*Isla*
Sitting in the garden usually helped me clear my mind, but today I am struggling. With Maddox back at the front negotiating the terms of the surrender with his enemies and the rooms upstairs being prepared for the women who would be arriving in a week or two, I’m not sure what to do with myself. Occupying space on a bench beneath a tree, watching butterflies and birds flutter by seems like a royal waste of time, but I have no idea what would be a more constructive use of my time.
Poppy isn’t with me. She decided it would be better for both of us if she continues to “help” the other maids so that she can find out what’s going on. So she’s in there, and I’m out here—by myself.
I’d told her about the dream, and she’d said I was probably just nervous about Maddox finding someone he could love more than me, someone like Rebecca. She has a good point. It’s not as if Rebecca could actually return from the grave and marry Maddox again. Nevertheless, the dream was shocking, and I’m still more than a little unnerved about it.
I just need to find something to do to occupy my time. Like a hobby or a charity or something. When all of those women are here, they’ll be flooding out into the gardens, the library, and all of the other rooms in the castle where I prefer to spend my alone time in. I’ll be forced to share my spaces with them, which might be fun under other circumstances, but I have no interest in making friends who are only here because they are after the man I love.
Sometimes… I think it might just be better if I went home to stay with my family for a little while until this is all over with and Maddox has told the other Alphas the truth, that he already has an heir on the way, and he already has a woman he loves.
Fear prevents me from doing so more than anything else. If I leave, even if it’s just for a little while, so that he can have the room he needs to do whatever he intends to do with these women, I am putting myself in the background. Out of sight, out of mind. There’s always a chance it would be the opposite—absence makes the heart grow fonder—but I am not sure I am willing to take the chance.
No, if I’m not here, he may forget about me. He may find someone else that he loves more than me, and he might even end up with another woman carrying his child.
I can’t do that to myself or my baby. I need to keep myself here where I am relevant, even if it means keeping my feet firm against the fire.
The sound of hurried footsteps has me whipping around, looking down the path that leads back to the castle. Whomever it is, they sound like they’re in a hurry. A bit of panic shoots through me as I think about what I might do if it’s someone who is up to no good.
When my cousin rounds the corner, I start to breathe again. I realize I have been shielding my abdomen, like I’m afraid it’s someone coming after my baby. How silly of me.
“There you are!” he says, picking up speed as he sees me. “Thank the Moon Goddess.” He slides across the bench, knocking into me. “We have to go.”
My eyes widen as I see the agitation in his expression. Is it agitation—or worry? What’s going on?
“Go?” I ask him. “What do you mean? What’s happening?” He is glancing around, nervously, looking for someone, I suppose.
“I don’t have a lot of time to explain, but we need to leave the castle right away, Isla. It’s over, damnit!” He makes a fist and slams it into his leg. “Out of all the stupid, minor packs in the kingdom, what are the chances that the idiot writing the contract is from fucking Petite Forest pack?” When he runs a hand through his hair, he practically rips a handful out.
“Antony, what in the world are you talking about? Who’s from Petite Forest pack? What does it have to do with anything?” I don’t even know where that pack is. I’m pretty sure I haven’t actually ever heard of it before.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is I just got a call from my friend who’s at the front, and he knows that they’re on to me, that I’m not who I told everyone I was. Tony Pepelos doesn’t exist, and if the king doesn’t know, he’s about to. I have to leave, and that means you have to leave, because you need to come with me.” His eyes are wide as he continues to glance around, as if he thinks that an entire legion of soldiers will be bearing down on him at any moment.
“Are you serious?” I ask with a laugh. “No, I can’t do that. I’m not going anywhere. Not with you or anyone. Antony, it’s not as if you’ve done anything wrong. You’ve simply created a new past for yourself in order to fit in here and not have anyone concerned that you’re from a cursed island, the same as my parents. I’ll explain it to Maddox. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
But his head is shaking the entire time I’m speaking this time, and it seems clear we can agree on next to nothing. “No, he won’t understand. He’ll be suspicious of me. I’ve been impersonating an office for months, Isla. He won’t forgive that. Believe it or not, the warm and fuzzy king you see is reserved for only you and possibly a few other people who are close to him. But the rest of us see someone quite different. Someone with a temper. Someone a bit… tyrannical.”
I narrow my eyes at him and purse my lips. I know who he’s talking about. I have met that version of the Alpha King many times. I understand what he is saying, but I do not believe that Maddox will be mad at my cousin once I tell him that he is, in fact, my cousin. “I’ll tell him.”
