Isla’s POV
I was on my way to attend a Luna Gathering at Wolfridge when I was attacked and kidnapped by rogues. At first, I thought it was just the Rogue King trying to one-up my mate, Alpha Kale. But boy, was I wrong.
They stripped me of everything — my clothes, my dignity, my name.
I kept screaming, begging them to stop, shouting that I was the Luna of Wolfram Pack. But they only laughed. One of them gagged me. Another shoved me into a rusted cage, one clearly meant for only one thing — to break me.
I don’t know how long it went on. Time blurred. Faces passed. Hands grabbed. Pain came in waves, sharp and endless. Every part of me hurt — inside, outside, in places I didn’t even know could feel pain.
They mocked me as they tore at my body, saying,
“No Alpha leaves his Luna unprotected.”
By midnight, I was barely conscious. But they weren’t done.
They started using objects. Cold metal. Sharp things. Filthy, rusted tools. Not because they needed to. But because they wanted to watch me bleed.
I don’t remember blacking out. Only that the last thing I heard was the clanging of the cage rolling down a hill — and the unmistakable sound of my legs snapping under me.
But in that pain, I felt my mate... and I knew I was going to be safe now. Then I lost consciousness.
I began to regain consciousness gradually, knowing I was safe with my mate. But then I overheard what was being discussed by my mate and his Beta—and I began to question why I didn’t just die.
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” the healer whispered. “Her spine is fractured. She may never walk again. And the rogues… they clawed her face. She’s blind.”
“She can’t see?” Jason, Kale’s Beta, asked.
“Yes. And another thing—if she survives birthing the pup she’s carrying, we’ll have to remove her womb because of all the foreign objects inserted into her body.”
I was in shock. But I knew my mate would be there for me, so I waited for him to say something—anything—before alerting them that I was awake, even though I couldn’t feel my legs or see anything.
“You really did it. You set her up—your own Luna? You gave her to the rogues?” Jason asked.
I almost laughed hearing that. My mate would never do that. But then Kale didn’t flinch… or deny it.
“It had to be done. Nia was coming back that night. I couldn’t let Isla keep the title,” Kale replied.
Wait—what? Is he saying he did it? And what does Nia—my cousin, his former mate, the one who ran off to “find herself,” dumping Kale like trash—what does she have to do with this?
I remember the day she left. He was a hot mess.
And I—I helped him put his life back together. Because I loved him. Always had.
I thought then that my love was enough. But it never was… as I was about to find out.
“Isn’t that her cousin? The one that said she wanted to travel the world?” Jason asked.
“She’s the one I chose,” Kale replied. “Isla was just… temporary.”
Ah, God. Temporary? From where to where?
I was beginning to feel like someone stuck in a soap opera.
Jason scoffed. “Still. You let rogues breed her. That’s evil, man.”
Kale chuckled. “She needed to be disqualified. And the best way to do that was for her to be used and impregnated by rogues.”
Tears quietly slid down my cheeks as I listened. But apparently, there was more.
“And Caius?” Jason asked in a low voice. “What if she finds out he’s not even hers?”
“She won’t,” Kale said. “Nia didn’t want to ruin her body, so we planted the pup in Isla. Let her carry him. That’s all she was good for—a surrogate.”
Just kill me, dear Mate, I muttered to myself as everything became clear. He chose Nia, even after everything I had done for him?
No wonder Caius was always so cold to me. And there was always that resemblance between him and Nia…
Ah, Isla. You’re a fool. A big, fat fool.
“Look, I’m happy everything worked. Now I need to go be with my true love. Stay around to maintain appearances. I’ll be back soon,” Kale said, and I heard the door close.
I waited a moment before trying to sit up.
“Help me sit,” I rasped.
The healer rushed over, gently lifting me against the headboard. I bit down on my tongue as pain lanced through my body. My legs were useless weights. Everything hurt.
But none of that mattered. I just wanted to know if what I’d heard was true.
“Tell me… am I really…” My voice broke. “Blind?”
