but numbness.

Imperial Alpha Cassius knew she’d been with Lukas. He had to have. The way he’d looked at her, spoken to her…he knew it wasn’t injuries from the Hunt. He knew she’d been the one who’d done it. Maybe the whole conversation was supposed to build into an expression of gratitude for the loose end she’d gotten out of the way. She’d done him a favor.

Goddess…

Isla’s hand went to her mouth. She’d already rid herself of everything in her stomach and yet felt like she’d be sick again.

The sound of approaching footsteps didn’t make her jump or turn. She didn’t have the energy to anyway, even if she hadn’t known who was approaching .

Adrien and Sebastian made no effort to mask themselves, and as if they could sense how upset she was, moved upon her cautiously. She didn’t want to face them. Tell them what she’d done.

“Lukas is alive.”

Adrien’s words were lost on her at first. Just sounds amongst the rush of the water. But then they became clearer as she played them again.

And again.

And again.

Lukas is alive.

Isla lifted her head and blinked at the landscape, letting the sentence run a few more times before she spun to face him. “What?”

Adrien paused at her side. “He’s not dead. My father only told you that he was.”

“What?” she repeated herself, but Adrien didn’t. He stayed silent, allowing the words to sink in.

Tears returning, Isla glanced down at the water. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take. The up and down, back and forth. “He lied to me.” With the words spoken aloud, the anger began festering until she jumped to her feet; her fingers balled so tightly in her fists that her nails pierced the skin of her palms. Adrien stood a few inches above her as she squared herself to him. “Why would he do that? Why would he let me think that I—that I killed him?”

She almost wished her friend was lying, then she wouldn’t have the traitorous thought of ripping through the Alpha’s side running through her head, but Adrien wouldn’t make this up.

The Heir’s jaw tightened, and Isla saw even Sebastian was wearing something akin to the look of murder he’d brandished upon seeing her injured on the examination table.

“He wants you to stop looking. Stop getting involved. Pushing things,” Adrien said, a hint of shame in his eyes. “He wants it all to go away.”

“He told you that?” When had Adrien spoken with his father?

“In so many words.”

Isla couldn’t breathe again, but this time, it was in rage.

She stepped away, feeling her wolf restless beneath the surface of her skin, ready to lash out but still stuck, somehow. “He sat there and looked me in the eye and let me believe that I’d killed someone?” She thought her teeth would shatter from how tightly she’d clenched them. “He was going to let me torture myself for the rest of my life— for what ? Did he think I’d call the reporters? I wouldn’t have said anything.” She looked up at Adrien, who remained in his spot, whose expression hadn’t changed. Who hadn’t fought anything she’d said. “He doesn’t trust me.” A statement her friend neither confirmed nor denied. Isla shook her head, face twitching as she fought between scowling and sobbing. Lukas was alive. “That’s cruel.”

There was no response.

The three remained in a tense silence as Isla paced against the backdrop of the setting sun. She knew the Alpha could be ruthless, that he had a job and owed her nothing, but to let her believe something like this…

“Did you get rid of the dagger?”

At Adrien’s words, Isla snapped her head up. “It’s somewhere safe, yes.”

A line feathered in Adrien’s cheek, and he nodded in acceptance before taking a few steps towards her dust-coated bag close to his feet.

“Wait!” Isla called, and Adrien halted.

His features were hard when he turned to her. So much so that he looked more like his father than he ever had. “What’s going on, Isla? You’ve been so off since you came out of the Wilds, and I thought it was all from the Hunt, from Lukas going missing, but it’s not just that. It never has been.”

Isla bit down on her tongue.

She wanted to tell them everything. About Lukas, the Ares Pass. About Kai. But she couldn’t. She’d promised. “It’s nothing.”

“No. No, it’s not.”

She sighed. “I…I can’t tell you.”

“Why?” Sebastian had taken a few steps towards her, the two closing in.

“Because I can’t. Not yet.”

“The Alpha of Deimos couldn’t stop asking about you at the feast,” Adrien started after some hesitation, and at the mention of Kai, Isla whirled around to face him. “He saved you during the Hunt. You didn’t bump into him before you came to the Gate. Youwere with him. Somewhere.” His voice had been charged with understanding, rung with epiphany, as he encroached on her further, and Isla felt her chest tighten. “I thought he was just looking at you to get in Io’s graces, make a statement in his new position, I didn’t know—but it’s more than that, and I should have figured it out from how he looked at you. Because I’ve seen it before.” He stopped a few inches away and said, without a hint of uncertainty, “Because he’s your mate.”

