Chapter 63

Isla POV

My lungs burned, but it wasn’t from running.

It was from the way the bond inside me flickered like a dying flame, sputtering against my ribs.

One moment it was there…. warm, insistent and alive yet the next moment, it got strained, fragile, like it might snap altogether.

I suspected that it was due to a particular someone.

I stumbled into the corridor, pressing my palm against the cold stone wall to steady myself.

The air was sharp with smoke from the torches, the tang of pine from the forest carried in through the drafty windows, but I gulped it down, desperately needing some oxygen into my lungs as it felt like I’d been drowning.

My chest ached.

For a moment I wondered if he was because of what I had just seen or the effects of the mate bond between me and Tristan faltering.

I always knew that I wasn't that important to him or that whatever we had wasn't so valuable but for him to do this….

It was a blatant show of disrespect.

One that made my stomach curdle.

I could see that image flashing through my mind and the emotion it invoked….let's just say I shoved it deep down.

If I pretended not to be affected, then I wouldn't be.

But why then did it feel like a thread unraveling between us the moment I saw his hand touching hers?

My boots struck too loudly against the floor as I moved blindly down the corridor, not caring where I ended up, just needing distance. Away from Viviana’s smug mouth.

Away from Tristan’s silence.

Away from the look in his eyes that hadn’t been meant for me.

“Isla?”

I froze at the sound of my name, my head snapping to the left instantly to find out who it was.

Keiran.

He stepped out of the shadows of an archway, tall, shoulders squared, that careless air he always carried tucked beneath the surface.

His eyes swept over me, lingering too long on the way I shook.

He didn’t ask what happened. He didn’t need to.

Somehow in the space of a few, short months, he's managed to know me better than anybody…. including my mate.

I forced my chin up, though my throat burned. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” His voice was calm, low, threaded with something dangerously close to gentleness.

“Don’t come closer,” I warned but the words were weak.

And he knew it.

His mouth twitched… something between a smirk and a wince… but he obeyed, leaning against the archway instead of closing the space between us. Even like that, his presence filled the hall, making it seem like he was standing right beside me.

“You’re trembling,” he said.

I looked down to where my hands were shaking against my thigh and clamped them together. “I’m fine.” The lie cracked apart on my tongue.

He tilted his head, studying me with the sharpness of a wolf sizing up prey. “He hurt you. Again.”

The words broke something in me. This wasn't an accusation. Or guesswork. Just truth, simple and heavy.

My breath shuddered but I managed to look away. “It's my fault I allowed myself to…” I strayed off my train of thought before I said something that I couldn't take back. “Anyways, that isn't important. What are you doing out? I thought you weren't supposed to be free.”

“Why not?” The nonchalant air around him got heightened as he shrugged his shoulders.

“The rogue wolves!” I whispered, giving him a pointed look.

“That I killed to save you, besides, nobody can point any connection between me and the rogue wolves, so for now, I'm in the clear, and as for what I'm doing here…” he slipped a hand into his pocket, rocking back on his heels. “After being cooped up for some days, I decided to go out for a walk, and when I saw you…. I just had to come talk to you.”

The sincerity in his gaze was nearly my undoing.

But that was when I heard it.

From deeper in the hall, footsteps echoed, quick and heavy.

Tristan’s.

Then his voice echoes through the walls, rough and desperate. “Isla!”

The bond tugged at me instantly, sharp as a hook in my chest. I nearly doubled over from the pull, from the way my body screamed to answer him even as my heart wanted to do the opposite.

Keiran’s gaze flicked toward the sound, then back to me. His eyes softened in a way that made my chest ache, almost as if he understood now. “Figures.”

“Whatever you're thinking, please don’t,” I whispered, clutching at the wall.

“Don’t what?” He pushed off the archway, his voice dropping low, silk over steel. “Don’t remind you that there are better choices than a man who intentionally hurts you while another woman is still wrapped around his fingers?”

My knees nearly gave out. I hated the way his words slid under my skin.

I hated the part of me that agreed.

But I didn't have a choice, right…?

Before I could even formulate a response, another sound broke through the tension.

A door creaked open a few feet away. A young wolf…. barely older than a pup, one of those Beta-in-training boys….peeked out. His eyes widened at the sight of me, trembling, and Keiran, too close, too steady at my side.

He darted back inside, but not before I saw the recognition in his face.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what he thought when he saw us.

The Luna with the Alpha's brother in a darkened hallway, barely a few feet of space between us, while we whispered under our breath… it couldn't be anything good.

My stomach turned.

By morning, whispers would be flying around.

About me. About Kieran.

Or maybe even all of us.

I pressed a hand to my temple, trying to breathe, when I caught the shift in Keiran’s posture.

His shoulders tensed. His eyes flicked over my head, toward the far end of the hall where the torchlight thinned into shadow.

“What is it?” I asked, noticing how his entire body had gone rigid.

“Someone’s watching,” he murmured. His voice was different…low, edged, parts of his wolf coming to the surface.

The hair rose on the back of my neck.

I whirled my head around immediately, but saw nothing but the empty stretch of corridor.