A Warrior’s Fate (Wolves of Morai #1)

Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

S omehow, the days leading up to the challenge were more strenuous than Isla’s days leading up to her warrior debut here in Deimos. So much washappening, so many movements, she didn’t know which way was up or down. Though they were more aware of the pieces on the board now, there were some additional ones thatneeded to be kept track of.

While protocol forced Kai to endure meeting after meeting, as well as preparations and training to ensure he was in fighting shape, Isla fluttered from place to place, becoming a general of sorts in a different manner, “assigned” as Kai’s personal guard in the challenge’s wake. Never alone, she worked with those they trusted which were Jonah, Davina, Ameera, and Rhydian.

Jonah continued focusing his work on the journal. Given the mention of an ancient weapon, his curiosity had been piqued. And since it held the same language as the markers, it was their best shot at figuring out what was where within the tunnels. When Isla was with him, she alternated between looking into witches and looking into the poisons of the world. What worked on wolves, how they worked.

Nothing seemed to be the one that had been used against them.

Efforts on the rogue front, down at the southeastern border, had been amplified, and Rhydian, along with the warriors, aside from Isla, patrolled frequently .

But the rogues didn’t move, as if they were waiting to emerge the day of the challenge.Isla had asked Kai if any of them had the right to be at the battle—as it was another rogue fighting—but he said that didn’t matter. They wouldn’t be permitted in. No one had been permitted in, including refugees from Charon.

For those already within Deimos’s borders, Isla went to their homes with Davina, who she’d learned was a refugee of Charon herself.

She hadn’t let the secretary see the anger that had festered within her as she divulged her solemn history within her desolate home pack. She waited until Davina had gone before the emotions took over, and she fought the urge to go into Charon and rip Alpha Locke to shreds. Imperial Alpha Cassius, too, if he was taking part in this.

And her father…

Isla checked in with Ameera sparingly.

Though the general had put on a brave face, one of a leader of the highest order, the news of Ezekiel’s actions, his secret, had rattled her. His lying to Kai—she took it as a betrayal to her, too.

With Ameera occupied with Ezekiel, Isla and Rhydian had taken it upon themselves to scout where the tunnels fed into Deimos. Jonah couldn’t find any type of map of them, and Callan’s didn’t offer much. It seemed he’d been guessing their locations.

Still, Isla was asked, basically told , never to go to the house alone, even if she’d figured that was her best chance at contacting the killer.So, Rhydian had joined her again and again.

But the killer never showed up or left another clue. Not as, on intermittent nights, Isla perched herself in one of the broken chairs of the house and waited. She wasn’t dumb enough to venture into the tunnels alone. Not desperate enough but close.

Close enough that on the rare occasions when she and Kai could be together, he asked her a few times to be sure that she hadn’t done anything rash.

She cherished those moments with him and found it cruel that these days when sometimes it felt like their time together was running out, they were too busy to see each other. Most nights, they met in Kai’s bed—or their bed— within the House, each too tired to do anything but share a kiss and pass out. On other nights, pleasure, release, and relief from the day’s stresses were found quickly, and then sleep would take them.

But Isla was grateful for the busyness, grateful that she barely had time to think.

Because in those free moments, her mind drifted to Io. To the threat ahead. To her father. To Sebastian and Adrien.

Thanks to Kai’s ability to contact Io whenever he wished, she’d finally spoken with them but only briefly. Only to tell them that she was okay, everything would be okay, and that they should remain in Io.Their reactions when she’d told them she’d accepted the bond had been a boisterous mix of disbelief and smugness because, of course, stubborn Isla had finally given in. But then the reality sunk of the stakes it raised for the challenge.

She didn’t tell them why she really didn’t want them in Deimos.

Didn’t tell them the risk was too great and that she barely trusted anyone or their intentions, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if anything ever happened to them.

And after that, after she’d hung up the phone—overwhelmed and a touch lonely in the silence of Kai’s office, curled in that large, regal chair—she’d cried. For a life she knew she’d need to let go, for the people she may have had to, too.

Then she picked herself up and went back to work.

Three days.

Only three days remained until the full moon. Until the challenge.

