Isla's POV
"You think saving me tonight makes you my savior?"
I had spat those words across the fire only a night ago, but the ashes were still in my mouth when morning came. The Brotherhood's camp smelled of whiskey, leather, blood and smoke. A celebration had raged half the night after Drake's men were pushed back. But the fire was dying now, its embers glowing weakly against the pale wash of dawn. What hadn't died was the weight in the air. They weren't whispering anymore. They weren't mocking behind my back; now they stared.
I pulled the thin blanket tighter around my shoulders, the rough wool scratching my skin. My ribs still ached, my scalp throbbed where Reaver had yanked my hair last night and my pride was a wound that never stopped bleeding.
The bikers leaned on their bikes; some slouched with bottles, others sharpening blades, but all of them had the same look. Like I was the spark that could burn this whole world down.
Ava shifted inside me, restless. "They smell your weakness. They smell your power. You can't hide from either anymore."
"Why are they staring at me like wolves circling meat?" I whispered.
Her reply was sharp as broken glass. "Because that's what you are to them, prey or prize. Either way, you bleed."
Before I could breathe through the sting of her words, voices rose.
"She'll ruin us."
"She's the cursed Omega. The one they all talk about."
"Kyree's lost his edge. He's letting her stay."
Kyree's chair scraped against the dirt. He stood in the center of camp, his boots planted wide, a cigarette hanging from his lips. His storm-grey eyes burned as he swept the camp with his gaze.
"Shut the fuck up," he growled.
The sound cracked across the camp like a whip. Silence followed, uneasy but heavy. He didn't look at me when he spoke again. "We move camp before sunset. Pack your shit, keep your mouths shut, and don't ask why."
A ripple of unease moved through the bikers. Moving camp meant danger and war.
And I knew. It was because of me and because they'd seen something, probably the spreading news now. A shadow fell across me and I looked up just as Kyree dropped something into my lap.
It is a newspaper, the headline screamed in black ink, bold letters slicing through me like claws.
HOCKEY STAR COBY WINTERS' SECRET GIRL? MYSTERIOUS WOMAN SEEN WITH BROTHERHOOD OUTLAWS
Below is a blurry photo of my face. My breath stuttered and my stomach turned cold. My image, circled in red, caught in the background of some gas station picture with bikers, leaked into the human world like a disease.
Coby's name burned beside mine. I pressed my shaking fingers against the paper. "What… what is this?"
Kyree's jaw clenched, cigarette smoke curling from his mouth. "What it looks like. You've been leaked. Now humans are sniffing where they shouldn't and wolves are laughing their asses off."
The Brotherhood muttered. Cutter's voice rose, raw with fury. "She's a curse. First Drake's men, now humans. She'll drag us all to hell. Get rid of her, Kyree."
Another spat. "Sell her or chain her. Anything but this." Kyree's hand shot out, gripping Cutter's collar and slamming him against a bike so hard the frame dented. "Say it again."
Cutter gagged, eyes wide. "You're slipping, Kyree. You're blinded." Kyree's voice was low, lethal. "She stays." Gasps rippled, but no one challenged him.
He shoved Cutter aside, then turned back to me. His eyes burned, storm and smoke swirling. "Congratulations, little wolf. You're famous now."
My throat closed. My face photo is in the human world and my name is tied to Coby Winters.
Why, Coby? Why would his world touch mine again now?
Logan's POV
The ivory halls of our pack house rattled as I slammed my fist into the oak table. The broadcast still glowed on the TV screen above me. My sister's face and my disgrace are still alive.
And the worst is, she's linked to the Iron Fang Brotherhood, to Kyree Blackthorn, an outlaw Alpha with blood on his hands and somehow, the humans had tangled her with Coby Winters, their precious golden boy.
The elders' voices slithered through the room like snakes.
"The cursed Omega brings shame on us all." "She should have been buried long ago."
"She'll expose the masquerade if she stays in human headlines." Their words only sharpened the fire inside me.
"She was mine to destroy," I snarled. "Not theirs, not Kyree's and not Drake's, but mine." Rage clawed at my chest, so sharp that I could taste blood. "If she thinks she can survive me, she's wrong. If the goddess ties her to outlaws, then I'll cut the bond myself. With her throat if I have to."
The elders bowed their heads. They would not stand against me and so I vowed. My sister would not survive another Blood Moon.
Drake's POV
The newspaper was still warm in my hand when the smile spread across my lips that Isla is not hidden anymore and not a ghost in the shadows.
But now she was light and light could blind entire armies.
"An Omega that stirs human curiosity, binds outlaw Alphas and humiliates her own brother." I chuckled, low. "She's not a curse. She's a weapon."
My advisor frowned. "Kyree won't give her up easily."
"Kyree's Brotherhood is already cracking and betrayal has a smell." My smile widened. "Find me that scent, leak her photos further and make her a star."
If humans wanted to see a mystery, I'd give them a storm and then, when wolves and men were both distracted, I'd cut Kyree's throat and chain Isla where she belonged, at my side.
Isla's POV
The camp buzzed with chaos all day, with bikers packing their bags. Engines revving and mutters of mutiny. I couldn't breathe. I curled tighter in the cabin Kyree had shoved me into, staring at the paper in my lap.
Coby's name wouldn't stop burning there beside mine. Why him?
Ava's voice was sharp. "Because the Goddess wants you tangled and because one bond wasn't enough."
"No," I whispered, my nails tearing into the paper. "No more bonds. No more cages." But the paper crumpled in my fists and the truth laughed at me.
When Kyree came in later, his shoulders were heavy, his hands stained with grease and blood and I couldn't stop myself.
"You think choking them proves anything?" I snapped again. "You're losing them and you're losing yourself." His storm-grey eyes locked on me. "And what would you know about leading men who'd rather slit your throat than follow?"
"I know cages when I see them," I shot back. "And you're building one out of blood." The bond snapped hot between us, choking me and dragging us closer. My knees trembled. Ava howled inside me: "Isla, trust him; fire burns, but it shields too."
I shook my head with a cracked voice. I said, "I can't." His hand slammed against the wall beside my head, while his body was close enough that smoke and leather filled my lungs. "Run and I'll drag you back, but don't mistake me for Drake."
"Then what makes you different?" I whispered. He didn't answer. He was just staring at me; his jaw was tight and his scars were burning in the dim light.
Kyree's POV
That night, the media leak spiraled further. Bikers at a gas station were spotted by reporters and photos were plastered online. Isla's face was circled in red, rumors multiplying like rot.
"Kidnapped girlfriend." "Cult bride." "Coby Winters' secret lover."
The Brotherhood was slipping from my grasp, their loyalty cracking under the weight of her and still, I couldn't let her go. Darius snarled inside me. "If she dies, we die." I ground my cigarette into the dirt, watching her shadow through the cabin window, fragile, fire and as mine.
"They'll come for her," I muttered. "Logan, Drake, even the humans and I'll burn them all before I let her go."
Isla's POV
I stared at my reflection in the window glass with a pale face, tangled hair and eyes ringed in red.
"I was invisible my whole life," I whispered. "Now the whole world sees me… and still nobody sees me."
Ava's silence pressed in like a verdict. Chains of fire and chains of blood and no matter how far I ran, I was always caught.
With my face exposed to both human media and wolf politics, who will reach me first: my enemies, my brother, or my fated mates?