Chapter 37

Kieran POV

She wasn’t alone though,

The man from the banquet—the one she’d stared at with that hollow, broken look—stood with her in the alcove near the window.

Richard.

That was his name, it had not taken very long for me to find out. They were talking in low voices, too close, too familiar. Isla’s head tilted slightly toward him, her arms crossed defensively but her body angled in a way that spoke of past intimacy.

I stopped in the shadows, watching them Richard’s voice was soft, coaxing.

“I didn’t know you’d be here. If I had…”

“You shouldn’t be here at all,” she hissed back, her voice breaking on the edges.

“Not with her.”

Her, that must have been the blonde he’d paraded at the banquet.

My hands clenched into fists, Richard took a step closer, his voice dropping.

“It was never her, Isla. You know that.”

Her shoulders stiffened.

“Don’t. Don’t you dare.”

I could see it—the way she fought not to crumble,she might have been pretending to be fierce, but she was also bleeding, and he was pressing his hand against the wound.

My wolf snarled inside me, the sound silent but deafening.

I should have walked away should have dobe as my brother said and left her alone.

But I didn’t.

Because watching her stand there, trapped between a past that betrayed her and a present that despised her, I realized something dangerous.

She wasn’t just my brother’s Luna.

She was mine to unravel.

And maybe, mine to save.

Isla Po

I didn't manage to sleep for the rest of the night so when I woke to the sunlight peeking through my curtains my eyelids felt like someone had rubbed sand on them and along with the heaviness in my chest I wanted to disappear completely into the air.

Every part of my body still remembered the night before—the press of Tristan’s lips, the heat of his touch, the way my wolf had howled in desperate agreement even as I forced myself to push him away.

My skin was still burning where he’d touched me and I couldnt sleep because I was afraid I would replay every gasp, every moan in my head.

It made me sick not because I hated him, but because some traitorous part of me still wanted to crawl back into his arms and beg him not to stop this time.

So I did what I always did when the world closed in.

I tried to run from it.

I kept my head down as I walked through the corridor, clutching the shawl around me tighter, hoping no one would notice me.

Maybe if I moved fast enough, I could get to my room, curl under the covers, and pretend none of this existed, that I wasn’t the Luna in a house where everyone wanted me gone.

Pretend I hadn’t almost given myself to a man who couldn’t even say my name without flinching.

But fate didn’t believe in letting me hide.a few servants I passed kept their eyes lowered, but I could feel the weight of their whispers trailing behind me.

Of course they knew.

The Alpha King slipping into his Luna’s room after weeks of absence wasn’t something easily ignored.

I didn't escape for long when I heard his voice.

“Isla.”

The sound of his voice froze me in place.

Richard.

I turned slowly, my heart clenching even before my eyes met his. He stood there in the corner of the hall, his dark hair just as I remembered, his mouth curved in that familiar way that had once made me feel safe.

Now it just made me feel tired and nauseous

“What do you want?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.

He stepped closer, hands raised in a show of peace. He looked out of place here, in these corridors that had become my prison, but his presence was no less suffocating.

“Just a moment. Please. I need to explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain.” I turned, intent on walking away, but he moved faster, blocking my path.

“Isla, listen to me,” he urged, his eyes shining with something I refused to name.

“What you saw… what you think happened with Berrilyn—it wasn’t what you believe.”

I laughed bitterly.

“So what was it then, Richard? She just happened to fall into your bed? She just happened to take my place?”

His face tightened as if talking about it made him uncomfortable.

I huffed, me and you both buddy.

“It wasn’t like that. You were—” He cut himself off, shaking his head.

“You were too good for me. I didn’t think I could keep you, not with everyone whispering about you being an omega. I was weak. I made a mistake. But I never stopped caring for you.”

My chest squeezed, memories slamming into me with brutal force—his promises, his laughter, the way I had once believed he’d be the one.

And then the night it had all shattered, the betrayal that had carved me open and left me raw.

“Don’t,” I whispered.

“Don’t stand here and tell me you care after you destroyed me, all because you didn't want to make an omega”

“ Or was it just a red omega after all my sister is omega and screwing her wasn't a problem for you”

He reached for me, his hand brushing my arm, and I recoiled as though burned.

“I still care, Isla,” he said softly, desperately.

“I always will. Being with her—it was a mistake. You were the one I—”

“Enough.” My voice cut through his like a blade. My wolf snarled inside me, refusing to hear the lies, refusing to let the wound be torn open again.

“You don’t get to rewrite the past. You don’t get to stand here and pretend you loved me when you proved you didn’t. I don’t want your apologies, Richard. And I don’t want you.”

His face crumpled, and for a moment, he looked like the boy I had once loved. But that boy was gone.

“I’m not her anymore,” I said firmly.

“The girl who loved you. The girl who trusted you. She’s dead. And you helped kill her.”