A Warrior’s Fate (Wolves of Morai #1)

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

W ith Kai’s firm hands on her hips to slow her descent, Isla slid from her spot to the waiting ground below, dead leaves barely whispering beneath her feet. He didn’t remove his grip once she’d stood stable; instead, he pulled her to him, hugging her body to his and backing them a few more steps into the brush.

Though not done by means of affection, Isla still leaned into the embrace, letting her arms settle around him, listening closely to the steady drumming of Kai’s heart below her ear, catching her breath and letting his scent invade her nose. It was a battle not to simply melt into him. After the morning she’d just had, with the message and the news of the challenge…

Isla lifted her head to look at Kai’s face, confirming the notion that keeping her this close was more a method of shielding her than anything else. His eyes were focused on the woods beyond their cover. Whatever that second noise was, or the first. One of them had to have been Kai, and the other—

The blood-red markings on the wall flashed in Isla’s mind, but the paranoia didn’t manifest as horribly as it had been.

Maintaining their proximity, Isla dared to turn, cautiously pressing her back to Kai’s chest. Her hand came to rest on his forearm, his grip remaining loose around her middle as she surveyed the empty trail. Waiting until something—whoever had been following her—broke into their vantage. Kai’s hold became tight when she jumped, though it wasn’t out of fear but surprise and confusion.

Callan.

She felt a growl rumble in Kai’s chest, so low she wouldn’t have caught it unless she was up against him like this, and cocked her head to cast a curious sidelong glance at him. Her mate didn’t pay it any heed, only focusing on the man who’d just paused his walk right where she’d disappeared. As the fellow warrior lifted his head to catch a scent, Isla shrunk further into Kai’s embrace, letting whatever empty essence she was casting get lost in his.

There were much greater things for her to fear than her narcissistic former lover, but she didn’t need him catching her with the alpha.

She counted out ten seconds, timed to the heartbeats she attempted to slow before Callan disappeared.

Isla didn’t move until Kai did a few beats later. And when she faced him again, his eyes remained on the forest, tension still cutting his features, no sense of mirth in his eyes, even if she dug for it. There was too much going on in his head. Too much going on in general…and she hadn’t even told him half of it yet.

She risked reaching up to touch his face, the stubble a little rougher beneath her skin as she ran her thumb over his cheek. At the touch, his eyes met hers, and the muscles beneath her fingertips relaxed. Something in the storm had cleared, a flicker of light where she could get through to him. And the clouds parted further when she got up on her toes, holding his gaze, and touched her mouth to his cheek. The small upwards tug of his lips was all she needed.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask, so much she wanted to do, but she settled for simple first. For obvious.

She kept her voice low. “What are you doing here?”

Kai’s stare flickered between her eyes and her mouth, and she could practically see the battle going on in his head. Three steps forward, and he could have her pressed back against a tree. She wouldn’t mind that.

“There’s a strategy meeting,” he said.

Isla refrained from furrowing her brows. She knew of the meeting—not so much of Kai’s attendance. He hadn’t gone to the last one the day after the warriors had arrived—the one between Eli, the lead commander, and Ezekiel.

Before she could ask another question, Kai drew his gaze away and back to the trail again. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and the hard lines returned to his face. “What can you tell me about that warrior?”

Isla’s eyes widened. “Callan?” When Kai nodded, she grimaced, flashing her teeth and shifting on her feet. “He’s a…warrior from Io.”

“Thank you.” Kai offered a deadpan look. “I couldn’t get that from the ledger I had to approve.”

Isla mirrored the expression with her own, though, she was happy for the dry remark. It felt like him.

She folded her arms, playing aloof. “What do you want to know?”

Kai lofted a brow at her demeanor as if clocking how disingenuous it was. “Do you know him?”

Too well.

“We grew up around similar circles,” she said, clearing her throat, willing away any memories of their courtship. “Why do you want to know?”

Kai’s gaze turned suspicious, analyzing, reminding her of Jonah. And before long, his face dawned with smug enjoyment. Isla couldn’t even appreciate seeing him smile, seeing that indent in his cheek, the full light shining in his eyes. “No…”

Somehow, he’d figured it out.

She let out an exasperated breath. “Kai.”

“Him? Really? One of the infamous former flames.” He pointed to the empty area. “He seems like a bit of an asshole. But then again, you said that was your type.”

Isla glared. “And it’s also all I’m destined for, apparently.”

“How long did it last?” Kai asked, that curiosity of his over her past rearing again. “One-night fling? A few months?”

