Isla's POV
"Why are they staring at me like wolves circling meat?" I whispered, though I already knew the answer.
Ava's voice stirred inside me, sharp and impatient. Because that's what you are to them. Prey. A curse. A thing to fight over.
The fire had burned low, its embers glowing faintly against the dawn. Smoke stung my eyes, but it wasn't the smoke that made me restless. It was the Brotherhood.
Everywhere I turned, I felt them watching me. The bikers leaned on their bikes, arms crossed, smirks curling their mouths. Some looked at me like I was already dead. Others liked I was a prize waiting to be claimed. None of them looked at me like a person.
Kyree stood in the center of camp, boots planted wide, cigarette dangling from his lips. He looked carved from stone, unreadable, but I felt the storm beneath his skin. His eyes tracked me every time I moved, like chains that refused to loosen.
Cutter still had bruises around his throat from last night. He caught my eye and spat into the dirt, his expression dark with hate. Around him, whispers rippled.
"She'll ruin us."
"She's the cursed Omega."
"Kyree's slipping."
The words slashed through me.
Kyree flicked his cigarette into the dirt and ground it out under his heel. "All of you, shut the fuck up." His voice cracked across camp like a whip.
The muttering stopped instantly.
"We're moving camp before sunset," he said. His tone was calm, but I caught the flicker in his eyes: paranoia. "Pack your shit, keep your mouths shut and don't ask why."
A ripple of unease rolled through the bikers. Moving camp meant one thing: danger.
As they dispersed, I saw him... Reaver. He wasn't as loud as the others and wasn't as brutish. A wiry man with sharp features and eyes that darted like a rat's. He slipped between the shadows, his hand brushing the hilt of the knife at his hip. His gaze flicked to me and in that split second, I knew.
Ava's growl rumbled low. That one smells of betrayal.
Later, when the camp quieted, I found Kyree by his bike. He was bent over the engine, grease streaking his arms, his jaw clenched tight.
"You're not my savior," I said. My voice shook, but I forced it out.
He didn't look up. "Didn't say I was."
"You choke your men. You treat me like a prize to be guarded. You're no different from Drake."
That made him lift his head. His storm-grey eyes locked on me, hard and sharp. "You think Drake would've let you live past last night?"
"I don't think you will either," I shot back. "You'll decide I'm too much trouble and trade me for peace."
He wiped his hands on a rag, then stepped closer, looming over me until his shadow swallowed me whole. "You don't get it, little wolf. In my world, you're claimed or you're eaten."
"I'd rather be eaten than owned."
The bond flared hot, snapping between us, sparks racing across my skin. My knees trembled, my chest ached and Ava howled inside me.
Kyree's lips curled into a cruel smile, but his eyes, just for a moment, looked shaken. He leaned close enough for his breath to brush my cheek. "Careful. You'll choke on your own defiance."
I shoved past him, chest heaving. His laughter followed me, rough and jagged.
That night, the Brotherhood partied again. Engines roared, bottles clinked and the forest echoed with drunken howls, but under it all, I felt something wrong. A tension in the air like a storm building.
I couldn't sleep.
So when I saw Reaver slip into the trees, I followed.
Barefoot, silent, heart pounding, I kept to the shadows until voices reached me.
"…she's here. The cursed Omega." Reaver's voice was sharp and greedy. "You tell Drake I'll bring her myself. All I want is a seat at his side when the outlaw king burns."
Drake's scouts stepped from the shadows, their armor glinting faintly in the moonlight. One of them laughed, low and cruel. "You'll be rewarded well, Reaver. Deliver her and you'll never crawl again."
My stomach turned. My blood went cold. I stepped back, branches snapping under my heel.
Reaver's head snapped toward me as his eyes gleamed. "Bitch." He lunged. His hand tangled in my hair, yanking me forward. Pain seared across my scalp, where tears were pricking my eyes.
"You think you're better than us? You're nothing. You're bait." He dragged me toward the scouts, his grip bruising. "Worth more chained than free."
I screamed, kicking and clawing at his arms, but he was stronger. My nails tore skin, but he didn't let go.
Then a roar split the night. It was Kyree.
He came out of the darkness like a storm, Darius burning through his skin, his eyes glowing with violence. His fist slammed into Reaver's jaw, the crack of bone echoing through the trees. Reaver collapsed, groaning, but Kyree wasn't finished. He hauled him up and snapped his arm back until it broke with a sickening pop.
Reaver screamed.
The scouts stumbled back, as fear flashed in their eyes. Kyree turned his fury on them, snarling like a beast unleashed. "Run."
They didn't hesitate. They fled into the night, their curses fading into the trees.
Kyree dropped Reaver into the dirt, his chest heaving and blood dripping from his knuckles. He turned to me, with eyes blazing.
"You're safe," he growled.
But instead of gratitude, rage ripped through me. I shoved him, my voice breaking. "Safe? You think I'm safe with you? I'm just waiting for you to decide I'm worth trading too!"
His face flickered with shock, then fury and then something I couldn't name.
I ran before he could answer.
Kyree's POV
The world was red. My knuckles dripped blood, my chest heaved, and Darius howled inside me. "She's ours... Protect her... Claim her and keep her safe."
But her words still cut sharper than any blade. You'll trade me, too.
My jaw clenched as my hands shook. The Brotherhood was poisoned now. They'd seen Reaver's betrayal. They'd seen me snap his arm like a twig. They'd whisper tonight, even louder than before. Kyree Blackthorn, losing control. Kyree Blackthorn, shackled by a cursed Omega.
I gripped the whiskey bottle until it shattered in my hand. Glass sliced my palm, blood dripping into the dirt. I didn't care.
My gaze drifted to the camp, towards her tent. She was curled inside, fragile, broken and trembling. Still, she haunted me and still she chained me.
Darius snarled... If she dies, we die.
I closed my eyes, breathing smoke and blood.
"She'll be my undoing," I whispered. "And I'll still choose her."
Isla's POV
I curled on my bedroll, knees tight to my chest, as the blanket pulled around me like armor. My body ached, my scalp throbbed where Reaver had yanked my hair and my heart wouldn't stop racing.
Ava's voice slithered through my mind, quiet but sharp. You can't keep running, but staying will break you.
I pressed my forehead to my knees, whispering to the silence. "How do I survive men who see me as a curse, a chain, or a weapon?"
Outside, I heard Kyree pacing with his boots on dirt and the hiss of his cigarette. The weight of him pressing against the canvas like a storm refusing to pass.
He was fire and fire burned. He should be in deep thought.
When even the wolves sworn to him betray their Alpha, can Kyree hold his empire together, or will I be the fire that burns it all down?