Page 29 of M.A.Y.A
Just as Isaiah shoveled some of the biriyani onto her plate in an effort to feed her first, a habit that he seemed to enjoy, alarm bells went off throughout the dining room. The atmosphere grew tense, a low animalistic rumbling came from various individuals seated at the table, and every single soldier checked their wristwatch and cursed.
“What?” Maya asked. She turned to Isaiah. “What is it?”
“It looks like there was a breach from the bunker portal,” Drayden said. He produced a tablet from somewhere under the table. “One of the Omega pack members was out on patrol nearby and heard a disturbance.”
“Is the pack member safe?” Isaiah said. His voice was filled with a quiet rage that lifted the hair on her arms. It took her a minute to process what Drayden was saying.
Bunker portal.
Oh my god.
“No, please don’t tell me that someone came through.” She trembled as she got to her feet. She was out of time. They were coming for her. They were coming for Isaiah’s world.
Her mate’s face remained a mask. His words hollow and devoid of the charm and affection he’d given her all week. “Baby, can you go back to our home? I need to speak to the Betas.”
The request was like a knife twisting in her gut. Was he seriously dismissing her when she was the one who was responsible for leading people directly to his pack territory? Her hands fisted at her sides.
“No,” she said with the same authority that she knew she commanded as well. “If someone came through the bunker portal to look for me, I have every right to know. Or better yet, I should be consulted.”
“Not yet,” Isaiah replied. “You just escaped with your life. This is my pack, and I’ll handle it as I please, which means that you need to go back to our home.”
He turned his back on her, effectively dismissing her presence. “Drayden, are you seeing any signs of aggression? Do they look like they know how to get to the Den?”
Drayden glanced at Maya then shook his head. “Heat signature shows that they are moving in a sweeping pattern as if they’re still searching for it, but they’re getting close.”
Conversation continued in a hushed, urgent tone. When Isaiah realized that Maya hadn’t left yet, he stood from the table and cupped her elbow. His touch was both firm and gentle, a coaxing that was almost reprimanding in nature. “Please go back to our rooms.”
“You don’t trust me,” she said, and hated that her voice quivered. “That’s why you don’t want me here. Even though this is about me.”
“That’s not?—”
“I need to be here, Isaiah. I need to know what’s going to happen to that bunker portal, and to my future. I am the one who has to destroy it. You know that I need to be the one to do it.”
His expression went lethal, and he became the Alpha of a powerful wolf pack again. “Fine, I’ll come and talk to you once I’m done here.”
She could feel her frustration building and boiling over. “That’s not good enough. You just told me I belong at this table. What happened to that? Or is it just when it’s a social gathering and nothing of importance?”
“You aren’t ready for more than social gatherings yet, Maya,” he snapped. The sound echoed off the walls, followed by pin drop silence.
“You really mean that, don’t you?” she whispered. Here she thought he respected her like she was just as strong as an Alpha female.
She could see the flicker of annoyance, of awareness that he was hurting her, yet he continued to push her away. “I don’t want you here because you still are not part of my pack. Not until we’ve officially claimed each other. This is pack business and pertains to the safety of more than just you. As Alpha, I’m demanding you go.”
Oh, this son of a bitch did not just pull rank on me.
Knowing that all eyes were on her in the room, she moved away from the table. “Drayden,” she called out. “Was the heat signature the same as mine? With chunks missing from the overall frame?”
Drayden glanced past her shoulder to Isaiah before responding. “Yes, it looks exactly like yours.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile as lethal as her mate’s. “That’s all I need to know.”
With her head held high, she strode out of the dining room.
If she couldn’t count on Isaiah the way he claimed she could, then she’d deal with this intruder on her own whether he liked it or not.
She was going hunting.
ChapterEleven
