Lost by the Alpha, page 26
I turn to look at Poppy. She doesn’t look quite as furious as I expected her to. I don’t know what to do. If I go back now, I won’t have a chance to get the diamond for Maddox. He’ll come back to the castle before I have another opportunity to leave. Once I have the baby, I might be able to go back, but then I’ll be leaving my son. And by then, who knows what might happen with the other Alphas.
I sort of told myself it was now or never.
“Get in the car, Isla,” Mystica probes.
Sighing, I find my feet moving again, and I get into the backseat with Mystica and Poppy, Ben in the front with Antony.
I’m still trying to figure out whether or not I’ve made the right decision when I see a detail of king’s guard coming down the sidewalk toward the restaurant. I wonder if they might’ve gotten word that Antony was there. Just because the active search for Commander Pepelos has died down, that doesn’t mean that no one would go try to find him if they had a tip as to where he might be.
Could he have turned himself in, knowing it would be a reason for me to get up and leave?
I should hope not, but at this point, I have no idea what he is capable of. It all seems a bit ridiculous to me.
He’s driving slowly enough, probably not trying to draw attention to himself. I’m literally twiddling my thumbs, trying to decide if I’ve done the right thing.
“So what the hell is the plan?” Poppy asks. “What are you going to do when we get to the port? Do you even know how to get to the stupid island?”
Antony’s eyes catch Poppy’s in the rearview mirror. “Yeah, I know how to get there. I just came from there a couple of years ago, you know? I have people waiting on us to get us over there. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.”
“My pretty head?” Poppy takes what sounds like a compliment to the rest of us quite personally, her eyes narrowing into slits. “I’ll have you know my head is more than pretty. It’s also full of brains. Lots of ‘em. Big ones!”
I bite back a laugh. She sounds ridiculous, and it would be easy to laugh at her, but I won’t. I stare out the window, watching the trees along the side of the road blur faster as Antony picks up speed.
“How long will it take to get to the port?” I ask my cousin.
“Not long at this rate,” he says, and I realize he’s sped up, but he can’t—or won’t—give me any indication of how long it will actually take.
Pulling off my backpack, I unzip it and reach in to grab my book from the library. I’ll just look at that.
But I don’t see it.
Rivaling around through all of my belongings, I realize the book isn’t in here. “Poppy? Do you know where the book is?”
“The book from the library? The green one?” I nod. “No. I thought you put it in your bag.”
“I know I put it in my bag,” I tell her. I see all of my clothing and other belongings I grabbed in here, but the book is nowhere to be found.
“Shit,” Poppy mutters. “What if you left it somewhere that Maddox can find it if he goes into your room?”
She’s right. That would be a problem.
We are still close enough to the castle that I should be able to use the mind-link to Seth to get him to move the book, but when I try, I don’t get him.
Frantic, I pull the cell phone out of my pocket and call his office. He doesn’t answer.
“What are you doing?” Antony asks. “Hang that up. It’s traceable.”
“I have to get someone to go into my room and move that book,” I tell him. “If Maddox finds it, he’ll know where we are.”
“Call Trinity!” Poppy suggests. “She has a cell phone.”
She’s right. Trinity has a phone from her parents. “Do you know the number?”
Poppy pulls out a piece of paper that has a number written on it. I’m assuming Trinity gave it to her for me, in case I needed it. Punching the numbers in correctly is hard when my hands are shaking and the car is going so fast over a bumpy road. But I eventually get it in there, and the phone is ringing.
“Miss me already?” Trinity jokes.
“Listen, I need you to do me a huge favor,” I tell her. “Can you go into my room and find that green book from the library and hide it?”
“Sure,” Trinity says nonchalantly. I’m glad I decided to tell her what we were doing. We need her help back at the castle to make sure, if Maddox comes back, he doesn’t come after me. “I’ll text you when it’s done.”
“Thank you!” I breathe a sigh of relief, so glad that Trinity and I have become such good friends. When all is said and done, and I become the Luna Queen, I want her as my consultant.
“Feel better?” Antony asks, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good. If I see you pull that phone out again, I’m heaving it out the window. Now, put it away.”
I glare at him. He thinks he can boss me around like he really is a Commander, but he’s no one. Not here. And on the island, I’m the princess, not him.
But I put the phone away because I don’t see the point in arguing about it.
“It’s probably Trinity’s fault you forgot the book anyway,” Poppy points out. “After all, she burst into the room while we were packing and interrupted us.”
“True.” She has a point. Sighing, I begin to chew on the skin around my thumbnail. Something doesn’t quite seem right.
We are about a half hour down the road when I get a text. “Book secured.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for Trinity.
*Trinity*
The book. She wants me to hide it, but why would I do that when I went to so much trouble to make sure that she doesn’t have it with her?
Poor, poor Isla. She really is so naïve, and that makes me sad for her. Really and truly.
In her room, I open the book to the page I think is most pertinent, leave it on her bed, send a text, and then step out into the hallway to make another phone call.
