Chapter 2

It takes me several minutes to find Noah.

He is sitting with Bella on a couch, laughing over some stupid game.

Bella slaps his palm and giggles.

“You lost again!”

Noah holds out his hand like he has all the time in the world.

“I want to go home,” I say.

Noah looks up.

“Already? We just got here.”

“I’m tired. I want to leave now.”

Bella tilts her head.

“Are humans always this weak?”

Noah opens his mouth, probably to agree with her.

Something inside me goes quiet.

“I said I want to leave. If you don’t want to drive me, I’ll go by myself.”

Bella laughs.

Noah laughs too.

“Ava, we’re halfway up a mountain. Where are you planning to walk?”

I look at him.

This man chased me for months.

He promised he would take care of me.

Now, because Bella once claimed she saved his life, I am always the one expected to give way.

“Fine.”

I nod.

“Then we’re done.”

Noah’s smile disappears.

I turn and walk out.

He catches me near the entrance.

“Ava!”

He pulls me into his arms.

“What are you doing? I’ll take you home. Stop talking about breaking up.”

I push against his chest.

“If you like Bella…”

“I don’t.”

His answer comes fast.

“I’ve told you that. I’m only taking care of her because she saved my life.”

He lowers his head and kisses me.

“Jealous?”

I turn my face away.

“I’m tired, Noah.”

His voice softens.

“Okay. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

I have heard that before.

“Just take me home.”

He takes my hand.

Then his phone rings.

I know the ringtone.

Bella.

Even I don’t have a special ringtone on his phone.

Noah answers.

His face changes immediately.

“What? Someone drugged you?”

He turns away.

“Stay there. I’m coming.”

He starts to leave.

I grab his sleeve.

“Noah. Call security. Call the police. You promised you would take me home.”

He jerks his arm out of my hand.

“Do you even hear yourself?”

His voice turns sharp.

“I’m supposed to leave her alone after someone drugged her?”

“What about me?”

“This is more important.”

He points back toward the lobby.

“Wait here.”

Then he runs.

I stand there until his figure disappears.

A cold wind cuts across the mountain road.

I walk anyway.

Tears slide down my face before I can stop them.

Five years ago, I came to this world by accident.

I was human, alone, and completely unprepared for a land controlled by werewolf packs.

Worse, I ended up in abandoned rogue territory.

One of them chased me.

I ran until I had nowhere left to go.

Then Cassian appeared.

He saved me.

Back then, he told me he had no family.

No pack.

He was just a rogue wolf trying to survive.

“Following me won’t make your life better,” he warned me.

“I don’t care.”

I stayed close to him.

“You saved my life.”

For two years, we had only each other.

Everything changed during a trip through the northern forest.

Cassian was exposed to a toxin while protecting me.

It triggered his wolf and sent him into an early rut.

He held me so tightly I could barely breathe.

That night, we crossed the line we had spent months pretending wasn’t there.

The next morning, Cassian looked furious with himself.

Then he took my hand.

“A wolf chooses one mate for life.”

His fingers locked with mine.

“I choose you.”

I believed him.

I believed every word.

A stone catches under my shoe.

I fall hard against the road.

Pain shoots through my knee.

For a moment, I can’t get back up.

The mountain is dark and silent around me.

“Liars.”

I wipe my face.

“You’re both liars.”

I spent two years looking for Cassian after I was told he died.

I worked whatever jobs I could find.

I crossed pack territories alone.

I survived things I still don’t like remembering.

All because I couldn’t believe he was gone.

And now the man who was supposed to be dead is Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack.

Alive.

Powerful.

And looking at me like I am the one who betrayed him.