Chapter 274
~Isolde’s Point Of View~
Isolde knows this is not going to end well the mont her foot crosses the threshold of the court.
She feels it the way she feels a storm before it breaks. She feels the pressure in the air, a wrongness humming just beneath her skin, her wolf shifting uneasily in her chest like she’s trying to claw her way out. Auro does not like this place. Auro never does. Stone walls soaked in old blood and older laws have a way of making wolves restless.
Daphne is on her left, stiff-backed, jaw clenched so tight Isolde can practically hear her teeth grind. Amias is on her right, silent in that unnerving way of his, eyes already glowing faintly like he knows sothing ugly is coming and has decided to et it head-on.
Isolde exhales slowly.
Yep, she thinks grimly. This is going to be bad.
The courtroom is already thick with tension, voices overlapping in heated murmurs, the air buzzing with anticipation and fear. The kind of fear that doesn’t scream yet but you know it will.
She barely takes two steps in when Nash feels her.
She doesn’t even have to look to know it. The bond snaps tight, warm and electric, like soone just brushed a thumb across her spine. Her heart stutters traitorously. Auro perks up instantly, tail wagging in her mind like this is not, in fact, the worst possible place to reunite.
"Mate," Auro sings, delighted. "Our mate is here."
Later, Isolde warns gently, even as her lips curve. Focus.
Her gaze flicks across the room, and there he is.
Nash sits near the outer ring of the court, broad shoulders tense beneath a simple jacket, eyes already locked on her like he’s been searching since the mont she walked in. The second their eyes et, sothing in his expression loosens.
Relief. Affection. And the apology he knows he owes her even though they’ve had a hundred conversations about it still remains there and... still heavy.
She smiles at him. His answering smile is imdiate and devastating.
Auro howls in her head. "OURS," her wolf declares fiercely. "OURSOURSOURS..."
I know, Isolde thinks, blushing despite everything. We have literally the rest of our lives.
Because that’s the thing, isn’t it?
Nash’s apology gift—because of course he’d fra it like that, like stepping away from power and legacy is just a small thing he’s doing for love—is that he’s stepping down as Beta heir and walking away from the pack. Leaving to live as a human with her.
No ceremony. No bargaining. Just a choice.
It’s a dream co true for her. She hadn’t expected that she’d get everything she wanted, but she has. It still feels unreal. Just weeks ago, she was writhing in her room, crying herself to bed.
They haven’t announced their decision to leave yet. Isolde is quietly terrified and quietly hopeful that Nash’s father will give his blessing when the ti cos. The man loves his son. Surely love will be enough.
Surely.
The pack leaders’ generation loves duty more than happiness. And they call it wisdom.
She also doesn’t know how to break it to her own mother yet or Daphne... or her brothers. It’s not just a vacation. She is leaving for good.
Her gaze drifts back to the center of the room as the court continues its ugly dance, and her chest tightens painfully.
Heidi stands surrounded by her brothers—her brothers, even if the world insists on calling them sothing else. And Isolde feels it again, that strange, swelling thing in her chest.
The irony is not lost on her. The girl they whispered about. The girl they called cursed. The Moon Blessed disaster fated to ruin Alpha bloodlines. And yet here she is. The one thing that finally brought four fractured, competitive, polygamous sons into alignnt.
They’ve lived divided their entire lives. Pitted against each other in subtle ways. Competing for scraps of approval, for territory, for legacy. Even loving each other ca with rules. And now here they are together for her.
To Isolde, Heidi didn’t divide them, she unified them.
Isolde swallows hard, emotion pressing uncomfortably behind her eyes. For that alone, she loves Heidi fiercely.
You did what centuries of tradition couldn’t, she thinks. You made them choose each other.
She imagines it for half a dangerous second—running. All of them, not just herself and Nash. Leaving the pack behind, the court, the elders, the suffocating laws. One big, chaotic family in so quiet nowhere place where no one cares about bloodlines or curses or Goddess-approved suffering. They could even start their own pack and make their own law, fuck the heavens.
But it’s a fantasy. Her father would never allow it. Not all of them. Not without turning them rogue.
And now... The Alpha speaks again.
Isolde hears the words, but they don’t make sense at first. They slide past her ears like a foreign language until suddenly they do make sense and the aning lands with bone-crushing force.
Punished. Heidi will be punished.
Isolde gasps loudly and uncontrollably. The sound tears itself out of her chest before she can stop it. Her hand flies to her mouth.
Her father just watched Sierra’s guilt unravel in front of the Goddess and everyone beneath her—and still, still... he doesn’t care.
What a horrible man! Isolde also doesn’t care anymore. She’ll call a spade a spade. To hell with respecting grown-ups who chooses not to respect themselves.
Around her, the court starts to erupt. Voices begin to rise, outrage spilling over but still no one dares to defy the Alpha directly. Fear holds them in place like chains. Isolde’s gaze snaps to her brothers. And that’s when real fear sets in.
Darien is shaking with rage, barely contained, chest heaving like a caged animal. Morgan’s expression has gone sharp and cold, the kind of deanor that signifies absolute destruction. Grayson’s stance widens instinctively, every muscle coiled.
Amias... Amias is fully glowing now. Silver light bleeds into the whites of his eyes, his power leaking like a warning flare.
No, Isolde thinks wildly. No, no, no...
They’re losing it.
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