“Almost two years. I nearly chose him.”

That seemed to sober Kai up.

The darkness came over his face again. And soon, so did that familiar feeling. The cloud above her, that tether, coiling along and through the bond. As invigorating as it was, being so…wanted, she di dn’t want Kai to lose that spark. Whatever form of peace that seemed to emerge, even at the expense of a headache.

“He’s mated,” she said, and Kai’s attention returned to her. “He chose someone else after I ended it with him.” She shrugged. “I suppose I knew there were better things out there for me.”

The comment did rouse the side of his mouth, but the slight grin was short-lived.

Back to quiet and brooding. Isla held in her sigh.

“What does he want with you?”

“Want with me? Nothing,” Isla said. “What do you mean?”

“When I arrived, I was formally introduced to the warriors,” Kai began to explain. “After I inquired where the sixth one was, the female, I was told very bluntly that you were late—apparently, you’d been missing this morning at departure—and were finishing running the trails outside the grounds. You were the only one remaining out here. He seemed surprised, and suddenly, the man who wouldn’t stop talking about himself had nothing to say. When I saw him leaving the building, I knew where he was going.”

As Kai had spoken, Isla could picture the situation perfectly: Callan boasting how ever he could in front of those of higher status, even if from another pack. He almost needed validation as much as she once sought.

Kai wasn’t wrong. It did sound strange. But she couldn’t think of what Callan would want. They hadn’t spoken, truly spoken, since their brief interaction at the feast. She was about to ask Kai what made him care enough to follow him—if Callan had said something suspicious or off-putting—but then the realization hit. It wouldn’t take much for distrust to manifest for Kai when it came to Callan.

Because he was of Io.

“He left Callisto after the feast,” Isla told him, squashing whatever idea Kai had before he could verbalize it. A touch of nausea bubbled in her stomach at the rising of the possibility someone in her pack could turn against her. But the message was here… “I saw him board the vehicle and leave that night. He wasn’t there when we emerged.”

“Where did you run off to this time? ”

Isla’s features turned sour. It was a reminder, the most bitter kind, of the immediate danger at hand, to him.

Isla wrapped her arms around herself, saying softly, “I wanted to call home to see what I could find out about the challenge, but I couldn’t get on the line.” That nagging anger rose within her again. “Apparently, there are rules against it.”

“You wanted to what ?”

Isla sighed through her nose. “The Imperial Council deliberates with the Alpha about approval of challenges. A Council that includes my father. I knew I couldn’t get to you to ask what was happening—and I wanted to see if I could stop it.”

She had a hard time gauging Kai’s reaction. Couldn’t tell if he was happy that she’d tried to interfere, if he had similar sentiments to the rules imposed by Imperial Pack as those within the call center. When he was silent for far too long, Isla filled in the gap with her own question.

“Do you know who the challenger is?” she asked. “Is it really who…killed your father?”

Isla could see the emotions written clearly now as Kai scowled. As the ire threatened to color his eyes. “No.”

Isla straightened. “It isn’t?”

“No,” Kai repeated. “No matter how many times he says it and tries to claim it. It’s just a no-name rogue trying to make something important of himself after being exiled. It’s all a joke, a game. Inciting fear and riling up the pack for no reason.”

“As rogues do,” Isla muttered. Though a challenge seemed like a lot in terms of the lengths gone to cause the chaos and strife they craved. Even if she was losing that lightness to that rage brewing as he hashed it out to her, what he’d said made her hopeful. “So, you don’t think they’ll approve it?”

“I don’t know what to expect with your Alpha,” Kai said simply and honestly. The cool tone was almost unnerving as he went on, “My bloodline has ruled over Deimos, over this corner of Morai, since the Goddess still walked among us. Before the Pack of Io even existed. To even risk throwing away that history by considering it, to put my pack in a position where they’d be under a rogue wolf ’s control…it tells me enough.”

Over this corner of Morai .

Deimos. Phobos. Ares .

Before Isla could ask, enough about what , a strangled cry sounded in the air. Like that of a wounded animal. But there was something different about it. Unsettling yet beckoning.

Both Isla and Kai had turned to look in the direction in which it came. Isla’s brow raised in perplexity while Kai’s lay flat over narrowed eyes. In time, they swiveled their heads back to face each other. There was a moment of pause before the tension between them lightened. Kai’s face fell as Isla bit her lip, holding back a devious smile.

“Don’t do that,” he said.

Isla inclined her head. “Do what?”

