Chapter 3

"Tell me the truth, and you owe me that at least," I shouted at my big brother as he mopped himself up with tissues.

    " OK, look, it is not such a big deal, but I got involved with a girl. She had a mate, and he found out. Now he wants my guts for garters. She is also pregnant, and her father says if it is mine, then he is expecting me to mark and be mated to her."

    "Isla, there is nothing to be frightened of; we will be fine, so will you just please stop stressing out at me." He sighed and gave me a look.

    "Are you serious right now?" I threw my hands up in the air, feeling so fed up. My brother was such a douchebag. 

    How could he be so damn stupid?

    Throwing the discarded tissues onto the back of the car, he turned to me with eyes blazing and said, "Well, if you had never run away, then we would not be here right now."

    Five whole years of being away from my family, and now I am being blamed for stuff that is not even my fault. 

    "I think you forgot the part where this is my fault." I scowled, grabbing my bag and reaching to open the door. Daniel immediately bolted out of the car and met me at the other side. I was angry and very disappointed in my brother. 

    How could he do this to me?

    To our family?

    "Our parents must be so proud of you, you idiot." I scolded him with a slap across the cheeks. Covering his face in surprise but not retaliating, he took it.

    " Isla, they do not know about Maddie. Mum called me and said she was ill and wanted us all together as a family. So, come on, please, we should get out of here." He kept glancing over his shoulders like he feared someone was following us. 

    I would not stick around and become a part of his problem. 

    "I am going back to where I am happy, and my life is there now and not in some messed-up dysfunctional drama land," I told him firmly. I meant every word of it, too. 

    It was true. 

    Did he believe I wanted to be on the run halfway across someone else's territory with him?

    He was very mistaken to think that I would be so stupid.

    I was about to call Zara to come to pick me up because I was so done with my brother and his bullshit. I was so disappointed in him for messing up his life like this and dragging me into it. He had lost the plot. 

    "No, you are not phoning anybody, now get back in the damn car so we can get out of here and go and be with our mother before she leaves this world," he shouted harshly in my face, causing me to burst into floods of tears. He had never spoken to me like that or made me cry, but here I was, blubbering like a baby, while he practically threw me back into the car and slammed the door behind him. I hated him. 

    My wet tears now blurred my vision. I ignored him as he got back into the driver's seat and drove off down the road. I remained silent and must have fallen asleep because next, though I know, we stopped. Opening my eyes, I sat in my seat and looked out the window. 

    It was just as I remember.

    We were back at the Pembroke Pack. 

    It was weird as hell to be back here after so many years. I have never forgotten that horrible day when Alpha Miller rejected me in front of everyone. But I was not that nerdy little freak anymore; I was stronger, confident and, above all, I knew how to handle myself better. Never again would I allow idiots like Miller and Mora to break me down. Not ever. 

    Nothing prepared me for the sight of Millier and Mora just a few feet away from me.

    "You lied to me, and you think it's okay to do that; you chose me as your Luna, and I deserve much more respect than you give me." I heard Mora scream at Miller, her long brown curls tied back into a ponytail, and she looked pretty much the same as she always had, only a bit of weight on her. I was curious about the little bump she seemed to be carrying. Daniel had never mentioned anything about her possibly being pregnant, but then again, I suppose he probably assumed that I would already have known about that.

    "She was nothing, nothing compared to you, my baby girl. It is you that I want and who I come to be with every night. You know that you are my number one." Miller reached out to her, but she slapped him away. 

    I wondered if I could sneak away without being seen. I did not want to be stuck in the middle of their domestic. 

    Quietly opening the door, I climbed out and smiled at how easily I had managed that. Taking a few more steps around the car, I snuck down and ran towards the woods. 

    "Isla, where are you going?"

    SHIT!

     I heard my brother shout out after me as he was coming out of the packhouse, probably to check if I was awake. 

    "Isla, what? Where?" Mora exclaimed in a confused state as she turned around to see what my brother was shouting at. 

    As I turned, my eyes immediately locked with his.

    Alpha Miller.

    I could see his shocked face as he looked me up and down.

    My heart was thumping like crazy in my chest, but in my head, all I felt was disgust and hatred towards the one that I had mistakenly been paired with by the moon goddess. 

    What the hell had she been thinking? 

    "You!" Mora marched up to me like a crazy psycho. Miller ran after her, shouting for her to calm down and to stop. 

