CHAPTER THREE

Chapter Three: The Bond

"I am afraid you have me confused with someone else, Alpha."

My voice did not shake. Ten years with Thane had taught me that much—never let them see you bleed, especially when they were the ones holding the knife poised at your throat.

Zephyr's laugh was razors wrapped in silk, sharp enough to cut. "Really? That is the pathetic game you want to play with me? Denial?"

"It is not a game, and I am not in denial about anything." I bent gracefully to collect the broken champagne flute, using the movement to steady my racing heart and buy precious seconds to think. "My name is Evangeline Northcrest, and I have absolutely no idea who this Seraphine person is supposed to be. Perhaps you have mistaken me for someone from your past?"

"Evangeline." He tasted the name slowly, like poison coating his tongue. "How incredibly creative of you. Very sophisticated. Tell me, Lady Evangeline, do you often crash parties under false pretenses and fake identities? Is this a hobby of yours?"

"I was invited, as I already told you." I straightened carefully, cradling the crystal shards in my palm without flinching even as they bit deeply into my skin, drawing blood. "Your Beta personally extended the invitation to my pack. Check your records if you do not believe me."

"Funny thing about that invitation." His smile could freeze hell itself. "I checked with Beta Thomas this morning after I caught your scent. He has never heard of the Northcrest pack. Strange, is it not? No records, no correspondence, nothing."

The crystal cuts dug deeper into my flesh, but I let them. The pain helped me focus.

Deep breaths, Sera. Deep breaths.

Do not let him see through you. Do not give him the satisfaction of breaking.

"Perhaps there was a miscommunication in the records. Administrative errors happen—"

"Perhaps you are full of shit and we both know it."

I frowned at the crude curse word and gave him a pointed, disapproving glare, channeling every aristocratic lady I had ever studied. "That is quite an accusation to make, Alpha. Especially toward a guest in your home who has done nothing wrong."

"Guest?" Zephyr stepped even closer, his overwhelming presence suffocating the air around me until I could barely breathe. "Guests do not usually plant sophisticated listening devices in bathrooms and beneath tables. That is what spies do."

My heart stopped completely, skipping several beats. "I beg your pardon? I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Did you really think we would not sweep for surveillance equipment before a major pack gathering?" He pulled a tiny device from his pocket—one of mine, crushed between his powerful fingers like an insignificant insect. "We found all three of them. Amateur hour, little wolf."

The childhood endearment sounded obscene and mocking in his mouth now, twisted into something ugly. I forced my expression to remain puzzled, innocent, while my mind raced frantically through possible escape routes and backup plans.

"I do not know what that is or why you are showing it to me. Perhaps someone else—"

"Stop lying to my face!" His voice rose sharply, drawing more attention. "Just like you do not know why you are really here? Just like you do not know what your murdering father did to my brother Marcus?"

"My father was not a murderer," I said quietly, firmly. "And I genuinely think there has been some terrible mistake if you believe—"

"The only mistake," he interrupted, his voice dropping to something soft and deadly, "was letting you and your mother live ten years ago. My father was too merciful. But do not worry, Seraphine. I plan to correct that unfortunate oversight very, very soon."

Ice flowed through my veins at the threat, but I kept my chin up defiantly. "Are you threatening to kill me, Alpha Zephyr?"

"It is not a threat. It is a solemn promise, and it is one I fully plan to keep before this night is over."

I swallowed hard, looking around the hall to catch worried glances from other guests, excited whispers spreading like wildfire, the metallic scent of anticipation and bloodlust hanging heavy in the air.

"I do not want any trouble with you or your pack," I said, taking a step back and playing the frightened socialite to perfection. "If my presence here offends you so deeply, I will simply leave immediately. I never meant to cause a scene."

"Will you?" His voice dropped to a predatory purr that sent shivers down my spine. "Because last I checked the records, you were banished from this territory. Forever. You have no right to be here."

"Actually," I said carefully, meeting his blazing eyes directly, "the banishment your father imposed was for ten years. Which ended six months ago, Zeph. I served my time."

The use of his childhood nickname made his jaw clench visibly.

The silence that followed could choke a grown man. You could hear a pin drop in the massive ballroom.

Zephyr's eyes widened slightly with shock, and I saw the exact moment he realized I was right. Legally, technically, frustratingly right.

"So now you are finally willing to drop the ridiculous act?" he demanded harshly. "No more pretending to be someone else?"

"I never said—"

"Ten years!" The words sounded like he was tasting bile. "Ten years of exile, and you think that makes us even? That we are somehow square now? That you can just waltz back in here like nothing happened?"

"I do not care what you think about it. All I know is that I am a free woman now, legally. Free to go where I please, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with me deciding to come back to the place I was born."

"This place is not your home anymore, traitor!" The words exploded from him with such venom that nearby wolves actually flinched backward. "It stopped being your home the moment your father murdered my brother in cold blood!"

"That is not left for you to decide where I can and cannot go!" My voice rose despite my best efforts at control, and I distantly realized that we were now standing dangerously close to each other, nearly chest to chest, both breathing hard.

