ISLA'S POV
I run until my lungs burn and my legs give out.
The forest is dark and cold, but I don't care. I collapse against a tree trunk, gasping for air, my whole body shaking. Not from the cold. From what just happened.
*Mate.*
No. I won't think about it. I won't think about those golden eyes or the way my wolf screamed for him or the feeling of the bond trying to wrap around my heart like chains.
I rejected him. It's done. It's over.
Except it's not over.
The bond is still there—damaged, bleeding, but *there*. I can feel it like a open wound in my chest. And worse, I can feel *him*. His shock. His pain. His wolf howling for mine.
"Shut up," I whisper to my wolf. She's pacing inside my head, whining, begging me to go back. "He doesn't get to have us. Not after everything."
My wolf doesn't care about "everything." She only knows that we found our mate and I drove him away. She's furious with me.
Great. I finally get a wolf after eighteen years, and she hates me.
I try to stand, but my legs won't work. The awakening drained me. My bones still ache from the shift that almost happened. My skin feels too tight, like my wolf is right under the surface, trying to claw her way out.
"Isla?"
I nearly jump out of my skin. Someone's coming through the trees.
Please don't be Rowan. Please don't be—
"Isla, it's me!"
Mira crashes through the bushes, her dark hair wild, her eyes wide. She's my only friend in this whole pack—another outcast like me. Her mom was a witch before she died, and most wolves don't trust witch blood.
"Thank god I found you." She drops to her knees beside me. "Everyone's going crazy back there. They felt your rejection. The *whole pack* felt it."
My stomach drops. "They know?"
"That you're Rowan's mate? Yeah. And that you rejected him in front of the moon? Double yeah. Luna Victoria looks like she's about to have a heart attack, and Celeste—" Mira winces. "Celeste is losing it."
Of course she is. Perfect Celeste, who's supposed to marry the future Alpha, just found out her fiancé has a mate bond with her bastard half-sister.
"I need to leave," I say, trying to stand again. "Tonight. Now. Help me get to my room. I'll grab my money and—"
"Isla, you can't travel like this. You can barely walk. And rejections..." Mira bites her lip. "They're dangerous. For both wolves. If Rowan doesn't accept it, the bond will keep tearing at you. It could make you really sick. Maybe even—"
"Don't say it." I know what she's not saying. Rejections can kill. If one wolf rejects and the other refuses to accept, the bond becomes toxic. It poisons both of them slowly.
But I don't care. I'd rather die than be tied to Rowan Blackwater forever.
"I'm still leaving," I say firmly. "Help me or don't. But I'm not staying here."
Mira sighs. "You're so stubborn." But she pulls my arm over her shoulder and helps me stand. "Come on. Let's get you back before someone finds you out here."
We make it to the edge of the pack house grounds when we hear voices.
"—completely unacceptable! That *girl* has ruined everything!"
Luna Victoria. She sounds furious.
Mira and I duck behind a hedge. Through the branches, I can see the back patio. Luna Victoria is there with Celeste and Alpha Marcus. Celeste is crying—big, dramatic sobs that make her look even prettier somehow.
"How could this happen?" Celeste wails. "Rowan is *mine*! We've been engaged since we were children!"
"The mate bond doesn't care about engagements," Marcus says quietly. He looks tired. Old. "If Isla is his true mate—"
"She's NOTHING!" Victoria snaps. "A bastard. An Omega. She doesn't deserve to be mated to the future Alpha!"
"That's not how bonds work, Victoria."
"Then we'll break it. There are ways. Dark magic. Witch spells. We can sever the connection and—"
"Are you insane?" Marcus's voice rises. "Dark magic to break a mate bond? Do you know what that would do to them? To Rowan?"
"I don't care about Isla!" Victoria's face is twisted with rage. "She's been a thorn in my side for eighteen years. This is the final insult. First she exists, and now she's stealing my daughter's mate?"
"I didn't steal him." The words burst out of me before I can stop them.
I step out from behind the hedge. Mira grabs for me, but I shake her off.
All three of them turn to stare at me.
"I didn't steal anyone," I say again, louder. My wolf gives me strength even though my legs are shaking. "I didn't want the bond. I didn't ask for it. And I *rejected* it. So Celeste can have him. I don't want Rowan Blackwater."
Celeste stops crying. "You... you rejected him?"
"In front of the moon. Officially. So everyone can just calm down. Your engagement can continue. Your perfect life can continue. I'm leaving anyway, so—"
"You're not going anywhere."
