Isla’s POV~
Pain split through my skull the moment my consciousness returned.
It wasn’t a headache.
It felt like someone had taken a dull axe and driven it right between my eyes.
I groaned and pressed the heel of my palm against my temple, pressing hard, like I could physically hold the pieces of my head together.
My skin felt hot and clammy.
The world was spinning, tilting on its axis.
“Isla?
Can you hear me?” The voice was soft.
Too soft and concerned.
It made my chest ache.
I couldn’t remember the last time anyone spoke to me like that.
Maybe never.
Not in this life.
Gentle voices were for people who weren’t broken.
They were for people who hadn’t spent eighteen years being a punching bag.
I forced my eyes open.
I regretted it immediately.
The light was too bright, stabbing into my brain.
I squeezed my eyes shut again, tears leaking out from the corners.
“Easy,” the voice said again.
It was closer now.
“Don’t move fast.
You’ve been out for hours.”
Hours?
I lay still, letting nausea roll over me.
I focused on the feeling beneath me.
It wasn’t the hard, lumpy mattress of my cot back at home.
This was soft.
Too soft.
I moved my hand, and silk slid against my skin.
Expensive silk.
Where the hell was I?
My vision swam, blurry shapes slowly trying to focus.
I blinked again, fighting the burn in my eyes.
When I finally managed to keep them open, I looked up.
The ceilings were molded plaster painted a creamy white with gold trim.
There was a chandelier, real crystal, hanging above me.
The walls were a deep, rich burgundy.
This wasn’t the pack house.
This wasn’t my father’s dump of an office.
This was…
wealth.
Old money.
I tried to sit up, but my arms felt like lead.
Then a scent hit me.
It hit me harder than the pain in my head.
It bypassed my logic and went straight to my animal brain.
My wolf paced inside my ribs, whining, scratching at the walls of my mind.
Honey.
Smoke.
And old leather-bound books.
It was a scent that had haunted my dreams for months.
The scent of the one brother who hadn’t touched me, but who had watched.
The one who had let it happen.
Maddox.
My eyes snapped open wide, ignoring the burning light.
He was there.
He was leaning over the bed, his face inches from mine.
He looked wrecked.
His dark hair was a mess, falling over his forehead, and there were dark circles under his eyes that looked like bruises.
His hand was hovering in the air, shaking slightly, like he wanted to touch my shoulder but was terrified of what would happen if he did.
They all looked the same.
The curse of the quadruplets.
Identical jawlines, identical noses.
But I knew how to tell them apart.
I had learned the hard way.
Asher smelled like pine needles and cold metal.
Slade smelled like rain and gasoline.
Blair smelled like mint and stale coffee.
And Maddox…
God, Maddox.
He smelled like every good memory I had before he ruined them all.
He smelled like the library where I used to hide, like the cookies the pack baker used to give me when no one was looking.
I scrambled back, or I tried to.
My body felt heavy.
I only managed to shift a few inches, the sheets rustling loudly in the silence.
“Get away from me,” I whispered.
My voice was a wreck.
It sounded like I’d swallowed a handful of gravel.
Maddox froze.
His hand dropped to the mattress, gripping the sheet until his knuckles turned white.
He looked at me with eyes that were too desperate.
“Isla,” he breathed, and the sound of my name on his tongue made my stomach turn over.
“Get away,” I said again, louder this time, though it still came out as a croak.
“Don’t touch me.”
“You’re in the pack house,” Maddox said.
His voice was shaking.
“Brock and Slade brought you here after you passed out.
You’ve been unconscious for—”
“I don’t care.” I snapped.
Maddox stopped talking.
He looked at me, really looked at me, and I saw the conflict in his eyes.
He stood up slowly, hands raised in a surrender I didn’t believe in.
“Isla, please.
You need to calm down.
You’re safe.”
Safe.
The word made me want to laugh.
It made me want to scream.
I pushed myself up on my elbows.
The room tilted sideways.