Someone needs to know that the woman he loves, who is pregnant with his child, has gone against his will and taken that baby to a cursed island.
“Hi. I’m so sorry to bother you, but I think this is really important,” I say as a voicemail because he hasn’t picked up. “Isla and Poppy aren’t around, and there’s a book on her bed that says something about… a mysterious island. Call me back.”
With that, I put my phone away and head back to my room. This is going to seem wrong to her, but she’ll see eventually, it’s all for her own good.
I really am helping her, whether Isla thinks that’s the case or not.
IS THAT A BOAT?
*Isla*
It’s the middle of the night when we arrive at the docks. Earlier in the day, Antony had abandoned the car, thinking we were being followed, and we’d all gotten on a train to Port Westerly. It hadn’t seemed like a good idea to me because in a car we could change courses. A train was kind of stuck in one path, no matter what.
But like most things on this trip, I’d left it up to my cousin to decide what he thought was best.
Now, we were making what he described as a short walk to the dock from the train station.
Two hours after we’d left the station, I finally saw water and smelled the breeze coming off the sea.
Yeah… short walk.
“It’s dark,” Poppy points out, as if we were not aware. “Aren’t we going to have to find a place to sleep for the night and catch a boat out in the morning?”
Antony scoffs. “Yeah, sure if you’re going away on holiday or to visit family in a regular port of call. That’s not how things work when you’re going to Maatua, dummy.”
“Dummy?” Poppy is ready to fight. As usual. “I’m not dumb!”
“All right. Let’s not fight.” This time it’s Ben who is the voice of reason. “What are we going to do, Antony?”
“I’ll take care of it.” Again, this is his standard answer, and it makes me leery. I don’t like leaving things to him when he’s already lied to me so many times, and I have no idea whether or not I can truly trust him.
Once we get closer to the dock, it’s clear we’re not at the usual port where the big cruise ships come in and out. No, we are at a much smaller port—if we can even call it that—and the loan boat floating out there against the brine-covered piers is only big enough for a few people.
“Wait here.” Antony gestures for all of us to stay on the beach while he goes out to discuss something with the people on the boat. Are they even awake? I look up at the moon, which isn’t full yet, but it will be soon enough. The Blood Moon will be upon us before we know it. I’m not sure how long it will take to reach the islands.
Nor am I sure about the sea itself.
Poppy is having similar thoughts. “Mystica, is this sea calm?”
“Oh, no, dear,” the older woman says with a laugh. “Not often.”
“Well… isn’t this boat a little small then?” Poppy points out.
The healer shrugs. I can see how tired she is in her eyes. “I reckon we’re about to find out. Don’t worry, dear. This trip is blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.”
“How do you know that?” Ben asks.
Mystica’s smile brightens. “I just do. Your sister has a job to do. She is the princess, and the only one who can save our people.”
Ben looks at me. I don’t feel much like a princess at the moment. I feel like a pregnant woman who really needs to sit down.
We wait for what seems like an hour before Antony comes back. It probably wasn’t actually that long, but I’m so tired after all of this travel, I just need a chair or a cot or something.
“All right,” my cousin says, rubbing his hands together. “We are ready to embark.”
“Wait—what?” Poppy asks. “You honestly expect us to get on that tiny boat and float into the middle of the angry sea?”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you do, but Isla and anyone else who wants to come to Maatua needs to get on that damn boat right now. Captain Dave isn’t going to wait all fucking night.”
“Captain Dave?” Poppy repeats. Then, even more sarcastically, she asks, “We’re leaving our lives in the hands of someone named Captain Dave?”
But it isn’t Antony who replies. It’s a large, older man with a patch over his eye and a gnarled left hand who comes up behind him. “You got issues with that, young lady, your ass can stay here.”
He looks every bit like a pirate to me….
Poppy is taken aback. “N-no. That’s fine. Captain.”
Antony chuckling at her doesn’t help matters any. Poppy lifts her middle finger at my cousin, and he blows her a kiss.
I can hardly wait to be in close quarters with these people for however long it takes to get to the island.
As we walk toward the plank, er, dock, Antony falls in step beside me. “I just need the money. Half of it. To give to Captain Dave.”
I stare at him for a long moment, trudging through the sand as I do so. “Uhm, okay. I don’t have it, though. Poppy does.”
“Are you shitting me?” He runs a hand through his hair, and I almost laugh.
“Yeah. Maddox doesn’t give me cash or coins. Why would he?”
“Well, can you get it from her?” He turns and looks at Poppy like he knows if he has to ask her for anything, she’s likely to bite his head off. Literally.
I’m amused but I do it anyway. Poppy hands it over, shaking her head, saying this is a waste of money and stupid. I don’t remind her that she’s had plenty of time to back down before now.
On the boat, I hand the coins over to Dave. “You got the rest for when I come back to get you, right?”
He eyes me with his good eyeball, and I nod. “Yes. Of course.”
Giving each of us a careful gaze, he nods and signals for us to go onto the boat. “Cots are downstairs. Buckle up for a wild ride.”
Just exactly what I wanted to hear….
