Chapter 73

Kieran POV

The forest was too quiet.

Too still as my feet crunched on dead leaves and twigs as I walked past, my mind in turmoil.

It was too heavy with the kind of silence that made my thoughts echo back at me like ghosts.

Every single one of them.

It's funny how I never contemplated that I'll ever get vulnerable… least of all by someone who isn't meant for me.

Yet somehow I deluded myself into thinking I could twist fate.

That's ironic because look how spectacularly bad everything turned out.

I could still feel her scent clinging to my skin, the soft weight of her eyes on mine.

Isla.

Even thinking her name burned deep into my heart.

Every step I took that drove me farther away from her only pushed the ache deeper into my chest. My wolf was pacing inside me, restless, snarling, clawing against the walls of my control.

I’d been walking for hours, maybe days.

It didn’t matter…. Time seemed to blur whenever she wasn't around me.

The only thing that mattered was that she’d chosen him.

Tristan.

Now, that name alone evoked another response, one that made my jaw tighten.

I tried to shut it out… her voice, her eyes, that final look when she said the words that broke me — but it all kept replaying.

Over and over.

Until something inside me snapped.

A low growl tore from my throat before I could stop it.

My vision blurred at the edges, and for a second, the world tilted on its axis.

The pulse of my wolf surged through me, raw and violent, so harsh that it made me stumble back a step.

No, no, no… this can't be happening.

I've heard stories about rogue wolves losing control of their wolves and the descent into madness that followed shortly after.

I sincerely hope that wasn't what was happening to me now, but then again, I did hear that most of those transformations were occurring after a huge emotional crisis.

“Stop,” I muttered, clutching my head. “Not now-”

But the wolf didn’t listen.

It wanted blood.

I wanted to destroy something or hurt someone.

I stumbled out of the trees and nearly collided with a man hauling a cart.

He froze, eyes wide when he saw me and I could only imagine what he saw.

He looked like a random villager, nothing more. Harmless.

But my wolf was on edge, and all I saw was movement, threat, weakness.

A snarl ripped through my chest before I realized it.

My claws had already half-formed, my teeth aching, and my vision started turning gold.

The man screamed in fright and dropped the cart, stumbling back.

“Wait-” I rasped, trying to pull back, to breathe, but my control slipped like sand through fingers. I felt the wolf surge forward, hungry, desperate.

I was mere inches from digging my claws into his flesh but then-

A flash of a face.

Isla’s.

Her expression that night, the way her lips trembled when she said she couldn’t do this anymore.

And just like that, I snapped back to myself realizing too late what I had almost done.

The sound of my own breathing dragged me back. The villager was gone, sprinting away into the trees.

I fell to my knees, clutching the earth, trembling as the adrenaline burned out of my veins.

Holy crap…

I’d almost killed him.

Gods, I was losing it.

No pack.

No anchor.

Nothing tethering the beast inside me anymore. The instincts I used to command with ease now twisted and roared, turning on me like a rabid thing.

I pressed my forehead against the dirt. “You need to get a grip,” I whispered.

But even my voice sounded hollow and weak to my ears.

That’s when I heard the soft clap of hands.

Slow and mocking.

“Well, well, well…” a voice drawled behind me, smooth as smoke. “That was quite a show, Kieran.”

I stiffened.

I didn’t need to turn to know who it was as the voice was achingly familiar.

Ronan.

The sound of his boots crunching through the leaves was almost lazy, casual…. like he’d just wandered into the scene for his own amusement after lurking around for a while.

“Almost took the man’s head off,” he mused, stepping closer. “Impressive. Tragic, but impressive.”

“Go away,” I muttered.

“Now, that’s not very polite,” Ronan said, crouching beside me. I could feel his smirk even without looking. “Especially to someone who just saved you from tearing apart a poor farmer and creating an even bigger scandal in the pack.”

I finally looked up.

He was wearing that same infuriating expression…. all calm, charm, and quiet menace. “I didn’t ask for your help. Besides, I'm damn sure that you didn't do anything.”

He tilted his head. “You never do. And yet, here you are…falling apart like leaves on a dead tree.”

My chest tightened, refusing to acknowledge his words or the meaning behind them. “I’m fine.”

“Don’t deceive yourself, Kieran. You’re not fine.” Ronan said softly, voice lowering, the mockery fading to something quieter. “You’re unraveling. The pack rejected you, the woman you love also rejected you, and now your wolf is slipping. You think I can’t smell the instability on you?”

I pushed to my feet, squeezing my hands into a fist so they stopped trembling. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Oh, but I do.” His tone sharpened, eyes gleaming. “I mean, come on… did you really think you could just… belong? That Tristan’s pack would ever let a rogue be one of them? That she would ever choose you over a bond written in her blood?”

The rage that I had managed to suppress began bubbling up again and I could feel the tenuous grip on my wolf slipping.

“Shut up.” I snapped.

He stepped closer, . “They’ll never see you as one of them, Kieran. You can dress the part, fight their battles, save their precious Luna… but to them, you’ll always be the stray. The mistake, the danger they keep on a leash.”

Something in me flinched, but I didn’t answer.

He saw it then… the hesitation, the crack in my armor… and smiled.

“That’s what I thought.”

He walked around me slowly, circling like a predator who knew I was too tired to run. “You’re angry and you’re broken but you’re also dangerous. You don’t belong there… but you could belong somewhere else.”

I knew what he was trying to say even before he said the words.

“Don’t,” I warned.

“Somewhere where no one fears what you are,” he continued, ignoring me. “Where your wolf isn’t a curse but a weapon. Where loyalty is earned by blood, not bonds.”

“Ronan, stop-” I gritted the words but he cut me off.