A Warrior’s Fate (Wolves of Morai #1)

Chapter 43

CHAPTER 43

M avec’s streets had been thrumming with the masses as Isla and Kai, along with Ezekiel, Marin, and Sol, descended into the lower city. Citizens from all the pack regions gathered, hoping to get a chance to witness the challenge or, at least, wanting to be in the area for it. With the way they cheered when they realized Kai was in the town car carrying them through, Isla figured they wanted to support their alpha, too.

The raucous crowds didn’t stop; only grew when they’d eventually reached the stretch that led to the loading docks for the boats that sailed into the subterranean city where the arena lay.

As Isla exited the car after Sol and before Kai, she adjusted the cloak around her shoulders. It was a dark and airy fabric stitched in intricate patterns of sapphire and silver. It was nowhere near functional to fight in, but Marin insisted she wear it to cover her warrior uniform. Though the status wasn’t something to be ashamed of, it would be best for her to keep as low a profile as possible.

The alpha’s do-all was now very aware that Isla was Kai’s mate, and she had been less than pleased with her leader that he’d for one, left her to spend the months since Isla and Kai had met scouring the entire pack, wasting “precious hours of her life” to find him a wife. And two, gave her no warning but this morning about what Isla was and thus gave her no time to prepare for what was essentially their first public appearance together .

They didn’t mention Abalys.

Isla took a shallow breath at that certain public appearance and cast a hand over her eyes to shield herself from the incessant snapping of flashbulbs. Along with them came the chittering of reporters’ voices. She felt her body tighten up under the attention.

To distract herself, she glanced at Ezekiel and Sol, another member of the group now aware of their bond, as they stood a few feet away from each other, refusing to make eye contact. She held back her scowl, her hand always finding a home on the hilt of her blade whenever the beta opened his mouth. Ezekiel had been useless to them these past ten days. Ameera hadn’t been able to gather anything from his movements like he knew they’d follow.

He’d be gone soon, though. Kai would appoint someone new as soon as this mess was over.

She felt a brush against her back and turned to find Kai behind her. “You okay?”

She could’ve easily asked him the same thing.Nodding, she gave him a smile and then heard the click of a tongue.

Marin was glowering between them.

Though Kai laughed, Isla would be lying if she said the secretary didn’t frighten her, just a bit.

As they moved through the crowd surrounded by a heavy circle of guard as an escort, Isla scanned the horde for the people she knew, even though she was aware they weren’t there. Adrien and Sebastian were back at the House with everyone else who’d come over in the morning. They’d come down to the city in a few hours once Kai had finished most of the official business that would need to take place.

“The bastard’s in there!” Isla cringed as someone shouted. She knew who they meant.

One of those orders of official business was talking with Imperial Alpha Cassius.

They’d take a boat into the wide-mouthed cavern cut into the stone of one of Mavec’s rocky hills; its opening illuminated brighter with lights alongside the landscape’s natural crystal. They filed onto the deck one by one, and as they settled by the bow, Isla couldn’t help but notice the way Kai’s eyes lingered on everything that they were about to depart—the people, the cloudy sky, and the smallest sliver of the Pack Hall on its high perch as if it were the last time he’d ever see it.

Isla’s chest hollowed, and the boat lurched as they sailed forward. Now, away from many of the prying eyes, she brushed the back of her hand against the back of his. Kai got the hint and didn’t flinch or look her way, only loosely entwined his fingers with hers.

The area surrounding the arena was a magnificent show of stonework with the mouth of the entrance into the coliseum boasting structures carved into the rock depicting images of wolves and nature, pack history and leaders, along with a grand piece showcasing the three sisters who ruled over them all.

Isla nearly snapped her neck, trying to observe them until they were out of sight as they passed through the archway into the stadium. Fire-lit torches lined their tunnel path as she unfastened her cloak and dropped it into Marin’s arms. Now, down here, she had to maintain an all-new appearance. Not the future Luna of Deimos but the Warrior of Io.

She clenched her fists to stop her fingers from shaking.

Her father was here, and she still hadn’t decided whether she wanted to tell him about her and Kai before or after the challenge was over, if she could find him at all.

It was hard to be too concerned about that, though, with the essence of familiar power emanating from a place she couldn’t see and the rise of the same aura from the man now a few steps ahead of her, tied to her. A calling, a warning before two forces of nature collided. Everyone must’ve felt it, given the slightest stutter in their steps before pressing forward with greater purpose. Isla could practically taste the hostility on her tongue and fought to keep her features even. To not think of the animosity between the pack she once called home and where she belonged now.

A few more turns and a small flight of steps later, Isla felt her feet scuffling on a mixture of rough and smooth stone, heard the echoing of their footsteps, and squinted at a sudden brightness as the passageways opened to a grander space. She tried not to look directly into the enormous skylight carved into the coliseum’s ceiling. It seemed to amplify the sun’s heat and glow, then carry it down to them as they moved across the platform. As she gazed around the arena, the same manner of images as the entrance carved over each section holding rows and rows of seats, she wondered if it did the same for the moon.

A low growl at her back drew Isla’s attention, but the guard wasn’t directing it at her.

No, it was for what lay before them.

Stood there in between a horde of guard, a feral smile on his face as the sun cast perfectly upon him, was Imperial Alpha Cassius.