~YULIA
I froze in my tracks as I registered the man who was supposed to be my uncle- before me.
Seeing Issa shirtless, wet with sweat- was the last thing I had expected.
The emotions in his eyes resembled that of a broken man. It was as if a violent storm was raging within them. They were fixed onto mine in such a way that made my intake of breath unsteady.
Suddenly, he took a step toward me and I instinctively backed away. He picked up his pace with an urgency that made me question his intentions.
My wolf panicked and I widened my eyes at him, preparing myself- stilling myself for what was to come. Yet when he got close enough, he shocked me with his next move.
He pulled me into his arms.
He wrapped his arms around me without uttering a word once and my eyes only grew wider.
Since when was Issa so caring? Why on earth was he hugging me?
And of course, my treacherous wolf began to relax against his warmth. His entire essence filled me and went up my nose in such a way that he was all I could think of.
I was surprised by how gentle his hug was and I also noticed the desperate side to it. It was almost as if he was afraid I might vanish if he let go.
Strange. . .
After what felt like forever, he finally released me. He stepped back, his expression unreadable yet his eyes remained locked on mine, filled with emotions I couldn’t quite understand. It was then that he noticed the man standing beside me.
The young man, who had been watching us, bowed deeply, his head almost touching the floor. “My Lord,” he began, his voice steady. “My name is Jamal.”
I smiled as I looked up at the handsome man beside me. I owed him my life. If he had not shown up when he did back in the woods, then the rabid wolf would have surely gotten to me.
Issa’s gaze moved to Jamal, seizing him with a look that could kill him. There was silence as tension filled the air, and then I found my voice.
“He is the reason I made it back here in one piece. He saved me-”
But Issa cut me off, his voice harsh and commanding as he faced Jamal. “You may leave. Your work here is done.”
I was taken aback by his reaction. I had expected Issa to give him much more credit than this. He was after all the supposed Lycan of this pack.
This was no way to treat a man who just saved his niece!
Jamal froze for a split second, obviously offended by his king, before smiling and bowing before him. “As you wish, my Lord.”
Without another word, I watched as he turned and walked away, out of the house.
I watched him go, my forehead wrinkling as I frowned. What had gotten into Issa? Was he so arrogant that he could not tell the difference between right and wrong?
Or was he jealous?
I turned back to him, the frustration in me flowing through my words. “You’ve lost your mind,” I muttered under my breath, though loud enough for him to hear.
He shot me a harsh glare with those same unreadable eyes and I was preparing to launch something hurtful at him when Miles showed up from the stairs.
His eyes were wide with a relief I felt was unnecessary when he reached me. “Yulia! Oh, thank the goddess, you’re alive!” He cried, almost throwing his arms around me. He stopped halfway when Issa shot him a glare.
I frowned. Had they somehow known that I was in danger?
“I thought I was going to lose my mind. I almost jumped into the fire to find you!” He exclaimed and that was when I tilted my head oddly.
“Fire? What fire?” I demanded as I looked from Miles to Issa.
“Someone tried to fry you alive in your room. They blew it up the moment my King and I got back,” he revealed and my mouth dropped.
First, people tried to kidnap me back home, then I got attacked by a rabid wolf and now, this- a fire.
My lips began to quiver as I stared back at him. My blood went cold when I realised that I would have died had I not heard the strange whisper which led me out of the house.
That was still a mystery. Had the whisper been a way of saving me from the fire or a way of leading me to the wolf?
There were too many unanswered questions going through my head. It now made sense why Issa had reacted the way he did when he saw me.
Did he truly care about me? Was that possible?
Could he truly be my mate or I was allowing myself to dream too far?
“Miles, tell everyone in the house to come before me immediately,” he ordered. Miles did not argue. He instantly went to execute Issa’s order.
Issa, on the other hand, looked irritated, like he was going to blow up if he was provoked or triggered.
I gritted my teeth and decided to keep my thoughts to myself. The last thing I wanted was to trigger the ticking time bomb before me.
My wolf shifted uncomfortably as I stood in the same room as Issa, awkwardness weighing down on my lungs and making it impossible for me to breathe properly.
I almost leapt with joy when I saw everyone coming out to the large living room. I turned back to Issa and registered how he was still shirtless.
He must have shifted. That had to be it.
I spotted the housekeeper as she made her way down. She looked hurt and was limping but she kept her pain to herself.
Once everyone was lined up before the King, he leveled his eyes on all the subjects in his home.
“While every one of you was home, someone sneaked in and planted a bomb in Yulia’s room,” he began in a tone so cold it made me shiver.
The temperature in the room dropped and I started trembling as if I was one of the people getting interrogated by him.
“It’s not possible for someone to sneak in right under your noses,” he spat.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw his eyes suddenly begin to glow that red color I had come to fear.
“Now. . . I want you to tell me exactly who it was that planted the bomb in her room, else!” He paused as the power in his authority grew even stronger.
“I will rip all your hearts apart!”