ISLA'S POV
The moment Rowan leaves, I start crying.
I hate that I'm crying. I hate that his confession hurt so much. I hate that even though he admitted to three years of torture, part of me—the stupid, broken part—still wants him.
My wolf is howling inside my head. She doesn't care about the past. She only knows that our mate just walked away, and the bond is screaming for us to call him back.
"Shut up," I tell her. "He doesn't deserve us."
*He loves us,* she insists. *He's always loved us.*
"Love doesn't hurt people on purpose."
*Sometimes it does,* she says sadly. *Sometimes love makes us do terrible things.*
I don't want to think about that. Don't want to consider that maybe Rowan really was trying to protect me in the most backward, awful way possible.
Because if I start making excuses for him, I'll forgive him. And if I forgive him, I'll get hurt again.
A knock on the door interrupts my thoughts.
"Go away, Rowan," I call out.
"It's not Rowan. It's me."
Mira. My only friend, apparently. Even if I can't remember her.
"Come in," I say tiredly.
She slips inside, closing the door behind her. Her face is pale, her eyes wide with something that looks like fear.
"Isla, we need to talk. Now."
"About what? About how I'm dying because I rejected my mate? Because Rowan already explained that part."
"Not about that. About this." She crosses the room quickly and grabs my hand. "When did your scent change?"
I blink. "What?"
"Your scent. It's different. Wrong. Or not wrong, but... old. Ancient." She sniffs again, her nose practically touching my arm. "You smell like power. The kind of power that shouldn't exist anymore."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"The True Omega thing. When Daemon said you were a True Omega, I thought he was guessing. But Isla, I can SMELL it on you now. It's getting stronger." Her hands shake. "Do you know what this means?"
"That I'm special?" I say sarcastically.
"That you're in danger." Mira's voice drops to a whisper. "True Omegas are worth more than gold. More than territory. Packs have gone to WAR over them. And now every wolf within fifty miles knows you exist."
My stomach drops. "Because of the power blast."
"Exactly. When you commanded those rogues to freeze, when you threw Rowan across the clearing, every supernatural creature in the area felt it. They know a True Omega just awakened. And they're going to come looking."
"Let them come." I'm too tired to care. "I'll be dead from the rejection in two weeks anyway."
"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Mira's eyes fill with tears. "You don't have two weeks. The rejection is killing you faster than normal because you're a True Omega. Your power is eating you alive trying to heal a bond that can't be healed. You have days, Isla. Maybe a week if we're lucky."
The room spins. "Days?"
"I'm so sorry. I've been giving you every strengthening potion I know, but your body is burning through them. The fractured bond is like a wound that won't stop bleeding." She squeezes my hand. "There are only three ways to stop it."
"Let me guess. Revoke the rejection, let Rowan accept it, or die."
"Or find your aunt." Mira pulls out her phone, shows me a photo of a woman with silver-blonde hair and violet eyes. My eyes. "This is Serena Thorne. Your mother's sister. She's a powerful witch. If anyone can break Daemon's memory spell, it's her."
I stare at the photo. "I have an aunt?"
"Your mother came from a witch coven. When she died, your aunt disappeared. But Marcus's trackers just found her." Mira's face goes grim. "She's with Daemon Shadowcrest."
My blood runs cold. "She's working with him?"
"Apparently, she's the one who created the memory spell. She's Daemon's personal witch."
"So my own aunt is helping the Alpha who wants to kidnap me?" I laugh bitterly. "Great family I've got."
"There's more." Mira takes a deep breath. "She says she'll break the spell and restore your memories. But only if you agree to go with Daemon. Become his mate. Help break Shadow Creek's curse."
The words hang in the air like poison.
"So my choices are: die with no memories, or become a prisoner to the Alpha who killed my mother."
"Daemon's father killed your mother," Mira corrects quietly. "But yes. Those are your options."
I close my eyes. My chest hurts where the bond is fractured. I can feel myself getting weaker—Mira's right. The rejection is killing me faster than it should.
"What if I just let it happen?" I whisper. "Let the bond kill me. At least then I wouldn't remember all the pain."
"Don't say that." Mira's crying now. "Isla, please. You're my best friend. I can't lose you."
"I don't even remember being your friend."
"I know. But I remember. I remember when we were seven and you shared your lunch with me when no one else would sit with the witch girl. I remember when we were twelve and you took the blame for me breaking Luna Victoria's favorite vase. I remember every kind thing you've ever done, even when the world was cruel to you." She grips both my hands. "You're the best person I know. And you deserve to live. Even if you don't remember why."
Tears slip down my face. "I don't know what to do."
"Then let me help you figure it out." Mira sits on the bed beside me. "Tell me what you DO remember. Even the fragments. Maybe we can piece something together."
I think about the dreams. The flashes of memory.
"I remember being scared. A lot. I remember pain—not physical, but emotional. Like my heart was always breaking." I touch my chest. "And I remember Rowan. Not specific memories, but a feeling. Like he was both the best and worst thing in my life."
"That sounds about right," Mira says sadly.
"My wolf keeps saying he loved me. That he's always loved me. But if he loved me, why did he hurt me?"
"Because he was young and stupid and engaged to someone else." Mira sighs. "I'm not defending him. What Rowan did was wrong. But Isla, he's been in love with you for three years. Everyone could see it except you."
