OUR ENCOUNTER

HEARTBREAK

Isla’s POV

The day had only begun a few hours ago, but it felt like no one had slept at all throughout the night, and that was because of what was coming. The pack gathering.

It was a gathering that had existed for a long time. A moment where all wolves mingled with each other, wined and dined, showed off their mates, and even found love among themselves. Everyone was always excited about it.

They all were.

Unlike me, who would be avoided as usual, gossiped about, or even bullied and humiliated. Hence, the reason why I had not attended it in the last two years.

But this time, I, Isla Warren, would be at the pack’s gathering because I finally had a reason to.

“Isla!”

I jolted at the sudden sound of that angry voice, hastily hiding the dress I had picked out for the event back into my wardrobe. I rushed to my squeaky, worn-out bed, pretending to be asleep as I hopped into it.

“Isla!!”

The voice came again, angrier and drawing closer. I stayed put, my eyes tightly shut.

She swung the door open in a way that made my heart skip, but I remained still even though fear slowly enveloped me as she marched to where I lay.

“Get up, you miserable, good-for-nothing weak she-wolf!” she yelled, kicking my leg harshly.

I yelped in pain. I just could not pretend anymore.

Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, threatening to fall, but I was strong enough to hold them back. There was no reason to let them fall because if tears could save me, they would have already saved me a long time ago from my family’s maltreatment and the pack’s humiliation.

But then, there was no need to cry because the freedom and love I had craved for fourteen years were finally within my reach today. Roman was going to make it happen. Hence, I did not have to let them get to me.

Not today of all days.

“Athena, what do you want?” I questioned, glaring at her.

“Where is it?”

“Where is what?” I darted my eyes around.

“The dress.”

“What dress?”

She ignored my question and walked over to my wardrobe.

I bolted toward her instantly, trying to stop her. “Athena, don’t touch my stuff!”

“Get lost!” Without looking at me, she shoved me down. Athena busied herself ransacking my things before suddenly pausing when she picked up a silver dress Roman had gifted me on my twenty-second birthday.

When we were still friends and siblings, I once told her I would wear that dress to the pack gathering someday in the future.

Guess she held onto that.

She turned toward me like someone who had just found a box of gold bars, raising the dress with a smirk.

“Is this it?”

I did not say a word. I was fuming at that point.

She moved closer to me, grabbed my hair, and shoved the dress in my face.

“I see it’s the dress. Hence, the reason why you are suddenly mute.”

She let go of my hair, the force causing me to fall back to the floor.

“This is what you planned to wear to the gathering, right?” she smirked, her eyes darting back and forth between the dress and me.

I still did not say a word.

Using her fingers, she tore the dress into shreds, laughing heartily while maintaining eye contact with me. Then she suddenly stopped, boring her eyes into mine.

“What? Are you hurt?” she pouted, squatting to meet my level on the floor.

I still did not say a word. In fact, I thought I was calm in the chaos, only that my chest hurt a little from seeing my favorite gift from Roman become trash.

“Sorry, cousin. I didn’t mean to ruin your dress. Unfortunately, you won’t be attending the gathering,” she said with a feigned remorseful expression.

“She will attend, Athena.”

A voice sounded behind her.

Her mother.

The orchestrator of everything.

She never liked me, for once, and she hated me even more when Roman chose me over her daughter. We had all been good childhood friends until she somehow managed to change her daughter’s mindset about me. She made her believe that I had taken what she claimed belonged to Athena.

I watched her walk in, confused.

She was not the type to go against her daughter.

Athena herself looked confused and angry.

“Mother, what are you saying?” she asked as she stood up.

Aunt Clara tapped her daughter’s shoulder like they had something planned, but she did not say a word. Athena threw the torn dress in my face before storming out angrily.

“Get ready. It starts in an hour.”

Aunt Clara left as well.

I remained seated on the floor, still trying to understand what had just happened, but I could not make sense of any of it.

I stood up regardless, considering the time I had already wasted. Roman specifically wanted me to come. There was no way I would miss out on that, even if my aunt and Athena strongly opposed it, because who knew? He might want to propose to me in front of everyone, just as I had been suspecting, and I might end up missing it.

I quickly brought out the dress I had originally planned to wear. I had hidden it earlier because I knew the kind of people I lived with. And surviving there meant staying ahead of them.

I took a quick shower, got ready, and left.

Upon arriving at the hall, I felt nostalgic. I recognized faces and knew the exact way the room smelled whenever too many wolves were packed into one space.

I stood near the front where I could easily see him, and surely enough, I spotted him.

He looked extremely ravishing.

The absolute love of my life.

I believed the Moon Goddess created him for me.

Flashbacks of when he held my hand and asked me to attend the gathering filled my head, making me blush.

He had meant those words. I just believe.

“I have something important to say to you. You must be there.”

Then Roman stood at the head of the hall.

He looked the way he always did. Like the room belonged to him. Like gravity bent slightly in his direction.

The murmuring slowly died down as wolves turned their attention toward him.

Roman’s eyes swept across the room briefly before stopping on Athena.

Not me.

Something inside my chest twisted painfully.

He stretched his hand toward Athena, and she smiled instantly, moving toward him with the kind of confidence I suddenly realized she had possessed all evening.

My stomach tightened.

No.

No.

Roman brought her to stand beside him before facing the crowd again.

“I have an announcement to make,” he said calmly, his deep voice echoing across the hall. “After much consideration, I have decided to take Athena Warren as my chosen mate.”

The hall went silent.

Completely silent.

For one second, nobody moved.

Then the whispers began.

The sound crashed around me violently.

“What?”

“Wasn’t he with Isla?”

“Did he leave her?”

“I knew it wouldn’t last.”

“A weak wolf could never keep Roman Volkov.”

My ears rang loudly.

I could not breathe properly.

Eight feet away from me, Athena smiled proudly like she had just won the greatest prize in the world.

No wonder Aunt Clara allowed me to attend this.

This was all her. A plan to humiliate me.

Roman said something else, but I could not hear it anymore because all I could see again was still the flashback of him holding my hand days ago.

I have something important to say to you.

My foolish heart had thought it was love.

I stood there frozen while everyone stared at me openly now. Some with pity. Others with amusement.

Roman finally looked at me.

And the worst part?

There was no guilt in his eyes.

Only relief.

Like choosing her had been the easiest decision he had ever made.

Athena suddenly lifted her hand, showing off the expensive silver bracelet Roman once promised to give me.

The same bracelet I once pointed at in a store.

The same one, he said, only his future mate would wear.

A few wolves laughed quietly.

That was when I finally understood.

Everyone knew.

Everyone except me.

And just as the humiliation began swallowing me whole, a deep voice suddenly cut through the crowded hall.

“Roman.”

The entire room instantly fell silent again.

Every wolf lowered their head immediately.

My heart almost stopped.

Because there was only one man capable of silencing an entire hall with a single word.

Alpha Ryan Volkov had arrived.