Alpha Marcus's voice is hard. Cold. It's the voice he uses for Alpha commands, and it makes every wolf instinct in me want to bow down.
I force myself to stay standing. "I'm eighteen in three days. You can't keep me here."
"I can if you're a danger to the pack." His eyes are ice. "An unstable wolf with a fractured mate bond? You could go feral. You could hurt someone. Until we're sure you're safe, you're confined to pack grounds."
"You can't do that!"
"I just did." He turns away. "Victoria, have the Omega quarters locked. Post guards. Isla stays here until we figure out what to do with her."
"With pleasure," Victoria says with a cruel smile.
"Father, please—" The word slips out before I can stop it.
Marcus flinches. Just a little. But he doesn't turn around.
"You're not my daughter," he says quietly. "You're a mistake I've been paying for for eighteen years. Don't make this harder than it has to be."
The words hit like a slap.
He walks away. Victoria follows, practically glowing with satisfaction. Celeste gives me one last look—not angry anymore, but almost... pitying? Then she's gone too.
I stand there, frozen, while Mira grips my hand.
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "Isla, I'm so sorry."
But I can't respond. Because something's happening inside me.
My wolf is *furious*.
She's done being quiet. Done being pushed around. She surges forward, and I gasp as power floods through me—more power than before, stronger, *wrong*.
"Isla?" Mira backs up. "Your eyes..."
"What about them?"
"They're glowing. Really bright. And you smell different. You smell like—" She cuts off, her face going pale. "Oh no. Oh no no no."
"What? Mira, what's wrong?"
But she's already pulling out her phone, her hands shaking. She pulls up some kind of website, scrolls frantically, then shows me the screen.
It's an article about True Omegas. Rare wolves born once every few centuries. Wolves with ancient power who can command other wolves, amplify Alpha strength, heal pack lands.
Wolves that everyone wants to own.
"Mira, that's just a legend—"
"Look at the signs," she hisses, jabbing at the screen. "Late awakening. Unusual eye color. Power that makes other wolves want to submit. Isla, I felt it just now. When you got angry, I wanted to *kneel*. That's not normal Omega energy."
My heart pounds. "You're wrong. I'm just a regular—"
A howl cuts through the night.
Then another. And another.
All around the territory, wolves are howling. But not normal howls. These sound... *drawn*. Like they're being pulled by something.
Pulled by someone.
"They feel it," Mira breathes. "They feel your power. Isla, if you really are a True Omega, you're in serious danger. Packs have gone to war over True Omegas. Alphas have killed for them. You're not just Rowan's rejected mate anymore. You're—"
"A prize," I finish, my voice hollow.
The howling gets louder. Closer.
And then I smell them.
Rogues. Multiple rogues, on pack territory, moving fast.
Moving toward *me*.
"Run!" Mira shouts. "Isla, RUN!"
But before I can move, they burst from the tree line.
Five of them. No—six. Rogues with matted fur and wild eyes. They circle us, growling, and the biggest one shifts to human.
He's covered in scars. His eyes are completely black.
"There you are," he says, grinning to show sharp teeth. "The True Omega. Do you have any idea how much you're worth, little girl?"
I back up slowly. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Liar. I can smell it on you. Ancient power. Virgin power." He takes a step closer. "My Alpha will pay a fortune for you. He needs a True Omega to break his curse. And you're going to—"
A massive black wolf slams into him from the side.
Rowan.
He's shifted, huge and terrifying, and he's *furious*. He tears into the rogue with claws and teeth, snarling so loud it shakes the ground.
The other rogues attack. Rowan fights all of them at once, a whirlwind of black fur and rage.
But there are too many.
One of them gets past him. Lunges for me.
"STOP!"
The word explodes from my mouth with power I didn't know I had.
The rogue freezes. Literally freezes mid-leap, like I hit a pause button.
All the rogues freeze. Even Rowan staggers, fighting my command.
Everyone stares at me.
My hands are glowing silver. My eyes are burning. And I can *feel* them—every wolf in a hundred yards. I can feel their minds, their wolves, like strings I could pull.
"What the hell—" the scarred rogue gasps.
But he doesn't get to finish.
Because a voice cuts through the night like ice.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
A man steps from the shadows. Tall, dark-haired, with silver eyes that glow in the moonlight. He's not from our pack. His power feels old. Ancient. Wrong.
"My name is Daemon Shadowcrest," he says, smiling at me like a wolf smiles at prey. "And I've been looking everywhere for you, little Omega."
He raises his hand.
The world goes dark.