04. You Would Be Staying With Me

Isla’s POV

My body swayed before falling to the ground beside my Papa.

My entire world.

They had taken my world from me.

For a brief moment, I looked around, searching for a sharp object that could send me on my way to join Papa in the fastest time.

But I knew it would kill him even more to see me there than if I stayed here.

Maybe I could find those bastards. Find every single soul that has done this to my Papa.

His entire body was covered in dried blood and cuts from fighting so hard for this pack.

He had died fighting.

Eventually, I lay there beside him, crying my eyes out.

I don’t know how I slept off, but I woke up in Dario’s familiar embrace.

I’m no longer in the room where Papa was but now outside our pack. As I looked around, I saw the chopper that Dario must have brought here and a fleet of cars.

“Where’s Papa?” I asked, wiggling and kicking at his chest so that he could get that I didn’t want to be with him.

“He’s in one of those cars. We have to leave now.”

“Put me down.”

He did as I said, and somehow, it made me angrier at him.

Being in his embrace had made me feel a little calmer, a lot safer, and he had dropped me at my first request.

‘So much for being a godfather’, I mumbled while rolling my eyes.

Dario walked fast, his long legs covering three times the distance that my legs could at their fastest pace, and I had to run after him to catch up.

Eventually, we stopped before the helicopter, and his guards bowed.

“We have checked the insides and outside; it’s all safe and clear,” one of them reported, and Dario nodded at them.

He turned, “Go in first.”

I rolled my eyes at him but entered regardless.

This was not my first time in his helicopter as he had brought it every now and then if he ever passed by our pack or tried to show up at the last minute for my birthdays.

My heart ached as I remembered how I had stood outside here, waiting for hours on my eighteenth birthday for him.

Eventually, I gave up and cried myself to sleep.

He was here now, but I couldn’t be happy about it.

Dario entered about ten minutes later, and the door was closed.

We were the only ones flying.

Up until the helicopter took off, we were dead silent, and I took one of the blankets and wrapped it around myself.

“I’ll find the evil doers and make sure that every one of them has their debt paid,” Dario vowed, and I felt a little bit of warmth within me.

And I felt my wolf push against my insides.

“You caused all of this bitch,” I cursed inside my head because I knew very well that if my wolf hadn’t chosen Dario, he would not have fled from us.

Or made that vow to Papa.

It was too late, though. And as far as I knew, both of them were responsible for my Papa’s death.

“You missed my eighteenth birthday,” I blurted, and it felt like the air in the helicopter had dropped to a sharp degree.

If he had heard me, Dario showed no signs of replying but I continued.

“It was my first transformation after my awakening.”

Silence.

“You should have met Nima. She’s the most beautiful wolf there is.”

I leaned back in my seat, my eyes fixed on his broad back and sharp jawline.

“I hate you,” I said as my back hit my seat with a resigned sigh.

I hated him. Hated him as much as I loved him.

Or maybe a little less.

Dario stood up, and I watched as he bent a little because of his height and then settled in the seat beside me.

“Isla,” he called as he tried to touch me.

I dodged, but there was only so much space here, and before long, Dario had me in his arms.

“I’m sorry.”

Just one word, yet it felt like every emotion that I was feeling was waiting for that word.

Papa’s death, Dario's late arrival, my previous anger at him.

Every single one of them came rushing at me, and before long, I was a sobbing and whimpering mess.

Dario’s hands wrap around me, and he pats me gently on my back until I stop crying, but even then, he must have sensed that I didn’t want him to leave as he sat there, our breaths the only sound between us.

The helicopter landed soon, and Dario carried me bridal style down his flight.

As we stood at the centre of an open field, I looked at all the tall buildings in the distance, and I couldn’t help but feel like an outsider.

“Where would you be burying Papa?” I asked, as it was the thing that mattered to me the most.

“You should settle down first, and once I’m done making proper arrangements, I’ll tell you.”

I squirmed in his arms, and somehow, Dario understood what I wanted as he helped me stand on my feet before stepping back.

“Settle down where? Mama’s family?” Papa had told me several times about how my maternal family lived in Dario’s kingdom, but I couldn’t care any less.

Even if Mama was dead, not one of them had visited me since I could remember, and I didn’t have any childhood pictures with them either.

As far as I was concerned, they weren’t family, and I didn’t want to live here.

“You would be staying with me.”

My heart leapt in my chest as I heard Dario’s response, and my ears became warm from the mere thought of it.

“What am I going to be then?”

“Your goddaughter or your fated mate?”