Chapter 30
Only when the heavy doors closed behind me did I let the mask slip, one hand bracing against the wall, the other pressed to my chest as I tried to drag air into my lungs.
Richard.
Berrilyn.
Here. Together.
When he had broken up with me, I had thought it was because I was an omega but I guess omega wasn't the only problem being me was also one of the things that had driven him away.
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The corridor was blessedly empty, silent except for the pounding of my pulse in my ears. I pressed my forehead against the cold stone and closed my eyes.
I could still feel Tristan’s eyes on me, even though he wasn’t there. If we were closer I would be worried that he would ask questions.
And what I would say in response?
That Richard had once been everything to me before I even knew he existed that Berrilyn had been the sister I chose, until she’d chosen him instead?
That their betrayal had nearly shattered me before fate shoved me into this twisted farce of a marriage?
I bit down on the sob threatening to escape. No. I couldn’t give them that power again.
Not here. Not now.
A soft chuckle broke the silence.
I stiffened instantly, my wolf snapping to alert.
Kieran stepped from the shadows at the end of the corridor, his lips curved into that infuriating smirk.
“Well, that was entertaining.”
My nails dug into the stone.
“Were you following me?”
Kieran POV
I told myself I didn’t care about her, that I was only watching her because she was a puzzle and I liked puzzles. That Isla was nothing more than an entertaining complication in a house that had gone stale while I was gone.
It had become a kind of madness.
Everytime she was in a room, my eyes found her. It was like gravity, like an itch beneath the skin,that I couldn't help but scratch and that somehow seemed to spread even further when I touched it.
Tonight was no different, I had arrived in the dinning room and gotten the exact reception I was used to.
My aunt behaved like I was a vampire and she wanted to bring out the garlic and Tristan looked like he'd punch me if it would not have made him look less like the perfect alpha king he was trying to portray and the rest of the pack well they took their cues from them.
I was enjoying myself immensely and I sat half-reclined in my chair, glass filled with wine dangling lazily from my fingers, and I watched her.
The light from the chandelier played against her face, painting her in shadows and gold. She tried to look calm, poised, the good little Luna.
But I saw it—the twitch of her fingers against her lap, the way her smile slipped when she thought no one noticed, the restless shift of her wolf pressing beneath her skin.
To her credit for most of the night she ignored me and I was happy to let her pretend I didn't exist so I could watch her.
Which was why I noticed it the instant her mood changed it was subtle enough that most people wouldn’t see, but I did.
Her eyes fixed across the table, and her lips tightened before pressing down in a thin frown as, her breath hitched.
A crack split through her polite mask, I followed her gaze.
A man. Just a man. Dark hair, sharp jaw with nothing remarkable about him save for the woman on his arm and yet Isla looked at him like he was a ghost that had been sent to haunt her.
I leaned back, swirling my wine.
What was he to her? Lover? Enemy? Or something else entirely?
Tristan noticed too, of course. My brother’s wolf was bristling under his skin, suspicion bleeding through every line of his body. But while Tristan simmered silently stewing in his curiosity, I smiled. Because this—this was leverage, against whom I wasn't sure but I was sure as hell going to use it when I figure it out.
The more she tried to hide it—her lips curved but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, the way she held her body too stiffly. She looked at every place in the room but at him the more I became curious to find out who he was —the deeper my obsession dug.
He stood from his side of the table and walked to pay his respects like everyone else in the room and she froze, I watched as they spoke to each other as if they were trying to dance around the uncomfortable feeling.
The woman with him looked crazy, I knew her type a self obsessed stalker prone woman who would ruin you from the inside out and I pitied him a lot more.
They walked away after a while and not long after she excused herself from the table , aunt Rhea looked like she'd collar her to the table if she could get away with it.
Tristan didn’t follow,of course he didn’t.
He was too busy pretending not to care but I was already rising from my seat, a little boy bumped into me, the wine I was holding splashed on my shirt. I looked down at him, he was maybe five and stood looking at me like a deer in headlights, I smiled rubbing my hands over his hair.
“ Its alright, where is your mama” I asked and he smiled pointing to the edge of the room, a woman with hair as red as his had noticed them and always speed walking
“ I'm sorry alpha “ she whispered pulling him into her arms, I waved her off
“ It's fine “ I dropped the glass on the table, as she pulled her son away.
I was used to her reaction, that was what most of the people did here in this pack that was what I had lost when I had been expelled.
Isla had already disappeared by the time they left, but she was not in the room so I walked out the door, I caught a glimpse of the cream color of her dress in the hall and
I slipped after her, silent as shadow, watching the sway of her gown as she pushed through the hall doors and into the night air.
The gardens behind The Ridge were quieter than the hall, so I knew that was where she would run to, my mother had loved the garden and kept it going for almost a decade before she died.
I stepped into the night’s cool air and it brushed against my skin. The bulbs flickered along the stone paths, throwing shadows across the space and there she was, her gown brushing against the gravel as she walked quickly, almost desperately, like she could outrun whatever she’d seen.
The garden stretched before her, torches flickering against stone walls, the scent of roses heavy in the cool breeze.