AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t drop your shoulder!” At Isla’s call, Rhydian buckled.
Kai watched her hand descend from where it half-curved around her mouth, a smirk painted on her perfect lips and a mischievous glint in her eye.
His bona fide brother seized and straightened, turning to glimpse them on the hill’s precipice, distracted just enough for the predator before him to pounce. Magnus rocketed forward with a triumphant battle cry, tackling Rhydian into the dirt outlay of their grass patch.
Isla laughed, and Kai heeded the sound, the image of her and her smile, then tucked it away somewhere safe for those moments when she wasn’t there to abate the darkness, not necessarily from his power but from the shadows that had haunted him for far longer than he cared to admit.
“Is this what we pay you for?” Kai asked as he and Isla approached. “Novice mistakes and shit poor fighting stances?”
Magnus, who’d been howling at his victory and only now noticed them, went rigid. Kai gave him a small tip of his head. “That wasn’t directed at you. Nice work.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” he said, only breaking his harsh posture to sweep some of his light hair from his eyes. Eyes that eventually slid to Isla.
Tension rippled between them, and Kai worked to hide his amusement.
So, he’d learned back when Isla was training with Deimos’s guard along with her warrior unit, she and Magnus grated on each other’s nerves to no end. The guard, a key member of Rhydian’s team, had a particular disdain for Io, the Imperial Alpha, and the Warrior Rite that he’d always desired to enter but had always been denied access to. So, meeting the Imperial Beta’s newly anointed warrior daughter went as well as one would expect. Kai wished he’d been there the moment that Isla blurted that she was his mate during one of their many squabbles just to get him to shut up.
“Warrior,” Magnus said, conceding a bow. Kai knew Isla got a small satisfaction from it.
“Guard,” she replied curtly.
“Shit poor, my ass.”
They all turned to Rhydian as he rose from the ground, swiping his hands over his uniform and brushing away Magnus’s reach to aid him. He speared his eyes over Kai and Isla. No bow or formality; it wasn’t necessary. “The distraction got me, yes. But why the hell aren’t you two at home? It’s the middle of the night.”
“We were out and thought we’d come visit,” Isla said.
“Out?” Rhydian’s gaze flicked to Kai, questioning. He’d known of his intentions not to leave the House tonight, and yet, here Kai was. In answer to the silent question, Kai gave a subtle shrug, and Rhydian shook his head. “Stubborn, workaholic bastards, the both of you.”
They had no answer, no defense. Kai only asked, “Have they returned yet?”
Rhydian’s features turned shadowed. “No.”
Shit.
Kai ground his teeth, casting his eyes over the border. A heaviness settled over his heart as he recalled every scenario if they’d been caught or killed. How it would be handled. And as if beckoned by his emotions, his power breathed. A deep inhale and exhale as if it wanted Kai to acknowledge that it still lived. That it could be used.
Isla squeezed his hand, but he didn’t look at her.
“There’s still time,” Rhydian said, pulling Kai’s gaze back to him. “We told them the night of the quarter moon. The night hasn’t ended yet…but a few hours ago, a family came through from Charon; a man, a woman, and their child. Couldn’t be more than three or four years old. They were pretty shaken up, and the father had blood on him. Thyra took them to the inn down by the bend of the eastern canal. I sent Belle to check the other breakpoint further north.”
Both Kai and Isla remained unmoving.
“A child through the rogue lands,” Isla let out on a breath, turning her head in the direction Rhydian had pointed.“How far is the inn from here?”
“About a ten-minute walk.”
Kai hated to ask, “And everything checks out?”
“From what I can gather. They’re definitely not rogues, but I didn’t have them go too far. In case.”
“You think Locke would use a child as a ruse to get in here?”Isla asked, wriggling her shoulders as a subtle hint for Kai to release her from his hold.
I’m sure Cassius would.“We have to prepare for everything.”
Isla sighed, looking down and then over again. When she met Kai’s eyes, her own were filled with hints of that steel will and determination he’d fallen in love with months ago. “They must be terrified. I’ll go check on them. See if I can get them some food. If they’re still awake and want to talk.”
It wasn’t a bad idea, but—
