Page 29 of A Warrior's Fate

“You can stay if you want to,” she blurted as he turned to leave.

The boys looked at her like she’d lost it. Maybe she had. But if no one was going to call out her apparent discourtesy, she was just going to roll with it.

She gestured between Kai and Adrien before pointing to Sebastian. “I know you two have met, but this is—”

“Sebastian of Io, older brother of Warrior Princess,” Sebastian cut her off, so it seemed, mercifully. Likely in his eyes, if she was delusional enough to think the alpha required a familial introduction, who knew what else could come out of her mouth. He stepped forward to grab Kai’s forearm in the traditional warrior greeting. “We met at the feast.”

Isla’s face curdled at the nickname, and she hated that it brought a lightness to Kai’s eye.

“The man with the wager.” The alpha chuckled before glancing her way with a knowing smirk. So, it seemed, that her “on top” was still just a vision of their fantasies.

Thankfully, no one understood the unspoken communication. Judging by how the boys had reacted to her relationship with Callan long ago, Kai would’ve been in for quite the treatment that his title may not have been able to negate—whether they’d capitulated their bond or not.

Sebastian beamed. “Both of you earned me some good money. A couple of bak-killing machines.”

“We’re a good team,” Kai said, glancing at her again.

Isla let out an exasperated breath as she felt the beginning of butterflies in her stomach. Seeing him so natural with her family made those naive, simple thoughts crop up again.

“Thanks for saving Pudge, by the way,” Sebastian added on, snapping her from her delusions.

“Pudge?”

Isla groaned, tossing a glare at her brother. “Please ignore him.”

“Is the meeting over?” Adrien asked, sitting up in his chair, breaking his observational silence.

Kai’s eyebrows furrowed. “What meeting?”

“The one in the Pack Hall about the Wilds?” Adrien’s equally confused look also reflected on Sebastian and Isla’s faces. “All of the alphas still here should’ve been invited.”

The muscle of Kai’s jaw lined his cheek as he looked off to the side, his rising agitation palpable. When he turned his head, he said, overly dignified as if to maintain his composure, “Excuse me.”

And then he left the room.

The three members of Io all looked between each other awkwardly before Sebastian pointed to where the alpha had just disappeared. “Who told him you were awake?”

Knowing that divulging he’d probably sensed it would be a dead giveaway, Isla settled back in her bed, working hard to adjust to the annoying and bizarre feeling of “lacking” while smothering the fluttering that persisted in her stomach. She snickered. “Maybe he heard you screaming.”

By the afternoon, Isla found herself very alone.

Both Adrien and Sebastian had been beckoned to other obligations; her father was still locked in his meeting. There were nurses and healers’ apprentices that had made their rounds occasionally but other than that, Isla had been solitary with her dour thoughts. She couldn’t even get herself to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, all she felt was suffocated by the atmosphere, by the ghost of a bak hovering above, by the inescapable screams of the Trainee. So, she just lay there, awake and staring at the ceiling, conjuring up anything to distract herself.

At first, it had been Kai and those damn butterflies, but then her mind meandered to Fate. And from there, her anger festered. She wasn’t supposed to get out of bed until the physician came around to approve it, but she needed to move.

After fighting to her feet, she had to give her body a second to catch up. The unsteadiness after a long time in a shift was nothing compared to this. Something felt so…disconnected. Still, she gathered her bearings, hoping she wasn’t too weak to mask her scent, and was off. To where, she wasn’t sure.

The hallways of the infirmary were relatively deserted as she traveled them. Every empty room she passed was as barren in its décor and vacancy as hers had been. Occasionally, she’d spot someone or hear footsteps, forcing her to dip into one to evade discovery.

Typically, she didn’t know the person or wouldn’t bother turning to see who the stride belonged to, but this time, she had. It made her jerk in surprise. She hadn’t been sure who she’d end up crossing paths with, but it definitely wasn’t the Beta of Deimos.

Isla watched as he powered down the corridor, his heavy steps echoing. He stopped at a door that led to a stairwell, glancing around before pulling it open. Isla’s eyebrow arched; there was a seed of distrust in her heart. She gnawed on her lip as she pondered whether the next move she wanted to make was as dumb as it sounded.

She did it anyway.

When she broke into the stairwell after carefully prying its entrance, she heard the slamming of a door reverberate from the floor above. The cavern air was frigid as she scaled the steps, her patters a soft chorus. Every so often, she’d stop in case he doubled back, but he never did. Upon reaching the next landing, she peered into the entryway’s small window. The hall was pitch-black, abandoned.

Isla sucked in a deep breath before tugging on the handle, pulling slowly and controlled to lessen its groaning. The chilled air persisted when she closed it softly behind her. For a moment, her breathing hampered, the darkness taking her deep into her remembrances. Her pulse skyrocketed, the sudden panic brewing into something so unbearable that she almost turned around.

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