“That look is as concerning as it is arousing.”

“You don’t want to know what that was?”

Kai didn’t answer, just loosed a heavy breath.

Isla released the hold on her lip and beamed, now taunting him, “It seems I’m rubbing off on you.”

“Not nearly enough.”

Banter. Banter was good. Anything to pull him from that place.

Isla stepped back from him, hands reaching for the hem of her shirt.

Kai’s eyes grew wider as she pulled it over her head, leaving her in her tight camisole. “What are you doing?”

Isla dropped the piece to the ground, where she buried it in the leaves. Her fingers went to the waistband of her pants. She had to quell the part of her that thrummed as Kai watched her movements so closely, trailing down the length of her bare legs after she removed the covering. All that remained was her undergarments. “I’d like to have my clothes in one piece when I get back.”

She turned away from him as she removed what remained on top, taunting him. “I can’t be gone for long, and I’m much quicker shifted.” She pulled her hair from its tie, letting the tresses flow free and wild down her back. The strands were gilded gold in the light that broke through the canopies, and she pulled the hair forward to just cover the peaks of her breasts. More teasing.

When she turned, donning only her underwear, she crossed her arms, too. “You can either strip and come with me, Alpha, or stay here. ”

Kai’s eyes didn’t seem to know where to land—and for a moment, she wanted to ask what was going through his head now, what he’d do to her. What he could do now that they could touch…

The growl he let out took her from whatever thoughts and seemed to go straight to her core. He reached for the buttons of his shirt, fine and formal for a gathering of those of status, and unfastened one button, then another and another. Isla couldn’t stop her greedy eyes from taking in what the Goddess had so wickedly given to her as he removed the piece completely.

Now, she felt like a fool.

It took everything to remain rooted in her spot. To not look utterly dumbstruck as she followed the flow of his lumerosi, followed those tattoos over his arm, cutting over his shoulder, his pectoral. As she watched the rippling muscles of his torso go taut and loose with every breath. Found the way they dipped into the waistband of his pants—

Which he was now removing.

Isla forced her eyes back up to his as he left himself wholly naked before her.

She held herself back. Trying to temper the intrusive images of all the wicked things she’d do. Maybe she’d beat him to her knees.

Not breaking eye contact as he slowly moved in on her, Isla removed her final garment, trying to do so as quickly and level-headed as possible. She’d tossed her underwear to the side with the rest of her clothing just as Kai placed a firm hand beneath her chin to look up at him.

“You are an impossible woman,” he told her.

Isla gulped, quashing that part of her so aware nothing stood between them finding release with each other but sheer will and stubbornness.

She placed a hand on his chest, fingers curling just slightly to dig her nails into the ink of that tattoo. Her gasp remained caught in her throat as she pressed her body to his, letting her breasts just graze his skin as she rose on her toes, closer to his face.

One last move, one last jab, for the upper hand and to guarantee he would follow.

“ Yours ,” she hushed over his mouth, strained and gritty with deteriorating resolve .

But sense came forth when her wolf did, and as Kai leaned down to capture her mouth, Isla was quicker. She’d left him stumbling as she shifted and hauled ass into the trees.

Kai knew the forest well. He told Isla how he’d trained with the guard and had been on it before he’d become alpha. For a little while, he guided them towards the initial direction of the sound, through easy paths with less brush to fight through and narrow breaks of streams to leap over.

There was something incredibly freeing about them simply being able to run. To feel, to just be, free of everything. There were no murderers. No rogues. No secret messages. Even with the distinct hue of Kai’s eyes, he didn’t even have to be the alpha here.

It was just them.

But the bliss of it didn’t last very long. Not when something in the air seemed to change. When Isla noticed how bare the trees wereand how quiet everything was, like all life had scattered, leaving this part of the forest abandoned. Kai noticed it, too, the stillness and heaviness of what they walked upon. Even the wind wouldn’t dare blow here.

And then came the scent.

Biting and familiar. Snaking down into the deepest, most buried parts of Isla’s subconscious.

Despite the reservations, the innate fear lapping at her paws, they followed the smell, Kai staying a few protective steps ahead.

They came upon the narrow mouth of a cave, and Isla couldn’t even register what Kai had tried to say through their link. All her senses were so overpowered that she couldn’t even think straight.

With every bone in her body, she knew, she felt what was coming when they broke the dark threshold of the cavern.

And yet, she was still stunned, still nearly incapacitated by terror, when she found herself staring into the bright red eyes of a bak.