ISLA'S POV
I don't remember walking to Dad's office.
One minute I'm in my room, staring at the guard. The next, I'm standing in front of Dad's heavy wooden door, my hand raised to knock.
The broken bond pulses in my chest with every heartbeat. It feels like someone stuck a knife between my ribs and keeps twisting it.
I should knock. The guard said immediately. But my hand won't move.
Because I know what's on the other side of that door. I've known since the guard said bring all your belongings.
The door swings open before I can knock.
Get in here. Dad doesn't look at me. He never does anymore. Not since Mom died having me.
I step inside. My stepmother Claire stands by the window, examining her nails like this is boring. Vivian sits in Dad's chair HIS chair smiling that snake smile.
Sit, Dad orders.
There's only one chair left. The small one in the corner that guests use. I sink into it, and even that hurts. Everything hurts.
Do you understand what you've done? Dad's voice is ice-cold. The Alpha rejected you in front of the entire pack. You made us a laughingstock.
I didn't do anything! The words burst out before I can stop them. The Moon Goddess chose us. I didn't ask for
Don't you dare blame the Moon Goddess for your weakness! Dad slams his hand on the desk. I flinch. Kade rejected you because you're not good enough. Because you're omega. Because you're exactly what I've been trying to hide for twenty-one years.
The words punch the air from my lungs. What?
You've been an embarrassment since the day you killed your mother, Claire says sweetly. Marcus tried so hard to make you useful. But you just kept being... you.
I didn't kill my voice cracks. Mom died in childbirth. That's not
She died because you were too weak to be born properly, Vivian interrupts. She's still sitting in Dad's chair, swinging her legs like a child. You've been taking up space ever since. Well, not anymore.
I look at Dad. Really look at him. Waiting for him to defend me. To tell them they're wrong.
He slides papers across the desk instead.
Sign these.
I don't move. Can't move. What are they?
Disownment papers. Dad's voice is flat. Empty. Like I'm nothing to him. You give up all rights to the Thorne name, the pack, and your inheritance. Everything.
You can't. But even as I say it, I know he can. As Beta, he has the right to disown any family member who brings shame to his bloodline.
And getting rejected by the Alpha? That's the ultimate shame.
I can and I am. Dad finally looks at me. His eyes are hard. You leave Bloodmoon territory by sunset. If you're still here after that, the pack guards will remove you by force.
The room spins. Where am I supposed to go?
That's not my problem anymore. Dad pushes the papers closer. Sign.
My hands shake as I pick up the pen. The broken bond screams at me to fight, to refuse, to do something.
But what can I do? I'm omega. The weakest rank. I have no power. No rights. Nothing.
I sign my name.
The moment the pen leaves the paper, something inside me breaks. It's different from the bond breaking. This is deeper. Like I'm erasing myself.
Good. Dad takes the papers, not even looking at my signature. You have until sunset. Pack light. You won't need much where you're going.
And where is that? I ask quietly.
Claire laughs. Nowhere. You'll be dead in a week. Rejected wolves don't survive. The bond wound will kill you.
Unless the rogues get her first, Vivian adds cheerfully. I hear they love omega meat.
I stand up so fast the chair falls over. I need to say goodbye to Sara
No. Dad's alpha command hits me like a wall. My omega wolf has no choice but to freeze. No goodbyes. No final visits. You leave quietly. If I hear you've tried to contact anyone in this pack, I'll have you arrested for trespassing.
He's erasing me completely.
I walk to the door on legs that don't feel like mine anymore. Behind me, I hear Vivian giggling. Claire asking if they should have dinner to celebrate.
Dad says nothing.
At the door, I turn back. One last time.
I loved you, I whisper. Even after everything. I loved you because you're my father.
Dad's face doesn't change. I had a daughter once. She died with her mother twenty-one years ago. You're just the thing that took her place.
The words should hurt. But I'm too broken to feel anything anymore.
I walk out.
My room looks the same as always. Small bed. Tiny desk. One window that doesn't quite close all the way.
I own almost nothing. A few clothes. One photo of Mom that I stole from Dad's office years ago. A bracelet Sara gave me for my sixteenth birthday.
Everything fits in one backpack.
I'm leaving my whole life behind, and it fits in one backpack.
The broken bond pulses again. Harder this time. I gasp, falling against the wall.
Through the bond, I can feel Kade. He's happy. Celebrating. He doesn't feel me dying at all.
Or maybe he does, and he just doesn't care.
I grab my backpack and walk downstairs. No one stops me. No one says goodbye. The few pack members I see turn away, pretending they don't notice me leaving.
Sara would try to stop me if she knew. She'd fight Dad, get herself in trouble. I can't let that happen.
So I walk out of the only home I've ever known, and I don't look back.
The sun is setting. I have maybe an hour of light left.
In the distance, the Shadow peak Mountains rise like black teeth against the orange sky. Forbidden territory. Wolves who go in don't come out.
I start walking toward them.
The bond wound is spreading. I can feel it like ice in my veins, slowly freezing everything. Claire was right I'll be dead in a week. Maybe less.
Better to die in the mountains than here. Better to die where no one can watch. Where no one can whisper about poor, pathetic Isla who wasn't good enough for her own mate.
Behind me, howls echo through Bloodmoon territory. They're celebrating. Kade and Vivian's official mating ceremony must have started.
The bond tears wider. I stumble, barely catching myself.
Through the pain, I feel something else. Something new.
The bond is changing.
It's still broken, still bleeding, still killing me. But there's something else underneath. Something that feels almost like... anger.
Not my anger. The bond's anger.
Like it knows it was rejected. Like it's furious about it.
I press my hand to my chest, gasping. What's happening?
The bond doesn't answer. Bonds can't talk.
But for just a second, I swear I feel something through it. Not from Kade's side.
From something else. Something older. Something powerful.
Then it's gone, and there's only pain again.
I keep walking toward the mountains. Each step is harder than the last. The bond wound is winning.
I'm going to die out here.
But as the last light fades and the first stars appear, I make myself a promise.
I won't die crying. I won't die wishing Kade had chosen me.
I'll die knowing that I was never the problem.
He was.
The mountains loom ahead, dark and dangerous. I take a deep breath and step across the boundary into forbidden territory.
The moment my foot touches the ground, the bond explodes with light.
Not breaking light. Not pain light.
Power light.
I scream as something inside me wakes up. Something that's been sleeping my whole life. Something that the bond breaking has somehow set free.
My vision goes white. The last thing I see before I collapse is three figures walking toward me through the trees.
They're too tall to be rogues. Too powerful to be ordinary wolves.
One of them kneels beside me. His voice sounds far away.
She's alive. Barely. Look at her eyes violet. When's the last time we saw violet eyes?
Two hundred years, another voice answers. She's Moon borne bloodline.
Impossible, the third voice says. The Moon borne line is extinct.
The first voice speaks again, urgent now. Get her to the healers. Now. If she dies before we unlock her bloodline, we lose everything.
Strong arms lift me. The broken bond is still screaming, but underneath it, that power is growing.
What's happening to me?
The last thing I hear before darkness takes me completely:
Welcome home, Queen.