Page 66 of A Warrior's Fate

Her eyes traveled back to the marker.

She could tell Adrien and Sebastian—but then they’d ask about the message when they came upon it. What it was, why it mattered. And she could lie, she supposed, but…

“Goddess.” Isla grimaced and rubbed her forehead.

The world was spinning again, and she didn’t know what to do. Who to talk to. The best option—the person clued in on most of her secrets now because he was arguably the largest of them—was hundreds of miles away now.

But he was also someone she shouldn’t trust.

At least, according to Lukas, and according to this piece of timber in her hand.

One step at a time, she told herself. One at a time.

First, she’d get Lukas, and then finally, she’d learn about the pass.

“Seb should be at the other stairwell soon. You have maybe ten or fifteen minutes at the most. That’s the longest we can keep them occupied.”

Isla didn’t look up at Adrien as he spoke, instead, focusing on herself in the mirror of the bathroom as she finished twisting her hair into a proper low bun. Smooth and put together, so at odds with how she actually felt inside. “That’s all I’ll need.”

“You know what you’re going to say?”

“I’ll ease him into it.” She tucked any flyaways behind her ears. “Introduce myself. Find out what he remembers.”

“Don’t say your name,” Adrien told her, leaning back against the wall. “No one can know we went to see him. I shouldn’t even be letting you go.” When she shot him a look, he added, “But I know better than to tell you that you can’t do something.” He snickered. “I mean, people told you that you shouldn’t, that you couldn’t, become a warrior, and now look at you. Second in the run to an alpha, killer of two bak.”

Although the words had been meant as praise, Isla felt a wrench in her gut, an iron grip on her lungs. She scowled, glancing at herself in the mirror, catching the curve of her lumerosi creeping towards her collarbone as the too-large uniform was askew on her shoulders. She shuddered at the ghost of a sharp claw tracing her skin. One belonging to the beast seconds away from ending her life. Swallowing thickly, she reached up to do the same.

“Isla.”

At the sound of her name, she dropped her hand, turning to Adrien. To divert his attention, she asked the first thing on her mind which probably wasn’t the best. “Did you—uh—did you ever get a clearer answer about why the alpha had to return to Deimos?”

The Heir’s eyebrows quirked at her interest. “Rogues,” he said simply, shocking her as she wasn’t expecting an answer. “A band of them from the barren lands between Rhea, Charon, and Deimos. They’ve been a problem for months on all three borders, but with the death of Alpha Kyran, they’re trying to take advantage of the power shift and move in on Deimos.”

Isla’s body tensed at the mention of the former alpha, Kai’s father, and a tinge of fear took to her heart.

Not all rogues—but most—were dangerous. Lawless. Cast out by their packs or choosing to leave themselves. While those who ventured out to those lands—so bleak and not worth being claimed by a pack—typically kept to their solitude, those who had been exiled formed their own coalitions. Never would they garner enough strength to take down a pack, but they could definitely cause problems.

She did her best to shove the fear away, to keep it from being evident. “To do what?”

Adrien’s shoulders rose and fell. “Anarchy? What else do rogues do?” Isla must’ve been doing a horrible job of masking her concern because his voice became soft. “It’s just some gangs stirring up trouble. We’ve had them too, on the western borders. I would think Deimos has a strong guard.”

A guard that allowed the alpha and heir to be killed.

A guard that could let Kai get killed.

The last thought was nauseating.

Isla ran her tongue over her teeth, burying it deep and away with the bond and bak. “I know.” She noticed how Adrien’s eyes narrowed, how they carried over her with suspicion. “We should go,” she said, heading for the door, not allowing any opening for him to question; only follow.

The path they took was the same one Isla had meandered when she’d managed to come upon Ezekiel, with a few extra turns down some quieter hallways. Though the corridors were a bit more bustling with the earlier rounds of nurses, they kept their heads down, but not in a way that would draw any attention.

When they finally reached the stairwell door, they gave the area around a quick once-over before heading up not one floor but three. Lukas was being kept as far away from everyone as possible while in reach of care.

The fifth-floor hall was as dark as Isla remembered of the third. But here, there was no light spilling from the hallway, no distant voices of her mate and his beta.

“After you’re in, I’ll get the guard away from the door,” Adrien said. “You need to go fast. Seb can only distract the real nurse for so long.”

Isla gave a hum of confirmation, and not wasting time with words, took off on her mission.

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