Cursed.

(Gwen’s pov)

I'd spent most of the afternoon in my mom's kitchen making Liam's favorite honey cake, and I was in such a good mood that I'd been humming the whole time.

It was our two-year anniversary.

I carried the plate across the pack grounds like it was something that could break, and when I got to his family's back door I bumped it open with my hip and called out,

"Liam, I made your—"

I stopped, because he was standing by the window kissing someone, and it wasn't me!

It was Darian, who works the eastern patrol and has come to dinner at Liam's house more times than I could count.

Liam had one hand on the side of his face, and the way he kissed him was something I'd never once gotten from him, like…he wasn't holding anything back.

The plate hit the floor. Cake and pieces of china went everywhere, and they jumped apart.

"Gwen," Liam said. He had gone completely pale. "Gwen, wait."

"Wait for what?" I said. My voice erupted, thin and far away. "For you to finish?"

"It's not what it looks like."

"Then what does it look like, Liam? Because to me it looks like my boyfriend is kissing a man in his own kitchen."

Darian stared at the floor and started edging toward the door. "I'll just go."

"Yeah," I said, still not looking at him. "You do that!"

The door shut, and for a moment the only sound was the honey dripping off the edge of the table.

Liam rubbed his face with both hands. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't want you to find out like this."

"Like this?" I laughed, and it came out nasty. "How were you going to tell me? At dinner? On our wedding day?"

"I was going to tell you. I really was."

I felt anger surge in me when I heard his words. "When, Liam? When?!"

"I don't know." He let out a breath. "I tried, Gwen. For two years I tried to feel the way I was supposed to, and I do love you, just not like that. I kept thinking it would change."

Something in my chest went tight and hot. "Do you know how many times I asked myself what was wrong with me? I thought maybe I wasn't pretty enough, or I wasn't—"

Liam stretched his hands towards me. "There was never anything wrong with you."

I screamed. "Then why does it feel like there is?"

His eyes were wet, which made it worse. "I think we should end things. It isn't fair to keep doing this to you. You deserve somebody who wants you all the way."

"So you're breaking up with me," I said slowly. "Right now. While I'm standing here in my good dress with cake on my shoes."

"Gwen, please..."

"Don't….please." I held up my hand, and it was shaking. "Don't make it sound like you're doing me a favor."

I walked out before he could see me crying, and of course I started the second the door closed.

The whole village looked the same as it always did. Kids were running around the lanes, and a couple of the older wolves nodded at me as I passed, because I'm the Beta's daughter and I'm supposed to smile back.

I tried, I really did, but then I put my head down and walked faster so nobody would look too closely at my face.

The part that hurt most wasn't even the kiss. It was thinking back on two years of dinners and sneaking off behind the granary, my mom saying Liam would be such a good match for our family, and realizing he'd been quietly waiting that whole time for a way out. I'd believed in something that was only ever real on my side.

I took the back lane by the old well to avoid the market, with my face wet and my dress ruined, and almost walked right past the woman standing there in a gray hood.

"You look like you could use a drink, little wolf," she said.

"I'm fine," I said, wiping my cheeks. "Excuse me."

"Are you?" She stepped in front of me. Under the hood her eyes were pale, almost silver. "You look like a girl who needs to cool off."

"I said I'm fine. Please move.”

"Of course," she said, and then she picked up a pitcher from the edge of the well and threw the whole thing in my face.

It was freezing. It went down my neck and soaked the front of my dress, and after the day I'd had, something in me just gave out.

I slapped her. I didn't think about it, my hand just went, and the sound of it cracked down the empty lane.

"What is wrong with you?" I yelled. "Do you have any idea what kind of day I've had?"

She didn't flinch. She put her fingers to her cheek, looked at me, and smiled, which was worse than if she'd hit me back.

"Thank you," she said. "I've been waiting a long time for someone to do that."

"What?"

"A Beta's daughter with a short temper and a soft heart. You're exactly right, Gwen."

My stomach dropped. "How do you know my name?"

"It doesn't matter." Her voice was calm now, and the whole lane felt strangely quiet. "You raised your hand to a witch. In two years, on this night, your heart will stop, and nobody in your pack will be able to tell you why."

"You're lying. You can’t just go around and curse people, you poured me water first!"

"Look at your wrist."

I looked. There was a thin black line on my skin, spreading slowly like ink soaking into paper, winding up toward my elbow and it burned.

"What did you do to me?"

When I looked up, she was gone. The bucket was gone too, and all that was left was the dripping from my hair.