Nausea rolled in my stomach.
I gritted my teeth and forced my body to obey me. The source of this chapter is g.com.
I sat up.
I looked at him.
Really looked at him.
The boy I had stared at in the cafeteria for two years.
The boy who had looked at me with disgust when he found out my father was a traitor.
I spat on the floor.
Not because I had saliva, but because I needed to show him how much I hated him.
“I need you to understand something,” I said.
My voice was low, trembling not from fear, but from rage.
Maddox swallowed.
I saw his Adam’s apple bob.
He looked anxious.
“You should lie down,” he said, taking a step closer.
“You’re hurt.
The shift… it took a lot out of you.”
“I don’t care about the shift,” I snapped.
“I don’t care about being hurt.”
I locked eyes with him.
I had to make him see.
I had to make him understand that this, whatever this was, wasn’t a fairy tale.
“I don’t care about the mate bond,” I said.
Maddox went very still.
He froze in the middle of the room, like a statue.
The air between us grew heavy.
“I don’t care if we’re fated,” I continued, my voice getting louder.
“I don’t care what my wolf wants.
And I sure as hell don’t care what your wolf wants.
I will not give in to this.
I won’t be your pet.
I won’t be your punching bag.
And I won’t be your mate.”
Maddox’s face crumpled.
Just for a second.
A flash of pain that looked real.
“Isla—”
“Don’t,” I bit out.
I scrambled back against the headboard, pulling the sheet up to my chest like a shield.
“I haven’t forgotten.
I haven’t forgotten what you did to me.
What all of you did!”
Memories hit me.
The tripping.
The mocking.
The way Bella had kicked me.
The way Slade had held the knife.
“Three years,” I yelled, tears stinging my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
“Three years of hell!
Three years of humiliation and pain!
You made my life a living nightmare, Maddox.
You looked at me like I was trash.
Like I was nothing!”
‘That’s not fair!
‘He didn’t know!’ my wolf snarled, pacing inside my mind, clawing at the barriers I had built.
‘We didn’t know we were mates!
If he had known, he would have protected you!
He would have kept you safe!’
“Shut up,” I whispered to myself.
I shoved my wolf back down.
I took all that rage, all that animal instinct, and I slammed a mental door on it.
I locked it.
I bolted it.
The effort made my head explode.
Pain.
White-hot, blinding pain shot through my skull.
I gasped, my hands flying to my head, clutching my hair.
I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped my lips.
Maddox sucked in a shaky breath.
He looked terrified.
He took another step toward the bed, ignoring my command to stay away.
“Please,” he begged.
His voice was cracking.
“Please stop blocking her.
You’re hurting yourself.
I can feel it.
It’s hurting me too.”
“Good!” I snarled.
“Maybe I should hurt.
Maybe I deserve it for being stupid enough…”
I cut myself off.
I almost said it.
I almost said the words that would destroy me.
Stupid enough to love you.
I couldn’t say it.
I couldn’t let him know that.
That was the one thing I had left.
My secret.
My shame.
If I told him I had loved him, he would own me completely.
He would know he had broken me.
Maddox stood there, looking at my tears.
He looked helpless.
The arrogant, cruel Alpha heir was gone.
In his place was just a boy who realized he had made a mistake he couldn’t fix.
Silence fell.
Then, he spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
The world stopped.
The pain in my head didn’t go away, but the noise in my mind stopped.
I stared at him.
I couldn’t breathe.
I felt like he had punched me in the gut.
Maddox.
The cold, untouchable Maddox.
Apologizing.
To me.
It didn’t make sense.
It felt wrong.
It felt like a trick.
I waited for the punchline.
I waited for him to laugh and say ‘Gotcha.’
But he didn’t laugh.
He just looked at me with sad, desperate eyes.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
My voice was barely a whisper.
“What?”
“When I found out,” Maddox said quietly, “that you were our mate.
That you were the person moon goddess chose for us… I wanted to die.”
My breath hitched.
