The Play-Toy Of Three Lycan Kings-Chapter 387: Queries

"What did you say happened," I demanded, my voice rising despite myself. "Start again."

Isla flinched like I’d struck her.

She stood in the middle of the room with her hands clenched tight against her skirts, knuckles pale, eyes too bright. She still looked shaken, like she hadn’t fully returned to herself after whatever horror had unfolded hours ago.

That alone should have warned me—Isla didn’t rattle easily.

Something had happened to Sage.

The thought had been coiling tighter in my chest since the first wave of pain had hit me in my study.

I’d been reviewing reports, half-listening to the rain against the windows, when it struck without warning. A sudden, scorching agony ripped through my insides, so sharp it stole my breath. It felt as though something deep within me had torn in two.

I’d lurched to my feet, chair skidding back, one hand braced on the desk as I sucked in air through clenched teeth. I’d checked myself instinctively—no wound, no blood, no visible cause. Confusion had followed fast on the heels of pain.

Then it had happened again. Enough to make me grit my teeth and fight the urge to roar.

And then my wolf had howled. Not in rage or in challenge. Rather in recognition.

Mate. My mate was in pain.

The word had slammed through me with terrifying clarity, and I’d known—known without doubt—that it was Sage.

I hadn’t thought after that. I’d moved.

I’d all but flown to the estate reserved for the fighters, my pulse pounding in my ears, every instinct screaming that I was already too late. When I burst into the house, I found my brothers there—Noah and Daniel—standing beside Isla as they battered uselessly at the door to Sage’s room.

She had been screaming.

They told me that much between strained breaths and frantic movements. Screaming in pain so raw it had raised the hair on their arms.

Isla had been too shaken to speak properly, too rattled to use the kind of precise magic needed to break through the field sealing the door.

Desperation had taken over. I’d kicked at the door until sweat slicked my skin, taking turns with Noah, rage and fear blurring together until I could barely see straight.

When that hadn’t been enough—when the pain inside me had grown unbearable—I’d shifted.

My wolf had surged forward, tearing free, and I’d smashed through the door with brute force, somehow forcing my way past the magic warding it.

But the room had been empty. No Sage. No blood. No sign of struggle. Nothing.

We’d searched the house. Then the estate. Then the pack grounds beyond it. Every corridor. I’d torn through the environment like a madman, senses stretched to their limit.

There had been no trace of her. It was as though she had never existed at all.

The memory tightened my chest painfully as I stared at Isla now.

"Well," I snapped, dragging myself back to the present. "Speak."

She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing. "I—I don’t know, King Adam. I came to knock on her door. I was supposed to tell her your brothers were here."

Her hands trembled as she spoke. "I couldn’t get past the field she’d put up. The magic was...wrong. Stronger than anything I’ve felt from her before. And then I heard her screaming."

My jaw clenched.

"I panicked," Isla continued quickly. "I couldn’t break it. I tried, but—" Her voice wavered. "The screams were so loud. I had to call your brothers."

I nodded stiffly, even as something dark coiled in my gut.

Jealousy flared at the thought of Noah and Daniel being the ones there when Sage was hurting. I crushed it down ruthlessly. This wasn’t about that. This was about finding her.

"She vanished," I said flatly. "Do you understand that? One moment she was there. The next—nothing."

Isla nodded miserably.

Dread settled into my bones. Was it happening again?

The thought slid in uninvited, cold and poisonous. Was I losing her again, just when I’d begun to feel the fragile beginnings of a connection? Just when hope had dared to take root?

Why was it always this way? Why did fate seem determined to rip her from me every time I reached for her?

Was I cursed?

Questions piled on top of questions, each heavier than the last, until I could barely breathe beneath them. I looked at Isla again, really looked at her, searching for something—anything—that might anchor me.

"Where is she from? Maybe they came for her?"

She opened her mouth, then shut it again.

"Say it," I growled. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

She flinched. "I don’t know," she said again, louder this time, as if trying to convince both of us. "I swear it. I don’t know where she’s from, or what enemies she might have. We—we met at the magic school. That’s it. We became friends quickly."

The word enemies made something savage stir inside me.

"What magic school?" I pressed, leaning forward. "Where are you both from? Think, Isla. Anything. Anyone who might want her."

My fists clenched, claws threatening beneath my skin. The idea of someone taking Sage—hurting her—lit a violent fury in my chest. I wanted to crush whoever was responsible.

"I don’t know," Isla repeated, backing away when a low growl slipped free from my throat. "I really don’t know!"

"Adam," Noah warned quietly.

I barely heard him.

"What magic school," I demanded again, my voice dropping into something sharp and dangerous. "Tell me."

Isla refused to speak.

The silence stretched.

"Isla," Noah said again, more firmly.

She shook her head, eyes darting toward the door as if she expected Sage to walk back in at any moment. "I can’t," she whispered. "I can’t say. Sage would kill me."

The words snapped something inside me.

I took a step forward before I could stop myself, rage roaring hot and blinding. I wanted to grab her shoulders, shake her until answers spilled out of her like blood from a wound.

"Sage is missing," I snarled. "Do you understand that? She could be hurt. Or worse."

"She’ll be back," Isla said suddenly.

The certainty in her voice startled me.

I studied her face, searching for cracks in that confidence, but beneath the fear there was stubborn belief. Hope, fragile but real.

"She will," Isla repeated, though her hands trembled. "She always comes back."

I straightened slowly, forcing myself to breathe. She had to be right.

Because if she wasn’t—if Sage was truly gone—then I would tear this world apart to find her. I would hunt every shadow, break every boundary, cross every line I had ever sworn not to cross.

I would go to any length to bring my mate home this time.