Page 50 of A Warrior's Fate

She shook her head as the scene ripped through her mind again. Lukas lunging for the guard, being brought down to the ground, his screaming, the group descending. All the while, Kai was off to the side.

She met his eyes. “Why didn’t you get involved?”

His brows drew together as if it were obvious. “He’s of Tethys, and we’re in Callisto. My thoughts and opinions don’t matter here. If I inserted myself, it would’ve just led to a headache and more paperwork than I can afford attention to. And frankly, I have much more to worry about. A pack to return to and a mate who’s ready to risk herself and take on the world at any minor transgression.”

I suppose the Goddess has blessed you, would have been her retort. The snide remark sat just on the tip of her tongue, but that bit, the words…

Minor transgression.

Lukas losing all memory and sense wasn’t a “minor transgression”. His life hanging in some balance wasn’t a “minor transgression”. His family that was waiting back in Tethys for him to return triumphant, a warrior, wouldn’t see it as a “minor transgression”.

Her lips quivered and her nose twitched with unspoken words. All she wanted was to lash out at him. Her tongue ran over her teeth, but as she opened her mouth to speak, she felt wetness on her cheek.

Her gaze directed upwards, and another drop of rain fell directly into her eye. She winced, squinting, before wiping it away.

A stronger current of wind rocketed through the field, nearly forceful enough to move her as one drop became two then three, four, five. The crack of lightning came next, then the roar of thunder and a low whir before the steady stream of watery bullets. The chilly rain made quick work soaking her clothes, her hair.

Maybe it had been a gift from the Goddess to snap her out of it. For the smallest of moments, the corners of her mouth threatened to twitch upwards, and she resisted the urge to throw her arms out as it washed over her. She’d always loved rain and thunderstorms, so rare to come by in Io. On the times they did, she’d immediately go to her window perch in her small city apartment and sit, listening to the patter and watching the lights of the city glitter in the dew.

She could almost do that again. Be home, at least. Almost.

A gasp slipped from her mouth when a sudden rush of unease rocked her system—but the feeling…wasn’t her own.

Kai, equally drenched—with his clothes clinging to his body, leaving outlines of the taut muscle beneath and his dark tresses straightening and bending in ways she’d never seen—wasn’t looking up at the mist-like gathering storm clouds or even at her, but instead, beside them. His eyes were slits, and a sharp line, bolstered by shadow, cut through his cheek. Isla followed his gaze. It took a while for her to register the silhouettes of trees bucking in the whistling, brewing torrent. The feelings of unease grew stronger, morphed into anger and—fear?

“Alpha?” she voiced cautiously, breaking the title down into its syllables.

Kai didn’t answer. Instead, he snarled at what seemed like emptiness before he ran to it, leaving Isla alone in the middle of the field where pools and puddles quickly formed at her feet, blinking and stunned.

“What the hell?” she mumbled as he disappeared into the blackness.

Technically, this was her opening. To walk away. To leave him behind and leave him, leave them, be—forever. But that connection fought, those strings and threads and tethers tugged and twisted and did everything they could to keep them together. And there was something else. Something worse. Something stemming from a similar place as her earlier peace with him on the roof that she didn’t want to acknowledge.

She could leave him now. She should.

“Shit,” she breathed, shaking her head before bounding toward the trees.

When Isla broke over the woodland’s edge, it was as if she’d entered another world. The shrouded area possessed an odd and eerie stillness as both the wind and moonlight battled to break through the dense brush and heavy canopy. It was almost disturbingly familiar, like all it was missing was a simple curse before it became the twin to its bastardized and caged brother yards away. For that, Isla was even more grateful for the rain, the downpour like a lifeline, a rope to cling onto while she dangled over the abyss of her memories from beyond the Wall. It was one of the few differences her brain could latch onto as a reminder that she was safe and out of death’s grasp.

“Where the hell did you go?” She paused to look to either side of her.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Though she hadn’t been too far behind, Kai was nowhere in sight.

Her eyes slid closed as she honed her hearing, her smell, trying to pick up any type of hint as to where he was but she couldn’t. Kai didn’t want to be found—by her or whatever he’d run after, she wasn’t sure.

Any annoyance she felt was usurped by worry, the unease she’d been infected with still crawling beneath her skin. She’d never felt or seen him afraid of anything. Nervous, yes, but not scared.

Reluctantly, she latched onto the emotion, clawing through it to find that tether again, hoping she could use the damn thing to her advantage. But it was weak, the tie fraying. Of course.

Still, she did what she could, continuing her trek and following an instinct she hoped had been guided by the webs weaved through them. Her path grew dangerous over terrain a mess of dips, valleys, and swamps she hadn’t been expecting as she called out his name—through a link, out into the wind. Pockets of the moon’s glow peeked to greet her.

She’d nearly reached her wit’s end, her own terror icing her soul the way the rain was her body, at the notion of the complete unknown, when finally, she spotted him. A warming rush of relief took to her veins, but it didn’t last nearly as long as she would’ve liked.

Skidding to a halt so fast she nearly fell over, Isla cocked her head. Kai was postured tall, head held high as if he were trying to catch a scent in the air. He had to have known she was there, even if she’d been masking herself, judging by the way his clenched fists had tensed, relaxed, and tensed again. Maybe he’d wanted her to find him out in the open like this.

She approached him slowly. “Is this you trying to be funny?”

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