Sebastian laughed.

Isla felt like the ground had just caved in, and Sebastian laughed. But he was the only one laughing and seemed to realize that fact quickly.

His eyes darted between his best friend and his sister—now engaged in a silent standoff—his jubilant features gradually falling into those of shock. “Wait, you’re serious?” His eyes were wide as he put himself in Isla’s view. “You found your mate?”

Isla barely spared her brother a second glance, holding Adrien’s stare instead. She didn’t know what she was trying to read from it or what she wanted to convey with her own. Part of her wanted him to elaborate—to learn how Kai had looked at her that should’ve been a dead giveaway to him—but she knew from his later words that it would only dredge up horrible memories for the Heir. Memories of the day his chosen mate’s fated one had shown up to challenge Adrien for her claim.

So instead, Isla focused on what the rest of her wanted, what it felt. The slightest bit of relief to have one of her secrets out in the open, but also fear, anger, guilt, and defiance.

“So, what if he is?” she said softly, stepping away, only to gasp as Sebastian roughly manhandled her collar—as only a brother would—and pulled it back to check her neck.

“Did he mark you?” His voice was a mix of overprotectiveness, surprise, and maybe…excitement as he inspected the skin.

“Get away.” Isla swatted at him, adjusting her clothes. “He didn’t.”

Sebastian moved back, a breath of disbelief from his mouth. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because…” Isla trailed off, directing her eyes anywhere but at th em. Even with the sense of inevitability that had hung above the truth being revealed at some point, she hadn’t prepared what to say. “Because it doesn’t matter. We aren’t doing anything. We aren’t accepting the bond.”

“You rejected him?” Sebastian again, spoken quick as a whip.

“No.” Isla wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the stickiness of the sweat percolating on her skin. “And he didn’t reject me. We’re just forgetting we ever met and moving on.”

Simply saying it all aloud made her feel just as crazy as the night they’d started their grand scheme in the garden.

“Does it work that way?”

Sebastian again, and Isla found herself toeing at a rock protruding from the russet-tinted earth. “It has to.” And at his follow-up question of why , she met his eyes. “Because it’s what we want.”

The “we” felt different off her tongue this time.

They were a “ we” , an “ our”. Their bond—a little universe drawn between their souls—vast and endless and mystical and wondrous and theirs . Only theirs. No council or otherworldly force would decide what they did with it. If they wanted to live their lives separately, they would. And if they’d decided they had wanted to tread through existence and eternity together—

“Why keep the dagger?”

Now, Adrien spoke up.

Isla turned to the Heir, his eyes more golden than green in the early forays of dusk and still barely readable. But his words, not at all about Kai or her forsaken bond, clued her in enough on where his head was. What he had in mind was either not worth saying in his eyes or so bad he didn’t want her to hear it.

She sighed, perfectly fine with his disposition for now, but knew something was coming, if not for the slightest flare of his nostrils, but because she knew he couldn’t be silent, not about something like this.

Now, how much should she share?

“Lukas knew who I was when I went to see him,” she began. “I don’t know if he remembered me or if someone told him who I was, but they gave him that dagger to free himself. And then gave him these ultimatums regarding whether he killed me or took me ‘ somewhere’. I want to make sure there’s nothing I can figure out from it before I let it get buried with everything else.”

The boys had gone still as she spoke, barely catching on to her latter dig. And even without ties, tethers, or connections, she could sense the rage simmering beneath the surface. Worse than it had been in the infirmary when they thought she’d just been attacked.

“Where?” Adrien asked, voice rasping.

“We didn’t get that far.”

“Who would bring that to him? Who got it in? We canvased. He was guarded non-stop.” Something that struck as shame lingered in Sebastian’s tone, like he couldn’t believe they’d allowed her to get in that position, that they’d let that happen to her. “Who would want you dead?”

The big question.

