Chapter 41

Isla POV

By the time I had gotten to my room, the weight of the night had settled over my tired shoulders, weighing me down like a heavy cloak.

I shut the door behind me, pressing my back to the wood as if I could keep the world on the other side.

The silence should have been comforting after the hall's noise, but it only made my thoughts louder.

Now that I was alone with nothing to distract me, I couldn't stop my mind from straying.

I pressed a hand to my lips.

They still tingled, swollen from Kieran’s kiss. That single kiss had unraveled me in a way Tristan’s bond never had.

And yet… Tristan.

The way he had looked at me tonight- warm, soft, and gentle, his voice warm with concern… it was everything I had ever wanted.

It should have filled me with hope.

Hope that maybe he was finally seeing me instead of Vivianna.

Instead, it filled me with guilt so sharp it cut me from the inside out.

How could I stand before him, his mate, and feel another man’s touch branded into my skin? How could I long for someone else when the Moon Goddess in all her wisdom had tied my soul to his?

I sank onto the edge of the bed, clutching the sheets until my knuckles turned white.

My mind spun, dragging me through the past as if searching for answers.

Richard smirked as he paraded my old best friend around the party.

The betrayal still stung like salt over a wound that hadn't healed. I had thought nothing could hurt me worse than that…. until Tristan.

Tristan, who had whispered Viviana’s name in his sleep, even as we had tried to get intimate, the bond flaring between us.

Tristan, who recoiled from my touch, who made me feel like a shadow, a placeholder.

A mistake.

One that he would easily discard once the woman he wanted showed up.

And then, there was Kieran.

Kieran, who looked at me and actually saw me. Not Viviana’s echo.

Not an omega trying to wear a crown too heavy for her.

Just… Isla.

His hand on mine, his lips against mine, his words still burning in my chest: “I’m not Tristan. I see you.”

My heart ached with the truth of it, with how much words resonated deeply within me.

But the bond screamed otherwise.

The bond reminded me with every breath I took that I belonged to Tristan.

That my wolf recognized him as my other half, even when my heart couldn’t.

Surely the Moon Goddess did not make mistakes. And yet, hadn’t she….?

Because I cannot think of a more badly matched pair than Tristan and me.

Tears itched the back of my eyes as I struggled to hold them in.

I lay back on the bed, staring at the canopy above me, whispering to no one but myself. “Why me? Why now?”

Sadly, my words echoed back to me with no response.

I must have lain there, deep in thought for over an hour until the exhaustion of the entire day pulled me under eventually.

My eyes slid shut, and darkness swallowed me whole.

The dream began quietly, deceptively so.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed that I was standing in a different place.

I stood in a forest, the moon full overhead, casting silver light through the branches. The air smelled fresh, of rain, mud, and damp earth….the kind of scent that usually calmed me.

But tonight, the silence felt heavy and suffocating.

Two figures suddenly appeared before me.

Tristan on my left, Kieran on my right.

Both of them, reaching for me.

Tristan’s hand was cold, the bond tugging like chains at my chest, demanding obedience.

My body started to tilt towards him but then Kieran showed up.

Kieran’s hand was warm, gentle, his eyes filled with something I didn’t dare name.

I stood frozen, my arms outstretched, torn between them.

Who do I choose?

While I hesitated, indecision crawling like vines up my neck…something shimmered in the distance.

Then, from the shadows, she appeared.

Vivianna.

She was too far away from me to get a good view of her face but even from this distance, her beauty glowed like the moon itself, her eyes glinting with anger.

She didn’t reach for me or make a move towards me, just standing eerily still in the middle of the forest.

To be honest, she didn’t need to.

Her very presence was like a magnet, pulling Tristan’s gaze from mine, his hand faltering.

That moment of hesitation ruined everything.

And then the forest began to burn.

The flames were unlike anything I've ever seen before, burning through with so much speed that it consumed everything in its path.

Fire licked at the trunks of trees, racing up the branches, heat pressing in until I couldn’t breathe, my lungs shutting down.

Smoke clawed at my throat, depriving me of oxygen.

The fire spread between Tristan and Kieran, cutting them off from each other and from me, but their hands still reached for me, both desperate and unrelenting.

I tried to scream, but the sound wouldn’t come.

It was horrible.

Dark spots started to swim in my vision and I collapsed to my knees, my fingers sinking into the soft earth as I tried to suck in deep breaths.

A howl shattered the dream…. a wolf’s howl, deep and mournful.

It was mine.

My wolf, crying out in anguish, its voice raw with betrayal.

“You cannot deny him,” it snarled inside my mind, its voice both me and not me. “He is yours. You are his.”

I collapsed to the floor in the dream, clutching my chest as the fire roared even higher.

Tristan’s name burned on my tongue even as Kieran’s touch lingered like salvation.

The forest collapsed around me, flames devouring everything.

Including me.

And then I woke screaming.

The pain was unlike anything that I've ever felt before.