She wanted to go to that island. Wanted to hunt a predator that had never been hunted before. Wanted to find out what she was made of when everything else was stripped away.
She must be crazy.
But crazy felt more honest than playing it safe.
In the morning, she found Morgan in the main building.
"I'm going," Serafina said. "To Isla Sombra. I want to do this."
Morgan studied her for a long moment. Whatever she was looking for, she seemed to find it.
"Very well. But there are things you should know." She gestured for Serafina to sit. "You won't be unobserved. The island has monitoring systems, sensors that track both of you throughout the Hunt. The Hyrakki have their own people watching from orbit, ensuring their warrior follows the rules. And the Marak himself has oversight of the entire process."
"The Marak? Leonie's mate?"
"Karian oversees all activities in this system. He's the one who vetted this Hunt, approved the candidate matching, put the safety protocols in place. If anything goes wrong, if the warrior violates the terms of engagement, the Marak will intervene personally."
"Has that ever happened?"
"No. The Kha'Ruun understand the consequences of breaking the Hunt laws. And the warriors who participate in this program are carefully selected. They want mates, not victims." Morgan paused. "But you should know the protection exists. You won't be alone out there, even when it feels like you are."
Serafina nodded slowly. "Forty-eight hours?"
"Forty-eight hours. Get some rest. Eat. Say whatever goodbyes you need to say." Morgan stood. "When you land on that island, everything changes."
Serafina looked out the window at the jungle she had learned to navigate, the compound that had become a strange kind of home over the past four weeks.
"It already has," she said.
Morgan's mouth curved slightly. "Good. That means you're ready."
Forty-eight hours later, she boarded the aircraft that would take her to Isla Sombra. The jungle fell away beneath her, and the ocean stretched out ahead, vast and dark and full of unknowns.
She thought about Aria. About Angelo. About the woman she had been when she first answered that ad.
That woman felt like a stranger now.
Whoever she was becoming, she would find out on the island.
She was tired of waiting.
CHAPTER 16
TheVethrakentered Earth's atmosphere at night, slicing through the cloud layer in silence.
Makrath stood at the observation port, watching the planet resolve beneath him. Blue and green and white, swirled with weather patterns that reminded him of nothing he'd seen before. A small world. A young world. He wondered if it would feel different beneath his feet than Ythran had.
His claws flexed against the viewport frame. Three days he'd spent on this ship, watching footage of her, studying her movements, learning the rhythm of her breath and the set of her jaw when she refused to surrender. Three days of growing anticipation, of restlessness that gnawed at his bones, of something coiled so tight in his chest that he could barely contain it.
He thanked the gods he hadn't been able to scent her yet. The footage was enough to drive him half-mad. If he'd had her scent in his lungs, her pheromones seeping into his system, he wasn't sure he could have waited. The Hunt required patience. Required control. Required him to let her come to him, to let her fight, to let her believe she had a chance.
He would give her that. But gods, the waiting was agony.
The shuttle detached from theVethrakand descended through darkness.
The island emerged from the black ocean like a shadow given form, a jagged silhouette of volcanic peaks and dense jungle, ringed by cliffs that plunged into churning surf. The island was dark and silent, nothing but rock and jungle and the white churn of surf against the cliffs.
Isla Sombra. The translation felt clumsy in his mind: Shadow Island. A dark name for a dark place, and fitting enough.