“He mentioned a nurse who’d come in to see him.” Isla felt the weight lift from her shoulders with every word she spilled. But there were limits. There had to be limits. “A second one we hadn’t accounted for, and the infirmary probably didn’t know about either. He never said if it was a man or a woman. Only said they when he had the dagger on me.”

She’d been hesitant to look Adrien in the eye, and when she finally did, she caught a shifty look on his face. There was a gnawing in her gut and a little voice in her head that clued her in on what it meant. “Where is he now?”

“Heading to Valkeric.”

There was no remorse in her friend’s voice. It could’ve been considered indifferent if it weren’t for the lingering aggravation. Isla wished she knew exactly what was bothering him most.

“What else do you know?” she asked him.

“Just that whatever his story is, it doesn’t add up or make sense. I was only able to grab your father right before I had to get to the caravan and didn’t have time to convince him to give me more information.”

She hadn’t even seen her father before they departed.

Her eyes passed over him again, noting there was no release of that contemplative, unsettled expression. “What else? You look like you want to say something else. What is it?”

“Why?” he asked .

She knew what he meant. The period of feigned apathy was over, but still, it felt like he was repressing something.

She steadied herself. Their choice—this was their choice, and she would stand by it. But besides that it was what she and Kai desired, what they’d decided, she added, “I can’t be a warrior and the Luna of Deimos.”

“That’s it?”

Isla jerked her head back at the words spoken, yet again, brusque.

That’s it.

That’s it.

“Is that not good enough?” she asked, and Adrien didn’t answer. At least, not fast enough to keep her from becoming defensive. “How about that I don’t want a mate at all?”

“Then reject him.”

One word, two words, and now three. Forget “ that’s it” for her reasoning. That was all hehad to say?

“That wouldn’t benefit either of us. He can’t afford to be weakened right now, and neither can I. It’s not worth it.”

That seemed to break something in Adrien, but it didn’t shatter his callous shell. Her friend still clung to restraint, even as his eyes darkened. “And this is your solution? This is going to help? ‘Forgetting’ and ‘moving on’? Are you not going to Deimos in just a few weeks for your lumerosi ceremony?”

More words, all spoken in a manner that seemed to show off a glimmer of the pain he’d endured over the past year.

Guilt rushed through her like a tidal wave again. “Yes, and we have a plan for that. We’ll avoid each other then, too.”

Adrien chuckled, but not with warmth. It was incredulity. Both she and Sebastian watched him go pensive as they danced around the topic that they, even as close as they were, barely breached. Corinne’s name hadn’t even been uttered aloud between them for over a year, yet the ghost of her presence hovered again amongst the trio—like it was the four of them, like old times.

“Goddess above, Isla,” Adrien finally said, pacing a few steps. “I know you don’t like being told what to do. But this…”

“You think that’s all this is? Me not liking being told what to do ? ”

“What else would it be? He’s your mate .”Adrien looked away from her. There was so much more he wanted to say; she could see it clearly now, but she was fine if it remained hidden. If he knew well enough to keep it tempered, if he said it, she might strangle him. “Did you not see what happens when you don’t accept a fated bond? Were you even around for the past year?”

“For every second.” Her tone was ice-cold. “I watched my two best friends fall apart because of a bond. You and Cora almost died . And she lost everything. Her sanity, her home, you . To be with him . And for what?” Isla didn’t bother mentioning her father. Cora was enough. She shouldn’t have brought it up anyway, because now shame clawed up her throat.

Who was she to talk about this?

Isla looked down at her hand, angry, but also feeling pathetic for being so dense, for falling into the trap again. With every look Kai had given her, every handsome smile, phantom touch, tender word, and jabbing taunt, he was the deity’s unwitting accomplice. It had Isla buying into all that romanticism around the fated again, and even if only in brief moments, it was too much.

“She lost everything all because of this stupid thing that drives us mad or kills us when we don’t respect it. That pulls, tugs, and blinds us with how beautiful it sounds and how amazing it feels to have one person in the world who’s ‘yours’, but it’s just a connection to someone no more than a stranger—who could very well be the most awful person on the planet—that we let hold our lives in its hands. That we let torture us from the minute we come of age and society, even interpretations of our Code tell us that’s all we’re meant for.”

She was rambling, but she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to. This was the release she needed from the emptiness, from the bitterness she still felt over the nothing she’d found on the other side of the bond.