“Listen, if you tell him that I lied and said I was Tony Pepelos from Petite Forest pack so that I could earn his trust and become a commander in his forces, so that eventually, I could get close to you and infiltrate his castle so that I could attempt to convince you to go back to Maatua with me to try to lift the curse and kill my mother, I’m pretty sure he’ll lock me up below the dungeon, Izzy.”
I am about to argue with him when I notice he has called me something strange. “Wh-what was that?” I ask him. “What did you call me?”
“Oh, Izzy,” he says with a shrug. “Don’t you remember? That was your nickname. My mother still calls you that. She talks about you a lot, actually. Well, she did… before she disappeared.”
“Izzy?” I don’t remember that at all, but then, I don’t remember much at all from Maatua except for the night we left. I do have vague memories of my cat, but that was only because of the picture.
For all I know, this is just another one of Antony’s lies to draw me in and make me feel like I can trust him. Honestly, if he didn’t look a little bit like the other men in my family, I would think that he was lying about being related to me. Maybe I should be a little bit more scrutinizing.
“Listen, Isla, I know you haven’t made up your mind about whether or not you should go with me, but I’m telling you, you should. You should just go pack a bag and come with me. We’ll go to your parents’ house first if you feel most comfortable about that. Then, we can regroup and figure out what we are going to do.”
“And you think my parents are going to be any happier about me going back to the island that Maddox is?” I ask him. “Are you insane? They will be even less happy about it. In fact, they might just cart you right back up here to the dungeon.”
“We don’t have to tell them about that part,” Antony says. He is looking around even more frantically now as he becomes more exasperated. “It will just give you time to think.”
“I don’t need time to think!” I shout at him. “I’ve already told you—”
Before I can finish, Antony’s eyes widen and he shoots up off the bench and dives between the bushes, disappearing from sight. “What the—?”
I hear his voice in my head, “Be quiet! Someone is coming!”
That’s when I hear the click-clacking of shoes. I know that it’s Poppy before she even rushes around the corner. “There you are!”
Why does everyone keep saying that, like I’m hiding or something?
“What’s the matter, Poppy?” I ask her.
“Listen, one of the maids was just down by the offices, and they heard someone asking about Commander Pepelos. I knew that asshole was trouble the moment I met him!”
I try to motion to her that he’s in the woods without saying anything, but she doesn’t notice.
“That jackass is in big trouble! He’s been impersonating an office. Can you believe that? I heard that the other soldiers are supposed to keep an eye on him until Beta Seth gets back here to handle it.”
“So… Maddox thinks that the man he left in charge isn’t who he says he is, and he’s sending his Beta to look into it… when he gets to it?” Anger boils up inside of me just thinking about this. After all, I have already been kidnapped and almost killed by one of the men he left in charge of taking care of me while he was away.
“Well, apparently, they don’t think he’s, like, an ax murderer or anything. They just have some questions about his background. He’s lying about it!”
“Of course, he is, Poppy. You and I already know that,” I remind her.
“Yeah, I know, but is he so bad at lying about things that he can’t even trick them into thinking he is who he says he is?” she says with a groan.
“For your information!” Antony begins as he bursts out of the bushes, startling Poppy. She whips off her shoe and throws it at him, hitting him smack in the face.
“Your shoe, Poppy? Really?” I ask, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of it.
“Well, I’d have to take them off to shift anyway,” she argues, slightly calmer now that she sees it’s just the man we’ve been talking about for the last few minutes. “Why the hell were you in the bushes?”
“Because I didn’t know who was coming down the path. I was speaking to my cousin. About leaving.” He says with his arms folded. “And for your information, as I was saying before, it’s not my fault some weirdo from Petite Forest showed up out of nowhere!”
“Petite Forest?” Poppy repeats, obviously confused. “What the hell is Petite Forest?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her. “None of it matters. Antony, if they’re talking about you down by the offices, then you need to go before Maddox sends his fourth butler’s little sister’s best friend to find you to prevent something terrible from happening to me and the baby. If that’s what you want to do. If you want me to tell him you’re my cousin, I will.”
“No, he can’t know about that,” Antony says. I’m not sure he followed my trail of disappointment, but he does understand that he’s a wanted man. “I have places nearby that I can hide, people who will help, but really Isla, you should come with me.” He extends his hand, like he will pull me along to this paradise in hiding he is describing.
I think about what Maddox is doing to keep me safe, the situation with the other women, and the fact that he won’t claim me as his lover to the other Alphas.
Maybe Antony is right. Maybe I should go. My eyes focus on his extended hand.
What do I do?