GAISCE (Call to Arms, Book 3, Part 1 in Baile Series)

Chapter 17 The Red Arena

Leander

"You should take a break." Ivana looked at me almost pityingly.

"I'm fine." I returned my eyes to my book.

"Spending all your spare time by her bedside isn't going to help her wake up. It is completely up to her." She explained.

"I know." I was expecting anything.

"Then why are you still here my lord?"

I looked to Isla's sleeping form, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her lids.

"Tell me you don't like her?"

"What do you mean?" I looked to her.

"I mean, that you have always wanted to find a bride and you have always wanted children, an heir to the throne. I am concerned that you think Isla would fit that description."

"Isla doesn't fit any description." It was the truth. Everything I had ever heard of or seen to do with Shapeshifters didn't compare in the slightest to Isla Dunn. She was different, special.

"Leander you have to know that a union between an Elf and a Faerie would never work. There would be an uprising. We are going to war against the Fae." She seemed genuinely worried about me.

"I understand what my people need and I understand what could happen if I were to leave Isla to herself. I want to show my people that I will be there for them, as I am there for Isla."

Ivana finally smiled, resting a hand on my shoulder. "That is why I still associate with you."

Her smile was infectious.

"I'm going to fetch some wine, I'll be joining you." She winked before leaving. That woman loved her liquor.

I glanced down at my book before back to Isla, noticing that she had begun to mutter incoherent sounds.

April

I barely believed my eyes at what I saw below. How could anyone go through such a dramatic change in appearance? Werewolves couldn't transform into a fully-fledged wolf, let alone one bigger than an army tank.

Alick, in mega wolf form charged toward his opponent, snapping him into his powerful jaws and eating him whole. The crowd screamed, showering Alick in gifts and cries of murder.

"What did you do to him?" I turned to Nolan to see his face much paler than usual, his lips set in a grim line.

"I d-didn't do anything. I-I gave him the serum like the others." He glanced past me at the Queen.

"You told me there was nothing special about him." The Queen spoke over me to Nolan.

My mouth dropped. Could it actually be because he was born with a dormant Werewolf gene already present in his system? It had to be.

"What is it?" The Queen noticed my facial expression.

I smiled. With Alick's newfound strength we could escape the shithole of a realm.

"He's perfectly ordinary." I grinned.

"Liar!" She stood.

"I pinky swear." I almost laughed.

"She never wrote anything-" Nolan spoke in a frantic rush.

"-Silence!" Her voice cut through the tense atmosphere. Her black eyes began to glow a fearsome red as she approached me, wrapping a hand around my throat. I was suddenly reminded of my own half of the family.

"You are a fool!" Her fangs emerged, the longest I had ever seen. "Forget the engagement, she is not worthy." Her eyes flicked between Nolan and I. "We will wait a little longer." She stretched out her arm so that I hung over the edge of the balcony, gasping for air.