Marked By Four

One.

Isla's POV:

The first thing I noticed was the smoke. It swallowed the night sky so completely that I couldn't see the moon anymore. Then came the screaming.

At thirteen years old, I didn't understand why grown men—wolves who had faced rogue packs without fear—were suddenly running in every direction.

"Mom?" My voice disappeared beneath another explosion. The ground shook so violently that I stumbled backward. Someone crashed into me, nearly knocking me off my feet before disappearing into the thick black smoke.

The familiar scent of burning gasoline filled my lungs. Then another smell followed. Blood. So much blood.

“Isla!”

I spun around when I heard my dad’s voice. He was running straight toward me, his clothes all ripped and covered in red stains. His gray eyes, usually so calm, looked wild as he scanned the chaos. When they finally landed on me, he grabbed my shoulders really tight. It actually hurt.

“Are you hurt? Tell me right now, sweetheart—are you okay?” he asked, his voice rough and shaky.

I shook my head fast, too scared to even get words out. For just a second, relief washed over his face, but it disappeared almost immediately.

He glanced over his shoulder real quick. Whatever he saw made his whole body go stiff, every muscle tight like he was ready for a fight.

“Where’s Mom?” I finally asked, my voice small.

Before he could answer, another loud blast shook the valley. Flames shot up high from the direction of the Nightfang clubhouse.

The building—our clubhouse—was on fire. I couldn’t believe it.

“No…” I tried to push past him to run toward it.

“No!” Dad caught me around the waist and held me back. “Listen to me, Isla. You have to stay with your mother, okay? Promise me.”

“I don’t understand what’s happening!” I cried.

“I know you don’t, baby. I know.” His voice cracked a little. “Just stay close to her.”

“Where’s Ryker? Where are Kael, Jace, and Damon?” I asked, looking around desperately at all the scared faces in the crowd. “They were right here with me just a minute ago—”

“They’re safe,” he said quickly, almost too quickly. It sounded automatic, like he was saying it because he had to. But I knew he was lying. If they were really safe, why did he keep staring at the burning clubhouse like that?

“Isla!”

My mom came bursting through the smoke and threw her arms around me so tight I could barely breathe. She was crying—actual tears running down her face. I had never seen my mom cry before, not even once.

She held my face in her shaking hands, like she needed to make sure I was really there. “Thank the Goddess you’re okay… I was so scared I’d lost you.”

“Mom, what’s going on? Why is everything burning?” I asked, my voice trembling.

She looked at Dad. Dad looked away. Neither of them said a word.

Instead, Dad unclasped the white-gold wolf pendant from around his neck and pressed it into my palm.

“Keep this safe for me,” he said quietly.

I frowned and looked down at it. “But Dad, this is yours. You always wear it.”

“Now it’s yours,” he said, closing my fingers around it until the edges dug into my palm. “No matter what happens tonight… don’t lose it. Keep it with you always, understand?”

A cold feeling ran down my back. “Dad… you’re scaring me.”

Far off in the trees, I heard the loud roar of motorcycle engines—lots of them, coming fast. Headlights cut through the smoke like bright, angry eyes. All the wolves around us started panicking even more.

“They’re here!” someone yelled. “We’ve been betrayed!”

Betrayed? I looked from one scared face to another, totally lost. Who would betray us? And why?

Dad stepped in front of us right away, using his body like a shield between us and whatever was coming.

Mom grabbed my wrist hard. “We’re leaving. Right now.”

“What?” I said, confused. “We can’t just—”

“Now!” she screamed, her voice full of fear I’d never heard before. She had never yelled at me like that in my whole life. It froze me in place.

Dad jumped on his motorcycle and kicked it to life. Mom practically shoved me toward the back seat.

“Hurry up, Isla! Get on!”

I had barely put one foot on the bike when gunfire started exploding everywhere. Silver bullets whistled through the air. The windshield of a truck nearby shattered into pieces.

