*Isla*
What the hell?
When I first hear the voice in my head, I freeze. How is this possible? We haven’t even been gone all that long, and I was so careful when I left the castle not to leave any clues, to make sure the people in charge knew not to give away my location.
Yet, there he is, that demanding voice in my head, wanting to know where I am.
I feel compelled to answer him. After all, he is the Alpha King. Even in my own lands, I am bound to reply.
“Maddox? What’s going on?”
I have stopped walking, and the other members of my party have noticed. “Isla, are you okay?” Ben asks, coming back to me.
I can’t even acknowledge the question since I am waiting for Maddox to respond in my head.
“Where are you?” Maddox asks again. “We have to get off this Goddess-forsaken island now before something happens to you and the baby!”
So he does know where I am! And he’s here, too?
“What the fuck is happening?” Antony demands. In the background, I hear more howls, and the wolves sound closer than before.
“Maddox is here,” I tell them all. “And he wants to know where I am.”
“Fuck!” Antony murmurs. “Ignore him, and come on. We’ll be at the pool soon enough.”
“But it’s not the right timing for me to break the spell, we can’t find your mother, we’re about to be attacked, and I have to answer him, Antony! He’s the Alpha King!” All of that comes out in one flustered speech while I stand there like an idiot, rubbing my belly.
“I understand that you have a lot to worry about, but you just have to trust me on this one,” Antony says. “It will do no good to involve the Alpha King of another land in the affairs of Maatua. That’s how we got into this problem to begin with, remember? My father wanted his grandfather or whatever the fuck he was’s treasure?”
I shake my head. “I can’t keep from telling him what’s going on. He can compel me to tell him.”
“He can’t,” Mystica says, very matter-of-fact. “He’s not your king while you are here, Princess. Any feelings of being compelled to tell him you are feeling are strictly your own. Just tell him that you have a duty to do, and you will meet him on the beach the day after the Blood Moon. Now, let’s get going before those wolves catch up to us.” She looks off into the distance as we hear more howls. This is the first time she’s seemed concerned at all about being attacked.
“Maddox, I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now. We are in a hurry to complete our quest, and then I’ll meet you on the beach. In a few days. Or you can go back to the castle, and I’ll meet you there. You shouldn’t have come. This isn’t something I need your help with.”
“Are you insane, Isla? If you think I’m going to let you wander around in the jungle by yourself, you’ve got another thing coming. You are pregnant, with my child, I’ll remind you! And who do you even have with you? A crazy old woman, your brother, a traitor, and your maid? Have you completely lost your fucking mind?”
His words tear through me like wildfire through a dry forest. How dare he just assume that I can’t do this! “Yes, I guess I am out of my mind. You should probably leave before my crazy-ass comes after you, asshole!” I’ve never spoken to him like that before, but Mystica is right. We’re on my island now. This is my turf, and even if I haven’t been here since I was so small I can’t even remember it, that doesn’t mean that I don’t belong here.
“Let’s go,” I tell Antony, and he nods in agreement before turning around and walking briskly down the path we’d been following.
The howls are getting louder, but something inside of me has sparked a flame that makes me think, no matter what happens, I’ll be able to defend myself, my friends and family, and my baby.
I just hope that this isn’t overconfidence that’s going to end up getting us all in a world of trouble.
*Maddox*
The trip over here to this horrible place was faster than I’d anticipated, thanks to the strength of the navy vessel I’d procured, but now that we’ve landed, I don’t see how it’s going to make a difference. I can’t find Isla without having some idea where she’s at.
Her scent is faint, hard to track with all of the other smells of the jungle, including other animals, other wolves, decay, and just the strong scent of the earth. The amount of natural disasters they’ve had here makes it nearly impossible to get past the smell of earth and destruction—fire leaves a distinct odor wherever it goes.
At least she responded to the mind-link. That’s more than I was expecting. I figured she’d just ignore me and leave me guessing as to whether or not she’s here, but I know she is now, and I’ve had one of my most trusted advisors reading over the book that was found in her room in an attempt to figure out where she might be going.
So far, he hasn’t come up with much of an answer. “It’s a long book, Your Majesty, and I don’t have a lot of references to go by.”
