Aria's POV
The plate slipped from my hands and exploded on the kitchen floor.
I stared at the shattered pieces, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. Maybe if I stayed perfectly still, they wouldn't notice. Maybe
You stupid, clumsy girl! Lyanna's screech cut through the air like a knife.
Too late.
My foster sister stormed into the kitchen, her perfect blonde hair swinging with every angry step. Her blue eyes blazed with the kind of fury only I seemed to inspire in her.
Do you know how much that plate cost? She jabbed her finger at the mess. Of course you don't. You've never owned anything worth more than trash.
I wanted to explain that I'd dropped it because of what I'd just heard. That her father Alpha Marcus had just said a name that made my blood run cold.
Kael Thorne.
The Alpha everyone feared. The monster who ruled Shadowfang Pack with an iron fist. They said he'd killed his own father to take power. That he showed no mercy to enemies. That he was more beast than man.
And Marcus had just said, I'll give her to him in three days.
Clean this up, Lyanna snapped. You're making the whole house look like a pigsty.
I dropped to my knees and started picking up the broken pieces. My hands shook so badly I could barely grip them.
Aria.
Alpha Marcus's voice froze me in place. He stood in the doorway, tall and imposing, his dark eyes completely empty of warmth. He'd never looked at me with kindness. Not once in the fifteen years since he'd taken me in after my parents died.
Come to my office in one hour. His words weren't a request. We need to discuss your future.
My future? I didn't have a future. I had survival. Day by day, keeping my head down, trying not to be noticed.
But something in his tone made my stomach twist with dread.
He left. Lyanna smirked at me before following her father. Finally getting what you deserve, she whispered.
Alone in the kitchen, I finished cleaning up the broken plate. A sharp edge sliced into my palm. Blood welled up, bright red against my pale skin.
I watched it drip onto the white tile floor, one drop after another. The pain should have hurt more. But I'd felt worse. Much worse.
Being unwanted hurt more than any cut.
Today was my twenty-second birthday. Nobody remembered. Nobody ever did.
I wrapped my bleeding hand in a kitchen towel and went to my room the smallest bedroom in the house, barely bigger than a closet. It had been a storage room before Marcus gave it to me. The window didn't close all the way, so it was always freezing in winter.
I sat on my thin mattress and tried to calm down. One hour. I had one hour before facing Marcus.
What did he want? What future could he possibly have planned for me?
My eyes drifted to the loose floorboard in the corner. Hidden underneath was a small metal box. The only thing I owned that mattered.
I pulled it out and opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a single photograph old, cracked, faded. A woman with long silver hair and kind eyes smiled at the camera. She wore a strange silver bracelet on her wrist.
I'd found this photo in Marcus's study years ago, hidden in a locked drawer. He'd beaten me when he discovered it missing. But I refused to give it back.
Because this woman looked exactly like me.
Same silver eyes. Same high cheekbones. Same small smile.
I was sure she was my mother. Marcus said my parents were nobody just humans who'd died in a car accident. But I didn't believe him. This photo proved he was lying.
Who was she? Why did Marcus have her picture?
The hour passed too quickly. My hands still shook as I walked down the hallway to Marcus's office. Each step felt like walking toward my own execution.
I knocked softly.
Enter.
Marcus sat behind his massive desk, looking at me like I was an insect he was deciding whether to crush. Lyanna lounged in a chair beside him, examining her nails with fake boredom.
Sit, Marcus commanded.
There was no chair for me. He knew that. He wanted me to ask, to beg for the simple dignity of sitting.
I remained standing.
I've arranged a marriage for you, Marcus said, as casually as if he were discussing the weather. You'll be wed to Alpha Kael Thorne of Shadowfang Pack in three days.
The room spun. I gripped the edge of his desk to keep from falling.
What? The word came out as a whisper.
It's a peace treaty, Marcus continued, smiling coldly. Shadowfang and Silvercrest have been at war for decades. Alpha Thorne has agreed to end hostilities if we provide him with a bride. He gestured at me dismissively. You.
Lyanna giggled. Imagine that. The worthless human actually being useful for once.
II can't, I stammered. Please. He's they say he's a monster
You don't have a choice, Marcus said flatly. You'll marry him, or I'll throw you out of this house today with nothing. No money. No references. No protection. His eyes glittered with malice. How long do you think a human girl would survive alone in werewolf territory?
Not long. We both knew it.
Three days, Marcus repeated. Get yourself ready. And Aria? His smile was pure cruelty. Try not to embarrass me. Though I suppose that's asking the impossible.
I ran. Out of his office, down the hallway, back to my tiny room. I slammed the door and collapsed against it, gasping for air.
Three days. I had three days before I was given to a monster.
My hand throbbed where I'd cut it. I unwrapped the towel and stared at the wound. It should have been bleeding more, but it had already stopped. The cut looked smaller somehow.
Strange.
I looked at the photograph of the silver-haired woman still lying on my bed. My mother I was certain now.
Help me, I whispered to her image. Please. I don't know what to do.
The temperature in the room suddenly dropped. My breath came out in white puffs.
And then impossible, insane the woman's eyes in the photograph seemed to glow silver.
I blinked. The glow was gone. The room returned to normal temperature.
I was losing my mind. The stress was making me see things.
But when I looked at my palm again, the cut had completely vanished. Not even a scar remained.
My skin was perfectly smooth, as if I'd never been injured at all.