It had been yet another hectic twenty-four hours being here and there, everywhere and nowhere. But tonight, three days out, they’d take a small break. A breather to gather in Jonah’s bookshop and not speak at all of what loomed ahead. Just drink and laugh and be with each other—if possible.

Isla’s muscles were stiff as she settled into the armchair, a freshly poured glass of wine between her fingers. Davina, to her surprise, was firm in her stance of not consuming alcohol, holding a cup of water at her side .

The redhead surveyed the room. “Where are Ameera and Rhydian?”

“You don’t know where he is?” Isla asked.

Davina ran a hand over her braid. “I—I thought he’d be back from the rogue borders hours ago.”

Worry flashed in her eyes, and Isla wondered if she did as Isla frequently had with Kai in their distance, assessing the bond, making sure Rhydian was sound on the other side.

“I asked them to run an errand for me.” Kai stepped forward from where he’d been talking with Jonah. He sipped from his whiskey, and Isla grimaced when he looked at her, practically feeling the burning in her own throat. He only winked and drained the rest of the glass.

He didn’t elaborate on what the job had been, and though they had met him with curious stares, Jonah and Davina didn’t ask, likely figuring it was alpha business.

But if that were the case…

“What errand?” Isla asked.

He’d been in a playful mood all day, and she’d attributed those high spirits to the upcoming gathering. But this…

Kai poured more whiskey, not looking at her as the corner of his lips ticked upwards. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Why later?”

He didn’t answer. Never had a chance to as a knock came at the shop’s door.

Davina let out a sigh of relief, a hand on her chest. “There he is.” She traipsed over to the door to turn each of the locks.

Isla downed the rest of her wine and rose to her feet to get herself another.

But when she’d gotten upright as the entrance opened and a chilled Mavec summer wind swept through, carrying Rhydian and Ameera— and guests— she nearly fell over.

Because standing in the doorway—inThe Bookshoppe, in Deimos, grinning at her like they’d gotten away with a robbery—were Adrien and Sebastian.

Isla wondered if the noise that had escaped her lips sounded as pained as it felt in her throat. Something between a choke and a gasp, bolstered by the dryness of the wine and driven by some melding of fear and excitement, elation and anger.

For a moment, she thought her mind had been playing tricks on her.

She took in the two men who both appeared just as she remembered, but though it hadn’t been, it had felt like a lifetime had passed since they’d been together.

Maybe because it had been just that—a different life.

She couldn’t get her feet to move.

What the hell were they doing here? She’d told them to stay home.

“Are you drunk already?” Sebastian shattered the silence and tension she hadn’t realized was rising. It earned snickers and clipped laughs from around the room, but no one dared to speak a word. Either feeding off her reaction or being shocked themselves by the visitors.

Isla opened and closed her mouth. “Am I…”

A piece of the reality she’d been missing was finally clicking into place.

Sebastian had said those words.

Sebastian , her brother.

Goddess above, they were here.

Abandoning her glass on the table so quickly that Kai had to stop it from falling off, Isla bound forward. Rhydian, Davina, and Ameera only had a few seconds to clear the path.

Both Adrien and Sebastian coughed as she rammed into them, throwing one arm around each of their necksandpulling them down to her. They both smelled of fuel, metal, and wood smoke from a car, maybe an inn. But most importantly, they smelled of Io. Of the salty air of the Barit Sea, of warm sand, of rocky plains, with subtle hints of ash lily that she always felt permeated the air.

It awakened something in her, a part that had been dulled but still craved. That missed.

She could hear them laughing, could feel their loose grips on her, each with a hand on her back.

Adrien was the one who spoke first. “Glad to see you missed us, too.” Relief slipped into his voice, and it felt as if he’d looked at Sebastian and shrugged .

Her brother’s shoulders rose and fell, communication she couldn’t see before he patted her back. “It’s been weird without your nagging all the time.”

Isla, whose eyes had slid closed during the embrace, snapped them open to glare at the side of each of their heads. When she unfurled herself and stepped back, she found they were, in fact, relieved by her positive reaction.

Idiots.

She held back her glowerjust long enough for them to settle before she shoved them both—hard. “Why do neither of you ever fucking listen to me?”

