Chapter 37
ISLA
From her position at the bow, Isla gazed down the gradually broadening river, the wide expanse of the bluest water yawning back to the sea on the horizon.
She would admit that she loved the sea as much as thunderstorms. The waters off Io’s shores were one of her favorite places to relax.
On the edges of cliffs, on warm sands, listening to the waves and gulls, having the smell of salt tickle her nose, and feeling the coolness of the water on her skin against Io’s brutal heat.
Isla inclined her head, breathing in so deeply she hoped to catch a whiff of anything she could tie to those memories, but all she found was river and burning fuel from the vessel’s engine.
How comforting.
Sighing, she glanced down at her mating ring, the gemstone glistening in the fading sunlight. She could survive being away from Kai. It would only be for a few days, and she was her own person. She’d made it a month without him—granted, they hadn’t been mated then.
A shadow cast over her as someone approached and settled at her side. Ameera splayed her folded arms on the boat’s rail, a breeze sweeping back her hair as she surveyed the distant southern waters.
“Are you okay?” She spoke with a jarring gentleness.
Isla must’ve looked morose if even the general was attempting to offer some warmth.
There was no need to be dishonest… and maybe her truth could inspire another. “I will be,” Isla said, echoing Kai’s words from last night. “What about you?”
Ameera laughed through her nose, understanding the tactic. She met Isla’s seeking eyes with a sidelong look of her own. “I will be.”
It was more of an answer than Isla had expected.
The two warriors fell into silence, the air filling with the sounds of the milling crew behind them and the slosh of water against the side of the vessel.
Isla realized that Ameera hadn’t asked about how their conversation with Ezekiel they had some nights ago.
As the potential beta, what they’d learned was something she likely should’ve been privy to, but Isla understood her now more than she ever had.
When Ameera was ready, maybe they could work together to find a way out of their family ordeals.
As they began sailing further inland, a sandstone wall rose above the shoreline, growing taller along the coast. Beyond it, Isla glimpsed the red thatched rooftops of buildings, but nothing more.
There were occasional breaks at the wall’s base, each crevice sprouting a dock spotted with fishermen yanking in their hauls from the day.
Some threw their hands up blindly to wave, others noted who they were—the royal entourage—and bowed their heads.
Isla waved back, a gentle smile on her face. Ameera hadn’t bothered.
Isla slowly lowered her hand. “You’ve been to Mimas?”
Ameera turned, leaning her back against the rail and surveying the boat’s deck.
“A few times. A couple with Kai, a couple without. They’re lenient with us going in and out of the pack.
If I had to describe it, it’s everything I imagine Io isn’t.
” Isla furrowed her brows, and Ameera elaborated, “Much more free-spirited, laid back.”
“Io isn’t just rigid, narcissistic assholes with sticks up their asses,” Isla countered. “You’ve met me, my brother, and Adrien.”
“My point exactly,” Ameera snickered, and Isla bumped her with a hip. The general cracked a smile, one that reached the rich brown of her eyes. “I mean, I see how desperate the three of you are to break free from there, which leads me to believe you aren’t the norm.”
Isla’s lips turned downwards. “Considering how we grew up, and the people we grew up around, I don’t think we are the norm, no.
” She cast her eyes out, seeking the ocean again, her fingers winding circles over the wood of the rail.
“But the rest of the city, of the pack, away from all everyone typically knows us as, is just… people, living their lives like anyone else in any other kingdom.”
She hung her head. People who will get caught in the crossfire.
Ameera said nothing.
Silence blanketed them again, but it wasn’t much help against the chill of the wind that swept by. Ameera wrapped her arms around herself, offering, “Another difference is it’s much colder down here.”
“Well, Kai’s not here to warm the bed. Will you spoon me if I catch a chill tonight?”
Ameera’s genuine laugh, light and melodic, made Isla’s smile stretch wider. “If you ask nicely.”
As the buildings neared and the sandstone wall stretched higher, Maeve appeared from where she’d been below deck.
She fiddled with the pendant around her neck—a simplified rendering of the deities in metalwork shapes, representing the Goddess, Fate, and Eternity—as she asked Isla if she wanted some help freshening up.
A wry glance down at her disheveled attire was all Isla needed to know.
She opted out of wearing a dress, instead keeping to a cloud-gray tunic tucked into high-waisted pants. She probably should’ve appeared queenlier, but this was easier to move in, if need be.
