*Isla*
It’s a beautiful, clear night. Waves brush against the rocky shore of the private island in the Teal Isles, a small group of islands roughly forty miles south of Maatua. The moon is full and bright, casting a long silver beam across the practically still ocean.
On a night like this, Maddox and I normally would have shifted and gone for a nice long run through the tropical forest surrounding Maatua.
But now I’m standing by a window in a snug, wood paneled bedroom in the massive vacation home of the Alpha and Luna of Maatua wondering how we got to this point.
I turn my head to look at the bed in the center of the room where Ryatt is lying on his side, his eyes pinched shut as he sleeps.
He died at least twice today, three times if we count the moment his heart stopped during the surgery to mend and close a dozen stab wounds to his chest and abdomen. My tears were the only thing keeping him alive, even when his body repeatedly tried to give up.
He’s stable now, at least. His entire chest is a tangle of thick bandages. The burns on his arms and legs have healed nicely, and I believe my tears are to thank for that.
But his powers aren’t compatible with mine. I truly believe they fought against my healing powers in some way.
I heave a sigh and look back out the window. I couldn’t get Ella to talk today. She just kept asking me about Ryatt over, and over, and over again. I still have no idea what happened to them. I don’t know how she got here, or what spurred them to make this incredible journey to save Ryatt’s life.
I look at him again. He’s so young, not much older than Isaac. A king, I believe. I’m not sure how it works in Eastonia.
No one here does, so no one knows what to expect when the truth inevitably comes out.
I watch the moon begin to dip below the horizon as violet, velvety morning sunlight starts to bleed across the sky.
What a day we’ve had. We arrived in the Teal Isles six hours ago. We’ll remain here as long as we have to.
“Isla, what are you doing here?”
I turn to Maddox’s voice. His eyes are narrowed on Ryatt. “Checking on him,” I tell him sternly, not liking his tone.
Maddox takes up the entire doorway, but I can still see the outlines of several warriors standing in wait in the hallway just beyond the room. This entire mansion is full of warriors, both in their human and wolf forms. In fact, I had to wade through at least a dozen of them to get to Ryatt’s room earlier. “What’s in your hand?”
Maddox holds up a metal box, his expression unreadable. “Silver manacles.”
“Absolutely not,” I growl, glancing at Ryatt before swiftly crossing the room to my mate. “You’re not putting those on him.”
“We don’t know what he can do,” he says in a low whisper as he steps aside, allowing me to exit the room.
I shut the door behind me with a soft click. “He is our daughter’s mate, and he nearly died yesterday, Maddox. We’re not putting him in silver shackles.”
“Our daughter,” he grinds out, and I realize he’s doing his best to keep a firm grip on several overwhelming emotions, “was tortured, Isla.”
“What do you mean?”
He takes me by the arm and guides me further down the hallway so we’re not overheard by the warriors keeping guard at Ryatt’s door. “I spoke to Jane, her healer, just a few minutes ago. They have a full report now of Ella’s injuries. Based on the injuries they found before your tears could heal them, and her behavior…” he sucks in a breath, looking more furious than I’ve ever seen him before, “she’s been tortured, Isla. Physically, and mentally. The wound on her inner thigh…” He hisses out a breath and closes his eyes. “Did he do it?”
“What?”
“Ryatt. Did he do this to her?”
“He’s her mate!”
“He’s a stranger to us,” he reminds me. “And the healers didn’t pick up a shared scent between them. Ella doesn’t bear his mark.”
I blink. I hadn’t even thought to try to pick up the scent of their mate bond. It’s very hard to do, honestly, but once you spend enough time with a couple, or know one of them well enough to scent the changes once a mate bond has been established, it’s glaringly obvious.
I would have noticed the scent on Ella.
“But, they have to be mates.”
“They’re not.”
“Something must have happened to break their bond. You just said she was tortured; that could have broken their bond somehow. Maybe that’s why she was tortured in the first place!”
“Isla, I need you to listen to me,” Maddox demands, leading me so far down the hallway Ryatt’s room and the warriors fades out of sight. “Ryatt is a prisoner here now as far as I’m concerned, at least until Isaac and I determine he didn’t have anything to do with the state Ella’s in right now. Has she said anything to you?”
I know Maddox is only trying to keep all of us safe, but I’m livid. “She only said his name, Maddox. Before we came to the Teal Isles, all she wanted to know is whether or not he’s still alive. I can’t even describe how shattered she sounded as she begged me to tell her whether or not her mate was still breathing. She loves him!”
“I have to think about our family.”
“He is our family.” My words echo through the corridor. “Ryatt is our family now.”
Maddox rolls his lower lip between his teeth. He looks like he’s about to say more, but hurried footsteps cut through the air as someone rushes around the corner.
A warrior comes to an abrupt stop, panting, holding out a phone. “Alpha Antony’s Beta is trying to reach you, sir.”
Maddox snatches the phone, his brow still pinched with frustration from our fight.
“What’s going on?” I ask as I watch Maddox’s face undergo a great transformation.
