Chapter 188

Isaac

Isaac’s hands were still shaking as he walked through the palace corridors. Not from nerves—from rage. The flight back from Silvermist had done nothing to calm the storm brewing inside of him. If anything, seeing Bianca again, meeting his son, and discovering the truth about the forged evidence had only made everything worse.

Because now he knew. Bianca was innocent. She’d been protecting their child from a threat she thought was real, and he’d spent five years without her because someone had forged evidence to pin the tragedy on him.

The entire time he was in Silvermist, Isaac had kept his mental walls up, refusing to let Bianca touch the mate bond they shared. It hadn’t been easy, and it wasn’t as if Isaac wanted to do it; but he had to keep his head clear about everything.

He had felt her, of course, try to send a signal through the mate bond. Did that mean she still loved him? He wasn’t certain.

Frankly, Isaac wasn’t even certain if he was ready to open up that channel again. He understood why Bianca had to hide, but the fact that she had taken off and let him believe she and their son were dead for five years after everything they had been through together still fucking hurt like hell.

Isaac wasn’t sure if he could ever fully move past that.

He had worked so hard to earn Bianca’s trust when they were together; he had poured his heart out to her, even if he had never said those three little words. She had been everything to him, the catalyst for all of the positive changes in his life.

Everything he did, he did for her.

And she had just… taken off. Without even trying to talk to him. Not once, for five years, had she or any of her associates tried to contact him and find out the truth. All it would have taken was one conversation to set the record straight, and they hadn’t even risked that. As if Isaac were that untrustworthy.

And then, of course, there was fucking Zane.

Was was Zane to Bianca? Were they just “friends”, still? Or more? Isaac saw the way the Beta looked at her. His scent was all over the inside of her house; hell, he even had a room down the hall, Isaac had deduced from a brief snoop around the mansion. Zane was living with her, at least part time.

Isaac recalled bitterly the kiss on the cheek he’d seen the day those “rogues” had attacked Silvermist. He had seen the glances between those two, the moments Zane’s hand had brushed across her lower back, the familiarity between them.

All this time, Isaac had never moved on. He never intended to love another—he wouldn’t even touch another, not even when Ella’s scent was so strong it made his wolf go wild.

Meanwhile, had Bianca fallen for Zane? For the man who had confessed his love five years ago, the man Isaac suspected of having ulterior motives from the start?

Isaac thought Bianca was dead. But she was alive, knowing that he was still out there, and she had chosen Zane.

Hadn’t she?

Just as Isaac suspected, his Beta was waiting for him outside his office, along with Dr. Mercer from the lab. Both men straightened when they saw Isaac approaching. Isaac shoved away the thoughts about Bianca for now and quickened his pace.

“Your Majesty,” his Beta said carefully as Isaac strode up to them. “The test results are in.”

Isaac stopped walking. “And?”

Dr. Mercer cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, Your Majesty?”

“Just fucking tell me.”

The scientist glanced at his Beta, who nodded. “My suspicions were correct, Your Majesty. The perfume contains synthetic pheromones designed to mimic the chemical signature of a fated mate bond.”

Isaac’s fists clenched. “Explain.”

“The compound is incredibly sophisticated,” Dr. Mercer said. “It triggers the same neurological responses as a true mate bond—the overwhelming attraction, the possessive instincts, the inability to resist. But it’s entirely artificial.”

His vision blurred at the edges.

Years. Ella had been falsifying a mate bond for years.

Every time he’d felt that overwhelming pull toward her, every moment he’d thought she was his fated mate, every second he’d spent pushing Bianca away before her ‘death’—it had all been built on a lie.

For years, the girl Isaac had practically grown up with had been manipulating his emotions, his instincts, his very biology. Making him believe she was his fated mate while he had pushed away the woman who actually was.

Bianca. His true mate. The mother of his child. The first and only woman he had felt true love for.

And Ella had planted the seeds the night Bianca had disappeared. She had told Bianca that Isaac planned to hurt her.

Was Ella behind the incident?

Had Ella had something to do with it, or was it just a coincidence?

“Where is she?” Isaac’s voice came out as a growl.

His Beta stepped back. “Your Majesty—”

“Where. The fuck. Is Ella?”

“Her suite, I believe. But Isaac, you might want to think about this rationally before—”

Isaac was already moving, his feet carrying him through the palace corridors faster than he’d ever moved in his life. His wolf was clawing at his insides, howling for blood, for vengeance, for the chance to tear apart the woman who’d stolen five years of his life.

Five years he could have spent with Bianca. Five years he could have known his son.

He didn’t bother knocking when he reached Ella’s suite.

“Ella!” he roared.

Silence.

Isaac stepped inside, his eyes scanning the room. The first thing he noticed was how empty it looked. The expensive perfumes that usually lined her vanity were gone. The designer clothes that filled her closet—gone. Even the jewelry box that she’d always been so particular about was missing.

But it was the piece of cream-colored paper on her bed that made his blood turn to ice.

Isaac crossed the room in three strides and snatched up the note. Ella’s familiar handwriting filled the page.

“Isaac,

I’m sorry to leave like this, but I couldn’t face you after everything that’s happened. I know you never loved me.

And the truth is, I’ve fallen in love with someone else. Someone who actually loves me back, unlike you. You’ve never really loved me, have you? I was always just a replacement for her—for the woman you lost. I could see it in your eyes every time you looked at me. You were always searching for someone else.

I can’t live in her shadow anymore. I won’t.

I hope you find whatever it is you’re really looking for.

Goodbye. -Ella”

Isaac read the note once. Twice. Three times. The words blurred together from rage on the fourth read through.

She had slipped through his fingers. Ella had run away the very moment Isaac had learned the truth about her. Before he could get answers about the attempt on Bianca’s life, Ella had miraculously vanished, claiming to have another lover.

Isaac didn’t believe a word of that note for a single second.

Without hesitating, he returned to his Beta, ordering him to begin a thorough investigation into Ella. Wherever she went, Isaac would find her. He would get answers.

And if she was responsible for the five years that Isaac had missed being with his mate and son… If she was responsible for his only true mate falling into the arms of another…

Then she would pay.