This was their choice. Her choice.

“This thing that expects me…” Isla choked on the words, feeling pieces of her fracture. “That expects me to completely upend my life. To give up everything I’ve worked for. To renounce my membership to my pack, my home . To leave my family and my friends and move to this place where I’ll have no one . Nothing. Where I’m stuck for the rest of my life with a man I don’t love—who I don’t know —and who doesn’t know or love me either. With people who probably don’t want me there anyway, who would hate having me there. Where I…where I’m a mockery in a role I’m nowhere near qualified for.” Her chest felt heavy, the corner of her eyes stinging, but she kept her voice as even as she could. And when the first break of tears stung her cheeks again, she wiped them quickly.

“He didn’t ask for this,” she finished. “For me to be the one. If there’s that much cost—that much risk with a bond, with a kingdom—Kai’s better off getting to choose someone. Someone he needs and deserves — that his people do—after all the shit they’ve gone through.”

“And what about you?”

At Adrien’s immediate response, Isla lifted her head, surprised to see a gleam of their own shock and worry on both the boys’ faces for all she’d just laid bare. It was the most, she realized, she’d ever poured out in a manner so raw to anyone. She was so used to wearing a mask and having her guard up.

She blinked back another wash of tears at the question. What about her ? She had her plan.

“I’ll be fine without him, too,” she said, hating that she felt like a liar.

Isla had been in her apartment for all of a few hours, enough time to stow away the book, marker, and dagger, and sit in a bath until the water ran cold. When the sky completely succumbed to darkness, she got herself dressed up to head to the bar in the heart of Market Square to blow off some steam.

The man she’d found to help her do so—a swaggering, muscly, dark-haired, lower member of the Imperial Guard who she’d watched from afar before he’d noticed and approached her—was named…something.

His name was something , and she couldn’t remember it for the life of her, as they fumbled their way up to her apartment door .

He kissed her hard, his tongue parting her mouth, his hands greedy as they roamed her body. She welcomed him, even if she had some tender spots from her injuries, even if it felt so…wrong.

Because, innately, she wanted it to be Kai. His hands, his mouth, his touch. It pissed her off how she couldn’t just throw away the bond. How no matter how much she needed this, to let herself get lost in booze and sex for just one night, he found her.

But she was going to forget him. She would. She had to.

And it started with…this…person.

Goddess, what the hell was his name?

When they eventually made it to her landing, the man tried to hoist her off her feet, but she stopped him, peeling away to reach for the keys in her pocket. But as soon as she extracted them and brought her hand to his face to pull him back in, she stumbled.

Her door was already ajar.

Her heart leaped into her throat, and without a second thought, she moved into action, slowly pushing the man further behind her. A sneer crossed her swollen lips as she moved forward, inclining her head to catch a scent, hear a sound—but there was nothing. Eyes fixed on the white wood, bearing an askew thirty-four , she bent to her shoe and retrieved her tucked scalpel.

Behind her, the man made a noise of both confusion and concern. “Did you always have that?”

Isla raised a hand for him to be quiet.

She vexed the squeaky entryway as she guided it open with her foot, and the creaking floor once again betrayed her arrival as she broke the threshold. But no one appeared upon the noise—no lost souls or secret killers.

Things had been moved, she noticed, mostly within the small kitchenette. Her cupboards and fridge were left open, a bag and bowl of chips left on the counter. Isla tiptoed over to the lot, fighting her urge to tidy everything.

She jolted at the sound of a flushing toilet and whipped around to face the bathroom door. Her scalpel was up and ready as her heart ratcheted up a few paces.

But the bracing for battle was all for naught, as exiting the washroom was her brother .

Relief and rage swirled in Isla’s gut, and she almost chucked the small blade at him anyway.

“Sebastian, what the hell?” she roared, dropping her weapon to the side.

Her brother flashed a grin, greeting her with her beloved nickname before directing his eyes to the astonished guard who hadn’t drifted too far from the apartment’s entrance. “Who’s this?”

Isla wouldn’t have told him even if she knew.

She hadn’t lingered by the ravine for much longer after her declarations to the boys. In fact, it had only been a few heartbeats before she hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and stalked off, leaving them with the simple parting words of, “You can’t tell anyone.” They hadn’t followed, knowing it best to leave her be.