    Of course, she was not about to listen to his commands. 

    "Isla?" Daniel was running as well. 

    "Get away from my sister," Daniel yelled as Mora yanked my hair, pulling me back towards her. She was angry at me. And for what?

    Since I was supposed to be in her shoes, Luna was mated to her Alpha. She wore his mark and was about to bear him a child—an heir to the pack. 

    So, why would she possibly be so mad at me?

    I had disappeared five years ago and allowed them to get on with it. He rejected me. I accepted it and moved on with my life. This was just some crazy shit that I honestly did not want to deal with. 

    "Mora. Let her go." Alpha Miller scooped her up into his arms, kicking and screaming as she cussed at me. 

    I would have easily kicked her butt if she were not pregnant. 

    She deserved to feel the same hurt that they had subjected me to so many times. 

    "I want her dead. Daniel, what the hell is your stupid sister doing here?" Mora growled at my brother furiously. 

    Daniel stood before me protectively, like he had done a lot when we were kids. 

    "My sister has done nothing wrong." Daniel tried to reason with her, but she refused to back down. This bitch sure did hold some grudges. 

    "That bitch of a sister of yours, well, she has been sleeping with my mate." Mora spat, glaring at me with fire in her eyes. 

    "Do what?" I exclaimed, bursting into a fit of laughter. 

    "My sister has done no such thing. We only got back here." Daniel rolled his eyes at Mora's childish hissy fit, and she threw a dagger look my way. 

    "As if I were going near him. You are more than welcome to him." I was disgusted by such an accusation. Alpha Millier had not once taken his eyes off me, and I felt repulsed at how he was staring so longingly at me. He placed his pregnant mate down, causing her to huff and scowl across at me.

    I could see how it bugged him that I should not be falling at his feet, begging for a chance to be his true mate. 

    That was never going to happen. He made me feel sick, so sick that I could not look at him a second longer. 

    "No, I was not with Isla." Alpha Miller finally spoke up, but she glared at him as if not believing the words that he was saying to her.

    It was not my problem if she wanted to think such nonsense. 

    "Then why are you looking at her like that? You rejected her all them years ago and now regret it?" Mora growled. 

    Gosh, she was paranoid. I giggled and lowered my eyes to the floor like it was more interesting. 

    I was not about to waste another minute listening to them.

    They were both so pathetic, and it was a wonder to me how they could lead a pack when he was cheating on her, and she loved nothing more than having all the attention. 

    "So, if you do not mind. Me and my sister have some personal issues to deal with since our mother is extremely unwell." Daniel said rather rudely, which made me look up at the alpha, unsure if he would beat my brother for sounding so disrespectful to Luna. 

    He did not look fussed, and he was far too busy eyeing me up like a lovesick puppy. 

    Urghh.

    "Isla?"

    My sister gasped, rushing towards us and hugging me so tightly as she had missed me. 

    OK, this is getting weird now. 

    This sister had practically hated me being in the same room as her; she had acted like we were not even related and barely bothered me since I had left.

    However, she was still my sister, and I knew it would make my mother happy to see us all getting along. That is also why I had not mentioned my and Daniel's fight earlier.

    "I cannot believe that you are back. I have missed you so much, and you look so, so different." She held me at arm's length and grinned at me happily. 

    Yeah, she was right. I had changed.

     A lot. 

    Mora grunted as my sister fussed over me, gushing about how she could not wait to go shopping and have our hair done together, just sister things. 

    I smiled back at my sister, thoroughly enjoying the jealous looks of Mora and the pained vibes from my ex-mate. 

    "Have you got a mate yet? We have so much to catch up on." Cora giggled with excitement and linked my arm as she led me away to the main packhouse. 

    "Did you know that she was coming back?" I heard Mora scream at Miller, and the corners of my lips formed into a smirk as he tried to reason with her. 

    Good luck to him having to put up with her all the time. She was a crazy nutjob. 

    I was glad that I would not have to be sticking around here forever. 

    "She is such a drama queen," Cora whispered when we were out of earshot. "You know, it is obvious that Alpha Miller regrets ever rejecting you as his luna. You look so great, sis." 

    I could not help but smile at that statement. Alpha Miller regretted rejecting me? 

    Well, he would have to live with that mistake for the rest of his life because I, for one, could not give a monkey hoot what he thought or did any more. 

    I was only here for my mother. 

    She needed me, and she was all that mattered right now.