IslaI woke with a start, disoriented and confused by the unfamiliar softness beneath me. Sunlight streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating a room I barely recognised. For one blissful moment, my mind was blank, and then reality crashed down upon me like a physical weight. The mark on my neck throbbed, a constant reminder of what had happened. Tristan. The bite. The mate bond. My family left behind. A wave of grief hit me and I felt for a moment like I couldn’t breathe.I sat up slowly, wincing at the stiffness in my muscles, and realised I was in bed, the guest bed in Tristan's penthouse. But I hadn't fallen asleep here. My last memory was collapsing onto the floor, crying until exhaustion claimed me. Someone had moved me, tucked me in. The thought of Tristan carrying me, touching me while I slept, sent an uncomfortable shiver down my spine. Had it been him? I couldn't imagine him showing such tenderness, not after everything he'd done.I pushed back the covers and pad
TristanBianca's voice rose again, having caught my scent. "Tristan? Tristan, I know you're there! You can't do this to me! We had an agreement!""We never had any agreement," I muttered, more to myself than to Derek or Lucas. "Stay here," I instructed them both. "I'll handle this alone." Lucas frowned. "Alpha, I don't think-""That's an order, Lucas," I cut him off. "I need to make some things very clear to her, and I don't need an audience for it."I strode down the corridor toward Bianca's voice, my footsteps echoing on the concrete floor. The holding cells were rarely used, mostly for newly turned werewolves during their first few shifts, when they couldn't control their wolves yet. They were secure but humane, with proper beds and facilities. Not that Bianca would appreciate such considerations.She was waiting for me, pressed against the bars of her cell, her face flushed with anger and her usually perfect blonde hair in disarray. Her grey eyes narrowed as I approached."Final
Chapter 20TristanI stood outside Isla's door, my hand hovering over the handle, frozen in indecision. Through the mate bond, still new and raw between us, I could feel the waves of her grief washing over me like a physical force. Each sob that escaped her tore at something inside me, something I'd thought long buried beneath duty and ruthlessness. My wolf side paced restlessly within, urging me to go to her, to comfort our mate. But the rational part of me knew better. I was the source of her pain, the architect of her misery. My presence would only make things worse.So I stood there, listening to her cry, feeling each tear as if it were my own. The bond between us had formed faster, stronger than I'd anticipated. I hadn't expected to feel her emotions so acutely, to be so affected by her pain. It was unsettling. A complication I hadn't prepared for. Her sobs gradually quieted, and through our connection, I sensed her consciousness slipping away as exhaustion finally claimed her. T
IslaThe elevator doors closed with a soft whoosh, sealing me inside the sleek metal box with Tristan. My reflection stared back at me from the mirrored walls, pale, dishevelled, with dark circles under my eyes and that angry red mark visible on my neck. Beside me, Tristan stood tall and imposing, not a hair out of place despite everything that had happened. The contrast between us couldn't have been more stark.I shifted uncomfortably as the elevator began its ascent, the smooth glide so different from the creaky stairs of our farmhouse back home. Home. The word sent a fresh wave of pain through my chest. Would I ever see it again?"We're almost there," Tristan said, his deep voice breaking the silence, probably in an attempt to break the tension. I didn't respond, keeping my eyes fixed on the changing floor numbers. Each illuminated digit took me further from everything I knew, from the rolling moors and weathered stone walls of Cragg High, from my family. The elevator climbed highe
IslaThe world came back to me in fragments. First, pain, a deep, throbbing ache at the juncture where my neck met my shoulder that seemed to spread out across my body. Then the sound, the purr of an engine, the hum of tires on pavement. Finally, sight, blurry shapes resolving into the dark interior of a car, strange lights flickering past the windows.I blinked, trying to clear the fog from my mind. My mouth felt dry, my limbs heavy, as if I'd been drugged. But this wasn't drugs. This was something else entirely.Oh god, the mark.My hand flew to my neck, fingers brushing over tender, swollen skin causing me to wince as pain shot through it when I touched it. The memory crashed back, Tristan's teeth breaking my skin, the searing pain that had somehow transformed into something else, something that had made my body arch against his before darkness claimed me. I jerked upright, panic seizing me as I registered my surroundings. This wasn't Cragg High. Through the window, I saw tall buil
TristanI felt it happen the moment my teeth broke through her delicate skin. The connection, snapping into place like a lock finally finding its key. The Alpha mark, a primal bond that would tie Isla to me, to my pack, to my very essence. It wasn’t the fated mate bond; I wasn’t ready for that yet, but this would have to do for now. Her blood was sweet on my tongue, coppery and warm, and as I tasted her, something unfurled within me. A sense of rightness. Of completion.Then I felt her slump in my arms, her consciousness slipping away as the power of the mark overwhelmed her human system. I pulled back, licking the wound closed with instinctive care, watching as the bruise began to form, my mark, permanently etched into her pale skin."Isla?" I murmured, cradling her limp form against my chest. No response. Her lashes lay like dark crescents against her cheeks, her breathing slow but steady. The connection between us hummed, newly formed but undeniable, I could feel her, even now, a q