*Isla*
“Get–her–out–of–FUCK!” Antony takes the warrior by the shoulders, bending the man at the waist before driving his knee up into the man’s chin. “Get her out of here, Isla!”
I’m scrambling to get Poppy off the bed. She’s hurt again, but actively fighting against me as I drag her by the waist across the room and away from where Antony is beating the warrior into a bloody pulp.
“The knife is still in his chest!” Poppy howls, clawing my arms.
“Stop fighting me!” I cry, but she kicks her legs, pressing all her weight into her heels to halt my progress.
The warrior breaks free of Antony’s grasp and pushes him away at the same time he grabs the knife and twists. Antony shouts–and to my great surprise–slaps the warrior across the face.
I freeze, obviously in shock, and fight the urge to laugh in disbelief as Antony shoves the warrior away and removes the knife from his chest himself, tossing it across the room.
“Slap him again!” Poppy roars. I put my hand over her mouth and continue dragging her toward the door.
“Did you touch my mate?” Antony growls, taking a step toward the warrior. I don’t blame the man for retreating. Antony looks absolute feral, blood gushing from the wound to his chest, his eyes blazing in the moonlight. There’s nothing but violence in his expression.
The warrior says nothing and continues to retreat until his back is against the wall. Antony stalks forward, pressing a finger against the man’s chest.
“Poppy, darling. Did this man touch you?”
“He stabbed me several times–”
“You know what I mean,” Antony snaps, his eyes still fixed on the warrior.
“He tried,” Poppy chokes, and I find myself frozen in place as I watch Antony’s mouth twitch, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
“Poppy, I don’t think we should watch this–”
Antony’s hand flys against the man’s neck, lifting him off the floor by several inches as he squeezes.
“Nobody touches her but me,” he growls, squeezing harder.
Poppy is still, her eyes wide as she watches Antony avenge her.
“We need him alive, Antony!” I shout.
“No.”
“Antony!” I cry, and he looks over at me. “Please! He tried to kill Isaac! He killed one of the maids! Please! We need him alive!”
Antony keeps squeezing, the man clawing at his arms as his feet kick and kick and kick.
“ANTONY!” I scream, and Antony lets go, the man falling to the ground in a heap. He wastes no time in taking off his belt and securing the man’s hands behind his back. The man is wheezing, still fighting for breath.
“Where is Ben?” Antony asks, his voice void of emotion.
“He had to take Isaac somewhere safe, but he should be back soon–”
“Commander Vember is dead,” Antony says robotically, ripping a sheet in half. “The warriors that came with us to the river are dead.”
“W-what?” I lower a stunned Poppy to the ground.
“Alpha Hunter and his brother have sent forces across the river to find Maddox–”
“Antony,” I say in disbelief, but he continues.
“Maddox crossing that river with Seth by his side was a death sentence, Isla. Him leaving you here alone was yours.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Antony hog ties the warrior using the ripped up sheets and takes several staggering steps backwards before falling to the ground. He places a hand on his chest as he leans his back against the bed, pulling his palm away to inspect the blood.
He meets my eyes, holding my gaze.
“Is Maddox alive?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
I swallow, unable to form the questions I have for him about why he’s here and Maddox is not, but his gaze shifts to Poppy and softens.
“Come here,” he whispers, motioning to her. I move to help her, but she crawls to him, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You’re hurt–” she begins, but he shakes his head, reaching for her as she nears.
“It’s a flesh wound,” he lies, wrapping an arm around her back and tugging her closer. But then his eyes meet mine, a silent, desperate conversation passing between us.
“Thank you for saving her,” he says to me through the link. “There are things we need to discuss.”
Warriors begin to trickle into the room, stepping over the door Antony had kicked down. I look at each of them as they pass, wondering if the warrior hog tied against the wall was the only assassin, or if there’s more.
“Let me heal you,” I say through the mind-link, but he drops his gaze to Poppy.
“Later.”
* * *
*Maddox*
Leo runs ahead of us, his wolf form apparently not slowed by the weight of Seth, who is tied up and unconscious on his back. Trinity jogs beside me, panting a bit. I doubt she’s ever spent this much time in her wolf form, ever. She is very clumsy and slow, and I’d be annoyed if I wasn’t dead set on getting back to the river before nightfall.
We’ve covered more miles than I can count.
“Maddox,” she says through the link.
“What?” I don’t have the time or the patience to converse right now.
“Do you believe me now when I say that I wasn’t involved in any of this? That I wasn’t outwardly trying to hurt Isla?”
“She suspects you tried to set her up and to make yourself look better than her in my eyes, Trinity, which I know was your original prerogative, wasn’t it?”
She put some distance between us, trotting ahead of me.
“Maybe at first, but I changed my mind.”
“Does that make it better?”
“You’ve never had to live in someone’s shadow, Maddox. Sure, I thought if I got Isla out of the way, I’d have a shot at being Luna. But it was only because for the first time in my life, other people noticed me. It’s not like I tried to kill you when I first got here as I’d been commanded to, but then I started getting all of this attention. Suddenly, I was an option for something. I was the star. It was always Rebecca. Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca–” she trips over her own feet and awkwardly pulls herself back up.
“What changed?” I ask her.
“Seth was being weird, first of all. Obviously I was right about him.”
I let out a low growl in response.
“Then, I guess I realized I’d been living for other people my entire life and wanted to live for myself, for once. I didn’t want to be your Luna. I never did. I just want a life that isn’t all politics and social standing and gossip and drama.”