People were screaming. Wolves were shifting right there in the open. Everything turned into total chaos. Dad shoved me off the bike just before another bullet hit the fuel tank.

The explosion threw all three of us in different directions.

My ears were ringing so loud. The world spun around me. For a few terrifying seconds, all I could hear was this high-pitched whistle. When my eyes finally cleared, flames were dancing all around us.

Someone was dragging me away.

“Mom!” I fought against the hands holding me. “Mom, where are you?!”

Then a familiar face appeared above me—Aunt Celeste.

She pulled me up so fast I almost fell again. “We have to go, Isla. Come on.”

“No!” I tried to pull free. “My parents—I can’t leave them!”

“They’ll find us later. We have to move now,” she said.

“I won’t leave them behind!” I shouted, tears burning my eyes.

Her face… it broke my heart. There wasn’t any hope in her eyes. Only deep, heavy grief.

Then, over the sound of the crackling fire, the gunshots, and the howling wolves, I heard someone shouting my name.

“ISLA!”

I turned without thinking. Through the thick wall of smoke, I saw four figures running toward the burning clubhouse. One of them reached out like he was trying to get to me. Someone else was holding him back. Then the smoke swallowed them completely.

“Ryker…” Tears made everything blurry. “Kael…”

Another explosion boomed. “Jace…”

Someone screamed. “Damon…”

Aunt Celeste wrapped her arm tight around my waist and basically carried me toward a black SUV waiting past the trees.

I fought her the whole way, screaming until my throat felt raw. I begged her to let me go back. She never stopped. The SUV sped off into the night.

I watched the only home I had ever known disappear behind smoke and flames.

I didn’t know that was the last time I would see my parents. I didn’t know that by morning, my dad would be called the biggest traitor the Nightfang Motorcycle Club had ever seen. I didn’t know that everyone I loved would grow up thinking I had abandoned them.

All I knew was that I had left the people I loved behind. And somewhere in those flames, a part of me never made it out.

*****

Ten Years Later

I woke up suddenly before the sun came up, my heart pounding hard against my ribs like it wanted to escape.

The nightmare had ended the same way it always did. Smoke, fire, someone calling my name, then nothing but silence.

I sat up in bed and pressed my hand to my chest, trying to slow my breathing down.

The bedroom door opened just a crack.

“You had the dream again, didn’t you?” Aunt Celeste said softly.

I looked up and saw her standing there, already dressed for the day. Ten years had put some silver streaks in her dark hair, but the sadness in her eyes had never gone away.

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” I said quietly.

“You didn’t,” she replied, stepping inside with two steaming mugs of coffee. “I couldn’t sleep either.” She handed me one and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me.

We didn’t say anything for a little while.

Morning sunlight was starting to come through the curtains, warming up the room that had been my home for the last ten years.

Tomorrow, someone else would be living here. Because today, I was finally leaving.

Aunt Celeste broke the quiet first. “Your motorcycle is all packed up and ready out front. I made sure everything was secure.”

I nodded.

“The admission papers and all your documents are in your backpack,” she added. “I double-checked.”

I nodded again.

“And you’re still sure you want to do this?” she asked, looking at me closely.

This time I met her eyes. “Yeah. I have to.”

“You know what’s waiting for you back in Blackridge,” she said gently. “It won’t be easy.”

“I know.”

“They’ll remember your name the second they see you.”

“I know that too.”

“They might never forgive you for what they think happened.”

A bitter little smile crossed my lips. “I’ve spent ten years being hated for something I still don’t even understand,” I said, reaching up to touch the white gold-wolf pendant hanging under my shirt. “If there’s even a small chance I can prove my dad was innocent and clear his name… then I’m going to take it.” I glanced toward the window, where my motorcycle sat waiting in the driveway. “I have to try.”

Aunt Celeste reached over and gave my hand a tight squeeze, a small sad smile curling on her lips.