“Have them wait in Maatua until Alpha King Isaac arrives,” Maddox says into the phone before hanging up, his cheeks flushed with surprise and worry.
“Maddox?”
“Cassian and Hannah just arrived in Maatua,” he says slowly, calmly, but his eyes are shining with confusion. “They’re uninjured.”
“Hannah’s back?”
Maddox nods. “Did you know Cassian was able to cross the veil into Eastonia?”
This is too much. My mind is reeling as I stammer, “N-no–”
“I have to go back to Maatua.” He runs his hand over his face. We’re both exhausted. Neither of us slept last night. “Isaac and Maddy should be arriving there soon. I need to speak with our son and Cassian before bringing them back here.” He meets my eyes. “Do not go into Ryatt’s room again. Promise me.”
“I’m not going to promise that.”
“Isla.”
“We have a lot more to worry about right now than him, Maddox. If there’s a threat coming our way, Isaac needs to be ready to deal with it. But right now, I’m going to go talk to our daughter.”
Maddox exhales deeply as I turn from him and rush away. I refuse to cry. I feel awful knowing that Maddox and I are at each other's throats right now. I understand his concerns, but I know Ella wouldn’t have brought him here if he was a threat to our family.
It doesn’t take long to reach the room where Ella’s been assigned. I open the door and find a healer helping her into a seated position. She’s wearing a loose shirt from some mainland band Isaac liked as a teenager. We didn’t have time to grab anything or pack to come here, and the last time our family had visited the Isles, Isaac must have been barely sixteen and Ella…
She’d been thirteen. Just a girl.
“Is he awake?” She stands, gripping the headboard on wobbly legs.
I give the healer a brief nod to dismiss her from the room and close the door behind her. “No, he’s resting.”
“How long will he be asleep for? I need to talk to him.”
“We need to talk first, Ella.”
She sinks back down on the edge of her bed, her knuckles white as she clutches the headboard. Her eyes go glassy with tears. “Mama, please, just let me see him.”
“What happened to you, Ella?”
Her lips part, several tears sliding off her lashes.
“It w-was a trap,” she whimpers. “Ryatt’s wards failed, and the king found me before I could find Ryatt.”
She was pulled, she tells me, through time and space. Summoned before King Kane, a man who stole other people’s power which was then arvested into the very mask Ella wore when she arrived back home.
“I fought,” she says, her cheeks wet with tears as she turns desperate eyes to me. “I need you to know that I fought back for as long as I could. I need Ryatt to know that I tried to stop him.”
“What happened?” I’m fighting my own tears as I watch my daughter break apart. She hugs her stomach, rocking back and forth.
“My powers were nothing against him. He got me on my knees within minutes. Everything Westfall taught me… I tried, though. I fought back even when I felt my bones would break under the pull of his powers. I tried to kill him, but that mask…. He was a god while wearing that mask, and my powers were nothing compared to his. It was fruitless. Ryatt was right all along, and I kept pushing him to let me help. I kept pushing, and pushing, and the whole time I had no idea–” She’s rambling now, hugging her stomach tighter. “He drained me, Mama. He bit my neck and sucked my powers until I couldn’t move. He held me down and–” She closes her eyes. “I couldn’t do anything. He cut out Ryatt’s mark. He shattered our bond. He knew Ryatt would feel it when it happened. He knew Ryatt would come for me.”
I edge toward her. Her thighs are bare beneath the shirt, and I can see the bandages covering the inside of her left thigh.
“Westfall is dead,” she whispers absently. “He was Ryatt’s dad. His real dad. Westfall never told him. He never got a chance, and now he’s gone. I couldn’t save him.”
I don’t know who she’s talking about, but the pain in her eyes tells me it’s someone she loved.
“I tried to get Cassian and Hannah home. I tried–I tried–Everything was going wrong and my powers–”
“They made it home.”
Her head snaps in my direction.
“They made it. Your dad just got a call from the castle in Maatua. Cassian and Hannah showed up in the city a few hours ago.”
“Are they all right?”
“As far as I know.”
“I did it,” she whispers, running her hands over her face. “Oh, my Goddess, I did it–”
“Ella,” I edge closer, “Is King Kane coming after you?”
She blinks, her shocked expression relaxing.
“I killed him,” she says with no emotion whatsoever, but her lips twitch into a smile. “He’s dead. I made sure of it. The mask–”
The door to the room opens so fast it bounces off the opposite wall, nearly coming off its hinges.
I whirl around, stepping in front of Ella, my powers prickling to life in my fingertips.
Ryatt stumbles into the room, steadying himself on the doorframe. Behind him, a trail of groaning warriors are left in his wake, all of them injured and rolling over the tiles trying to regain their footing.
His knuckles are busted and bleeding, and the bandages covering his chest are crimson with fresh blood.
He fought his way here.
Ella’s breath quickens as she steps out from behind me. “Ryatt,” she croaks.
Ryatt shakes his head, trying to catch his breath, but the corners of his mouth tick up in a smile. “What the fuck did you do, Princess?”