Page 190 of A Warrior's Fate

“Isla,” he spoke with that gentleness that stripped her down to nothing.

Her chest tightened, and she struggled to let out an even breath. Another strained sound fell as she shook her head. She didn’t know what to say, what to do, where to start.

For one, her family—her family—were a part of this. Her father was on the Council sending Kai off to fight for his life. That could take him away from his pack, his friends, his family, his mother.

From her.

“Isla.”

Tears spilled over the cusps of her eyelids. One, then another, and another before they flowed freely down her cheeks. In seconds, Kai was on her, pulling her close again. As she hugged him, holding onto his shirt as she sobbed, everything crashed into her. Relentlessly. Blow after blow. The unending fear she’d felt in that house, for the past few months. What she’d seen. All she knew.

She hated feeling like this. Weak and helpless. But no matter how much she begged herself to get it together, she couldn’t.

Kai had slowly stepped them away from the rail, and somehow, they’d ended up sitting at the base of the window, on the cold stone as he held her.

“I’m sorry.” She cried into his shoulder as he stroked the back of her head, combing through her hair. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Kai whispered in her ear.

“I should’ve told them,” she said. “My father, if he knew, maybe…”

Maybe.

“I don’t think it would’ve made a difference. Your father is the Beta, but in the end, the Imperial Alpha makes the final call.” He couldn’t hide the tinge of aggravation from his tone, but corrected it to gently ask, “What happened out there?”

Isla lifted her head, and she was certain she looked like a disaster. Kai swiped some of the salty tears with his thumb.

Through the sharp intakes of breath and rushing thoughts, Isla explained everything she could in the most coherent way possible. The rogues. The bak. The wards. The tunnels. The killer with the diadem. The new marker. When she finished, breathless and overwhelmed still, she braced herself for him to begin drilling her with questions, especially given the confusion, concern, and intermittent flashes of anger that had crossed his face. But she felt lighter now, after getting all of that off her chest. She could handle it.

She could handle it. She could handle it.

But his features softened, and he brushed a loose hair from in front of her puffy eyes, tucking it behind her ear. “You fought all of them?”

Isla swallowed, her voice hoarse. “I did what I could.”

Kai chuckled through his nose and took a gentle hold of her face. “You’re incredible.”

He leaned forward and kissed her again with what felt like everything he had.

It wasn’t long before Isla matched it, eventually rising on her knees and crawling into his lap, needing to be closer. Relief beat between their chests, the bond reforging with it.

As she settled atop him, Kai’s hands trailed up her bare thighs beneath her skirt, and Isla felt that hunger rise between them. Not hurried. Not carnal. Something pure. Loving. She wanted to melt into him, to feel him everywhere, to not know what it meant to have space between them. Never again.

Kai broke away to drag his lips down her neck, ending with a kiss on her shoulder, her mark. “I don’t deserve you,” he breathed. “You shouldn’t have to go through this.”

As she sensed the guilt begin to ravage him, Isla lifted his face to hers. She traced along the line of his jaw. “I’m exactly where I need to be. Where I want to be,” she told him before bringing her hands down to run over his chest and subtly moving her hips in a way that had them groaning softly. That told him exactly what she wanted next. What he did too.

She secured her legs around his hips as he rose with her in his arms. Her mouth met his again and again as he brought them inside to embrace whatever blissful time they had together with the world blown out of existence before it tried to rip them apart, and they fought like hell against it.

“Kai.” Isla laughed as her mate peppered kisses over her sweat-slicked shoulder. He snaked his arms around her, tugging her closer until she was leaning back against his naked chest. While one hand drew around her skin to cup her breast, the other traveled down her stomach, lower until it reached between her legs, already parting for him. She laughed again. “Horny bastard.”

He only hummed in agreement.

With a content sigh, she sunk further into his embrace, getting lost in the pleasure radiating through her.

She’d needed this. They’d needed this. Something grounding and real and simple. Just each other. If only for the small time remaining. Until noon.

What had started on the overlook had quickly turned into a fierce, insatiable need once they’d crossed fully into the study. Isla’s desire to melt was no more. She wanted to burn. Eventually, they’d made it down to the floor, and her dress was gone—torn apart by the man who growled about his lack of patience for laces and buttons. She’d pulled Kai up as he’d begun trailing his mouth down her body—no teasing, all she’d wanted was to feel him—and after the hasty removal of his clothes with her rushed intermittent assistance, he hovered over her.

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