Isabelle finally realised Cassian was no longer her fool.
The following day, Isabelle and Alaric were kicked out of the group.
A torrential downpour soaked the ground as the guards forced them to the border.
“This is entirely your fault!” Alaric shoved Isabelle hard, his voice brimming with rage. “If you hadn’t gotten so arrogant, we wouldn’t have been caught!”
Isabelle stumbled and fell into the mud, staring up at him in disbelief: this was the man who had once whispered sweet nothings into her ear and promised her the world.
“But… But you promised to take care of me.”
Alaric laughed coldly, “Take care of you?” What do you have to offer besides your body? You don’t even own a wolf, and you thought you could be Luna? “Do not make me laugh.”
He turned and walked away without another glance.
Isabelle realised he had never cared for her; she had been nothing more than a pawn used to gain access to the pack’s resources, and now, without the pack’s protection and her own wolf, she was left to fend for herself.
She drifted from place to place, latching onto rogue wolves just to survive. She traded her body for scraps of food and a night’s shelter, only to be discarded like trash when they got what they desired.
She had once been the most dazzling Omega in the pack, one that even the Luna had to accommodate, but she was now nothing more than a filthy, ragged shadow of her former self.
She wandered the forest, surviving on leftovers scavenged from others; at night, she curled up in hollow tree trunks, trembling as eerie howls echoed far away.
Sometimes she would reflect on her past, how she used to wear the prettiest dresses, bask in admiration, and have Cassian wrapped around her finger.
And how she threw it all away, breaking the heart of the only man who truly loved her.
Now, karma had caught up.
One stormy night, a pack of rogue wolves surrounded her. When her gaze met their greedy stares, she knew she had to sell her body for food again, but this time, they showed her no mercy.
They took what they wanted and abandoned her in the mud, stealing her last bit of food.
A month later, as dusk fell, Isabelle staggered to the pack’s border and blocked the path of a returning patrol. She dropped to her knees in front of Cassian, her face streaked with rain and tears.
“Cassian… Please,” she sobbed. “I was wrong. I apologise. “Just let me come home.”
Cassian looked down at her with cold steel eyes, “You don’t deserve to call me that.”
“I realise I was wrong!”I shouldn’t have poisoned Maya,” she cried, clinging to his pant leg. I should not have ruined everything you had… Please, I will do anything. Just let me come back!”
Cassian did not flinch, instead raising his hand and gesturing to the guards.
“Remove her. If you see her again, shoot her on sight.”
Cassian didn’t blink when the guards grabbed her and dragged her away, despite her screams and thrashing.
There was no sympathy in his eyes, no tenderness in his heart for the woman who had cost him the love of his life.
They dumped Isabelle outside the pack boundary, and she collapsed in the mud, watching Cassian’s silhouette fade into the distance.
