(Read with caution: references to sexual abuse, not explicit)
Isla
The way I now perceive the world feels unreal. Not only can I see things; I can see their energy, an intrinsic vibration to everything around me. Colors, auras, invisible currents that are now as tangible as the air I breathe. It's overwhelming.
Suddenly, reality hits me with brutal force. It wasn't just my sight that "awakened." My mind, my memories, things I had blocked or to which I had given no importance, assault me relentlessly. It's as if a dam has broken within me. Images, fragments of my time with Ethan, replay mercilessly, an avalanche that consumes me. My knees buckle, giving way under the weight of the revelation, and I fall to the floor. Tears well up without containment, a deluge I cannot stop. I try to scream, to release the anguish that chokes me, but my voice does not respond. My throat refuses to emit any sound.
I remembered that first night, the caution I felt. I remembered how I refused to go into the hotel with him. I didn't know him. I felt an intense, almost undeniable and strong attraction to him, yes, but never to give my virginity to a stranger. And then, I remembered. His eyes. How they changed to a deep black, inhuman. And a voice, that wasn't his, resonating in my mind with a single, chilling phrase: "You are mine and you will do what I want." Afterward, as if hypnotized, I allowed him exactly that. There was no choice. It was not gentle. It was not kind. It was rough, painful, and he didn't care. I couldn't complain, I couldn't decide, my body aflame, my mind hijacked, screaming in silence, trying to stop this, trying to scream, but I couldn't... I couldn't...
And in the midst of that horror, there was another current. His touch or a kiss that, despite the violation, ignited an electric current, an involuntary reaction, a spark of pleasure in my body. And because of that, because of that inexplicable betrayal of my own flesh, I hated him even more. It made me feel dirty, complicit in my own misery, a weakness I couldn't control.
The fear I had felt every time, that month, those black eyes appeared before me, and that until today only haunted my nightmares, returned with a heartbreaking intensity. I heard the cold voice again ordering: "Forget." "Sleep." "Rest." "Smile." "Obey." Each command, followed by insults that etched themselves into my soul: for being human, for being his supposed mate, for not being the one he loved. And then, as if all that wasn't enough torment, came the most terrifying order, the one that froze my blood and shattered my world: "Abort."
A single word. It tore me apart. I felt that his words were the raw truth, that I was so, so weak that I couldn't help but fulfill that horrible command. So weak that I didn't protect his life.
The abuse towards me, the violation of my will... all of that, I would have forgiven because it led me to have my son. If he were here, if his life had not been snatched away by that cruel order, I could have found a way to heal from everything else. But his loss, the loss of my son, that I cannot forgive, I will not. The guilt transformed into a cold burning that now consumed me, a furious longing for justice and revenge.
Unknown POV
Miles away, in a luxurious room that was not his own, Ethan fell to his knees abruptly. His breathing became shallow, an uncontrollable cough shook him, and without warning, his vision turned black. The world dissolved as he collapsed to the floor, plunged into sudden unconsciousness. He felt his energy suddenly drain; his body sank into an inexplicable weakness. For a moment he felt that pang in the center of his being, a primary echo that touched him with a power that transcended his own comprehension. Then, the darkness called him relentlessly until it consumed him.