When she finally breached the sunlit surface again, the vessel had slowed to a stop just before the towering northern gates of Mimas’s Pack Hall.
The darkened wrought iron stood in sharp contrast to the sandstone pillars it was set into.
Top-set flags, the colors of pale seafoam and overcast skies, billowed in a breeze kissed with salt, while wildflowers bordered the gravel pathway from the dock to a sprawling courtyard.
In the distance, Isla could see the spires and turrets, red-tiled roofs, and identical pale stones of the palatial structure.
She wasn’t sure why, but she hadn’t expected Mimas to be so pretty.
Ameera appeared at her side again, bracing herself as the vessel hit the dock’s edge.
“There are a lot of guards,” the general noted under her breath as the bridge was lowered for them to disembark.
“There has never been this much of a presence at this gate. There’s no need to guard so heavily from the water, especially the river that’s only shared with Tethys and us.
” Ameera tracked her eyes across the surrounding land, and Isla followed them to the trees swaying in the gentle wind.
“I can sense more in the forest, too. A lot of them—and shifted.”
Isla held back her frown at the fact that she couldn’t detect much.
Even if she could never fully shift again, she’d at least like her wolf senses back.
Digging inside herself, she sought her wolf.
It brushed against her stronger than it had in a while, but what nudged alongside it made her frown deepen.
Not now.
She snapped back to focus and prayed Ameera hadn’t sensed anything. “This is odd for a pack that should view us as an ally.”
Ameera met her eyes.
Isla’s heart clenched. “Is it because of me?”
Ameera didn’t disagree. “Kai is new to being alpha, and I’m new to being… this… and his father, my father, and Verena were close. I’m sure she knows more about us than we care for. It’s probably a precaution. She just needs to know our packs continue to be on good terms.”
Isla loosened a breath and wished her, hopefully, future beta’s words had been more comforting.
A large company suddenly appeared from just out of sight beyond the wall’s stone.
That, Isla could sense.
Alpha Verena didn’t need the adornment atop her beautiful twist of curls for Isla to know who she was. Her aura was undeniable. Unquestionable.
Isla knocked back her shoulders, Marin’s words echoing in her mind. Approach all you do as a warrior—assess, strategize, execute—but hold yourself like a queen.
Alpha Verena was the only current reigning female alpha on the continent, and one of the only five in history since the law had been passed allowing daughters to inherit the titles of the alphas who preceded them.
She was the eldest of seven children, five of them male.
She’d nearly been killed twice by her own radical groups, who’d wanted one of her brothers to take the throne instead.
So, she was strong-willed, to say the least.
At her side stood her consort, Theon, formerly her guard who protected her from said radicals, and was himself, formerly from Deimos.
Verena had not been his fated. In fact, his fated had rejected him entirely, opting to marry a wealthy merchant in Rhea, choosing a life of luxury over what a soulmate bond offered.
Alpha Rainer, Kai’s grandfather, as Kyran had not come into power yet, had allowed Theon to defect from Deimos to escape the heartbreak, as Mimas and Deimos had good relations.
Somewhere along the way, the rejected male had captured the then-alpha heir’s heart.
Isla had been racking her brain for the eldest of their four children’s names when her eyes snagged on two faces amidst Verena’s party.
Unlike most of the others, they didn’t seem to be guards.
One she recognized immediately, and the other, who seemed keenly interested in Isla, given his smirk and stare, she hadn’t known at all.
As they descended to the dock, Ameera snorted. “Well, this will be interesting.”
Isla’s eyes slid back to see what, exactly, would be interesting, and took in the familiar woman with ink-dark hair and blue eyes that shone like sapphires. Amalie.
Kai’s Goddess-damn ex.
Isla vaguely remembered her being related to the Alpha of Mimas, but no one had mentioned that she’d be here.
She shook her head, clearing away the distraction. Why did she care if Kai’s ex was here?
The man beside Amalie elbowed her the moment Isla’s attention had shifted her way, a devious smirk playing on his mouth before Amalie laid her own jab in his ribs.
“Luna Isla.” Verena’s voice was like velvet, smooth and assured as their groups came to a head, each taking their turns bowing to the other. Isla felt the commanding tone like a shot down her spine.
Strategize. Execute. Strategize. Execute.