Page 213 of A Warrior's Fate

He cast another glance her way as he sat.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, crossing one leg over the other.

The flatness of her tone, the lack of bite, seemed to tell him enough. Made him stiffen.

And if there was any power that the bond, her connection to Kai, had offered her as luna, even if she hadn’t gone through the Rite, she brought it out. Made sure he felt it.

Something flew across the room in Ezekiel’s direction. His reflexes were quick, and he caught it easily. Upon a glance at what lay in his hand, his eyes flashed.

The marker. The beta swallowed and lifted his head. A careful question, “What is this?”

Isla had to hold in a laugh of disgust. Bastard. Why even try to hide it? He had to know that they knew.

She noticed Kai’s grip on his forearms tightening—a small flicker of rage, of roiling power—but he remained quiet, assessing, allowing her to answer, “I got it out of the tunnels beneath the pack. After I found that house in the wasteland with Rhydian and Ameera.”

Ezekiel jolted and spun to her, his voice harsh as he asked, “You had Ameera out there?”

“Mind your tone,” Kai gritted out, still standing with that unnerving calm. Control. “Why not tell me?” He paused. “And don’t. Lie.”

Ezekiel had been his father’s best friend, was his best friend’s father—but the unspoken threat in the words…

Any restraint or patience Kai had with Ezekiel, with everything, had worn so thin. Obligatory loyalty and respect couldn’t save the beta. Couldn’t save anyone.

Ezekiel swallowed and glanced down at his hand. The room had become so quiet, that Isla couldn’t drown out the sound of the ticking clock or miss the faint whistle of the train shooting through the mountains to Ifera miles away. She fought the urge to tap her foot and tightened her grip on the pants Kai had given her.

The bond trembled, strained, became…unfamiliar. Dark. A coiling of shadows, of cold, at the end of that bridge. She looked to Kai who wasn’t looking at her, but at Ezekiel with a stare so intense, it was as if it could see straight through him, would rip right through him.

The beta shifted uncomfortably in his seat, giving a subtle shake of his head with a grimace, and then he looked up.

Isla felt the tether ease as Kai gave a small start. At what, she wasn’t sure. But he blinked, shaking his head, too.

“You…had a lot going on,” Ezekiel began. “The Alpha Rite, the coronation, and then you were preparing for the Hunt. I planned to tell you afterwards, but while we were in Callisto, new information came to light.”

Information, she gathered, the moment his gaze flickered her way.

“Me,” Isla answered before he could elaborate. “You met me.” She narrowed her eyes, trying to understand. “Why would that matter?”

“Mating bonds are complicated—they cloud our judgment, especially in the early stages—and somehow you two made it worse. It was a risk,” Ezekiel said, that haughtiness of his slipping into his tone. “Io isn’t aware of the tunnels. If they were, they would’ve been sealed long ago.”

“Maybe they should be if it leaves the pack vulnerable,” Isla argued. “If it allows bak to get through them.”

“They’ve been open since this pack’s founding. Bak have only been an issue recently with the Wall’s wards failing.”

That made sense. The wards typically repelled the beasts from the borders.

But Isla still didn’t understand. “For what reason would you want to keep them open? Just to stroll in, every once in a while, and look at the scenery?”

Ezekiel inclined his head. “Do you know what the Wilds once was?”

Isla straightened.

Phobos.

The packs had been two sides of the same coin. Connected, prospering with each other even after separation, until one of them had been ripped away. There were roots of their people in there, wedged in that soil, tying back to those primeval times when they were once one.

“Why else?” Kai finally spoke again, sensing their volley’s end. “As unfortunate as it would be, losing history doesn’t make it a risk and reason not to mention it to me.”

Another glance Isla’s way by Ezekiel. “Because it’s an open front. One difficult to guard, and one Io could use to their advantage.”

---