Chapter 15
ISLA
“You’re going to make yourself dizzy.”
Isla halted her pacing of the antechamber of the Western Ballroom. She twisted to where Kai, handsome as ever in his traditional dark suit, sat in a plush armchair, a glass of whiskey swaying between his fingers as he observed her with amused-yet-wary eyes.
Isla folded her hands, twisting her mating ring on her finger, setting the glimmer of the gemstones over the surfaces of the room. “If I don’t move, I’ll lose my mind.”
It wouldn’t be long before Marin came to usher them to the double doors leading to the ballroom. And though this wasn’t the first time Isla had stood at Kai’s side and addressed a crowd, the stakes now felt substantially higher.
Maybe it was because of the rigorous preparation that Marin had put Isla through.
A review of the party’s guest list to ensure she knew the names and personal histories, and ensure she knew how to navigate every conversation and each dangerous detour that could arise.
One wrong word, one accidental insult, and she could make an enemy of a gamma’s wife, a wealthy merchant pivotal to their economy, or an influential reporter who helped with pack morale and their support of her and Kai’s rule.
She’d handled court before, putting on the facade of a proper lady with precision as deft as a blade, but never to this scale. Never as the center of attention.
Everyone at this gala wanted to speak with her, to impress her. Wanted to judge her and get to know who was about to represent them to the rest of the world.
A foolish girl with a brash attitude in way over her head, given all this power by an entity almost beyond their understanding, beyond their control? Or the queen they deserved. She’d claw tooth and nail to prove the latter.
Kai leaned back, stretching out his long legs and patting his thigh in an invitation always hard to refuse.
With a sigh, Isla crossed the room, her low heels clicking over the marble floors that reflected the warm light of the sconces on the art-splattered walls.
Settling on his lap, her eyes dragged down to the alcohol in his hand.
Kai lifted it, an offer that may have been more of a joke, but Isla took the brown liquor and threw her head back to drain it.
Features curling, she shook her head, feeling like her throat was ablaze.
“Goddess, I hate whiskey.”
Kai laughed, taking the empty glass from her hand and placing it on the silver-plated table at his side.
He lifted his hand from where it wrapped around her waist to the skin of her arm left exposed by her gown, his touch its own flame.
“You might need it. You’re freezing.” He rubbed along her skin as if to warm her up.
“Are you feeling okay? Do you want my jacket?”
Isla had become so accustomed to the chill in her bones that she barely dallied with the discomfort most of the time.
And though this was another bout of him being a fussy bastard, she didn’t mind it at all as she leaned into him.
“I’m fine. It’ll go away. I think it has something to do with losing my wolf, missing that energy. ”
She needed to keep her voice quiet. Other than Marin and their close friends, no one knew she could no longer shift, and if anyone became privy to that, they’d use it against her, against them.
Physically. Politically. Even if she were coming to terms with the fact that she didn’t need her wolf to be powerful, it wouldn’t change others from seeing her as weak.
Kai hummed, pressing his lips to her shoulder. “Maybe I can help.”
Next came a kiss on her collarbone, then another at the crook of her neck. Then his teeth nipped at her skin. Up and up, higher and higher…
Isla’s blood heated, and a fluttering began in her lower belly as he licked and bit just soft enough that it wouldn’t mark but enough to make her heart thunder.
Enough to make her recall the last time he marked her so vividly, making her nipples pebble and her back arch.
Her eyes slid closed, and she wrapped her arms around him, tugging herself closer.
“Just get through a few hours of this,” Kai whispered into her ear, kissing below it, his voice like liquid gold. “And then I will sneak you away and worship you properly.”
The breath she let out may as well have been a moan.
Kai’s hand ventured to the slit in her ivory gown that had left her leg on display. His fingers curled to the inside of her thigh, the touch to her skin making her shiver despite the heat as he drifted up into dangerous territory.
Isla knew what he was about to find. Her eyes fluttered open as he reached the junction of her hip, where a fact became very evident.
“Fuck.” Kai sucked in a breath, his eyes drifting to where his hand was hidden beneath the fabric. His gaze met hers, dark and dangerous.
Isla gave an innocent shrug, her fingers tugging at his hair near the nape of his neck, making a sound rise in the back of his throat. “Underwear didn’t work well with the dress.”
