Chapter 76

Isla POV

I stopped at the stream, where the scent of pine and wolf lingered faintly. Kieran’s scent. It was weaker now, faded under the damp weight of rain and time, but I could still feel it like a ghost tracing its fingers across my skin.

Something rustled behind me.

My hand went instantly to the dagger at my thigh. “Who’s there?”

A figure stepped into the moonlight. Not Kieran.

Lyra again.

“Luna, you shouldn’t be out here,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “There’s movement in the east. Too close.”

“Movement?”

“Rogues,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “At least six. Maybe more.”

My pulse stuttered. “Has Tristan been informed?”

She shook her head. “We can’t reach him. The signal stones are dead.”

Dead? That was not possible not unless

A howl cut through the forest then. Low, long, and heavy with fury.

It froze the blood in my vein, It wasn’t just any howl, It was his.

Kieran.

But there was something else beneath it another voice, deeper, harsher, echoing alongside his.

Ronan.

Before I could think, I was running branches clawing at my cloak, the world spinning into a blur of silver and shadow. Lyra shouted after me, but her voice vanished behind the pounding of my heart.

I followed the sound, through mud and mist, until the trees opened into a clearing that looked carved out by violence.

The earth was torn, the grass soaked in blood.

And there in the center stood Kieran.

He was shirtless, his skin streaked with dirt and sweat, eyes burning gold in the moonlight. Behind him, Ronan leaned against a boulder, his grin all teeth. Around them lay the broken forms of two wolves our scouts.

“No,” I breathed.

Kieran’s head snapped up. His gaze found mine instantly sharp, feral, and too bright.

“Isla,” he said, voice rough with something between pain and disbelief.

“Don’t,” I whispered, taking a shaky step forward. “Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like.”

Ronan chuckled. “Oh, it’s exactly what it looks like, Luna.”

“Shut up,” Kieran snarled, his jaw tightening.

I stared at the blood on his hands, the madness flickering behind his eyes. “Why, Kieran? Why would you”

“I didn’t!” he roared. “They attacked us! They thought I was the enemy before I could explain” He broke off, his breath ragged. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

Ronan’s smirk deepened. “You see? This is what your precious Alpha’s world does to wolves like him. They force you to choose a side until the blood soaks through your skin.”

I shook my head, backing away. “No. You chose this, Kieran. You went with him.”

He took a step toward me, desperation cutting through his fury. “Because I had nothing left! Because you made sure of that!”

The words hit harder than claws.

For a heartbeat, neither of us moved. Only the sound of our breathing filled the clearing.

Then, from the shadows, came the unmistakable growl of more wolves. Tristan’s scent hit the air before his voice did.

“Step away from her.”

He emerged from the trees with three warriors at his back, eyes blazing, his wolf right at the surface.

Kieran turned, baring his teeth. “You shouldn’t have come here, Alpha.”

Tristan’s lip curled. “And you shouldn’t have come back.”

Before I could speak, Ronan stepped forward, his crimson eyes gleaming. “Oh, I was hoping you’d say that.”

Then the clearing erupted into chaos.

Wolves lunged from the shadows half a dozen rogues with eyes like embers. Tristan shifted mid-stride, bones cracking, fur bursting from skin. His roar shook the ground as he met the first attacker head-on.

I stumbled back, my pulse hammering as claws met claws, teeth met flesh.

Kieran moved too but not toward Tristan. Toward me.

He grabbed my arm, pulling me back from a rogue that had slipped behind me. His claws sliced through its throat before it could strike.

“Run!” he shouted.

“I can’t leave him!” I cried, glancing toward Tristan, who was locked in battle with Ronan’s massive wolf form.

Kieran’s eyes flashed gold. “If you stay, you die. I’m not letting that happen.”

“Why do you care now?”

He hesitated, and for a split second, the wolf slipped from his gaze, leaving only the man broken, bruised, but still Kieran. “Because I never stopped.”

Another rogue lunged, cutting off whatever came next.

The world blurred into silver and red snarls, screams, the wet sound of claws tearing through flesh. I moved purely on instinct, slashing, dodging, the scent of iron thick in the air.

And then it was over.

The rogues fled into the trees, Ronan disappearing with them, his laugh echoing through the dark.

Tristan stood bleeding but upright, his chest heaving. He shifted back slowly, eyes narrowing as they landed on Kieran still standing protectively in front of me.

“Step away from her,” he said, his voice a growl even in human form.

Kieran didn’t move. “If I hadn’t been here, she’d be dead.”

Tristan’s jaw tightened. “If you hadn’t come back, none of this would’ve happened.”

The two men stared at each other two worlds that could never exist in the same space.

I stood between them, trembling, the truth clawing its way up my throat. “Stop. Please.”

But neither listened.

Kieran finally took a slow step back, his expression hollow. “You should go back, Luna. You’re not safe out here.”

He turned away, disappearing into the shadows before Tristan could speak again.

I watched him go, the forest swallowing him whole for the second time in my life.

Only this time, I knew what I’d seen in his eyes before he vanished — not hatred. Not vengeance.

Something worse.

Resignation.

Like a man who had already decided that the only way left to protect me was from himself.

Kieran

The night hid the scent of blood, but not the guilt.

Ronan said nothing as we walked. He didn’t need to his silence was louder than any taunt.

“You hesitated,” he finally said.

“I saved her.”

“You hesitated,” he repeated, his tone sharp now. “You let the Alpha live.”

I stopped walking, my fists clenching. “She was there.”

“And that’s exactly why you’ll never win,” Ronan said, stepping close. “You’re still letting her chain you to a world that threw you away.”

I looked toward the distant glow of the pack’s borders. The faint hum of the bond still throbbed somewhere deep in my chest, weaker now, but alive.

Maybe it would fade. Maybe it wouldn’t.

Either way, I knew one thing for certain the next time our paths crossed, there would be no saving left to do.

Only endings.

I lifted my gaze to the blood red moon, my wolf stirring beneath my skin.

“Then let it begin,” I whispered.

And somewhere in the distance, another howl answered low, mournful, and full of fire.

Isla’s.