“She was brought back to life in a magical pool of water,” I tell him. “Maybe check that? Or could she be going after the treasure?” I know it’s important to Isla to restore Maatua to its former glory. Perhaps she thinks if she finds the lost treasure here, she can use it to bring the kingdom back to what it was before.
“I see mentions of both of those things in the book, but I have no idea where to find either of them. It’s not as if they are marked on the map.” Brendan, my advisor, is staring at the book in his hands, as if it might just cough up some information, magically.
“We should find a local,” Seth suggests. He is as unhappy about being here as anyone I’ve ever met in my life. The decision to bring him and leave Trinity behind was a hard one, but I could see on her face that she really didn’t want to come, and I can’t blame her. Maatua is a dangerous place. I don’t want to be here either. It’s not that I’m afraid, I just don’t see the point. Why would I want to trek around the jungle all fucking day when I have so much shit going on back home?
This treasure is not the answer. I don’t need some fucking rock allegedly blessed by the Moon Goddess to make it so that I can control my people again. I just need my pregnant breeder/girlfriend/whateverthehellsheis to get her ass back home, have the baby, and prove to everyone that we are a couple who has produced an heir.
Really, how am I supposed to throw a Blood Moon festival if I’m not even there? How am I supposed to announce the heir is on his way if Isla and the baby aren’t there?
Irritation washes over me. I run a hand through my hair and try the mind-link again, but this time, I don’t get a response at all.
“Should we find a local?” Seth asks me. “Maybe they can tell us where this pool of water is? I imagine Isla is headed there. Didn’t you mention she was afraid something might happen when the baby is born?”
“Yes, she was concerned, but I thought she was long past that. Damnit!” I can’t hold my anger back any longer. I want to punch a palm tree, but the last thing I need is to be limping around her with a bruised paw, once I shift.
In the distance, I hear angry howls. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “That doesn’t sound good,” I murmur.
“This jungle is full of them kind of sounds, Your Majesty,” one of the men says. He’s from here, so he should know the land better than he allegedly does. I found out after I’d been told Justin was from Maatua that he hadn’t been here since he was a small boy. “It probably ain’t nothing.”
“Well, I don’t want to take a chance. For now, let’s head toward the sounds of the howling and see what we find. If we should stumble upon someone who lives here, we’ll make sure they tell us what they know about where this pool is located and the treasure.” I motion for them to shift so that we can run faster. We strip out of our clothes, store them in backpacks, shift and then gather up the bags. This way, we can travel more quickly, and our noses will be better in tune with our surroundings.
I take off toward the sound of howling, but then, I hear howls coming from another direction. Night has settled over the jungle, so it’s difficult to see where we are going, and without one sound to follow, I’m afraid we might make a mistake and head in the wrong direction, away from Isla.
She has to be here somewhere! As much as I care about her, I hoped I’d be able to tune into her and find her that way, or at the very least follow the feeling of my unborn child. But the further into the jungle we go, the more everything looks the same, and I have no idea where we are going.
I motion for Brendan to shift and get out the book, which he does. Using the mind-link I ask him, “Are you sure there are no maps in there?”
He doesn’t seem to hear me, which I don’t understand. “Brendan, I said, are you sure there’s not a map in there, one we can use?” He is looking through the book but doesn’t respond.
Looking around, I have to wonder if anyone can hear my mind-link. “Seth? Justin?” One by one, I call on the fifteen warriors I’ve brought with me.
None of them respond.
“What the hell?” I think to myself. This island interferes with the mind-link, too? How are we ever going to be able to find Isla or even communicate with one another?
My frustration grows even more, but then I see something in the book that might be of use. I nuzzle against Brendan’s arm, and he stops.
It’s a map of a waterfall in a stone outcropping next to a mountain. There’s not much on the map to tell me where it would be located in the big scheme of things, but I think I see a marking that would indicate where the dock is. So… I can figure out the general direction we should be traveling from that and then navigate toward the mountain when we get closer.
It’s not much, but it’ll have to do.
Without the mind-link, it’s hard for me to give orders. I think everyone has figured out by now that it’s not working. I signal for them to follow me. Brendan puts the book back in his backpack, shifts, and scoops it up. I make sure he has it securely. The last thing I need is to lose the damn book. The irony that we are using a book that was supposed to be completely destroyed isn’t lost on me.
As we continue on our journey, the howls get louder. We are getting closer. I will find Isla and my baby—and when I do, I will bring them home with me.