A Warrior’s Fate (Wolves of Morai #1)

Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

T he cobblestone streets of Mavec held a modest crowd, a few rolling through the daylight minutiae. Shop owners were opening their doors. Pack members indulged in breakfast. Isla’s stomach growled as she passed one eatery, but it soured promptly after.

They had to get to Kai and figure out what the hell they were going to do.

Frankly, Isla wasn’t positive where to start—the bak, the rogues, the pass, the warded door, the killer, the new marker, the final jewel, and scribbled symbol on her arm she had hidden in her jacket pockets. Or maybe that word that was cycling endlessly through her mind.

Traitor…

As they walked through the lower square to get the trolley up to the Pack Hall, Rhydian and Ameera were silent, too. They had been since they’d left the house, combed the surrounding area for the missing rogue—only to come up empty—before returning to the car.

They were understandably shaken by what they’d seen and all that had been divulged in just a few hours. It was all too much. They were tired and frustrated. At least Charley had begrudgingly let them clean up a little once they’d returned his car.

“Do you think Jonah went to the hall last night to look in the library, or is he still at the shop?” Ameera asked as they looked between the two transport options. One would take them closer to Jonah’s and the other to Kai. Upon a glance at Isla’s antsy form, she snickered. “I know what you want to do.”

“You can check in and see if Jonah’s there. I’ll talk to Kai,” Isla said.

“He’s going to lose his mind when he finds out,” Rhydian said.

“He should,” Ameera lowered her voice. “Especially if whatever you’re saying about a traitor is true.”

“I don’t know for a fact that’s what it means yet,” Isla said. “And—”

“Ameera!”

The call of the general’s name had come from behind them all.

Isla had known the voice before they’d even whipped around.

Ameera grumbled from Isla’s side as Ezekiel stalked towards them, appearing from a street that had led to the boats that carried people beneath the bridge and into the mountain. “What is he doing here?”

That was a great question.

As he got closer, Isla couldn’t even wonder about the family members' similarities. Couldn’t laugh at the way a vein was present near Ezekiel’s temple, just like his daughter’s. Even their small exchange fell on deaf ears.

She was too distracted, too concerned with how disheveled he looked. How distraught. There was darkness beneath his eyes. Something wild yet cowering within them. Like a cornered doe. He hadn’t even looked like this two nights ago after the rogues had attacked. He’d been shaken—yes, as they all had—but still had some generous composure.

Here, that seemed to hang on a thread.

Something was wrong. Something worse than what had happened two nights ago.

She cocked her head to take in the empty space behind him. “Where’s Kai?” she asked, forcibly simple at first.

Ezekiel tensed, and Isla felt her blood ice over and boil at the same time.

He wouldn’t answer. Not fast enough.

Her fists tightened at her sides, and Rhydian and Ameera seemed to pick up on the shift in her disposition. They shuffled on their feet, falling a bit behind her, as she pressed, “What happened?”

Further hesitation. “We should—”

Isla bared her teeth. “Ezekiel, what’s going on?”

Upon the address, the older man blinked, and there was the hint of that irritation she’d been expecting. But it didn’t last long. His throat bobbed, and he shifted his gaze around, ensuring there weren’t many people around them. “The call came a few hours ago.” He spoke quietly, and they all absentmindedly leaned closer. “And we haven’t released it to the papers yet, so let’s try to remain calm…”

“ Beta ,” Isla said through gritted teeth, making him jolt. He’d been too slow. Too slow.

One last breath fell from his mouth before he said, “The Imperial Alpha and Council passed the challenge.”

Reporters surrounded the closed front gate at the bottom of the hill that led up to the hall. According to Ezekiel, there were fewer than yesterday. Isla could only imagine how crazy things would get once the news broke of the challenge.

It had passed. They’d approved it.

It didn’t feel real. It couldn’t have been.

But Kai was already in an emergency audience with his council, discussing what would happen next. What needed to happen in order to prepare for whatever befell him in ten days, on the night of the next full moon, when he’d step before another man, with his pack in witness, and kill him or be killed himself.

She felt sick to her stomach. Worse than she ever had before.

Kai had sensed when she’d been fighting the bak. He hadn’t known exactly what she was doing but knew she was in trouble. To keep him in place, as the news had just broken, Ezekiel had offered himself to find her, find them. The beta had been searching Mavec all night.

There was a second way into the hall that avoided the main entrances and the crowd—thankfully. A mysterious female entering the grounds with the beta when no one else was permitted could’ve led to speculation.

As they traveled through a small side passage—a dank cavern disguised by greenery—Isla and Ameera flinched, their footsteps aware and looks over their shoulders frequent. It eventually brought them to a room, the door hidden behind a bookshelf. When they stepped out into the corridor, Isla noted their location by their orientation to the courtyard.

Now, where were council meetings held?

Instead of asking Ezekiel, who’d likely be a complete dead end, wanting her to wait in the House, she began reaching for Kai, pulling at whatever she could.

Where are you, where are you, where are you?

And as if he’d heard her frantic thoughts, Kai rounded the corner.

Her heart leaped and dropped all in one beat. Hours ago, moments existed when she didn’t think she’d ever see him again. Moments, she was sure, that he shared.

Kai looked her up and down as if searching for injuries, and when his gaze returned to her face…

Isla wished she could bottle the feeling she got every time he looked at her, the flutter in her stomach. She’d love to get drunk on it right now, forget all of this.

