Page 24 of A Warrior's Fate

Isla squeezed her eyes closed as the beast inched closer and lifted its paw. She thanked the Goddess for the life she’d lived and hoped her goodbye would carry on the air to her family.

But the coldness she felt was not death. It was a talon tracing along her ear, over her markings.

It was…toying with her. The beasts weren’t known to play with their food.

As a last-ditch effort, she mustered whatever energy she could to break free to no avail. She recoiled as the bak gave one more roar, and then descended. She snapped her eyes closed again.

But then all she felt was air. A rush of air and a lightness as the beast’s body was knocked from her.

Isla struggled to get to her paws and then to stay upright as she caught a swipe of crimson-laced shadow attached to the bak’s back, dug into its neck. The monster flailed, ramming itself into the trees and through the bushes, anything to free itself before collapsing to the ground.

Then she watched in awe as Kai locked his jaws around the beast’s neck again and tore it to ruin. Only when he was sure that the bak was dead, did he look up at Isla. His coat was matted with blood and dirt, she wasn’t sure which part of the former was his own. She didn’t think she’d ever been—or would ever be—so happy to see him.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, leftover aggression from his battle mingling with the concern in his tone. He ran over and stalked around her, searching, almost reminding Isla of how he’d been in the gardens when they’d made their deal. She’d known his wolf was bigger than hers when they’d been so far away in front of the Gate, but hadn’t realized how much.

Isla stood tall. “Not badly.”

“Isla.” Kai stopped in front of her and held her stare. To most, the look of an alpha would’ve been intimidating, especially when he was in his greatest form, but to Isla, there was only…comfort.

“Our rules apply when we’re like this. Don’t get too close,” she told him before something dawned on her. She turned and darted through the woods, saying, “We need to get back and help him!”

“Isla! Fucking hell, you’re hurt!” Kai sprinted after her and easily caught up. “Who are you talking about?”

Isla willed through her injuries and pushed harder. “The hunter from Tethys.”

“The one who can’t shift? He’s alive?”

“I really hope so.”

When the two wolves arrived at the most recent battleground where Isla’s second dead bak lay, the Trainee was nowhere to be found.

Kai bent and sniffed the carcass. “This was your kill?”

“Yes,” Isla answered, trying to ignore the panic gripping her heart.

He wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead.

She closed her eyes and focused on her senses, then heard it. The faintest sound of metal slicing through the air. As she took off again, Kai grumbled behind her. When she finally came upon the Trainee in another clearing, she nearly went faint. He wasn’t just trying to fend off one bak, but two.

What the hell was happening?

Kai was equally stunned. “There’s two of them?”

You have no idea, Isla thought to herself while trying to determine her next move of attack.

But before she could even move a step, the Trainee’s eyes fell upon her. His face lit up, even amidst the battle, but his features dropped when his gaze shifted to Kai. Shock overtook him at the sight of the alpha. It stilled him just for the smallest moment.

And that time was all the bak needed to take him in its jaws.

The Trainee let out a blood-curdling scream as razors buried deep into his flesh. But it didn’t deliver a final blow. It didn’t kill him. It clamped down on the Trainee tighter and ran away, leaving the second with nothing to do but turn to its new prey.

Isla’s eyes darted around the woods, going through her options as quickly as her mind could still function.

“Get him!” she called to Kai as she advanced a few steps towards the approaching beast. Kai was faster. He could catch them. “Go help him! I have this!”

But then Isla saw it in the second she risked a glance. It was obvious in Kai’s glower and the menace of his snarl at the creature that was viewing her as its next meal.

Fate had snaked her way in. She’d intercepted their communication; instead, relaying her own whisper. A reminder of a promise never made, and thus one to never be broken. Of where their loyalties lay.

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