I waited, half-hoping she’d say, “Surprise! It was a prank.”
But then she whispered, “Yes.”
I nodded quietly, balling my fists into the mattress to stop more tears.
“Okay. Thank you. And… am I pregnant with a rogue pup?” I reached out, gently finding her hand and gripping it.
“…Yes.”
Then I screamed. A long, guttural wail. I cried until I lost my voice.
I mourned the life I thought I had—the lie I’d been living for six years.
My stomach clenched so tight I felt the stitches pull. I sobbed, clawing at the sheets.
“How? How could he do this to me? I loved him! I gave him everything!”
...
Hours Later
After finally making peace with the fact that I was now blind and crippled, the door opened.
I heard a familiar voice.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the breeder herself.”
I sagged into the bedrest. Of course. At this rate, it would be stupid of me not to expect Nia.
I turned my head slowly. “Nia?”
She laughed—a low, mocking sound.
“You still recognize my voice? Good. Too bad you can’t see how pathetic you look.”
“Welcome back,” I sighed.
“Thank you, dearest cousin,” she said smugly, heels clicking like a countdown to war. “Kale begged me to come. Said you were fantasizing about getting bred by rogues again. So I came to save him from embarrassment.”
Then she sat on the edge of the bed.
“And you didn’t disappoint. Now everyone knows what you really are—a womb with legs. Or, well… no legs anymore.”
I flinched, taken aback by her cruelty.
“You’re my blood,” I whispered. “How could you let Kale do this to me?”
She laughed again, darker this time.
“Oh, please. Spare me the sisterhood speech. Kale was mine. You just warmed the bed until I was ready to settle down. And you really thought he loved you?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but her hand suddenly gripped my hair, jerking my head back. Pain exploded behind my eyes.
“Where’s your pride now, Luna?” she mocked. “Oh, right. You lost it somewhere between a rogue’s teeth and their—”
“Shut up!” I screamed. “You’ll always be second. That’s why you had to wait six years. He only called you back because I was ruined.”
Silence. Then a low, taunting chuckle.
“Oh, honey. I wasn’t waiting. I was winning.”
“Let me show you how I win, bitch.”
A loud smack echoed in the room. I flinched—but I felt nothing.
Then Nia let out a high-pitched wail.
“Oh my goddess! She hit me! She hit me!”
I froze. “What—?”
The door burst open. Footsteps stormed in.
“Nia?” Kale’s voice snapped. “What happened?”
“She slapped me!” she cried, collapsing like a wounded dove. “I was trying to make peace and she—she slapped me! Look at my face!”
The healer rushed to her. Jason cursed under his breath.
I shook my head. “I didn’t—I can’t even see! She’s lying!”
No one listened. Kale didn’t speak.
Then I felt it—his hand on my shoulder, shoving me backward.
Pain ripped through my lower body as my stitches tore open. I screamed, blood soaking the sheets.
“Clean her up,” Kale snapped at the healer. “No food. No painkillers. Let her feel what she did to my woman.”
“Alpha, she’s bleeding—” the healer gasped.
“Do it. Or I’ll find someone else who will.”
A beat of silence. Then the healer began to cry quietly as she tended to me.
Nia leaned over, whispering so only I could hear.
“You lost. I won. And soon, that bastard in your womb will be the next pack slave.”
I cried, and with the last shred of strength I had, I mindlinked someone who had been wooing me for years.
“R-Rick… Please. I’ll mate with you if you take me away from here,” I sobbed.
“Isy?? Oh goddess… What’s going on? You’re mindlinking me? I thought you swore after rejecting me that we’d never speak again.”
“I know what I said, Garrick. But if you’ll still have me, I’ll mate you—just take me away.”
There was silence. I was beginning to lose hope.
“Okay, Isy. Do you want me to come now?”
My heart leapt for joy.
“No, Rick. Give me five days. I need to handle some things first.”
“Okay. See you in five days, Isy,” he said as we ended the mindlink.
In five days, I would be gone. And by the goddess… I would show them why revenge is best served cold.
