Page 41 of Sins of His Wrath

No. She shoved the thought out of her mind, squeezing her eyes shut against the rush of instinct clawing to the surface. That dumb, weak Omega part of her was reveling in this.

“Did that fucking idiot Alpha touch you?” he barked.

“No.”

He grunted, his hands sweeping down her legs, circling her ankles, running along her arms, pressing over her ribs. She quickly realized he was checking her body for some reason. She held still as his fingers mapped her body, sliding into hidden folds of fabric, even around her hair and scalp.

Then his breath brushed her ear. “Are you hurt? Did you get hurt when you attracted that magic?”

The rush within her turned into a flutter. She shook her head.

His exhale was deep, measured. Then one by one, he pulled her daggers from their hidden sheaths, stripped her of knives buried in her belt, her boots, even within the folds of her robe.

Finally, he pushed his nose back into her neck and breathed her in for a long moment.

Naya remained still, trying not to breathe in the sand. Everything would be easier once he worked through his possessive anger. After a long moment, he yanked her up. The world tilted, and she barely caught her balance before he shoved her forward. “Move.”

He trudged across the sand, angling left and pulled her with him. Ahead of him was a sprawling mass of the sand-colored tents she recognized, but it wasn’t quite the same. The camp was larger than before—tents stretched farther, their structures taller and sturdier.

Everything in her tightened at the sight of them, but she forced herself to stay focused. “How did you get us here?”

Akoro veered toward the group ofnniraethat stood by the tents. “No questions,” he growled.

“You said you wouldn’t interfere with?—

“I won’t.” He gestured to the darkening sky. “You want today to be one of your fourteen? Because there isn’t much of it left.”

Naya stayed silent. He was right. If she was going to start one of her days, it needed to be in the morning.

Akoro led her toward hisnnirae, the creature’s powerful form shifting restlessly beneath its saddle as a group of servants moved around it, attaching a cart to the back. The moment Naya saw it, wild panic surged too fast to stop, sharp and unexpected, clawing up her throat.

She had buried the memory—the desolation, the confusion, the pain—but seeing the cart again dragged it all back. For a moment, she couldn’t move. She hadn’t been expecting this.

Forcing the thoughts away, she swallowed hard, keeping her face impassive as Akoro turned toward her. He said nothing as he helped her into the cart, his grip firm, possessive, inescapable. The moment she was inside, he barked an order, and the servants erected the dome of magic over her.

Naya sat, her pulse still unsteady, as people rushed around her like they did when the camp was preparing to move. Yet the tents weren’t packed up.

It was strange to return to his land and arrive in the desert, which was so far from his city. Either this was the only place they could create a portal to the empire or they wanted to keep their invasion activities far away from their city.

Akoro mounted hisnnirae, gripping the reins. The creature tossed its head, snorting softly, before trotting forward and then breaking into a gallop.

A sharp jolt ran through Naya’s body as the cart lifted from the sand. It was unnerving being back in the cart, and by all accounts back as his prisoner… except this time, she’d chosen to be here.

She sat back, forcing herself to breathe evenly as they picked up speed, the camp shrinking behind them, swallowed by the horizon. Severalnniraetraveled alongside them, some pulled other carts filled with people and supplies, while some had soldiers seated on them. Still, why hadn’t the camp packed up this time?

Naya turned her gaze to the landscape stretched endlessly around them, the sand shifting under the darkening sky. This was a beautiful part of his land, at all times of the day, even if the sun was brutal. But… something about it felt different. Her body went rigid.

A ripple flickered over her senses—distant, but moving.

She stilled, tilting her head slightly, trying to determine what she was sensing. Vibrations simmered far in the distance, just beyond sight. It wasn’t a structure, like the portal or the magical dome surrounding her. It was erratic. Unstable.

Wild magic.

Her jaw tightened. She turned, scanning the horizon. The sensation wasn’t isolated—it was coming from two directions.

If they were traveling north, the magic pulsed from the west and southeast. And it was moving toward them.

Naya’s muscles coiled, her instincts sharpening.

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