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She didn’t need to ask where to go because she felt it. The Pack Hall seemed to reach out to her with clawed hands, calling to her as she always felt the Wilds did. It called with a wail for another bid at her blood, one she could never resist answering, one she may have always been destined to.
“Why can’t you just say it? End these games and tell me.”
Even if she couldn’t see her, she could feel the violet-eyed woman bristle.“Because it is not enough to speak it. I have already tried, and ignorance cost us everything. You must see, Warrior Heart. You both must.”
Both?
Before Isla could even ask the question, the woman trilled,“Two souls bound by secrets and blood. They’ve all been watching. Waiting.”
Isla furrowed her brows, spinning. “Who?”
And for what?
Wind suddenly blasted by her, and Isla threw up an arm, but it meant nothing when the gale had been strong enough to bring her to her knees. A violent crack of thunder sent her hands to her ears, the ground shuddering beneath her. Then the rain, icy, skin-tearing droplets, began as lightning cleaved the world.
Another memory—but Isla didn’t have Kai to shield her from the storm this time. Not again when that solemn aria played, slithering through her head and body, coiling around her insides and crushing while those notes yanked her into a place of her mind akin to moving through the dark.
She knew them—knew this woman, knew this melody, but…
Isla cried out when the dagger sunk straight through her chest, piercing her heart. She lifted her head, the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, to find the violet-eyed woman not pleased but stoic. Behind her, the moon vanished.“Come now, Warrior Heart. You’re running out of time.”
PARTIII
A QUEEN’S DARKNESS
CHAPTER36
KAI
Kai knew when he felt Isla dying the night of the challenge, something within him broke. Not just a fracturing of their bond, but something inhim.It was a shattered piece that mended every day he looked at her—every day he heard her, touched her, or felt her against him—but he didn’t think he’d ever be as he was, whatever the hell he had been.
So, when he felt the bond straining, felt her struggling, fading away—change—even if it wouldn’t have been possible to get to her, he’d be damned if he didn’t try.
There weren’t many other thoughts in his head as instinct drove him out of Deimos. As he’d left a note for Sol, left the pup home with Sebastian, and dredged up every scrap of power he had, beyond the eddying bane in his blood, to shift and run across the continent. He’d been nothing but a blur of red-laced shadow through the night, through the city, along the river’s edge.
It was when he reached Mimas’s borders he felt himself faltering, and that was coincidentally where he’d been stopped by Mimas’s guard with dawn a mere hour away.
They’d tried saying they needed to speak with Verena before they let him in, but Kai wouldn’t hear any of it. And it was possible he truly looked like he’d kill someone right then, or maybe he’d let that deeper, darker power of his flare, but they let him pass, then eventually brought him transportation. And clothes.
And now, here he stood before Ameera in the doorway of her guest suite within the Pack Hall because he knew Isla hadn’t been in hers. He felt it.
Kai’s lifelong friend blinked wide eyes at him before giving a disapproving shake of her head. “You crazy bastard. What are you doing here? Don’t you have a meeting with the Beta of Iapetus?”
He did, but Kai didn’t need a lecture on responsibility. Not now. “Where’s Isla?”
Again, he must’ve looked grievous since Ameera instantly dropped her fight. She side-stepped, her lips in a thin line. “In bed. She’s still sleeping.”
A small beat of relief.
Kai entered the opening sitting room, naturally combing it for any threats. His nose twitched at the faint scent of rot and salt, ocean water. “What happened last night?”
He wasn’t keen on how Ameera’s features paled or when she breathed, “Oh, Goddess, you felt it.” Her eyes drew over him like she finally understood.
Kai clenched his jaw. “Whathappened?”
She narrowed her eyes at his biting tone. “A lot. I’ll let her tell you when she wakes up. It’s better if she explains it.” As if she could see the words he was about to speak, she added, “Let her rest. She’s probably fine, just tired.”
Kai swallowed, his throat dry from the run, from worry. He trailed his gaze over Ameera and caught her rubbing at her left arm. He felt his features soften. “Areyouokay?”