“And there’s Isla,” Adrien muttered, rubbing his arm.

Sebastian scoffed, rolling his shoulder. “Yeah, hello to you, too, Pudge.”

“Pudge?” She heard Rhydian question from behind her.

He, along with Davina and Ameera, had moved to the other side of the room, dividing it evenly between the wolves born of the north and central packs.

“He has many names for her.” Kai’s voice danced with an amusement that should’ve tipped her off, but she was too focused on her family before her to think.

“Why are you here?” She continued to glower between the boys despite the excitement blooming in her chest.

“I can’t visit my sister?”

“Not when she tells you not to.” She pointed her glare at Sebastian. “How—how did you even get beyond the borders?”

Her brother jutted his chin. “Called in a favor with the brother-in-law.”

His brother-in-law?

A warmth spread through her, a fluttering at the fact Kai was becoming a part of her family. But then it clicked.

Isla whipped around and found her mate smiling wryly, standing a few inches closer than everyone else. Either because he’d stepped forward or they’d shrunk back. Behind him, Ameera was pouring a sizable glass of liquor.

“You did this?” Isla asked.

Kai opened his mouth, ready to defend himself, and then closed it. “He is unnervingly convincing.” He tipped his glass towards Sebastian. “I couldn’t say no.”

Isla blinked. Though it felt like there was much more unsaid she could push him for, the situation he presented sounded so bizarre it distracted her. She could barely picture it without wanting to laugh.

Sebastian phoning Kai, maybe in the middle of the day, maybe cutting through a meeting, after convincing several operators that he had dire news to deliver to the Alpha of Deimos, only for Kai to pause whatever he was doing to pick up, to entertain her brother’s nonsense, and then scheme a way to get him here.

Both of them, here.

As if he could feel the emotions battling within her, Kai’s voice became a caress in her mind. “I wouldn’t have let them in if I didn’t think they’d be safe, no matter how much they asked. I promise I won’t let anything happen to them.”

“Well, it is family night.”

Everyone’s eyes went to Davina, who’d stepped forward. She was the unofficial organizer of the night, ensuring that each day leading up to this, everyone knew the gathering was about having fun. There was to be no talk of the challenge, Ares, Phobos, or rogues.

She’d already confiscated Jonah’s research and shoved it beneath the counter.

And though there were three men in this room that Isla was ready to kill, they were arguably the three who cared for her most and her them. She’d let them have it, but for now—

Isla turned back to Adrien and Sebastian, both tensing.

“You are both dumbasses.” She got on her toes and threw her arms around them again. “And I did miss you.”

They both let out sighs of relief, and she sensed Kai relax, too.

She sent back through the bond, “I’m not done with you yet.”

A laugh echoed in her head. “I figured.”

The following round of formal introductions was more awkward than she’d expected. Sebastian had gone over easily, earning waves and quiet hellos , but presenting Adrien as solely her best friend, her family, had earned blank stares and exchanged glances.

Rhydian was the one who asked, “Are we supposed to bow? ”

Isla looked back at Adrien as he lifted a hand. “No, I’m just here as a friend. For Isla.” He gestured towards Kai. “For you.”

Isla rose a brow as Kai and Adrien met each other’s stares and held like they were having their own form of secret communication. There was mutual respect and understanding between them, the only people in this room born of alpha blood with a heap of expectation on their shoulders.

It was that respect, Isla figured, that had Kai bowing his head anyway, albeit shallowly. At his side, the other four of his family did the same.

Isla finished presenting everyone else to the boys, ending with Rhydian and then Ameera, who’d picked them up at the borders.

At the general’s assumed second introduction, Sebastian chuckled. “We’ve met.”

Isla wasn’t sure what had happened on their trip into the city, but fire lit in Ameera’s eyes as she downed her heftily filled glass of liquor and replied smoothly, “So we have.”

Isla’s brows shot up. All of them appeared taken aback, except for Rhydian.

Were they—flirting?

“What the hell was that?”

Isla looked at Kai, whose brows were drawn in confusion. “I have no idea.”

“Wait, are you two doing the mate thing?” Sebastian’s voice made her jump.