Obviously, there had to have been a reason for Sebastian to just show up—or rather, break in —to her home now. His place was a good hour’s walk away on the other side of the city in the more luxurious townhouses, so he’d gone through the hassle of getting here. But she didn’t care. This was humiliating, absolutely humiliating.

She jabbed a finger towards the door. “Get out.”

Sebastian strolled over to the counter to what was his bowl of food. The open cabinets and disarray should’ve flagged her off immediately as to who had come in.

He pulled a chip from his bowl. “We have to talk.”

“About what?”

Sebastian hesitated, gaze flicking over to the flabbergasted man lingering by her doorframe. When he moved back to Isla, he began an explanation—through broken words and hand movements. It was entirely vague and nonsensical and entirely something she didn’t have the time or patience for.

She pointed to the door again. “Get out.”

“It’s about your mate.”

Isla’s body went stiff.

“You’re mated?”

She spun to the guard to find his face, previously flushed, had paled substantially. The fear was valid. Touching someone’s actual mate the way he’d been all over her was nearly unheard of. Even Cora’s true mate had known better than to try anything with Cora while she and Adrien were still bound. There wouldn’t have been any second-guessing on the Heir’s part—he would’ve likely killed him on the spot—and that would’ve opened a whole new catastrophe.

“No, I’m not.”

The guard let out an unmissable sigh of relief before he shifted awkwardly on his feet. “Do you, uh, want me to wait outside?”

He still wanted to stick around. That was a good sign…or he was just a man. Okay to wait for however long as long as he ended up in her bed.

It was tempting. The thought of Sebastian leaving and them picking up right where they left off…but she wasn’t sure if it was her brother’s presence or the verbal reminder of Kai, but she wasn’t necessarily in the mood anymore.

“No,” she said, taking a few steps towards him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how long we’ll be.”

The guard’s eyebrows rose, not seeming to expect that answer. He opened his mouth like he’d protest or make another proposal, but then he relegated to a nod, something like defeat and disappointment flashing in his eyes.

Isla trailed him to the exit as he let himself out and then worked on each of her locks—the chain above, then the knob. Her head remained hung low as she closed her eyes and sighed a breath.

“Poor bastard.”

Isla whirled around to her brother with murder in her eyes. “You bastard.” She reached for the first thing she could find—one of her slippers—and launched it across the room. Sebastian caught it effortlessly, and Isla let out an aggravated growl. “You scared the shit out of me! Why are you here? You could’ve called!”

Sebastian threw her footwear to the side. “I did, and you never picked up.”

“So, you broke into my apartment?”

“You just told me that someone tried to have you killed,” he retorted as if that was answer enough. He grabbed another chip from his bowl and pointed to her closed door. “Alpha Kai could tear that guy apart.”

He probably would’ve, even if they weren’t formally mated—if how he’d reacted at the feast was any indication .

“Kai would never know that he was here,” she muttered, moving to kick off her heeled boots. “How did you even get in?”

Sebastian swung around the counter with his bowl under one arm. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

“You’re a con artist, not a magician.”

Feeling it her right—as it was her food he was eating—Isla walked up and snatched the bowl from him, glowering as she popped a chip in her mouth. “You said you wanted to talk to me about Kai.”

Goddess, did it feel odd speaking so freely of him with someone else, not trying to cover anything up with formalities and titles.

Sebastian’s face turned surprisingly serious. “Does Dad know about you and the alpha?”

Isla bit into her chip and answered once she swallowed. “No. No one else knows except for you guys and Kai’s beta.”

“The beta knows?”

“Yes, and it has to stay that way. I meant it when I said you can’t tell anyone,” she warned, reaching back into the bowl. “Why are you asking?”

Sebastian took a few steps forward. “That’s where I was during everything with the Gate when Lukas emerged. Why I wasn’t around. Dad wanted me to tail the Alpha or Beta of Deimos, whoever I could find—which was the beta for a little while until I lost him.”

Isla had ceased bringing the snack to her mouth mid-motion, her eyes narrowing. “Why?”

