Page 266 of A Warrior's Fate

Everyone seemed to grimace at the word.

Malakai said, “I’ll make sure you’re cleared.” And he and Isla exchanged one last embrace before he, Adrien, and Raana left.

“So, what now?” Rhydian asked. “You won. It’s over. The Imperial Alpha left with his tail between his legs. What’s next?”

“You’re probably wanted everywhere,” Ameera said, then gestured between them. “Both of you.”

Kai wrapped an arm around Isla’s shoulders while hers went around his back. He looked down at her smiling at him and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Yeah, well, it’s late.” He lifted his head and trailed his gaze along his family. “I want to go home.”

CHAPTER 58

Isla and Kai were on the roof of the House, a landing of flattened stone amidst the sloping that Kai had apparently escaped to many times as a child. The perch offered a perfect view of the night sky, much like the overlook before the hall’s window, but rather than feeling alone on top of the world, they were alone and hidden within it. What Isla had to behold in the cloudless sky was starlight and endless, uninterrupted darkness where mountains lay. The moon had disappeared somewhere behind them, bathing the city.

Though they’d gone through the motions of preparing for bed—cleaning and putting on their nightclothes—after their tumultuous exit from the arena, sleeping wasn’t close to a possibility. And rather than go where they could bump into anyone when all they wanted was to be with each other, Kai proposed another one of his old hiding places.

As soon as he had laid down on the blanket they’d taken, Isla collapsed onto him. He let out an exaggerated grunt at the weight.

She murmured, “prick,” and the only response to his answering grin was to bring her mouth to his. Something she thought she’d never be able to do again.

The kiss heated quickly as she felt his arms tighten around her waist and his tongue trace along her bottom lip, coaxing her to open for him. She did so happily, and his hands wandered beneath her nightgown and robe of thin red silk, mapping her skin and the parts of her body he knew very well. An assurance that she was here, every part of her. She was alive. He was alive. They were both okay.

But those moments when they thought they’d lost each other couldn’t be forgotten. Both of them nearly dying couldn’t be forgotten. They could chase them away, though. With this. These grounding touches and reminders.

Alive. Alive. Alive.

Before long, Isla was on her back, humming in response to Kai’s praises for what she’d done to protect the city, their people while his lips teased her neck, her breasts. She moaned softly as his fingers worked between her thighs, drawing out pleasure and drawing away sense as she unraveled, his name a whisper to the stars. But it wasn’t enough, not even close, and though earlier they’d felt too tired for sex, she needed him now.

They didn’t waste time removing all their clothes, and their kisses were furious as he positioned himself and she wrapped her legs around him. All thought eddied to the gradual pressure and feel of him until there was no space between their bodies. Isla’s fingers tightened around the muscles of his arms as they both sighed, grateful and relieved, and Kai stilled, taking her in beneath him.

Even without the bond, without its pulling and twisting and thrumming, that connection she felt to him was still there. The love she had for him was still there, stronger than it ever had been.

Kai had become everything—he was everything—to her.

Her best friend, her lover. With her unknowingly in her past, now forever her present, her future. Someone who would hold her when she fell apart. Who would fight and fight for her until he had nothing left. Being fated to him, having the bond, that was extra. She would’ve fallen for him a million times over without it.

And as Kai smoothly drew out before driving back into her, smothering her gasp with a dizzying kiss…as he echoed each deep thrust with a murmured sweet nothing onto her skin…as she met him with her hips stroke for stroke, greedy and desperate for more of him, harder, faster, their bodies still completely in sync, she knew he felt the same.

But the darkness couldn’t be staved for long.

As they settled, coming down from their highs with her head on his chest as he held her tight, reality crept back in, the euphoria fading.

Isla’s mind wouldn’t turn off and couldn’t be distracted by the languid patterns Kai drew over her skin. Random bouts of fear at what dwelled in the surrounding shadows had her heart skipping. Pondering where her mother was and hoping she was okay, thinking of all she’d gone through, had it breaking.

It still didn’t feel real.

The challenge was over. Kai had won but with the witch out there, with the quickness that Alpha Cassius had left, it only felt like the beginning of something so much worse.

Swallowing down panic and the threat of tears, Isla gazed at Kai’s face, noting the way his brows were furrowed as he studied the sky, as if scouring it for an answer. He couldn’t escape anything either. There was a lot for him to be thinking about, too much, but Isla tried to figure out what was bothering him most.

After they’d exited the arena and had come upon the crowd, Kai’s initial desire to go home had dwindled—Isla’s too—as they realized just how many people they had to look after, to protect. All the danger they might be in. Even if the guard had been notified of the witch, the tunnels, and the potential for rogues within the territory, and had been dispersed accordingly, they wanted to oversee it all. To make sure no path was left unfollowed or stone unturned, which received heavy pushback from everyone who knew and cared about them.

Rhydian had called them stubborn, workaholic bastards and told them an alpha and luna were no good dead from exhaustion—not the best choice of words, again. He remained out with the guard units, guiding their search along with Ameera, eager herself for a distraction, it seemed, as Kai had ordered Ezekiel be taken into custody.

Sol would oversee his questioning, find out everything the old beta knew of the witch, and starting tomorrow, Kai would begin anew. Decide on his new second-in-command, turnover his council, and first thing in the morning, Isla would endure her first lessons with Marin in preparation to be the luna at his side.

When early afternoon came, they would make their first official address together, and judging by the way reporters and their flashing cameras followed them through the city to their car—honed on her, shouting questions her way—they were all eager to pry Isla apart.

But there was something they’d shouted, unrelated, that now nagged her, too.

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