Isla's POV
The silver blade plunges toward my heart.
Time slows. I see Serena's twisted smile. Feel the dark magic radiating from the weapon. This isn't just any blade—it's been cursed to kill even the strongest wolves.
She planned this. Brought rogues to distract everyone so she could murder me.
I twist, but I'm not fast enough. The blade's going to hit—
"MOMMY!"
Kieran crashes into me, small body pushing me aside. The blade meant for my heart slices across his shoulder instead.
My son screams. Blood pours from the wound.
Something inside me explodes.
Power erupts from my body like a bomb. Silver light blinds everyone. The force sends Serena flying backward. Every wolf in the clearing drops to their knees, forced down by the ancient authority in my blood.
Even the rogues stop fighting. They're all staring at me.
My wolf is enormous. Bigger than any alpha. My fur gleams silver in the moonlight—the mark of the original bloodline. The mark of wolves blessed directly by the Moon Goddess herself.
I'm not just powerful. I'm royalty.
And I'm done hiding.
I shift back to human form, power crackling around me. Kieran lies bleeding. My son. The boy who rejected me. The child who called another woman Mommy.
He took a blade for me.
"Somebody help him!" I scream.
Marcus appears, already moving to carry Kieran. "I've got him! Go!"
I spin toward Serena. She's climbing to her feet, face twisted with rage and fear.
"You're supposed to be weak," she hisses. "You're supposed to be nothing!"
"I was never nothing." My voice echoes with power. "You just convinced everyone I was. Including me."
I walk toward her. She backs away.
"I poisoned you," Serena spits. "I killed your baby. I stole your husband. I turned your son against you. And you still came back?"
"Because I'm done disappearing." I grab her by the throat, lifting her off the ground. "You murdered my child. You tortured me for years."
"Dante never loved you," Serena chokes out. "Even without my magic, he never loved you!"
The words hurt. But something Moira told me echoes in my mind: His love wasn't yours to earn.
"You're right," I say quietly. "He didn't love me. But that's his failure, not mine. I was always worth loving."
I throw her to the ground. "You're going to pay for everything. Pack justice is coming for you."
Dante appears, human form, covered in blood. His eyes lock on mine.
"Isla," he breathes. "You came back."
"Not for you." My voice is ice. "I came because Moira sensed the rogue attack. I came to protect innocent pack members."
"Kieran—"
"Is being treated by Marcus. Your son took a cursed blade for me. The mother he rejected." I step closer. "Did you teach him that? To throw his life away for people who don't want him?"
Dante flinches like I hit him.
"I'm sorry," he whispers. "For everything. I was wrong—"
"Stop. Your apologies mean nothing. You had seven years to see me." I look at the packhouse. "I made myself small for you. Suppressed my power. Hid who I was."
"I never asked you to—"
"You didn't have to ask. Your coldness said it all." I turn away. "The council meeting tomorrow? I'll be there. Serena's going to face justice for murder, treason, and dark magic use."
I shift back to wolf form. My massive silver body gleams under the moon. Gasps from watching pack members. They've never seen a wolf like me.
I run. Through the forest, toward the Morven estate where Lyra waits. Where safety lives.
Behind me, I hear Dante howl. It's a broken sound.
The mate bond he ignored for seven years is killing him now.
Three hours later, I'm in Moira's training room. Can't sleep. Can't stop shaking.
Kieran saved me.
"He remembered," Moira says softly from the doorway. "The moment he saw you in danger, all the love you gave him came flooding back."
"Will he survive?"
"Marcus got him to healers in time. The curse is being purged." Moira sits beside me. "But that blade was specifically designed to kill you."
Ice runs through my veins. "What?"
"Dark magic, cursed specifically for Morven blood. She was trying to commit bloodline heir murder. That's a death sentence in shifter law."
"Good."
"But there's something else. The council meeting tomorrow? It's a trap."
My blood runs cold. "What kind of trap?"
"Serena's made alliances with other packs who don't want the Morven family back in power. They're going to try to strip your Luna status and declare you rogue."
"For what?"
"Abandonment. Kidnapping Lyra." Moira's grip tightens. "Unless you challenge for it. Tomorrow, you challenge Serena for the Luna position. Alpha combat."
"But I rejected the mate bond—"
"You're still technically Luna until midnight tonight. The severing ritual we postponed." Moira stands. "One chance to face her legally and expose her crimes."
Midnight comes. The severing ritual starts. Moira and three elder wolves stand around me, chanting.
Pain rips through my chest. The mate bond starts to die.
It feels like my heart is being torn in half.
I scream. This is agony.
"Fight through it!" Moira commands.
I think of Dante's coldness. His betrayal. The night with Serena. Kieran calling her Mommy. My dead baby.
The bond snaps.
Silence. Absolute silence where the connection used to live.
I'm free.
I collapse, gasping. Moira catches me.
"It's done," she whispers.
I should feel victorious. Instead, I feel empty.
Before I can speak, Moira's phone rings. Her face goes pale.
"What?" I ask.
"It's Dante. He felt the bond sever. His wolf is going insane. He's attacking his own pack members." Moira grabs my shoulders. "He's heading here."
My blood freezes. "How long?"
"Less than an hour."
"Then we evacuate—"
"There's something else." Moira shows me her phone. A text from Marcus.
Serena escaped during the chaos. She has Kieran.
The world stops.
"She took your son. Left a message saying if you want him back alive, you come to the council meeting tomorrow alone."