Kai’s fingers dropped so close to her arousal that it made her core clench. “How unfortunate.”
He kissed her mouth now, and her breathing stilled at the gentleness that juxtaposed whatever wicked act he was about to commit, merely an inch from what pooled between her legs.
A knock rapped at the door.
“You’re fucking kidding,” Kai muttered in a ragged breath before he called out, “Yes?”
“Is now a bad time, Alpha?”
Isla furrowed her brows. She’d been expecting Marin to come and sweep them away, but that deep voice belonged to Sol.
She and Kai met each other’s eyes, the same question of the delta’s presence bearing on them.
After the other night, Kai instructed him to brief another set of scouts to send out into rogue territory.
They’d decide whether to send them out in a couple of days.
Still, Kai asked, “Is it important?”
“I’m here with Imperial Beta Malakai.”
“Hey.”
“And the future luna’s brother.”
Kai released his grip on her hair, and Isla’s body went cold and hot with mortification all at once.
Intrusion aside, her father wasn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow afternoon, having a conflicting duty in Io. But no, he was here, and she was sitting on her mate’s lap, moments away from…
“You’re cute when you’re flustered.”
Isla whipped around to face Kai, who brandished a slightly smug smile. She whispered sharply, her eyes dropping to his crotch, “You might want to hide that while you’re talking to them.”
“Believe it or not, they’re a bit of a mood killer.”
“Big, scary alpha afraid of my dad and older brother?”
“I can take Sebastian, but your dad is your dad, and I’m nowhere near good enough for you. Fated or not.”
Such a good answer.
Isla smiled and rolled her eyes, pecking once more at his lips before turning for the door. With a hurried glance in a large, gilded mirror, she smoothed out her clothes, then her hair, and ran a finger along the outline of her rouge-painted lips.
She carefully twisted the lock and pulled back the door, feeling like her chest would burst when she beheld her father.
The Imperial Beta of Io was a hulking presence, the tallest of the men who stood in the doorway, making her, and sometimes even Sebastian—who could’ve been his twin if he hadn’t gotten some of their mother’s prettier features—look small.
He wore a dark suit stitched with patterns of burgundy and gold.
“Are we interrupting?” Sebastian asked tauntingly, and Isla cut him a glare. He even earned a narrowed look from the woman beside him.
Isla shouldn’t have been surprised to see Ameera, gorgeous in a cream dress that hugged her body perfectly, not there accompanying her brother, but there with Sol as somewhat of an apprentice.
Ever since Ezekiel was imprisoned, the position of Kai’s second had been vacant…
and he wanted Ameera to take it. Not because it had been her father’s but because it suited her—her, the warrior general who’d known him and been by his side since they were children.
After an initial outright refusal, telling him no one would want a traitor’s daughter as the pack’s beta, she told him that she’d consider.
Shadowing Sol allowed her to get into more of the inner workings of the court and Kai’s stripped-down, now-replenished council.
Anyone he’d felt had ill intent towards him or Isla was gone.
So much had been changing within the pack’s hierarchy that Isla feared they teetered on a fine line, and others would see that as instability and an opportunity to strike.
“My little warrior,” Imperial Beta Malakai boasted, his arms splayed.
Such an old endearment. Isla didn’t hesitate to enter her father’s embrace, which had once made her feel like the world couldn’t touch her, but now, an uneasy feeling slithered inside her as she remembered whom he served. Who he’d probably just left.
He had no idea what a monster he had for a ruler, for a friend—or did he?
Was it ignorant for her to assume her father knew nothing of what Cassius was doing?
Would it be improper to ask if he’d confronted Cassius upon learning his friend had known he was sending Isla’s mate into a battle to the death?
And he couldn’t have known the most damning thing of all. That Cassius had knowingly sent her mother into peril to cover up his mistakes, and likely figured she’d been captured by the witch and left her for dead.
As rage built up inside her, Isla’s mouth opened to say it right then. He needed to know. Sebastian needed to know. They deserved to.
But… not now. If they learned the truth, they might go after Cassius right now, and she wasn’t prepared for that fallout if it went horribly wrong.
Selfish.
Guilt gnawed at her stomach.
Isla pulled back, schooling her features. “You’re here early. I didn’t think you’d be able to make it until the coronation. I haven’t even made sure the guest wing of the House is ready. I would’ve arranged for dinner, or—”