Chapter 190: Wolves and Whispers
The moon hadn’t risen yet, but the wind howled through the broken corridors of the mountain hold as if mourning what had just occurred. The scent of ash, blood and old magic lingered on Damian’s skin, mingling with something else, Isla’s sweet scent.
He couldn’t stop tasting her on the air. She was a deep part of him that he needed in order to survive.
They hadn’t spoken since Marcus had been taken, ripped away in chains forged with ancient silver runes. The truth of his betrayal carved fresh scars into Damian’s soul. His uncle, the brother of his father, the old Alpha, had conspired with the Elders. Even worse, Damian had known. He wasn’t fully aware of everything. But some part of him had always sensed it and now Isla stood just outside the wreckage of the hall, her hands still trembling from her own transformation.
She hadn’t seen what Damian had done when the guards took Marcus, how close he’d come to ripping out the traitor’s throat himself. It wasn’t for justice, but to silence the truth Marcus had nearly revealed. A truth that still clawed at Damian’s chest.
He moved through the shadows now, silent and prowling, until he found her. She was standing on the outer terrace, her arms wrapped around herself, hair whipping in the wind, the moonlight touching her face like a lover he hated. Damian stopped, breath catching.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” he said, voice low and gravel-edged.
She didn’t turn. “Neither should you.”
He didn’t move closer yet. They were both on edge. Fire brimming beneath their skin. He didn’t trust himself near her. Not after what he’d just done. Not with the bond between them burning hotter every time he looked at her.
“I needed air,” she added. “After everything… Marcus… his betrayal and alliance to The Elders. I can’t even tell who’s on what side anymore.”
He crossed to her then, slowly, like a beast nearing something delicate. “I know which side I’m on.”
She turned, her eyes locking with his. There was a storm there. She could see love but could also perceive hurt and doubt…. But also something deeper. “Do you?”
Damian’s jaw flexed. “I’ve made mistakes. I let things fester. I didn’t want to face the possibility that my own blood had been feeding poison into the roots of our world.”
Isla stepped toward him, the wind shifting her scent, amber, wildflowers and heat that radiated pure and unleashing power. “What else are you hiding, Damian?”
That name from her lips. It always did something to him. It evoked the most ancient and primal wild animal from within him.
“Nothing I can say out here,” he growled. “Not when I can barely stand being this far from you.”
Her breath caught.
He reached for her, his hand brushing the back of her neck, drawing her closer with quiet hunger. Her pulse fluttered beneath his fingers.
“I’m trying to protect you,” he whispered, his forehead resting against hers. “Even if it means keeping things from you.”
She leaned into him, heat pooling where they touched. “You can’t protect me from fate.”
“I can try.”
Their lips met, like a promise sealed in blood and magic. His hands tangled in her hair, hers in his coat. She could feel the raw energy trembling beneath his skin, the part of him that hadn’t fully shifted back, the Alpha fighting not just other wolves, but himself.
When they broke apart, gasping, Isla’s voice trembled. “Something’s coming, Damian. I can feel it in my bones.”
“I know,” he said. “The prophecy. Ashborne.”
She closed her eyes. “I saw her in a vision…my twin or whatever she really is. She’s not like us. She’s something born from the Veil. From what the Elders tried to erase and she’s awake. I was blown aback because I believed I had already found her… but apparently it was a trick.”
He stiffened. “You’re sure?”
“I saw her in the Hollow. I felt her. She was calling to me. Like she knew me. But it wasn’t love. It was hunger.”
Damian’s hands slid down to her waist, holding her like she might slip through the cracks of the world. “Then we find her, as a team, as what we are, fated mates. We are stronger together, my love.”
She touched his chest, where his heart pounded like war drums. “And if we can’t stop her?”
“Then we go down fighting.”
A silence passed between them, charged and heavy.
Then Isla murmured, “You still haven’t told me what Marcus was trying to say before you shut him up.”
Damian froze.
“I saw your face, Damian. You knew what he meant.”
He pulled away slightly, staring out at the stars, jaw clenched. “He wanted to unseat me. Reveal something about my blood. My past. That I wasn’t worthy of the Alpha seat.”
“Is it true?”
He looked back at her, his eyes gleaming with wolflight. “I don’t know anymore. The Elders have rewritten so much. I don’t even know if my memories are mine.”
Isla stepped into him again. “Then we find the truth. Whatever it costs.”
He kissed her again, slower this time. Desperate and grounding. Like she was the only anchor left.
When they pulled apart, she asked, “Do you feel it? The shift in the air?”
“I do,” he said, voice deep and dark. “It’s not just Ashborne. The Veil is thinning, what if it disappears? What would it mean for our world?”
“We don’t have much time.”
“No,” Damian agreed. “But while we still have some… come with me.”
“To where?”
He looked at her like she was the only thing that had ever made sense. “To remember who we are. Before everything burns.”
Hand in hand, they disappeared into the halls, shadows licking at their heels, fate clawing at their backs.