Bound by Fate: The Alpha's Luna

Chapter 18: Worlds Apart

Isabella sat in the pack house's main hall, the soft glow of the fire casting flickering shadows on the walls. Alaric and Fenrir stood across from her, their expressions serious. She had been trying to piece together the events that had brought her and others from her world to this strange, new place, but there were still so many questions unanswered—questions that had been gnawing at her for weeks.

"How many people have come over from my world?" Isabella asked, her voice steady but with an edge of frustration she couldn't quite hide. She looked from Alaric to Fenrir, searching their faces for any sign of hesitation or avoidance.

Alaric exchanged a glance with Fenrir before answering, "Across our world, at the last council meeting, it was confirmed that there are about thirty packs that have been affected. Each of these packs has found that people from your world have appeared within their territories, isolated to their packs alone."

Isabella's breath caught in her throat. "How many?" she pressed, her heart beginning to pound as she leaned forward.

"Thousands," Fenrir answered, his voice steady but somber. "Thousands of people, Isabella. They were scattered across the packs, though not all packs received humans."

Isabella sat back, trying to absorb the weight of what he was saying. Thousands of people—people from her world—had been pulled into this strange place. And she hadn't known. Her mind raced. These were people like her, all ripped away from their lives, thrust into a reality none of them had asked for.

She felt a wave of anger rising in her chest. "And all of them were mated? Is that why they were brought here?"

Fenrir nodded, his expression remaining serious. "Yes. Nearly every human who arrived here has been mated to someone from our packs. The bond was immediate, as if it was designed by some force beyond us."

Isabella's head spun. She had seen it happen herself—how people from her group had been mated to werewolves the moment they arrived. It was confusing and overwhelming, but at least there had been some sense of belonging, some purpose to their arrival.

But then a realization struck her, making her sit forward. "Except Jenni," she whispered, the name of the last un-mated woman from her group lingering in the air.

Alaric's expression softened as he met her gaze. "Yes, except Jenni. She's the only one who hasn't found her mate yet."

Isabella's mind raced back to her friend. Jenni, who had been by her side through the chaos of their arrival, was the only one left without a mate. Everyone else had formed these powerful, inexplicable bonds with the wolves in the pack. But Jenni... she had no one.

Isabella's anger flared again, burning hotter. "So what does that mean for her? Why hasn't she found a mate? Why didn't anyone tell me this before?"

"We don't know," Alaric admitted, his voice steady but filled with frustration. "We're trying to understand it ourselves. The bonds that formed seem to follow some kind of pattern, but Jenni's situation is... different."

Isabella stood abruptly, her hands balling into fists at her sides. "Different? That's all you have? She's left without a bond, without a purpose, while the rest of us are tied to this world in ways we can't explain. And you didn't think to tell me any of this?"

Alaric stepped forward, his expression growing tense. "We didn't want to overwhelm you. You were adjusting, trying to find your footing, and we thought—"

"Overwhelm me?" Isabella cut him off, her voice rising with fury. "I'm your Luna, Alaric! How am I supposed to help lead this pack, help the people from my world, when you've kept me in the dark? How am I supposed to make sense of this nightmare when you withhold information?"

Alaric's frustration mirrored hers now, and he took a step closer, trying to stay calm. "It wasn't about keeping you in the dark. You've had enough on your plate—"

"That's not your decision to make!" Isabella shot back, her voice cracking as she struggled to contain the whirlwind of emotions inside her. "Jenni deserves answers! I deserve answers! These people are from my world, and I've been completely clueless about how many lives were shattered. You've known all this time!"

Fenrir, sensing the deepening divide between them, tried to interject. "Isabella, I know it's frustrating, but we were trying to protect you from—"

"Protect me from what? The truth?" Isabella snapped, her eyes flashing with anger. "I don't need your protection! I need to understand what's happening! This isn't just some game where you can decide what I can and can't handle. Jenni has been left without a mate, without a future. What if she never finds one?"

Alaric sighed, running a hand through his silver hair, clearly grappling with her outburst. "We're trying to understand the situation with Jenni. This has never happened before. Her bond is... delayed, or maybe different."

"Or maybe there's no bond at all!" Isabella threw her hands in the air. "And you kept me out of the loop while she suffered alone. You should've told me!"

The room was thick with tension, the firelight casting deep shadows across their faces. Isabella could feel her chest tightening with every breath, her anger mixing with the hurt and confusion she'd carried since her arrival. She felt abandoned by the people she was supposed to trust—by Alaric, who was supposed to be her mate.

"I'm sorry, Isabella," Alaric said finally, his voice quiet but strained. "You're right. We should have told you. We were wrong to keep this from you. From now on, I promise you will know everything. No more secrets."

But Isabella couldn't take it anymore. The apologies felt hollow against the backdrop of all the things they had kept from her. The idea that so many people had been pulled into this world—thousands—and that she hadn't known, was too much to bear. Jenni's isolation from the bond everyone else shared was just one more painful reminder that everything was broken, and they weren't even trying to help her fix it.

"Sorry doesn't change anything," Isabella whispered, her voice filled with a mix of sorrow and anger. "It doesn't change the fact that my entire life was taken from me. It doesn't change the fact that you kept me in the dark about something this important. It doesn't fix this mess."

Alaric reached out as if to comfort her, but Isabella stepped back, her body tense with frustration. "I need space, Alaric. I can't do this right now."

She didn't wait for a response. She turned on her heel and stormed out of the hall, her emotions a whirlwind she couldn't contain. The moment she burst through the doors into the cool evening air, she felt the weight lift slightly, but the anger still smoldered inside her.

Isabella didn't stop walking until she reached the edge of the forest, where the trees loomed tall and the wind rustled the leaves gently. She leaned against a tree, breathing heavily as she tried to make sense of the storm inside her.

Her thoughts kept circling back to Jenni. Everyone from their group had been mated except her. What did that mean for her friend? Would she be stuck in this world without the bond that was supposed to tie her to it? Without someone to protect her, to care for her like the others?

And the thousands of others... She still couldn't wrap her head around that number. Thousands of people like her, ripped from their lives, forced into a fate they had no say in. The thought was suffocating.

Isabella sank down to the ground, resting her head in her hands as the tears she had been holding back finally came. She cried for her old life, for Jenni, for the thousands of others who had been torn from their worlds, and for the deep sense of betrayal that gnawed at her heart.

It was too much. Everything felt like it was falling apart, and she didn't know how to fix it. All she knew was that she couldn't face Alaric, Fenrir, or anyone else right now. Not until she figured out how to deal with the weight of everything that had been kept from her.

As the night deepened and the stars began to appear in the sky, Isabella wiped her eyes, feeling the cool breeze against her flushed skin. She didn't know what the future held, but she knew one thing for certain: she wasn't ready to face it just yet.