The smallest breath of relief from his mouth was like a signal. Without much thinking, Isla rushed forward, and he met her in the middle, ready when she flung herself in his arms with a force that nearly sent him backwards. She felt him tighten his hold around her waist, almost lifting her from the ground while she secured hers around his neck. His lips brushed against her skin as he buried his head into the crook of her shoulder, and she shivered. Their hearts thundered against one another. In time. In sync.

It took everything in Isla not to break down as she breathed in his scent, yielding to the comfort of him. She felt safe, truly safe, somehow, finally.

When Kai lowered her down to her feet, Isla forced herself to step back from him, heat scorching her cheeks as she noticed the others who’d observed the display of affection. Ezekiel looked like he was going to be sick .

Kai looked over Rhydian and Ameera, who also looked rough from being out all night. “Are you guys okay?”

They both nodded.

“Are you ?” Rhydian asked, unable to fight back his frown. Beside him, Ameera’s features screwed up in her own sad scowl.

Kai’s body tensed. “Yeah, I’m good.” A lie—partly, at the very least. As they cast their doubtful looks, he added, “Thank you.”

Ameera gestured her way. “You should thank her.”

Kai furrowed his brows and met her eyes.

“ I’ll explain, ” she told him.

A faint grin played along his mouth before he lifted his gaze to Rhydian and Ameera again. “Jonah and Davi are in the library, if you remember where that is.”

“How could I forget where I suffered through all my summer assignments in year six?” Rhydian quipped, giving levity to the heavy situation.

Isla caught the way Ezekiel had stiffened at the mention of the twins in the library. Kai had, too, it seemed, from the corner of his eye.

He turned to his beta, his features unmoving. “We finished the meeting, but the council’s still in chambers. You’ll be briefed, and Sol will handle the debrief then the two of you and Marin can meet me back in my office later this evening. You can release the news to the pack in the meantime. We shouldn’t hold on to it too long. Better it come from us than trickle in by other means.”

Ezekiel bowed his head in agreement, something odd still flickering behind his stare. “And where will you be?”

Kai reached to take her hand. “We have some catching up to do.”

Kai had wanted to go “somewhere they could actually breathe”, and so they had traveled up and up and up, around and around and around until they reached the study of Alpha Orin and stood in the glory of the stained-glass window. The chilled morning air bit at Isla’s face as she stepped onto the platform behind the lofted black metal railings. She hadn’t caught their designsin the dark, how beautifully they bent and twirled, curving in a way that almost mimicked the phases of the moon.

As she stared down at the city, she heard Kai slowly guide the glass closed. The heat of his body radiated as he settled at her side, and silence fell between them. Comfortable. Needed.

For a second, it all stopped. Even with the world before them, with the mountains, water, and small dot-like people, it truly felt as if they were alone.

Isla turned her head to look at Kai in time with him as he did her. That feeling rumbled again, and Isla felt something inside her crack.

She turned her head away, choking back a gasp.

“Isla,” he spoke with that gentleness that stripped her down to nothing.

Her chest tightened, and she struggled to let out an even breath. Another strained sound fell as she shook her head. She didn’t know what to say, what to do, or where to start. For one, her family— her family— were a part of this. Her father was on the Council, sending Kai off to fight for his life. That could take him away from his pack, friends, family—his mother.

From her.

“Isla.”

Tears spilled over the cusps of her eyelids. One, then another, and another before they flowed freely down her cheeks. In seconds, Kai was on her, pulling her close again. As she hugged him, holding onto his shirt as she sobbed, everything crashed into her. Relentlessly. Blow after blow. The unending fear she’d felt in that house. For the past few months. What she’d seen. All she knew.

She hated feeling like this. Weak and helpless. But no matter how much she begged herself to get it together, she couldn’t.

Kai had slowly stepped them away from the rail, and somehow, they’d ended up sitting at the base of the window, on the cold stone as he held her.

“I’m sorry.” She cried into his shoulder as he stroked the back of her head, combing through her hair. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Kai whispered in her ear.

“I should’ve told them,” she said. “My father, if he knew, maybe… ”

Maybe.

“I don’t think it would’ve made a difference. Your father is the Beta, but in the end, the Imperial Alpha makes the final call.” He couldn’t hide the tinge of aggravation from his tone but corrected it to gently ask, “What happened out there?”

Isla lifted her headandwas certain she looked like a disaster. Kai swiped some of the salty tears with his thumb.

Through the sharp intakes of breath and rushing thoughts, Isla explained everything she could in the most coherent way possible. The rogues. The bak. The wards. The tunnels. The killer with the diadem. The new marker. When she finished, breathless and overwhelmed still, she braced herself for him to begin drilling her with questions, especially given the confusion, concern, and intermittent flashes of anger that had crossed his face. But she felt lighter now after getting all of that off her chest. She could handle it.

She could handle it. She could handle it.

But his features softened, and he brushed a loose hair from in front of her puffy eyes, tucking it behind her ear. “You fought all of them?”

Isla swallowed, her voice hoarse. “I did what I could.”

“You’re incredible.” A frown tugged at Kai’s lips. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to go through this.”

As she sensed the guilt begin to ravage him, Isla lifted his face to hers. She traced along the line of his jaw. “I’m exactly where I need to be. Where I want to be.”

Something in Kai’s eyes gleamed, and he loosed a sigh, head falling onto her shoulder. “Our talk might need to wait for a little while.”

Isla’s heart stumbled a beat as she combed her fingers through his hair, the soft curls at his nape. In all this madness, adversity, and darkness, there had been one thing keeping her steady. One person who had her back above all else.

And she couldn’t imagine existing in this world without him always by her side.

So, she braced herself and said, “Does it have to?”