Page 157 of A Warrior's Fate

A devious light shone in Kai’s eyes as his hand slipped beneath her jacket, drawing circles over the skin of her hip. “I know.”

Temptation reared its head, and Isla lifted her arms to circle them around his neck. But as she raised on her toes, a breath sounded from the hallway. It was so faint that she nearly missed it.

Kai seemed to notice too, and they broke away from each other.

“What was that?” Isla said, and Kai shrugged.

As he moved to the door, she was right behind him, fists clenched at her sides. If this had been Callan…

Kai wrenched open the door and a shrill scream rang out in response.

It had come from a nosy maid who’d been the source of the initial noise. Her hands were over her mouth, her chest heaving as she darted her gaze between the couple and the writing, left in dark paint, strewn along the wall.

The rush of volatile emotion that had gone through Kai flashed down the bond like a raging, red beacon. It slammed into Isla like a wave, melded with the fear ebbing through her body.

“What the hell?” Kai muttered, stepping into the hallway.

Isla wouldn’t break the room’s threshold.

Another message. Another message.

“A—Alpha,” the woman stammered, dipping into a bow. Her eyes shifted along the ground to Kai’s feet, then to Isla’s. She wouldn’t lift her gaze to meet theirs.

Kai advanced on her. “Did you see who did this?”

Though he’d sounded as gentle as he could, given the circumstances, the maid shrunk back. “N—n—no, this was just here. I was coming to, uh…uh, coming to clean the rooms.”

Isla glanced down either side of the hall. There was no cleaning cart in sight, and even if there was, this entire wing was being renovated. There were no guests.

The maid bowed again, apologizing profusely before scurrying back to the lobby. Kai shot Isla a quick look—telling her to stay put—before he followed her, both to make sure she got there safely and to canvas the rest of the floor.

In his absence, Isla steeled herself and averted her gaze forward again. She trained her eyes over the paint. The strokes were coarse beneath her fingertips as she traced over them. It was drier than it had been down in the alleyway near the call center. Whoever had written this had done it, at least, a few hours ago.

When they’d seen the shadow beneath the doorframe?

They’d thought that it had been Callan, but what if it wasn’t?

If the killer was here…had been here…while they were…

Isla shuddered.

Though smaller this time, the insignia of Io and the mark of the warriors were still among the mess, but something else was familiar. She froze over one etching, tilting her head.

It had a vague resemblance to the insignia of Charon.

“Isla?”

Isla jumped and spun to find Kai at her side.

As he took in the writing himself, he shook his head. “How did I not know? I can usually sense when they’re…around.”

Isla had been the same, at least, down in the lower part of the city.

“We were distracted,” Isla said. Though, they should’ve been able to tell something was off when they’d come to the door. If it was them.

Kai’s jaw tightened, and he looked back at the paint. Moments passed, and he squinted. “Wait.”

Isla dropped her hand from the wall, trying to follow his eyes. “What?”

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