He added quickly.
“Not because I didn’t want you.
But because I realized why I’d done.
And you have every right to reject us.
I’m so sorry, Isla.”
The apology… I don’t know… it made me break down into sobs.
I cried until I couldn’t breathe.
I was still sobbing when I heard running footsteps.
“WHAT THE FUCK—“ The door slammed open.
Brock bursted in, his eyes were wild.
“We heard crying—“
Then he stppped dead when he saw me crying.
“WHAT did you DO?” Slade is right behind him, pushing past.
“Maddox, what the hell did you—“
“Isla?” Colt’s voice was was urgent.
“Are you hurt?
What happened?”
I couldn’t answer.
All I could do was to keep crying.
All three of them were staring at me with identical expressions of panic and horror.
“You APOLOGIZED?” Colt rounded on Maddox.
“And made her CRY?”
“I didn’t mean to—” Maddox started.
“She’s having a breakdown!” Slade snapped.
“I KNOW—”
“Shut up,” Brock said quietly.
“All of you.”
Then he’s looking at me.
Really looking.
“This isn’t pain crying,” he says slowly.
“This is…
release.”
I nodded frantically.
Because he’s right.
I’m not crying because Maddox hurt me more.
I was crying because he FINALLY acknowledged that he hurt me at all.
“Oh,” Colt breathes.
“Oh, sweetheart—”
And then they were moving.
All four of them converging on me.
“No—” I tried to say.
“Don’t—”
Too late.
Colt sat on my right.
Slade on my left.
Brock at the foot of the bed.
Maddox stayed where he was, but he’s close.
“We’re sorry,” Colt said.
“I’m sorry.
For everything—”
“I’m sorry too,” Slade added.
“For every cruel thing—”
“We all are,” Asher says quietly.
“We’re all so fucking sorry.”
And then they held me.
Carefully.
Gently.
Like I was made of glass.
My wolf sighed in satisfaction.
But I tried to will my body to react, to see if it was still responding to trauma but instead my body melts deeper into theirs and I relax for the first time in my life.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
When next I woke up, I realized I was still in their arms.
For a moment, I forgot everything and just enjoyed the warmth.
Then reality crashes back.
I jerked upright immediately and regretted it.
My head was pounding.
“Easy,” Brock said from somewhere nearby.
“You’re still recovering.”
I looked around.
All four of them were still there.
Watching me with worried eyes.
“How long was I asleep?” My voice was hoarse from crying.
“Couple hours,” Colt said.
“We need to talk,” Brock said, sitting forward.
“About your health.”
My guard slammed back up.
“I’m fine.”
“You passed out from a traumatic shift,” Brock said carefully.
“You’ve clearly been malnourished.
And—” he hesitates.
“We saw some of your scars.”
I pulled my sleeves down instinctively.
“I’m fine,” I repeated.
“Isla.” Brock’s voice is gentle but firm.
“As pack leader—”
“I’m NOT part of your pack,” I cut him off.
“You’re our MATE,” Slade says.
“Which means your health is our concern whether you like it or not.”
“I don’t like it,” I snapped.
“Noted,” Brock said.
“But I still think you need a medical examination.
Your father—” he stopped.
“The injuries we’ve seen suggest long-term abuse.
We need to make sure nothing is permanently damaged.”
“No.”
“Isla—“
“I said NO.
My body.
My choice.”
Silence fell.
“Okay,” Brock said finally.
“Okay.
We won’t force you.
But will you at least think about it?”
I don’t even answer.
“Someone should stay with you,” Colt said, changing the subject.
“I’ll stay,” Maddox volunteered immediately.
I opened my mouth to refuse.
“Please,” Maddox said quietly.
“Let me take care of you.
Just for tonight.”
I should say no.
I should kick them all out.
But I was so tired.
And the thought of being alone made my wolf whine.
“Fine,” I muttered.
“But you stay on the FLOOR.”
“Deal,” Maddox agreed immediately.