I make my way down to the bunks with Poppy, Mystica, and Ben, while Antony helps Captain Dave and the other boatman, a guy named Jude I wasn’t introduced to but heard being shouted at, get the boat ready to leave.
I feel the boat’s engine start up and then we are moving. I’m sitting on a cot so uncomfortable, it may as well be a rock. The blanket tossed at the foot of it smells like a mix of sweat and puke.
This is going to be the most uncomfortable trip of my life.
Poppy doesn’t sound much happier than I feel when she says, “This is a mistake. A huge, giant, awful mistake.”
I think she’s right, but it’s too late now. I’m in it up to my eyeballs, and unless I wanna swim back to the dock, I’m going to Maatua.
That idea is a little exciting for me. I want to go to Maatua. I wanna see the island where I grew up, where I should be princess. I wanna save my people and make the world better for the people who should’ve been living there, peacefully, all of these years.
But it won’t be easy. I realize that now. I was foolish for thinking that it might be easy.
Lying down, I stare up at the ceiling of the little boat only a few feet above my head. I use my backpack as a pillow and don’t bother with the blanket. I’ve done plenty of hard things in my life, and this one won’t be easy. But I can do hard things. Especially when it’s for a good cause. I close my eyes, but I know I won’t be able to fall asleep.
The rocking of the boat might be soothing to some people, but to me, it’s just a reminder of all of the space I’m putting between myself and Maddox.
*Maddox*
Ordinarily, getting a call like the one I received a few hours ago from Trinity wouldn’t alarm me. I’d just assume it was some sort of a misunderstanding, a lack of communication between the staff members back at the castle, but when she told me that she didn’t know where Isla was, I felt a fear flicker inside of me like nothing I’d ever felt before.
After the way those other girls had ganged up on her, threatened to harm her, I had an awful feeling that something was wrong.
Immediately, I’d left the meeting I was in and headed back to the castle without even an explanation to the Alpha I’d been visiting.
On the way back, I’d tried to contact Seth to have him go check on her, but even getting him on the mind-link was hard. He kept telling me how busy he was with different emergency activities happening in the castle. By the time I could’ve actually told him to just go see if she was okay, I was already almost home.
Flying into the castle, I stormed to her room, still using the mind-link to attempt to reach her, but I got absolutely nothing in response, which was terrifying. The last time we’d been in this situation, she’d been in harm’s way, nearly killed.
“Your Majesty,” Trinity says, falling into step as we march down the hallway. “I went into her room. I didn’t see anything out of order, but she’s clearly not there.”
“Nothing at all?” I ask her. “And you can’t find Poppy either?”
“No, my King,” she replies.
My heart is pounding in my chest.
I nearly bust down the door to her bedroom. Everything is in order. Everything looks like she left it exactly where it belongs—almost too perfect.
And then… my eyes fall on a book sitting on her nightstand. The jade green book cover stands out to me. I know what the book is before I even go pick it up. “Why is this here?”
“What is it?” Trinity asks.
This book has been outlawed in our lands for decades. I don’t understand how she would’ve gotten it.
Nothing is making sense.
Except… surely not!
Could Isla have gone to Maatua while I was away? Would she be capable of sneaking out of the castle when Seth was meant to be watching her?
I turn to Trinity. She is staring at me wide-eyed, confused.
“I believe that Isla may have gone home,” I explain to her. “To Maatua.”
Trinity’s mouth falls open. “Wh-what? But how? Wouldn’t Seth know?”
“No, I guess not.” If I can trust anyone in the castle, it’s my Beta. “Trinity, I need your help.”
“Of course, my King! Anything you need, I’m here for you.” She puts her hand on my arm, and I’m thankful I have a second person in the castle I can trust.
I have to find Isla before it’s too late.
THE TREASURE SEEKER
*Maddox*
“Seth, do you know where Isla is?”
I burst into my office and demand that my Beta answer me immediately. He is sitting at my desk, the telephone in his hand, and when I march in, he tells whoever is on the line that he will call them back. “What’s going on?” He looks from me to Trinity and then back again.
“Isla!” I demand. “Do you know where she is? She’s not in her room. And I found this!” I drop the suspicious book on my desk. It’s heavy enough that the whole desk shakes.
“I don’t know.” Seth shakes his head, his eye wide, but something in them tells me that he’s not being completely truthful with me.
But why would he lie?
“Check the cameras. See if she left. Have any vehicles left the castle in the last twenty-four hours?” How long had it been since I left the castle? I know she was here when I left. I try the mind-link again. Nothing. I pull out my cell phone, but it’s of no use to me. If she has a cell phone with her, I don’t know the number. I have no missed calls from anyone.
Seth sighs. “Perhaps we should check the castle before we get too far ahead of ourselves?”
“No, I have a bad feeling about this,” I tell him. “Do as I say. We can search both simultaneously.”
I pick up the book and hand it to Trinity. “I want to know the closest port to Maatua from here, and every boat that has sailed in or out of there in the last week, got it?”
“Yes, my King,” she says, taking the book.
