Page 58 of Alpha's Runaway Mate

I followed him for a few steps, but my attention was pulled toward the woods on the edge of the pack grounds. There, standing just beyond the trees, was Isolde. The moment our eyes met, she turned sharply and disappeared into the woods, leaving only a rustle in the underbush behind.

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

I paused, my heart heavy with the weight of the sight. “Why don’t you go ahead, Jonathan?” I said quietly, pressing the hammer into his hand. “I’ll join you in a bit.”

I followed the trail Isolde had taken, her scent lingering faintly in the air like a taunt. I slowed to a halt, my eyes scanning the surroundings, every sound and movement prickling at my senses. Her scent was here, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Must be nice being the hero.”

Her voice cut through the silence and I spun around to Isolde leaning lazily against a tree. Her posture was casual, but her eyes were not. They burned with something corrosive and bitter that no longer surprised me, but saddened me. She gave me a slow, deliberate once-over, her lips curling in a half smile. “You look…well,” she said, her voice dripping with a cold indifference. “For someone who just battled the infamous Thane Blackwood, I’d expect you to look a lot…worse.”

Her words carried a sharpness that would have affected me every other day, but I barely flinched. I stared into her eyes, and I realized she just wasn’t there anymore…the woman I’d once known was gone. Anger festered in me, but it was eclipsed by something heavier. Grief.

“I just have one question, Isolde,” I said, my voice low, filled with the weight of grief. “Why? I want answers, and I think you owe me that much. After everything—everything we went through together, how was it so easy for you to hand me over to the very people who wanted me dead? Did I mean so little to you?”

Isolde pushed away from the tree, her eyes blazing with something I could finally name. I’d seen it countless times since I returned, but back then, I couldn’t,wouldn’t, identify what it was. But now, I know. It was hate. Raw, seething, and unfiltered.

“Why?” she scoffed, her tone dripping with mockery. “There you go again, playing the self-righteous act. You think you’re so perfect, Lyra—that everything in your life just falls into place. Kaine, the pack, everything.” Her words were sharp, cutting, with a spitefulness she no longer bothered to hide. “Do you have any idea what it felt like? Watching him look at you like you were the only thing in his world?”

“So, it is true,” I said quietly, the pieces falling into place. Dominic had been right. “You have feelings for Kaine.”

“I loved him,” she snapped, her voice cracking as tears brimmed in her eyes. “But you were always so wrapped up in your perfect little bubble that you never noticed how much I was hurting, how much I tried to remain happy for you when all you did was yap about him every chance you got. And then, when you found out he was your mate—” she laughed, the sound hollow. “That was the day my heart shattered. But even then, I stayed. I swallowed it because that’s what you do for the people you care about. Only that you never cared enough to see.”

Her confession hit me like a tidal wave. Memories rushed back—years of laughter, tears, and everything in between. And yet, I’dmissed it all. I hadn’t seen her unhappiness. I hadn’t seen her pain. I couldn’t speak. Words failed me, and silence became the only response I had to the weight of her confession.

“Do you know what hurts the most?” she continued, a tear sliding down her cheeks. “Even after you left, after all these years, the whole time, his heart was with you. You were gone, yet he never stopped looking for you. Thinking of you. I gave him everything I had—everything—and he never saw me. And you,” she spat, her voice trembling. “You never appreciated what you had. You just…expected it.”

“That’s not true, Isolde. You know that,” I refuted, shaking my head.

She laughed, a bitter, soulless sound. “Oh, but it is.”

“So what?” I snapped, anger rising in me like a tide. “You couldn’t stand to see me happy? I was your best friend, Isolde!”

“No!” she shot back, her voice cutting through the air like a blade. “You were a self-centered girl who thought the world revolved around you. And because you were so blinded by your own selfishness, you never saw the cracks in our relationship. You never saw me beyond the facade I put up every single day.”

She took a pause, wiping at the tears streaming down her face and taking a steadying breath. Then she continued, her expression darkened, her voice lower, colder. “At some point, I realized that I couldn’t stand in your shadow forever, watching you have everything I wanted. It was time for a change. I deserved happiness, too. So, I decided to take it.”

“By betraying me?” My voice wavered, her words bearing down on me. It felt like a knife twisting deep into my gut. The woman Ihad trusted with my life—the girl I’d grown up with—had torn it all apart because she couldn’t stand to see me happy.

“You didn’t just hurt me, Isolde,” I said, my voice quieter now, heavy with the gravity of what she’d done. “You hurt the entire pack. You hurt my son—a child, Isolde. And now Kaine is fighting for his life because of you.”

Her expression didn’t falter. If anything, it hardened. A cold, cynical smile spread across her face, and it made my stomach churn.

She didn’t care.

Not about the pack members who had died because of her. Not about my son. Not about Kaine.

She just didn’t care.

My heart felt like it was splintering under the weight of her betrayal. For the first time, I looked away, blinking back the tears threatening to spill. Somehow, the pain of her treachery cut deeper than any blade, sharper than a thousand needles piercing my skin. What made it worse—what twisted the knife in my gut—was the emptiness in her eyes. I took a shaky breath, steeling myself, swallowing the lump in my throat. Slowly, I turned back to her, my resolve like iron.

“You don’t get to play the victim here, Isolde,” I said, my voice quiet but steady, laced with an authority that made her flinch. Her anger flared, bright and sharp, but I didn’t waver. “Despite all your scheming, all your betrayals, you’ve already lost. Not just Kaine, but me, and the entire pack. You’ve burned every bridge, and now you’re standing alone in the ashes.”

Her laugh was bitter and sharp, like broken glass. “What now? Are you going to run back to the pack? Have them hunt me down? Kill me?”

“No.” My answer was calm, and it made her sneer falter. “I’m going to let you live the rest of your life carrying the weight of the consequences of your actions. Every betrayal, every life you’ve destroyed—it’ll sit on your chest, suffocating you every single day. And when the regret comes, because it will, it’s going to tear apart.“

Her face twisted with rage. “To hell with you!” she spat, voice rising to a near scream. “You think you’re noble, Lyra? You're nothing but a selfish bitch. A sorry excuse for a mother!”

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