Chapter 48

should’ve stopped there.

I should’ve taken a step back.

But the storm inside me demanded more. “Or maybe the truth is simpler. Maybe her return shakes you because she meant more to you than you’ll care to admit.” I spat out.

His jaw flexed. He closed the distance between us in two strides, his presence overwhelming.

His voice was low, dangerous. “Don’t try to twist this, Isla.”

“I’m not twisting anything!” I shouted, my chest heaving. “If she walks through those doors tomorrow, what happens to us? What happens to everything that I've been trying to accomplish? Do I just become… expendable?”

“You've always known that you're just a placeholder. Why are you choosing to fight it now?” He huffed, not caring that his words stung at my fragile confidence.

Nevertheless, I trudged on. “That was before I realized that we were mates…joined by the moon goddess herself.”

Something snapped in him then, his eyes darkening.

His restraint cracked, and the words came like venom. “Well then, it seemed that the moon goddess made a mistake because I don't want to be mated to you!”

The silence that followed was louder than any scream.

I stared at him, the air leaving my lungs in a rush. My heart slammed painfully against my ribs, but my body felt cold, numb.

He realized too late what he’d said.

He had called me a mistake basically saying that my entire existence was a fluke.

Damn.

His eyes widened a fraction, regret shadowing his features. “Isla-”

“No.” My voice was a whisper but sharp enough to pierce glass. “Don’t.”

I stepped back, but he reached for me. I flinched back like his touch might burn me.

“Isla, I didn’t mean—”

“You meant it enough to say it.” My throat burned, my chest tight as I forced the tears threatening to escape back. “And maybe you’re right. Maybe you should’ve been her mate instead of mine.”

The moment those words left my lips, I wanted to drag them back. Not because I didn’t mean them in that moment- I did- but because of the regret they painted across his face.

But pride and fury held me upright.

I turned on my heel, yanking the door open before he could speak again. “Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me,” I said before slamming it closed behind me.

The corridor was empty save for the pounding of my own heartbeat. My steps were unsteady, too fast, but I didn’t slow down. I couldn’t.

I feared that if I did, I might just collapse into a puddle of tears, and I would never stop

I was so focused on where I was going that I didn't notice him.

Keiran.

He was just a few steps ahead, coming from the opposite direction. His eyes lifted, and for a split second our gazes collided.

His expression shifted instantly, sharp and perceptive.

He took in my flushed face, the wetness in my eyes, the way my hands trembled.

His lips curved, not into a smirk exactly, but something close…. like a predator catching the scent of blood.

“Isla-” he began.

But I didn’t let him finish.

I couldn't so I swept past him, my skirts brushing against him as I strode down the corridor.

He didn’t stop me. He didn’t need to. I could feel his gaze burning into my back long after I turned the corner.

And deep inside, under the layers of fury and hurt, a part of me wanted him to follow.

To wrap me up in his arms and whisper sweet nothings into my ears.

Maybe my mother was right… I am truly damned.

Kieran POV

The corridors still hummed with tension when I caught sight of her.

Isla moved like a storm was bottled inside fragile skin, her steps quick, shoulders stiff, which made her movements jerky, and her face was pale with something that wasn’t just exhaustion.

It's an emotion that I was quite familiar with.

Pain.

She brushed past a few pack members who dipped their heads in respect, but she didn't respond, her eyes fixed straight ahead, glassy and far away, currently lost in her thoughts.

My instincts flared.

My wolf surged, urging me to go to her, to follow, to demand what Tristan had said or done to leave her looking like that.

I clenched my fists to fight against the urge.

She didn’t see me… or didn’t want to see me.

Not right now anyways.

The air around her carried a warning sharp as lightning…. ‘Leave me alone. ’

Still, my chest ached.

I waited until her figure disappeared down the hall out of sight before I moved.

My path was already decided.

If she came out of Tristan’s office looking like she’d been gutted, then I needed answers.

And if Tristan thought I’d keep pretending not to notice, he was dead wrong.

I found him exactly where I expected… leaning over his desk, hands braced on a map of the territory, going over strategies or whatever boring thing that he had to deal with as Alpha, his jaw tight like the weight of the world had settled there.

His body was rigid, discipline clinging to his pores, that carefully controlled energy he wore like armor.

He looked up when I entered, annoyance flashing in his eyes. “Kieran. You know you could learn to knock once in a while.”

I ignored his feeble attempt at small talk. “What did you do to her?”

His expression sharpened, and the relaxed expression he had adopted when he saw me instantly vanished. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I shut the door behind me, every muscle taut with the need to strike. Or hurt him… I hadn't decided yet. “She just walked out of here like you ripped her open. So I’ll ask again….what did you say to her?”

His lips pressed into a thin line, the annoyance from earlier returning. “That’s none of your business.”

My wolf snarled at his dismissive tone.

I stepped forward, closing the space between us. “She’s stumbling through these halls like she’s bleeding inside, and you think I’m going to stand back and pretend I don’t care? Try again.”

Tristan straightened, towering, eyes hardened into dark orbs “I think you care a little too much.”

For a moment, the silence crackled.

He wasn’t denying it. He wasn’t even trying to mask the fact that he knew that something was going on between Isla and me.

“You think I don’t see it?” he went on, voice low but edged. “The way you look at her.

The way you linger when she walks past. I see everything but she is mine, Kieran. No matter how you circle, no matter how close you think you can get, she is bound to me.”

My teeth ground together so hard my jaw ached. “Bound? She looked anything but bound when she was running away from you.”

His nostrils flared. “Watch yourself.”