Before she could answer with a jab for him to mind his business, Ameera declared, “Well, no more tonight!” She picked up the decanter again while pointing a finger between Isla and Kai. “We are making this a no-mate-to-mate-secret-communication zone. No mind-flirting or mind-fucking or whatever you two do. Make things obvious so I can see myself far away. I’m not dealing with it.”

Isla cringed and heard Adrien taunt quietly behind her, “Mind what?”

“Shut up,” she mumbled back.

“Looks like someone needs to get laid,” Jonah mused loud enough for Ameera, who had since turned to gesture a warning at Rhydian and Davina, to hear .

Needless to say, on her next spin, her fist made contact with his shoulder.

And at that moment—as Isla also caught the way Sebastian’s eyebrows rose at the statement and heard Adrien murmur for him to relax since they’d only been there for two Goddess-forsaken hours —she felt an even deeper understanding with the female general.

By fate or by choice, since they were children, their lives were forever entwined with their respective idiots for male companions who, somehow, they wouldn’t trade for anyone else.

And true to form—

Sebastian stepped forward, and Isla resisted the urge to grab him before he said anything stupid to incite Ameera’s annoyance any further.

Her brother’s eyes roved over the spread of alcohol. “So, this is the party, huh?”

Isla tensed as Ameera whirled back on him and stilled. She took all of it in—him, the booze, the family—and something shocking flashed behind her eyes.

Sheer frustration and hurt. Not at them , and not an entire brokenness, but a fracturing Isla had seen too frequently with her lately.

“You want a party?” Ameera countered, that look disappearing as quickly as it had shown up, though there was still an edge to her voice. She held Sebastian’s eyes but addressed the room, “Let’s go to Abalys.”

At the mention of the region, Kai, Rhydian, and Jonah appeared to perk up, smiles sliding across their faces. Even Isla felt the corners of her mouth ticking upwards.

“Abalys?” Davina’s nose scrunched as if she could already scent the river town.

Ameera hummed in affirmation. “Kai’s challenge is in three days, and I’ve just had one of the worst weeks of my life. I want to go out. I want to get drunk. I want to play cards, and maybe—” She cast a glare at Jonah. “Maybe I’ll get laid, who knows.”

Sebastian pointed. “I don’t know what this place is, but I’m in.”

Ameera snickered. “Of course you are.”

Discussions on whether the trip would be smart or safe were had in haste, and it wasn’t long before all of them agreed that a night out, like old times, was truly what they needed. Adrien and Sebastian had to simply not broadcast who they were. Lay low.

Isla hoped to the Goddess that was possible.

As everyone began grabbing their coats and shuffling towards the shop’s door, Kai came to Isla’s side and set her jacket on her shoulders.

She held him back as he moved to walk with her and called to the rest of the group, “We’ll meet you outside in a minute.”

“Well, I should’ve expected that.” Kai took a few steps back to sit on the table, settling in for whatever she had to say.

“My rule stands!” she heard Jonah yell from the street.

“What rule?”

Isla winced, hoping Sebastian never got the answer.

Adrien, too, who she also realized had been exceptionally quiet.

The final one to exit, he paused in the doorway, one hand on the handle. He turned to look at her and Kai, mouth moving like he was about to say something before he shut it. “See you outside,” he eventually offered before closing the door.

Weird, Isla thought before becoming very aware of the eyes boring into her back.

Her brows flattened as she spun slowly to find Kai flashing her one of those disarming grins. Her deadpan look didn’t waver.

He reached out to take her hands, his touch warm and inviting, as he pulled her close. “Have I ever told you,” he began, his voice as languid as the movement he made to wrap his arms around her waist and bring her to settle in a spot between his legs, “how beautiful you are?”

Isla held her scowl, though her heart skipped at the feeling of his fingers dancing over a small sliver of skin beneath the hem of her shirt. “Not going to work.” She placed her hands on his forearms, loosening a heavy breath. “You should’ve told me.”

“It was a surprise.”

“This isn’t something you surprise me with. I told you I didn’t want them here. That I didn’t think it was safe.”

