Chapter 2

Sebastian suddenly lunged forward, catching the falling beam with his forearm.

Splinters flew everywhere.

Annie was thrown into the slushy snow, and the wolf-fang pendant slipped out from beneath her collar.

Sebastian's breath caught.

A crimson glow slowly spread through his eyes.

"Where did you get this?"

Annie hugged the urn tight and scrambled up out of the slush.

She reached for the fang with a small, chilblain-covered hand.

"Mommy gave it to me."

Sebastian bent down, snatched up the fang before she could reach it, and closed his fist around it.

It had belonged to Arthur Thorne, Sebastian's father and the former Alpha. Before he died, he'd pulled out one of his own fangs and polished it.

Arthur had spent two whole weeks polishing it by hand, then infused it with his wolf's power. He said it was for his future granddaughter, to keep her safe.

Sebastian had played with it once and accidentally dropped it on a stone step, chipping a slanted notch into the base.

Only father and son knew about that notch.

Sebastian's head snapped up. He spoke through gritted teeth.

"Now Tina's even using this to keep up her little charade.

"Who gave her the right to take my father's keepsake?

"And how dare Tina let a bastard like you wear it!"

Without thinking, I lunged to snatch it back.

But my hand went straight through Sebastian's. I couldn't touch a thing.

His aura hit Annie so hard her face went white, and a thin trickle of blood seeped from her ear.

But she still rose onto her tiptoes, desperately trying to reach his hand.

"Mommy said Grandpa gave this to Annie!

"You're mean! That's mine! Give it back!"

Sebastian fixed Annie with a dark, menacing glare.

"I'm mean, and she's some kind of saint?

"Back then, she hid the fact that my dad was dying of silver poisoning, claiming it was for my own good.

"I was still fighting on the front lines. I never even got to see my father one last time!"

Sebastian looked down at the fang in his palm, his knuckles white.

I floated in the wind and snow, staring at the hatred in his eyes.

I wanted to tell him I'd never betrayed him.

When the silver poison reached Arthur's heart, he begged me to keep it quiet, afraid the news would demoralize the warriors on the front lines.

Arthur gave me the key to the pack's secret vault to ensure my unborn pup would have something to fall back on.

As Sebastian's mate, I swore to keep the old Alpha's secret.

But by the time Sebastian made it home, Arthur was already gone.

All he saw was the vault key sitting in my herb kit.

From then on, he believed I'd conspired with outsiders to conceal his father's condition and seize the pack's fortune, robbing him of the chance to say goodbye.

In front of the whole pack, he rejected me and broke our mate bond.

He didn't believe I was pregnant either. He banished me to the barren borderlands and left me to fend for myself.

For a moment, Sebastian's eyes looked wet. Then rage took over.

Annie looked up at him. "So that means you cry when you miss your daddy too, just like me. I cry when I miss my mommy."

Sebastian went rigid.

He snatched the urn out of Annie's arms and raised it over his head.

"Tina! If you don't come out right now, I'll smash this stupid jar!"

Annie was terrified. She threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his leg.

"Don't smash Mommy! It'll hurt Mommy!

"Please, don't smash Mommy!"

Sebastian looked down at her coldly.

"Tell her to come out and face me, and I'll give it back."

I frantically tried to pry Sebastian's fingers open.

Stop scaring her!

Sebastian, those are my ashes! If you smash that urn, Annie will have nothing left of me!

Sebastian's raised arm suddenly went still.

I froze. I thought he'd finally sensed my spirit.

But it wasn't me. Looking down, he'd caught sight of the inside of Annie's left ear.

There was a pale gold crescent-shaped birthmark there.

It was exactly like the royal mark inside Sebastian's own left ear.