“That is all you’ve been interested in–” I begin before she interrupted me.
“I want to find my mate,” she said, the words blaring in my mind. “That’s all I want now.”
I let the connection between us dissolve and trot ahead. I’m not sure what to say to her. It doesn’t matter if I trust her, or if I believe that she wasn’t involved in Seth’s betrayal in any way. I’ll have to question her about it, and formally, likely whenever I question Seth.
Trinity’s fate will be up to Isla, not me.
Leo comes to a halt, the landscape sweeping out ahead of us. I can see the river in the distance, the water reflecting the light of the sun.
But then I notice why Leo has stopped.
At least a dozen wolves are standing in a line not far from us, the wind whispering through their fur. They part, allowing a large black wolf to step forward, his eyes fixed on mine for the space of a breath before he bows his head.
“Their scent is of Alpha Hunter’s pack,” Leo says through the link.
“I know,” I reply as the leader raises his head, eyes unblinking.
This wolf isn’t Hunter, no. I’m willing to bet my life on the fact that this is Elijah. But why are they here?
“What’s going on?” I ask the wolf I think must be Elijah through the mind-link.
“A lot,” he says, confirming that it’s him. “I will show you.”
I’m leery of trusting anyone, but I nod and go along with them.
The river is nothing more than a calm, transparent creek now. Green grass erupts along the banks as we cross, my paws not even getting wet.
My hackles are raised as we come into town. I’ve seen the remnants of what looked like a fire from the other side of the river. The tavern and Inn are gone, replaced by charred rubble.
It is worse up close.
Elijah isn’t willing to talk about what had happened while we are still moving, but once we get inside and shift to our human forms, he’s more willing to open up, I can see.
“What happened?” I ask, as I pull my arms through an inconspicuous long sleeved shirt, my eyes fixed on Elijah.
He runs his fingers through his nearly pitch black hair, his hazel eyes darkening as he fixes me with his gaze. “Your warriors started a fire and killed their own commander. Antony arrived shortly after it happened–”
“Excuse me?” I close the distance between us. “My commander?”
“Commander Vember is dead. No longer on this earth–”
“And my warriors are to blame–”
“One,” he cuts in. “One is to blame.”
We’re nearly nose to nose now, but Elijah doesn’t back away. If I wasn’t so furious, I would be impressed by his fortitude. “Who?”
Elijah rolls his lower lip between his teeth, looking me up and down before he turns, his shoulder brushing against my chest. He points to the hill overlooking the river, the same hill he’d been standing on the first time I ever saw him.
There is a post there now, and a body swings from it, drifting from side to side.
“My brother took matters into his own hands. I would assume you understand.”
I can’t recognize the body from here. “Where are the rest of my warriors?”
“With Antony. He took them back to your castle with several of our warriors. This was a coup, Alpha King.” His eyes drift to the riverbank where Seth is still tied up, his back against the post connected to the line hanging over the river. He’d been dressed and tied up again , but no one lingered in his presence after the fact. “This man is to blame, I’m assuming?”
I’m unable to reply as I look around at the charred tavern and inn. Vember’s dead? How can that be?
“What reason did the man give for this?” I ask, turning back to Elijah.
“He said he was just following orders. At first, he said it was you who commanded him to kill the rest of his legion and his commander, but I found that hard to believe. I… eventually got the truth out of him.”
“And it was Seth.”
“Yes.” There’s steal in Elijah’s eyes as he confirms it.
“Did he say why?”
“That was the only thing he held out on.” Elijah steps to the side as Alpha Hunter stalks over, his expression grave as he hands me a phone. I give him a skeptical look as I hold it to my ear and turn away from the men.
“Yeah,” I say to whoever is on the other line, forcing myself to hide the emotion in my voice.
“Thank the Goddess,” Ben says, exhaling deeply. “Maddox, you need to come back to the castle, now.”
“I’m on my way,” I reply, clenching my jaw as Ben tells me everything that’s happened in my absence. The vision of the diamond was correct. Isla and Isaac had been attacked, but there was more.
“Is the warrior still alive?”
“Yes, he is. But Antony wants to kill him. He’s not listening to anyone–”
Alpha Hunter walks over, twirling a set of keys on his finger while Elijah turns to talk to a pair of their warriors.
“I’ll be there by morning,” I tell Ben. Swallowing hard, I close my eyes for a moment before asking, “Isla–”
“She’s all right. Isaac is all right. I’m on my way to pick him up from a safe house right now.”
I nod, thanking him, and gripping the phone as hard as I can for a moment before pulling it away from my ear and hanging up the call.
Hunter tosses me the set of keys, tilting his head towards a beat up truck parked on the side of the cobblestone street.
“Take it,” he says as I hand him the phone. “I’ll have to come to the castle soon to discuss what happened in length. I can pick it up then.”
“I’ll have a team sent out to build you a new tavern,” I sigh, nodding my head in thanks as I tuck the keys in my pocket.
Leo walks by with Seth hanging over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes and we watch as he dumps Seth unceremoniously in the bed of the truck. Hunter snickers, but I turn away from him to look towards Trinity, who has been standing at the edge of what was once a great river with her arms crossed over her chest. She turns her head, but not to look at me as I approach.
I stop in my tracks and follow her line of sight, seeing Elijah standing only a few yards away.
His eyes are trained on Trinity, too, then he catches my gaze, nods, and walks away.