“I won’t let anything happen to them,” Kai assured, continuing his ministrations on her skin. “And they were just going to end up here anyway. Alpha Cassius wasn’t keen on his only Heir being here, but Adrien knew he could sneak away for a few days. They called me with a plan, not to ask permission.”

Not surprising on the Imperial Alpha’s part. Isla didn’t bother querying how Adrien felt he could “sneak away”.

“You’re the alpha,” she argued. “They need your permission.”

“Not when the goal, if all else fails, is getting arrested here for trespassing.”

Get arrested and thrown in a Deimos prison. That was one way to do it.

“You can’t be serious,” Isla said, to which Kai nodded. “How are they so Goddess-damn stupid?”

“They love you. I can’t say I’d go to any lesser lengths in the circumstances.”

“But I told them I didn’t need them here.”

“Maybe you don’t, but maybe they do.” Kai swallowed, hesitating. “Maybe I do.”

At her questioning expression, he removed one of his hands from her back to brush a hair from her face. He focused on it, the way he tucked it behind her ear, and drew his fingers down her neck, avoiding her eyes as he confessed gently, “This entire week, meeting after meeting, has been about preparing for the worst-case scenario. What we can line up to make any transitions easier in case I…” Another hard gulp, but Isla felt the unspoken words like a punch in the stomach.

In case he died.

“And I realized I hadn’t been taking care of the most important part of my life.” He met her eyes now, his stare shadowed. “If anything happens to me…if anything happens, I want you to be okay. I need to know that you could be. That you have people here.”

Isla’s heart leaped into her throat, her chest left hollow.

In a blink, she became the man kneeling before the body of his dead wife in the courtyard after the rogue attacks, her limp hand in his, Zahra at his back, the only form of comfort as he dwelled in the deepest darkness he’d ever come to know. The greatest, most maddening silence and emptiness all wolves were cursed to one day endure.

Three days.

There were only three days before that could become her reality. And as strong as she’d try to be, she knew it would shatter her, and she’d need the boys, need anyone, to get her through that momentwhen their future could be snuffed out as quickly and easily as a candle.

“Oh.”

It was the only word Isla could manage. So soft and cracked it was barely audible. She willed her tears to remain at bay. Nothing had happened yet.

No.

Nothing would .

“It’s going to be fine.” Kai brought both hands to her face, echoing her thoughts. “Just think of it as my own peace of mind. Theirs, too.”

Despite the words, Isla still felt like her chest had caved in. “Okay.”

Kai leaned forward to press his mouth to hers, and the action made Isla feel worse before it did better. A further reminder of what there was to lose.

He pulled back and, noticing the tear that had slid down her cheek, swiped it away with his thumb. “We’re going to be okay.”

Isla nodded then closed the distance between them again, kissing him deeply before she retreated to wrap her arms around his neck and lean into him.

He held her in silence as she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder. She wasn’t sure how long they remained like that—her listening to the sounds of his breathing, feeling his heartbeat against her chest, lulling with the way he rubbed his hands soothingly up and down her back—but eventually, he began pressing his lips to her neck.

Kai worked his way up her skin, back to her mouth, before kissing her one last time.

“Come on. No more challenge talk.” Amusement adorned his tone, shone in his eyes. “Let’s go get drunk. I’ll show you how to play cards, and maybe,” another kiss, “maybe we’ll get laid.”

Isla snorted and took a breath, albeit shakily, to pull herself together. “If you’re lucky. I’m not sure about your chances. You still should’ve told me.”

“Make me pay for it, then. ”

Isla raised her brows at the dare, lightly tugging on her lip with her teeth as she lowered her hands to run over his thighs. Close to certain precious parts—but not close enough. “You’re going to regret saying that.”

Kai tensed beneath her touch but laughed. “I’ll deal with the consequences.”

The kiss they shared this time—with Kai’s tongue a sweeping tease along the seam of her lips—made Isla feel molten inside, made her skin feel too tight over her body, her clothes becoming too much. A kiss that blew the rest of the world, all other existence, away. That usually led to…

A pounding knock came at the shop’s door.

Isla pulled away from him while Kai grumbled.

“Screw on your own time!” Ameera yelled so loud they could hear it through the wood. “Let’s go!”