CHAPTER 9
Isabella's POV
I shifted my weight on the crutches, hiding into shadows.Every thud of my crutches against the dirt sounded like a 'Hey, the cripple is escaping!' to anyone within a five-mile radius.
The voices drifted through the pines, as I leaned into a tree. "It hasn't been confirmed, Selena."
That was Aleric. His voice was deep, like the rumble of a coming storm. My chest tightened. I used to trust that voice to guide me home.
Now, it just sounded like the soundtrack to my latest heartbreak.
"But everyone already believes we are!" Selena's voice purred,"The pack needs a Luna, Aleric. They need a power couple, and that's us"
I peeked through the branches. The moonlight spilled over them like a stage light, and for a second, I actually stopped breathing.
Oh, good-fucking-Goddess, my eyes. I need bleach. Immediately.
Aleric was backed against a tree, looking every bit the Alpha heir. And Selena... well, Selena was performing a thorough marking of her territory.
Her hand was buried deep inside the waistband of his trousers, her body pressed so close to his that they were practically one person.
I watched, paralyzed, as her arm moved in a slow motion. Her fingers were clearly wrapped around him, and judging by the way Aleric's head was tilted back against the bark, eyes closed and jaw tight, he wasn't exactly filing a formal complaint.
Watching your sister perform a manual inspection on the guy you used to like is not exactly how I pictured my night ending.
"Oh, Aleric," she cooed, her voice dropping into that fake, sugary-sweet pitch she used to get extra dessert or to get me beaten.
It was her 'innocent angel' voice, and it made my skin crawl. She leaned in, her lips brushing his ear while her hand continued its steady, torturous work.
"Don't be so stiff. We're going to be together forever. Isn't this what you want?" Aleric let out a low, shaky exhale, his hands hovering near her waist—not quite pushing her away, but not quite pulling her closer either.
He looked like a man trying to solve a math problem while his brain was melting. "It's not right to sneak around," he managed to choke out, his voice thick with pleasure.
"You aren't even eighteen yet, and Isabella—" The rhythmic movement of Selena hand stopped instantly.
"What?" Selena's head snapped back. The sugary sweetness evaporated, replaced by a very snake like laugh.
She didn't pull her hand out of his pants, though; she gripped him harder, I could actually see how she possessive yank that shit out of Alriec who wince.
"Don't tell me you're still thinking about her while my hands are literally giving you a handjob." Selena hissed.
"That mutt should've died that night. It would have been a mercy for everyone. For our parents. For the pack."
Hearing those words, I expected the familiar sting of tears, the urge to sob at my sister's cruelty, but the tears never came.
Instead, a strange surge of rage flooded my veins—rage that felt too big for my body, too ancient for my soul.
My vision flickered red for a heartbeat, ready to match over and tell that bitch a piece of my mind but before I could move my hands, slick with sweat, slipped off the crutch handles.
My good leg trembled, and as I tried to shift my weight, a dry branch snapped beneath me. The world stopped.
CRACK.
Aleric's head snapped toward my tree, his eyes flashing a with predatory glow. Even with his fly half-undone and my sister literally attached to his crotch, his instincts were terrifying. He blurred.
I hit the ground hard, the impact sending a jarring shock through my injured ankle that made me see stars.
"Isabella?" Aleric was on his knees beside me in an instant. He was fumbling with his belt, his face a mask of shock and… pity.
"Don't!" I barked, shoving his hand away as he reached for my shoulder. The mark on my neck flared as a physical snarl vibrated in my throat that I didn't recognize.
"Don't you touch me." I should have felt pathetic, lying in the dirt while my twin sister stood five feet away straightening her skirt with a smirk.
But the mark was feeding me something else. Disdain. Waves of cold, sharpening fury.
It was like a second heartbeat, one that hated him as much as I wanted to love him.
"Wow. Look at that." Selena stepped out of the shadows, her arms folded over her chest. She looked down at me like I was something she'd stepped in.
"The cursed soul returns. You see, Aleric? You shouldn't waste your breath. She's just a useless mutt who doesn't even know how to say 'thank you' for being saved."
"That's enough, Selena," Aleric said, but his eyes were searching my face.
"Oh, come on," she sneered, her voice rising. "She should be grateful. If it weren't for you finding her, she'd be rotting in the dirt right now. Just like Ethan."
Aleric stilled. The air around him seemed to drop ten degrees. He stood up slowly, turning to face my twin.
"What did you just say?"
Selena's smirk flickered. "I—I just meant it's lucky you went looking into the forbidden forest."
"How did you know where she was, Selena?" Aleric's voice was a low, deadly growl. He took a step toward her, and for the first time, I saw Selena flinch.
"I never told you I found her in the Forbidden Sector. I just said I found her in the woods." The silence that followed was suffocating. I watched from the dirt, my fingers digging into the soil.
I wanted to feel triumphant, but the mark was acting up again—pulling my consciousness away from this petty drama and toward the dark tree line.
"Aleric, I… I was just worried…" Selena stammered.
"You knew," Aleric whispered, his voice dripping with realization. "You knew she was trapped, and you left her."
"She's nothing!" Selena screamed, her mask finally shattering into a thousand ugly pieces. "Everything would be easier if she just disappeared! She's a broken, wolfless embarrassment!"
Aleric didn't yell. He just looked at her with a profound, bone-deep disgust that was far more painful than a shout.
"Get out of my sight, Selena."
"Aleric—"
"OUT!"
Selena let out a frustrated sob and turned, darting into the trees. But Aleric didn't turn back to help me up.
He stood there, his back to me, his shoulders shaking with tension. "Get back to the house, Isabella," he said, his voice sounding hollow and broken.
"It's not safe for you here." He didn't offer a hand. He didn't apologize for having my sister's hand in his pants five minutes ago. He just stood there, a wall of guilt.
Usually, that thought would have broken me. But as I grabbed my crutches and hauled myself up, the mark hummed. It felt like a cold hand on my shoulder, steadying me.
"I know," I whispered to his back, my voice steadier than it had ever been. "It's never been safe for me."
I didn't wait for him to respond. I limped away. With every step, the mark on my neck pulsed—not with my blood, but with the echo of someone else's fury.
The crutches sank into the soft moss as I veered off towards the pack woods. I didn't want to go home anymore, at least not now.
Selena would definitely be waiting for me. My ankle screamed in protest, but that foreign rage drowned out the physical pain.
I felt powerful. I felt dangerous but I felt watched.
The forest, which had been alive with the sound of my own struggle and the fading echoes of those two footsteps, went deathly silent.
Not a leaf rustled. Not an owl hooted. The air turned static, thick with the scent of ozone and something sweet… like crushed lilies and iron.
I stopped, balancing precariously on my crutches, my pulse hammering against the bandage on my neck.
Looking toward the deep thickest and past the pack land, where the moonlight couldn't reach.
Two points of light flickered there. They weren't gold or green. They were red. A deep, crimson glow that seemed to generate its own light.
My blood turned to ice.