ISLA'S POV
I'm dying.
I know this because I can't feel my legs anymore. Or my arms. Or anything except the cold.
Snow falls on my face, melting against skin that's too hot. The bond wound has spread from my chest through my whole body. It feels like ice and fire at the same time, burning and freezing me from the inside out.
I don't know how long I've been walking. Hours? Days? The forbidden mountains all look the same dark trees, white snow, silence so deep it hurts.
My foot catches on a root I can't see. I fall forward into the snow.
Get up, my brain says. Get up or you'll die here.
Good, the rest of me answers. Let me die.
I try to push myself up anyway. My arms won't work. The bond wound has poisoned everything.
Through the broken bond, I feel Kade. He's happy. Warm. Safe in Bloodmoon Pack with his new mate.
He doesn't feel me dying at all.
I close my eyes. The snow feels almost comfortable now. Like a cold blanket tucking me in.
This is it. This is where Isla Thorne ends.
I'm almost glad.
Then I hear footsteps.
My eyes snap open. Rogues. It has to be rogues. The forbidden mountains are full of them wolves who went crazy, who kill for fun.
At least it'll be fast.
But the footsteps are too measured. Too calm. Rogues don't walk like that.
She's still alive. A male voice, deep and cold as the snow. Barely.
Strong arms lift me from the ground. I try to struggle, but my body won't obey.
Look at the bond wound. A second voice, rougher. Concerned. It should have killed her three days ago. How is she still breathing?
I don't know. But look at her eyes A third voice, younger than the others. Shocked. Violet. When's the last time we saw violet eyes?
Two hundred years ago. The cold voice again. She's Moon borne bloodline. She has to be.
They're talking about me like I'm not here. Like I'm already dead.
Maybe I am.
Get her to the healers, the cold voice orders. If she dies before we confirm it, we lose everything.
Everything goes dark.
I wake up screaming.
The bond wound is on fire, tearing through me like claws. I thrash against hands trying to hold me down.
Hold her still! someone shouts.
The rejection wound is fighting the healing magic
Then use more magic!
Light explodes behind my closed eyes. The fire gets worse, so bad I think I'm actually burning alive.
Then suddenly, it stops.
Not the wound. That's still there, still broken. But the poison has stopped spreading.
I can breathe again.
She's stable, a woman's voice says. Old. Tired. For now. But that bond wound I've never seen one like this. It should have killed her.
But it didn't. The cold voice from the snow. Which means she's stronger than anyone thought.
I force my eyes open.
The room is so bright it hurts. Everything is white and silver walls, ceiling, even the bed I'm lying in. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
Am I dead?
She's awake. The younger voice. I turn my head too fast, everything spins and see three men standing by my bed.
They're not just men. They're princes. I know this the same way I knew the mate bond was forming with Kade. Something about the way they stand, the power radiating from them, the way even the air seems to bend around them.
The eldest steps forward. He has ice-blue eyes and dark hair, and he looks at me like I'm a puzzle he's trying to solve. I'm Prince Lucian Ashen far. These are my brothers, Damien and Theron.
I try to sit up. Bad idea. The room spins harder.
Easy. The middle prince Damien moves to help me. He has scars on his face and hands, old ones that didn't heal quite right. You've been unconscious for two days. Your body is still healing.
Where am I? My voice sounds like broken glass.
The Royal Wolf Court, Theron says. He's the youngest, with warm brown eyes that actually look kind. We found you in the Shadowpeak Mountains. You were dying.
I should have died. I don't know why I say it out loud.
Yes, Lucian agrees, cold and blunt. You should have. The bond wound should have killed you in the mountains. The fact that you're alive is... interesting.
The way he says interesting makes me nervous.
Why did you save me? I ask.
The three princes exchange looks. Some silent conversation I'm not part of.
We tested your blood while you were unconscious, Theron says gently. You're not just omega, Isla. You carry the Moon borne royal bloodline.
I stare at him. That's impossible.
Your eyes are violet, Lucian says, still studying me. Only the Moonborne family has violet eyes. The bloodline was thought to be extinct for two hundred years. But here you are.
My mother had violet eyes, I whisper. But she was just Dad said she was just a Beta from a small pack
Your father lied, Damien interrupts, but his voice is gentle. Your mother was Elara Moonborne. Last daughter of the royal family. She went into hiding twenty-two years ago, and no one knew why.
Until now, Lucian adds. She was pregnant with you. She hid to protect you.
My head is spinning, and not from the injury. This doesn't make sense. If I'm royal, why am I omega? Why am I so weak?
You're not weak. Theron kneels beside my bed. Your power is dormant. Hidden under an omega presentation because no one knew to unlock it. But it's there. We can feel it.
Unlock it? I repeat. What does that mean?
It means, Lucian says slowly, we can awaken your true bloodline. Turn you from omega into Queen Alpha. The most powerful wolf rank that exists.
I start laughing. I can't help it. It's too ridiculous. You're saying I could be powerful? Me? The girl who just got rejected for being too weak?
Yes, all three princes say at once.
I stop laughing. They're serious.
Why would you do that? I ask. What do you want?
Lucian doesn't sugar-coat it. The Royal Wolf Court needs a Queen. The Council has been pressuring us to marry politically for years. But if we awaken your bloodline, you become the rightful Moonborne Queen. The highest authority in the werewolf world.
And you'd control me, I finish.
No. Damien shakes his head. You'd control yourself. We'd train you, teach you to rule, help you claim your birth right. In return, you'd help us stabilize the Court.
And if I refuse? I whisper.
Silence. Heavy and terrible.
Finally, Theron speaks. The bond wound is still killing you. Our healers slowed it down, but they can't stop it. You have maybe two weeks before it tears you apart completely.
So my choices are die or become a Queen? My laugh is bitter now.
Your choice, Theron says softly, taking my hand, is to die as the omega who was rejected. Or live as the Queen who rejected her fate. You can rewrite your whole story, Isla. Become everything they said you could never be.
I think about Kade's disgusted face. Vivian's snake smile. Dad calling me the thing that took his daughter's place.
They all said I was worthless. Weak. Nothing.
What if they were wrong?
What if I could make them regret every word?
If I do this, I say slowly, I want them to see it. When I'm powerful. When I'm Queen. I want them to know what they threw away.
Lucian's smile is sharp and dangerous. That can be arranged.
I take a deep breath. The bond wound pulses in my chest, reminding me I'm running out of time.
Teach me, I say. Make me powerful.
It won't be easy, Damien warns. The transformation is painful. And the training after
I don't care about pain, I interrupt. I just survived rejection, disownment, and dying in the mountains. I can survive anything.
Theron grins. There's our Queen.
When do we start? I ask.
Tonight, Lucian says. The transformation has to happen during the new moon. Which is in three hours.
My heart pounds. What happens during the transformation?
The princes exchange another look.
Your omega wolf will die, Theron says quietly. And your Queen Alpha wolf will be born. It's like dying and being reborn at the same time.
Will it hurt? I ask.
Yes, all three say together.
Good, I whisper. I want it to hurt. I want to burn away everything I was. Everything they made me believe I was.
Lucian nods, respect in his cold eyes. Then let's begin.
As they lead me from the healing room, the bond wound flares one last time.
Through it, I feel Kade. Still happy. Still celebrating his new mate.
He has no idea what's coming.
No idea that the weak omega he rejected is about to become the most powerful wolf alive.
I smile as we walk toward the transformation chamber.
Let him celebrate while he can.
Soon, he's going to regret everything.