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Eli rose and placed his hands behind his back. “May I have a word with you?”
“A word?”
“Please.”
Desperation dripped from his tone. If it was a strategy to catch her interest, it worked. She really did need to address her bleeding heart.
He added, “It’s urgent, and so I’ve heard my days here may be numbered.”
They hadn’t made any formal announcements about the warriors yet, but it seemed the rumor had spread.
Isla straightened, inclining her head in a way she imagined a queen would, and hoped she didn’t look ridiculous. “I’m listening.”
“Alone, preferably.” Eli glanced at Ameera. “It’s a sensitive matter.”
Ameera’s nostrils flared. “If you need a private audience—orany audience—with theluna, you can make an appointment like everyone else, General.”
Harsh, though she did have a point. If Isla felt like being an asshole, if she acted as Marin likely would’ve liked her to, she would’ve told Eli to take a hike and speak to the secretary about her availability. But she’d been trying to catch the general since she and Kai had trailed him through Abalys a couple of nights ago. And here he was, delivered right to her. Seconds away, it seemed, from getting on his knees.
He may not have deserved the pass, but he benefited greatly from her own curiosity.
“Just a few minutes of your time,” Eli proposed again before she could end his suffering, his voice straining. For the briefest moment, his gaze flitted around them, searching and fearful. Odd. “It’s all I ask.”
“Very well,” Isla said flippantly. Ameera let out a small grumble behind her. “Should I get Kai?”
“If you must, but I’d rather speak quickly.”
Again, that shifty look, but his answer was enough to tell her that he’d be open to Kai hearing what he had to say. If she wanted to get the alpha, she could.
“I’ll let him know later.” Hopefully, Kai wouldn’t be too upset about her leaving him out. She took stock of her own body. No more tapping, no more tugs, and he was still…there. Whatever had been vying for her attention had ceased.
Her gaze locked on a closed shop a few yards away that had been left unlocked for festival-goers to use the facilities. “We can go in there.”
Ameera said, “I’m staying close,” and the undisclosed warning hung heavily between them.If you do anything to her, I’ll wring your neck before Kai even has the chance to.
Eli swallowed. “Good.”
It almost frightened her how genuinely he meant it.
On their short walk to the store, Isla clocked two guards that she hadn’t noticed earlier, watching her closely. Her mate’s doing, most likely. But perhaps it worked out well in her favor. With the two of them on standby, she and Eli disappeared into what appeared to be an antique hub. Unlike Jonah’s bookshop that boasted their continent’s recent feats in innovation, from cars to small planes, telephones and radios, here commemorated their more distant past. She resisted the urge to flick at a gas lamp as she leaned against the artfully cluttered cashier’s counter.
Eli stood precisely opposite her, his body rigid and his hands clasping and releasing at his sides. Once, she’d needed to tread so carefully around him, her commander who held her dreams and life’s ambition in his hands. But now, here,sheheld all the power.
And maybe that authority had gone to her head a bit as she asked more haughtily than intended, “So, does this have anything to do with why you’ve been sneaking around my pack?” Eli’s eyes flashed in surprise. “Always expect to have eyes on you. We were likely spotted now, too, and I’ll probably deal with hell for taking this meeting without advisement.”
She could’ve been dreaming it, but she could’ve sworn Eli cracked a small grin. “Wise advice.”
“Common sense,” Isla countered. “So, does it?”
Eli’s features fell. “It does.”
When he began going into his jacket’s inner pocket, Isla weathered the shot of fear that rocketed down her spine, feeling the absence of the knife she reached for but did not possess. That terror, though, was swiftly replaced by shock.
Eli held out a shirt caked in dried blood, but it wasn’t just any shirt. By the crescent embroidered into the gray fabric, she knew it belonged to a warrior.
Isla’s gaze snapped to Eli’s, and before she could ask, he said, “It’s Callan’s.”
She swore the ground shook beneath her. “Callan?”