I can't breathe. Kieran—the boy who just saved my life—is in Serena's hands.
"I have to go."
"It's a trap," Moira warns.
"Then I die protecting my son. That's what mothers do."
"Even for the child who rejected you?"
"He's six years old. He was manipulated." Tears burn my eyes. "And he jumped in front of a blade for me. That's all I need to know."
"The meeting's in four hours. Dawn."
"What?"
"Serena moved it up. You have until sunrise to decide: save yourself and lose Kieran, or walk into her trap."
The choice is easy.
"I'm going."
Three hours until dawn. Lyra appears in the doorway.
"Mommy? Where are you going?"
I kneel in front of my daughter.
"I have to help Kieran, baby. He's in trouble."
"Why? Let Daddy save him."
"Because he's my son. And because he saved me tonight." I cup her face. "Sometimes people make mistakes. But when they try to make it right, we give them a chance."
"Will you come back?"
"I promise."
"You're lying." Lyra pulls away, tears streaming. "You think you might die."
Smart girl.
"If I don't come back, Grandma Moira will take care of you."
"NO! Don't go!"
"Every child deserves their mother's love. Even the ones who push us away."
I kiss her forehead and leave.
Outside, Moira waits with two warriors. "Your escort."
My phone buzzes. A text from unknown number.
Come alone or the boy dies.
Then a photo. Kieran, tied up, crying. A knife at his throat.
"Drive faster," I tell the warrior.
We're minutes away when we smell smoke. Fire.
We round the corner and see the council building engulfed in flames.
Another text.
The boy is inside. Top floor. Five minutes before the building collapses.
I'm out of the car before it stops. Running toward the burning building.
"Isla, wait!" Moira screams.
I don't stop.
I burst through the entrance. Heat slams into me. I shift to wolf form and race up the burning stairs.
The stairs collapse behind me.
Top floor. I shift back. "KIERAN!"
"Mommy!"
I kick down the door. Kieran is there, tied to a chair.
I untie the ropes. "I've got you."
"I'm sorry!" He's sobbing. "I'm so sorry!"
"We'll talk later. Right now we run."
I pick him up. Turn toward the door.
Serena steps out of the shadows with a silver bullet gun.
"Going somewhere?"
"Let him go," I say.
"Right after I let you both burn."
She fires. The bullet hits my shoulder. I drop to one knee.
"Mommy!" Kieran screams.
"Run," I gasp. "Window. Jump!"
"I can't leave you!"
"DO IT!" I roar with alpha command.
Kieran obeys. Shifts. Crashes through the window.
My baby's alive.
Serena points the gun at my heart. "Any last words?"
"You should have aimed better."
The silver bullet hurt. But it missed my heart.
I shift. My massive silver wolf lunges. Serena fires but I'm too fast. My jaws close around her wrist.
The building groans. The ceiling collapses.
I grab Serena and drag her toward the window. We crash through together. Fall three stories.
Pain explodes through my body.
Serena shifts too, coughing. "You saved me. Why?"
"Because you deserve justice. Not mercy."
Around us, council members gather. Marcus. Other alphas.
And Dante, wolf form, still not in control. He's circling. Snarling.
His wolf doesn't recognize me. The bond is severed.
He lunges at me.
I'm too weak to fight.
Then Kieran appears and throws himself between us again.
"DADDY, NO! That's Mommy!"
Dante's jaws snap shut. He freezes.
Slowly, Dante shifts back. His eyes clear.
"Isla," he breathes. "What did I almost—"
"Get away from me," I gasp.
Moira reaches me first. "Healers!"
As consciousness fades, I hear Serena laughing.
"She saved his son. Almost died for his pack. And he still almost killed her."
Everything goes black.
I wake up three days later.
Lyra is asleep beside my bed. Moira sits nearby.
"What happened?"
"You saved Kieran. Nearly died doing it." Moira sets down her book. "Serena's been arrested. She'll be executed."
"Good."
"Kieran wants to see you."
Minutes later, Kieran enters. Small. Scared.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
I open my arms. He runs into them, sobbing.
"I love you," I tell him. "I never stopped."
"Can I come home with you? Please?"
I look at Moira. She nods.
"Yes. You can come home."
Both my children are with me.
But as I hold Kieran, I notice something on his neck. A mark. Small. Dark. Shaped like a crescent moon.
"Moira, what is this?"
She examines it. Her face goes pale.
"That's a death mark. Dark magic. If Serena dies, the curse activates. Kieran dies too."
The room spins.
"She booby-trapped your son. If we execute her, the curse kills Kieran." Moira grips my hand. "We can't let her die. But we can't let her live."
"There has to be a way to break it."
"There is. One way." Moira won't meet my eyes. "The mate bond. If Dante re-establishes the bond with you and you forgive Serena through that connection, the curse breaks."
No.
"I severed the bond. It's dead."
"The Moon Goddess can restore broken bonds. But only if both mates truly want it."
I look at Kieran. At Lyra.
Then at the door where Dante waits.
"I can't go back to him."
"Then Kieran dies in seven days when Serena's execution happens."
I close my eyes.
Seven years I gave Dante everything. Three years healing.
Now I choose: my freedom or my son's life.
The door opens. Dante stands there, looking like death.
"I need to talk to you," I say quietly. "About Kieran. About what it's going to cost to save him."
Dante's face fills with hope.
He doesn't understand yet.
I'm about to break his heart the way he broke mine.