Chapter 8

Isabela POV:

The auction had been a disaster. Kason had spent the rest of the night brooding, drinking too much scotch, while I sat in silence, counting the minutes.

The next morning, the Pack House was quiet. Kason had left early for a meeting with the Elders to explain the hospital incident. Dalia was out shopping, spending Kason's guilt money.

It was time.

My flight to New York was at 4:00 PM. It was currently noon.

I had already packed my small bag. It was hidden in the bushes near the back gate. But there was one thing I needed to do. A closure I needed for myself.

I walked up the grand staircase to the Alpha's office. The door was ajar.

I pushed it open. The room used to smell of old books and pine-Kason's scent. Now, it reeked of Dalia's synthetic rose perfume. It was everywhere, cloying and suffocating.

I walked to the desk. I wasn't looking to steal anything. I just wanted to leave a note. A resignation letter from the pack.

I reached for a pen, but my elbow knocked over a stack of leather-bound journals. They tumbled to the floor with a heavy thud.

I knelt to pick them up. One had fallen open. It was Kason's personal log, the one every Alpha kept to record pack business and private thoughts.

My eyes caught my own name. The ink was fresh, dated just two weeks ago.

April 14th.

The bond pulls at me. Every time I look at Isabela, my wolf howls. It wants to claim her. It wants to mark her.

My heart hammered. He felt it? He knew?

I read on.

But I cannot. The Oneal Pack needs a Luna with connections, with status. Dalia brings the Keith family fortune. Isabela brings nothing but a muddy history and a weak constitution.

My hands began to shake.

I have convinced myself Dalia is the one. I have to. The pull I feel for Isabela... I will suppress it. She smells like the forest, like home. But Dalia is the future.

Isabela is just a substitute. A placeholder for my wolf's instincts until I can fully bond with Dalia. I will keep her close, keep her in the basement if I have to, just to settle my wolf. But she will never be Luna.

Substitute.

The word burned itself into my retinas.

I wasn't just rejected. I was a tool. A biological pacifier to keep his wolf calm while he played politics with Dalia. He knew we were Mates. He knew it, and he chose money. He chose status.

"Brotherly love," I scoffed, a bitter laugh bubbling up in my throat. It sounded like a sob.

A tear slipped from my eye, landing on the page. It smeared the ink of the word Substitute, turning it into a dark, ugly blotch.

"Isabela?"

I jumped, slamming the book shut. But it wasn't Kason. It was just the wind blowing the balcony door open.

I stood up, placing the journal back on the desk. I didn't leave a note. This book said everything that needed to be said.

I heard the front door slam downstairs. Kason was back.

I scrambled into the small closet behind the bookshelf, pulling the door almost shut. Through the crack, I watched Kason stride into the room. He looked exhausted. He loosened his tie and threw himself into his chair.

His phone rang. He put it on speaker.

"Kason!" Dalia's voice whined through the room. "The people on the forum are being mean again! They're saying you bought that necklace because you still love that Omega trash!"

Kason rubbed his temples. "Dalia, not now. I have a headache."

"You need to issue a statement!" she shrieked. "Tell them she's nothing! Tell them she's just a servant!"

Kason looked at the closed journal on his desk. He reached out, his fingers brushing the leather cover. For a second, I thought he would defend me.

"Fine," he said, his voice dead. "I'll tell the press she's mentally unstable. That she's obsessed with me. That will stop the rumors."

"Good," Dalia purred. "I love you, baby."

"Yeah," Kason said. He hung up.

He didn't say "I love you" back.

I waited until his breathing evened out, until he turned his chair to look out the window. Then, silent as a ghost, I slipped out of the closet and out of the room.

He never turned around. He never sensed me.

Because in my heart, I had already left.