"If everyone could see it, why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Because you wouldn't have believed us. You hated him too much." She pauses. "And maybe because some of us thought you deserved better than an Alpha who only wanted you when it was convenient."
Fair point.
Outside, a wolf howls. The sound is raw and broken and full of agony.
"That's him," Mira whispers. "Rowan. He's been howling like that since you rejected him. His wolf is going feral."
I press my hands over my ears, but I can still hear it. That awful, heartbroken sound.
"Make it stop," I beg. "Please make it stop."
"Only you can make it stop. By revoking the rejection or..." She trails off.
"Or letting him accept it so we can both move on."
"He'll never accept it. He'd rather die than lose you permanently."
"That's not love," I say fiercely. "That's obsession."
"Maybe. Or maybe it's what happens when you love someone for three years and can't have them. When you watch them suffer and know it's your fault. When you finally get a chance and they reject you." Mira stands up. "I need to check your vitals. See how fast the bond decay is progressing."
She pulls out medical equipment. Takes my blood pressure, listens to my heart, checks my temperature.
Her face gets paler with each test.
"What?" I demand. "How bad is it?"
"Your heart rate is erratic. Your temperature is dropping. Your wolf is burning through your life force trying to heal the bond." She meets my eyes. "Isla, you don't have a week. You have three days. Maybe four."
Three days.
Seventy-two hours until I die.
The irony isn't lost on me. Three days ago, I was counting down to freedom. Now I'm counting down to death.
"What happens if I die?" I ask quietly. "To Rowan, I mean. Will he die too?"
"Eventually. The bond will pull him after you. Could take days or weeks, but yes. He'll follow you into death."
"Good." The word tastes bitter. "He deserves it."
"Isla—"
"No. He admitted it, Mira. Three years. THREE YEARS he knew I was his mate and tortured me anyway. How am I supposed to forgive that?"
"I'm not asking you to forgive him. I'm asking you to save yourself. If revoking the rejection keeps you alive, then do it. You can reject him again later, after your memories come back and you've had time to process everything."
"That's not how it works. If I revoke it, the bond completes. We're mated for life. There's no second rejection."
Mira looks away. "I know."
We sit in silence. Outside, Rowan's howling continues. It's the saddest sound I've ever heard.
My wolf whimpers. *He's dying too. We're killing him.*
"He killed us first," I tell her.
*No. He tried to save us. He just did it wrong.*
I don't want to think about that. Don't want to consider that maybe, in some twisted way, Rowan's cruelty was an act of love.
A knock on the door makes us both jump.
"Isla?" It's Marcus. My father. The word still feels wrong. "Can I come in?"
I look at Mira. She nods.
"Fine," I call out.
Marcus enters slowly, like he's approaching a wild animal. His eyes are red. Has he been crying?
"I need to tell you something," he says. His voice is rough. "About your mother. About why Daemon wants you. About the curse."
I sit up straighter. "I'm listening."
"Twenty years ago, I loved a woman named Lyanna. She was a True Omega from a witch coven. We were mates—true, fated mates. But I was already engaged to Victoria for a political alliance. I chose duty over love."
My chest tightens. This sounds familiar. Too familiar.
"Lyanna left. She was pregnant with you. Daemon's father—the previous Shadow Creek Alpha—found her. He needed a True Omega to break a blood curse on his pack. When Lyanna refused to help, he tried to force her. She died fighting him."
Tears burn my eyes. "He killed my mother."
"Yes. I tracked you down when you were six months old. Brought you home. But Victoria demanded I never acknowledge you publicly. She said it would destroy our alliance, ruin Celeste's future. So I..." His voice breaks. "I let her treat you like a servant. I watched you suffer for eighteen years. And I'll never forgive myself."
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"Because you need to understand. The curse on Shadow Creek—it's a blood curse. It can only be broken by a True Omega's willing sacrifice. Daemon doesn't want to hurt you. He wants to use you. Drain your power until the curse breaks and you're just... empty."
"Empty?" Mira gasps. "You mean—"
"She'd lose her wolf. Her power. Everything that makes her special. She'd be human."
The words echo in the quiet room.
"But I'd be alive?" I ask.
Marcus nods slowly. "Technically. But Isla, losing your wolf is worse than death for our kind. You'd be hollow. Forever."
Three choices. Die from the rejection. Let Daemon hollow me out. Or revoke the rejection and tie myself to Rowan forever.
"I need time to think," I whisper.
"You have three days," Marcus says. "After that, Serena says the memory spell becomes permanent. You'll never remember your mother, your life, anything. You'll just... exist. With no past."
He leaves.
Mira and I sit in silence.
Then, from outside, Rowan's howling suddenly stops.
"That's not good," Mira breathes. She runs to the window. "Oh god. Isla, he collapsed. He's—"
But I don't hear the rest.
Because my wolf just showed me something. A memory that broke through the spell.
Me at fifteen, wearing a yellow dress, picking flowers.
And Rowan, eighteen and beautiful, staring at me like I was his whole world.
Then him walking away. Choosing duty. Just like his father chose duty over my mother.
History repeating.
"I know what I have to do," I say quietly.
Mira turns. "What?"
"I'm going to save us both. But not the way anyone expects."