The moonlight poured into Isla’s small room, casting silver shadows across the walls. She sat curled on her bed, knees pulled to her chest, her mind a whirlwind of pain. Everything had shattered—the bond she’d sensed with Kael, the hope that maybe she'll find her place in this world. Her own family had stripped that all away, leaving her adrift, unwanted.
A quiet voice stirred within her. Lira, her wolf, was strong and steady, an anchor in the storm.
“They’ve shown their true faces, Isla,” Lira murmured, her voice a steady pulse in Isla’s mind. “We don’t belong here. We don’t need them.”
Isla closed her eyes, feeling the familiar warmth of her wolf, a comfort she rarely reached for but now clung to. “But where would I go?I have no one. And they’ve made sure of it.”
“Anywhere is better than this, Isla. “They’ve chosen her, let them keep her. You and I. We’ll find freedom.”
But Isla’s heart felt like a weight in her chest. She wanted to believe Lira’s words, to find the strength her wolf had, but fear held her back. Outside these walls was nothing but uncertainty, while here, at least, she knew what to expect, even if it was cruelty.
Later that night, unable to sleep, Isla crept down the darkened hallway, drawn by a quiet murmur of voices from her parents’ study. She paused, hidden in the shadows, her heart pounding as she heard her name.
“This plan has worked perfectly,” her mother was saying, a satisfaction lacing her tone that Isla had never heard directed at her. “Kael bonded to Seraphine just as we’d hoped. Isla’s hanging on by a thread.”
Seraphine’s laugh was a sharp, mocking sound. “I told you she’d break. Poor thing can’t handle being alone, let alone without her fated mate.”
Isla’s chest tightened as she covered her mouth, holding back a gasp. They’d set this up from the beginning. Kael hadn’t chosen Seraphine—her family had manipulated him, pushing him away from Isla and toward her sister. They’d wanted to drive her out, to break her so completely that she’d have no choice but to leave.
Her father’s voice cut in, low and approving. “By sunrise, Isla will be out of our lives for good. Seraphine will step into her place, just as it should be.”
Isla gripped the edge of the wall, fury rising within her, stronger than her pain. Her family’s betrayal went deeper than she’d imagined, their cruelty woven into every piece of her life.
A chill ran down Isla’s spine as her mind spun, conjuring the horrifying possibility that this plan of theirs might end not with her banishment, but her death. She could almost picture it—her father stepping into her room in the dead of night, his cold stare shadowed by her mother’s smug approval as Seraphine looked on, triumphant, finally rid of her for good. The thought stole her breath, fear seizing her chest so tightly she felt she might choke on it.
But then something snapped inside her, a primal instinct to survive roaring to life, drowning out her terror. She wouldn’t sit here, helpless, waiting to be discarded or worse. She’d already lost everything—their loyalty, her mate, her place in the pack.
The thought filled her with a strange, fierce resolve, and for once, she let herself believe that she could be stronger than them, that she could escape.