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders. “He doesn’t trust them.” As her perplexed look persisted, he meandered his way to the kitchen. “Deimos has always been a mess to deal with, but Alpha Kyran…” He trailed off, seemingly choosing his words more carefully than she thought he ever had in his life. “From how I’ve heard Dad and other Council members complain, he was a different kind of bastard.” Before Isla could ask how , he continued, though the account diverged, “You and Lukas are the only two people who had to face multiple bak during the Hunt—the only ones. Fourteen hunters descended, and the Wilds is massive. You were either in the wrong place at the wrong time or targeted in there.”

Isla had never thought of that—how no one else had claimed to encounter multiple beasts. She replayed Sebastian’s words—wrong place, wrong time…or targeted.

That latter option rang loudest.

“Where does Deimos fit into this?” she questioned.

Now, Sebastian really took the time to craft his answer. “If the alpha…if Kai had felt like avenging his father, he could’ve somehow drawn the bak to you with food or blood or—”

“Why would hurting me be avenging his father?”

“I guess we denied a lot of his proposals or something. I don’t know what they were for. Dad won’t tell me, and Alpha Cassius won’t tell Adrien.”

“Adrien didn’t go to the meetings? I thought he always got to attend the forums with other alphas?”

“They were private audiences. Not open forums. Alpha Kyran requested four of them with the Imperial Alpha within the past year. Alpha Cassius figured three was enough.”

“He denied the fourth?” Isla couldn’t even believe the Imperial Alpha had entertained him for three.

“A month before he died.” Sebastian let the words sit a while—as if leaving the air for respectful silence for the fallen—before he added, “If the former alpha went with unspoken grievances, if we wouldn’t listen, killing you is one way to get our attention…or saving you.” Another pause. “But if the alpha’s your mate, it disproves that theory.”

Does it? Isla thought but then immediately brushed it away.

If Sebastian had brought this up before they’d gone on the Hunt—right after she and Kai had just met—she may have said no, it didn’t disprove anything. She did have a vague idea of how hard Deimos had been to deal with. Knew they’d withheld information and lied to Io in the past. So easily had she questioned a product of their pack a family-slaying killer. Her own mate , for Goddess’s sake.

But she didn’t feel that way anymore, at least, not about Kai. His survival was twined with hers. Talk about leverage.

Isla had to sit down as she broke down each of Sebastian’s words, but he interrupted her thoughts with a question. “How did he know where to find you?”

“The bond,” she stated warily. “He knew when I started fighting my first bak and stayed back to track me. To make sure I was okay—and then, I wasn’t.”

“It’s that strong?”

Isla looked up to find her brother’s eyes filled with curiosity, and it dawned on her. Adrien had his chosen bond, and she’d now found her fated, but Sebastian had never known what any connection felt like. She wondered if he even cared.

He seemed invested as she spoke shallowly about how the bond and feelings came and went, how they were most potent when the emotions were strong enough in any sort of way. She purposely neglected to mention how much they’d wanted to jump each other upon first meeting.

“It was all involuntary,” she finished explaining, gazing at her hand. “Or most of it was.”

Sebastian pulled out a chair and sat beside her, beyond the counter’s corner. “Can you feel it now?” His tone had been edged in concern, surely prompted by her earlier meltdown. Another embarrassment today. Noting the absence of a particular member of their usual party, she held back her question as to where Adrien was.

“No,” she responded.

“And that’s okay.” Not a question but a statement. Though unsure.

Yes.

“It’s what we want.”

Sebastian leaned back in his seat with a loud, overdramatic sigh, as if he were trying to lighten the mood. “For the record, if you had gone through with it—or if you did change your mind—he has my blessing.”

Isla peered up at him, unsure if she wanted to laugh or scowl. “One, I don’t need your blessing, and two, he gets your seal of approval?”

Sebastian snorted. “You think I want to go against Fate and the guy who killed four bak—three of them to keep them away from you? Unlike you, I know when to step back.” He grabbed the bowl of chips and pulled the whole lot towards him. “Plus, saying my sister’s a luna sounds a lot more badass than saying she’s a warrior. ”

Now, Isla finally let out a small chuckle. “I suppose the title holds more weight.”

Sebastian snatched a chip from the bowl. “Will the feelings come back when you go for the ceremony? When you’re closer to each other.”

Isla swallowed. Goddess, she hoped not. “I guess that’s something we’re going to see.”