Chapter 56
Isla POV
“You don’t belong here!” she snarled, shoving me hard. I crashed into a chair, the wood splintering under my weight.
“And you do?” I spat, springing back to my feet. My fist connected with her jaw, a sharp jolt of pain shooting up my knuckles, but it felt good, seeing her head snap sideways.
Viviana wiped the blood from her lip and laughed. “Ooh, looks like someone's got a bit of fire in them.”
The fight escalated. She was fast, astriking with the precision of someone who’d fought before.
Which had me at a disadvantage since I haven't.
But anger fueled me, blurring the edges of pain and directing my actions as I met her blow for blow.
The room erupted into chaos… furniture toppling, the men shouting in panic, the lamp falling to the ground but miraculously staying lit.
She caught me off guard with a knee to my stomach, and I gasped, doubling over.
Her hand closed around my throat, pressing me against the wall. “You should be thanking me, do you really think you’re strong enough to survive what’s coming?” she whispered.
Rage bubbled up even hotter.
I slammed my knee upward, trying to break her hold, and shoved her back. “You have no idea what I'm capable of!”
We were circling again when the door burst open.
“Enough!”
The voice thundered through the room, freezing us both.
My eyes flew up, hammering in my chest when I saw him.
Tristan stood in the doorway, flanked by two guards. His expression was hard, his eyes burning with a dangerous mix of fury and betrayal.
“Viviana,” he said coldly. “I should’ve known it was you.”
The silence that followed was heavier than any blow we had traded.
My chest heaved as I straightened, torn between relief and dread. Tristan’s gaze shifted briefly to me, unreadable, before locking back on Vivianna.
And in that moment, I knew that everything had changed.
The night air still clung to my skin, damp and heavy, as Tristan’s hand clamped around my arm. His grip wasn’t cruel, but it burned with restrained fury.
His guards had Viviana pinned between them, her wrists bound, her eyes glinting with triumph rather than defeat.
Like she got what she set out to achieve.
I opened my mouth, my heart pounding. “Tristan, it's not what it looked like. I only wanted to-”
“Not. A. Word.” He but the words out, his voice cold and sharper than any blade. He didn’t even look at me, his gaze fixed on Viviana as though I were nothing more than a shadow.
I swallowed the lump rising in my throat.
My explanation or my reasons died on my tongue. He didn’t want to hear them. Didn’t want to even look at me.
“We’re heading back to the castle,” he ordered, voice resonant with Alpha authority.
His men obeyed immediately, forming a circle around Viviana, their shoulders tense.
She smirked at me as they led us away, lips curling with mock sweetness. “Your mate has quite the temper, little Luna. Careful…it cuts deeper than you think, I know because I'm speaking from experience.”
I wanted to lunge at her again, but Tristan’s fingers tightened as if in warning, forcing me to stay in place.
He never looked at me once during the walk back. Not once.
And that stung.
The walk back to the castle was longer probably because I had about half a dozen people bearing down on me, looking at me as if I was the problem.
We came to a stop by the courtyard, and Tristan’s orders cracked through the courtyard the moment we arrived. “Put her in the east wing chamber. Guarded at all hours. No one speaks to her without my approval.”
Not the dungeons.
Not the cells where traitors belonged. A chamber. Where she would be protected, not punished.
“Tristan,” I whispered, trying to catch his attention as he dismissed the guards. “Can we talk-”
“Later, Isla.” His tone cut me off rudely as he spoke without even glancing at me.
My chest ached. Later. Always later.
I watched as Viviana was escorted through the halls, her chin high, her eyes never leaving me. She looked like a queen entering her throne room, not a prisoner.
And Tristan… Tristan looked like a man carved from stone, every line of his body rigid, unyielding.
In that moment, I wished I could tell what he was thinking.
But the stony look on his face dissuaded me from pursuing the discussion further.
So I walked away, hiding out in my bedroom and on the balcony.
Hours crawled by before I couldn’t take it anymore.
I wandered around and found myself outside his office, fists clenched at my sides.
Voices filtered through the heavy door… his low, controlled rumble and a familiar one, smooth and mocking.
My heart pounded. He was with her.
Really?
Here, I was thinking that he was busy trying to find a way to help his brother, or the fact that three dead rogue wolves somehow slipped into the Castle, but no, he was busy spending time with her.
I didn’t knock. I barged in.
Tristan’s head snapped up, his eyes flashing with both surprise and irritation.
Vivianna lounged across from him, bound but relaxed, as though she belonged there.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“I should be asking you that,” I shot back, ignoring the heat in my cheeks. “Why is she in here, speaking with you, while I’ve been pushed aside like I don’t matter?”
He brushed a tired hand over his face. “You don’t understand, Isla-”
“Then make me understand!” My voice cracked, the force of my anger surprising even me. “Stop telling me later. Stop shutting me out like I’m a child. I’m your mate, Tristan. Or does that even mean anything to you?”
His jaw tightened.
For a heartbeat, something flickered in his eyes….guilt, pain, longing. Then the mask dropped.
“Not right now. Contrary to what you think, you're not my priority at the moment and I have a lot more important things on my plate.”
The words gutted me.
Just when I hoped for something different, he dashed them away.
As though I were nothing but a new chapter in a book already written.
Viviana’s laugh sliced through the room. “Oh, Isla. Poor, naive Isla.” Her eyes glittered with cruel delight. “Do you really think you’re at the center of his world? There are shadows between Tristan and Keiran that you couldn’t begin to understand.”