Chapter 5 - THE BRIDE WHO WANTED TO RUN
For several seconds, I couldn't do anything but stare at Isla Thorne.
This was the woman Damian had chosen.
The woman whose beauty, bloodline, and silver wolf had apparently made her worthy of everything I wasn't.
And now she was standing in my mother's archives, asking me to save her.
"Why would I help you?" I asked.
Isla lowered her eyes.
"Because you understand what it's like to have someone else decide your future."
I laughed bitterly.
"You stood beside Damian after he rejected me."
"I know."
"You attended the council celebration when they announced your engagement."
"I know that, too."
"Then don't stand here pretending we're the same."
Her face tightened.
"You're right. We're not."
I hadn't expected her to agree.
She folded the map carefully.
"I knew Damian was your fated mate."
The admission struck harder than I expected.
"I knew before he rejected you," she continued. "My father told me after the equinox celebration."
My stomach dropped.
"Before?"
She nodded.
"He said Damian had been given an unfortunate match, but that Damian understood his responsibilities."
I thought about those three days between discovering our bond and being rejected.
Three days when I'd barely slept because I thought my life was finally changing.
While I was imagining a future, Damian and the Thornes were discussing how to get rid of me.
"Did you tell him to reject me?" I whispered.
"No."
"Did you try to stop him?"
Isla looked down.
"No."
That answer hurt.
But at least it was honest.
"I told myself it wasn't my business," she said. "I thought once the rejection was finished, everyone would move on."
"Everyone except me."
Her eyes filled.
"Yes."
I turned toward the window.
Outside, the courtyard lamps were coming on.
"What changed your mind?"
"My father promised the marriage would strengthen the pack. Damian would become part of our ruling family, and Iron Hollow would provide financial support."
"Financial support?"
"After last winter, we owed Iron Hollow nearly seven hundred thousand dollars. Medical supplies, repairs, emergency food shipments. The interest kept growing."
I remembered the hardship.
Nobody had hidden the winter from us.
But they'd hidden the price of recovering from it.
"My father said the eastern district would be modernized," Isla continued. "He promised new houses, better roads, a larger infirmary."
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to."
She unfolded the map again.
"Yesterday, I found the actual development plan. Iron Hollow intends to build private estates around the spring. The families living there will be relocated outside Crescent Moon territory."
I looked at the thirty-two crossed-out cottages.
Mrs. Porter's house.
The small homes where elderly wolves lived.
The library.
My mother's entire working life.
"Does Damian know?"
Isla hesitated.
"He knows about the debt. He knows the alliance matters. I don't know how much else he knows."
"Then ask him."
"I did."
"What did he say?"
Her voice became very quiet.
"He told me to trust my father."
I looked at her.
"That sounds familiar."
She accepted the criticism without defending herself.
Then she reached into her coat and removed a folded sheet bearing the council's silver seal.
"This is the ceremony schedule."
I unfolded it.
My eyes stopped at a line near the bottom.
Public acknowledgment of revised Moonwell stewardship.
Immediately after the mating vows.
Before the closing blessing.
I read it twice.
"They're announcing the transfer at your wedding?"
Isla nodded.
"The council secretary told my father that having the archive keeper present without objection would make the decision appear uncontested."
My fingers tightened.
"The invitation."
"Yes."
"Damian wants me there because they need everyone to see me sitting quietly."
"I believe so."
The betrayal felt fresh all over again.
He hadn't invited me to show kindness.
He wanted to use my presence as proof that the woman he'd rejected had accepted everything.
Including the loss of her mother's legacy.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
Isla looked toward the engagement ring on her finger.
For the first time, she seemed younger than her polished appearance suggested.
"I thought marrying Damian would mean someone finally chose me for myself."
I stared at her.
"My father has always valued what I can do for the pack. Damian values what marrying me will make him."
She removed the ring.
"I've spent years being told I'm fortunate. I don't think anyone has asked whether I'm happy."
I remembered Maya's words.
You've spent six months carrying the embarrassment that belongs to him.
Perhaps Isla had been carrying something, too.
Not the same pain.
But a different kind of loneliness.
"What do you want from me?" I asked.
"Help me bring the truth before the pack."
"That could cost you your place in the council."
"I know."
"Your father's approval."
Her eyes watered.
"I know."
I studied her for a long moment.
Then I said, "I'll help you protect those families. But I'm not doing it to save your marriage."
A small, sad smile touched her face.
"Neither am I."
We spread the records across the table.
For almost an hour, we worked through the ceremony schedule and the old Moonwell agreement.
Then Isla noticed a fresh message on the council noticeboard outside the reading room.
She read it through the open doorway.
Her face went white.
"What is it?"
She handed me the notice.
The mating ceremony had been moved forward.
Not next week.
Not even three days away.
Tomorrow evening.
At the bottom, in Alpha Victor Thorne's unmistakable handwriting, was a final instruction.
Sarah Martinez is required to attend as the archive witness. If she refuses, the council guard will escort her to the ceremony.
May you like
Isla looked at me.
"Sarah, my father knows we've been talking."