"Actually it is entirely left for me to decide! I am the Alpha now, not my father. And I am deciding right now that I do not want you and your traitorous stench tainting our pack! You are not welcome here!"

Something cracked painfully inside my chest at his words, sharp as broken glass. For just a heartbreaking moment, I recalled the seven-year-old boy who had put himself bravely between me and the older kids who called me horrible names. Sharing his favorite honey cookies when mine got stolen by bullies. Whispering secrets in our hidden fort by the lake where no one could find us, making plans for our future.

That sweet boy who swore we would be best friends forever.

That same boy who stood in complete silence while they executed my innocent father.

"Taint your pack?" The word slipped out sharper than intended, laced with pain. "Like I said before, I have no interest in causing trouble for anyone. I just wanted to see my home again."

"Oh, you already started courting serious trouble the moment you thought you could waltz back in here like you own the place!" He barked a harsh, bitter laugh. "Your father was a murderer who killed Marcus in cold blood for no reason, and you are exactly like him. Tainted by his blood. Corrupted by his evil."

"My father was never a traitor or a murderer! He was kind and good!"

"No?" Zephyr circled me again like a predator, each step calculated to intimidate and dominate. "Then why are you here, Seraphine? What is your real agenda? What do you really want from us?"

Because I remember a ten-year-old boy crying over his dead brother's body. Because I loved you once, before you became this monster. Because someone in this room knows what really happened that night, and it was not my father. Because I need the truth.

I wanted to scream these words at him, but instead I said calmly, "I told you already. I am just here for the party. Nothing more."

"Right. Sure you are." His tone dripped with sarcasm. "The murderer's daughter, coincidentally showing up at the exact pack where her father committed his crimes, planting listening devices everywhere. What are the odds of that being innocent?"

"Astronomical," I agreed with false pleasantness. "Almost like fate brought me here for a reason."

His eyes flashed bright, dangerous gold—wolf rising dangerously close to the surface. "Fate has got a sick, twisted sense of humor then."

"Does it not just," I murmured.

The crowd around us had grown significantly thicker, pressing closer like vultures sensing a dying wolf. I could feel their excitement crackling in the air, their hunger for blood and scandal and drama.

In the distance, I spotted Luna Catherine wringing her hands anxiously, probably wondering in horror how her elegant soirée had turned into a public execution and pack scandal.

"I should leave now." I smoothed down my silk skirt with hands that did not tremble. "Thank you for the enlightening conversation, Alpha Zephyr. It has been most educational."

I turned deliberately toward the exit, dismissing him completely like he was nothing more than an inconvenient stranger. It was a calculated insult, specifically designed to wound his Alpha pride and create the opening I desperately needed to escape.

His hand closed around my wrist like an iron shackle before I could take two steps.

"We are not done talking, Seraphine."

The moment his bare skin touched mine, the entire world exploded around us.

Lightning raced up my arm, setting absolutely every nerve ending on fire. The mate bond slammed into place with the devastating force of a freight train, stealing my breath completely and short-circuiting my brain. My wolf, who had been dormant and quiet for hours, suddenly howled inside my mind with recognition and desperate, overwhelming want.

Mine. Mine. MINE.

Zephyr's pupils blew wide, consuming the gold, his grip tightening involuntarily on my wrist as the same earth-shattering realization crashed over him like a tidal wave. I watched his carefully controlled mask crumble completely, replaced by shock so profound he looked like he had been struck by actual lightning.

"No." The word ripped from his throat like a desperate prayer. "No, this cannot be happening. This is not real—"

But the mate bond did not care about his denial or his anger. It wrapped around us both like unbreakable chains made of starlight and inevitability, binding us together whether we wanted it or not.

My worst enemy.

My destined mate.

The boy who let my family burn.

I yanked my hand free so violently I nearly fell backward into the crowd. The loss of contact felt like tearing away part of my actual soul, but I gritted my teeth hard against the pain.

"No! No, no, no!" My voice came out raw, broken, desperate.

He stared at his own hand like it had betrayed him utterly. "This is not possible. The Moon Goddess would not do this."

"Clearly the Moon Goddess has a twisted, cruel sense of humor."

"She would not pair me with—" He cut himself off abruptly, probably remembering we had an audience of dozens hanging on every single word.

Around us, the pack members exchanged confused glances and whispered frantically. They could not feel what we felt, could not sense the cosmic joke that just destroyed both our worlds. But they could smell the sudden change in our scents, see the shock written plainly across our faces.

"I need air right now." I pushed past him roughly toward the terrace doors, my legs unsteady beneath me, threatening to collapse.

"Seraphine, wait—"

"Do not follow me!" I snapped without looking back.

I did not run. Running would show weakness, and I had shown more than enough of that for one night. But I walked fast, my heels clicking against the marble like rapid gunshots echoing through the silent hall.

Behind me, I heard him curse viciously in a voice that sounded as shattered as I felt inside.

The mate bond hummed persistently between us like a live electrical wire, even with distance. Even with ten years of hurt and betrayal and innocent blood standing between us.

Even when I wished with everything in me that it would just disappear and leave me alone.

But I knew better than to hope for miracles.

Zephyr, the Alpha who loathed me with every fiber of his being, was my fated mate.