Chapter 1

Wren's pov

The kitchen floor again. Bleach in my nose, my knees aching on the tile. I had already scrubbed it once this morning. Vivian wanted it done twice. There was a crack near the sink I always ended up staring at while I worked, small and thin, like even the house was tired of holding itself together.

"Faster, Wren," she said from the doorway, not even looking at me. "Celeste needs this house perfect before tonight."

"Yes, Beta Vivian."

I stopped calling her mom years ago. She told me once that a wolfless daughter did not get to call her that. Ten years since I finished school. Ten years of this floor, this house, this family. Celeste got the good room and the soft voice from our parents. I got the mop.

"Where is that girl," Vivian muttered, checking her watch. "Celeste! Your dress!"

Celeste walked in a minute later, hair already curled gold and perfect. She stepped right over the wet part of the floor.

"Careful," I said. "It is slippery."

"I know how to walk, Wren." She laughed a little. "Some of us have balance. Comes with having a wolf."

"I am just saying."

"Well don't." She smoothed her dress, checking her reflection in the window glass. "Tonight has to be perfect. You know that, right? Because if you embarrass me in front of Kade, I swear, Wren."

"I am not going to embarrass you."

"Good." Her smile did not reach her eyes. "Because you would not like what happens after."

I said nothing. Silence usually hurt less than anything I could say back.

Priya came in behind her, arms full of bags, her mouth already curling into that smile I hated. "Still playing maid at your age," she said. "You should be thanking us honestly. If it were not for Celeste, you would not even have a roof."

"Priya," Celeste said, though she was smiling when she said it.

"I am just being honest," Priya said with a shrug, and the two of them left together, laughing about something that was not for me.

Edwin passed through the kitchen not long after, barely glancing my way. He never did more than glance. "Is the hall ready for tonight," he asked, already halfway out the door before I could answer.

"Almost," I said to his back. He did not wait to hear the rest.

Maribel came in a moment later with a fresh stack of towels, setting them gently on the counter. "You look tired, dear."

"I am fine."

"You always say that." She studied my face the way she always did, like she was trying to read something I was not saying out loud. "You know you can tell me if something is wrong. Big night tonight. Are you going to be alright, watching your sister claimed like that?"

"I have had ten years to get used to watching her get everything," I said, quieter than I meant to. "I will survive one more night."

"That is not the same as being alright."

"It will have to be."

She reached out and squeezed my shoulder once, the only warmth I got most days. "If you need me tonight, I will be in the kitchen with the rest of the staff. Come find me if it gets to be too much."

I told her I would, though she did not look like inshe believed me.

I finished the floor alone after that. Kade was already in my head, the way he always was on hard days. I was not supposed to think about him like that. He was our Alpha. Tonight he would claim Celeste, exactly how pack law said he had to. I knew that. I had known it for years. It did not stop the small stupid hope every time his eyes found mine.

His car pulled into the drive while I was still standing outside catching my breath. Somewhere near the fence a bird kept repeating the same three notes, over and over, not caring about anything happening in this yard. I knew the sound of his engine before I even saw the car. He got out. Tall, dark hair a little messy, gray eyes finding me fast.

"Wren."

"Alpha," I said, dipping my head out of habit.

"Stop that." He was closer now. "You know I hate it."

He studied me too long. "You look tired."

"I am fine."

"Wren."

"I said I am fine, Kade."

His jaw shifted at the sound of his name. Neither of us said anything for a second, the quiet between us full of something neither of us wanted to name.

"Big night," I said, mostly to remind us both why he was here.

"Yeah." Something crossed his face too fast to read. "Big night. You should go inside. Get ready."

"I will." Neither of us moved. "Kade."

"I know," he said quietly. "I know what tonight is." He stepped closer, and I caught the pine and rain smell I never told anyone I noticed.

"Wren," he said again, quieter this time.

"Don't," I whispered.

"Don't what."

"Don't look at me like that. Not tonight. Not when you are about to..." I could not finish it.

His jaw tightened. "You think I do not know what tonight is? I am serious, Wren. Do you know what it is like, knowing exactly what tonight requires of me?"

"I do not want to talk about this right now."

"Then when," he said, his voice rising slightly before he caught himself and lowered it again. "When do we talk about it? Tomorrow? Next year? After I have already claimed her?"

"That is not fair."

"None of this is fair. You think I do not know that? You think I have not thought about this every single day for years?"

"Then why are you still going through with it?"

"Because I do not have a choice, Wren. The law does not care what I want. It cares what Celeste is. Strongest female in the pack. That is the law. That has always been the law."

"So say it," I said, my voice cracking. "Say you are going to claim her tonight and mean it, and stop looking at me like that every time you say it."

He did not answer. He just looked at me, jaw tight, eyes dark, and when I turned to leave his hand caught my wrist, not hard, just enough to stop me.

"Look at me."

I shook my head.

"Wren." I turned, and his grip tightened slightly, his eyes dropping to my mouth for one second before snapping back up, guilt all over his face. "I need to see you tonight. After the ceremony. Before anything else happens."

"Kade, that is a terrible idea."

"I do not care."

"You are about to be someone's mate."

"I know what I am about to be," he said, his voice rough now, low. "That is exactly why I need to see you first. Old training barn. Midnight. Please."

"And what happens after midnight, Kade? What happens tomorrow, when you are standing beside her as her Alpha and I am still just Wren, the wolfless sister who cleans your floors?"

"You are not just anything," he said quickly, too quickly, like the words had been sitting in his chest for years waiting to get out. "Kade"

"Please, Wren."

A sharp voice cut through before I could answer. "Kade! There you are!"

Celeste was already walking toward us, her eyes locking on his hand still around my wrist. "What is going on here," she asked, sweet on top, sharp underneath.

He let go fast. "Nothing. Just talking to Wren."

"Talking," Celeste repeated, like she did not believe a word of it. "About what?"

"Nothing important," I said quickly.

Celeste's eyes moved between the two of us, calculating. "Fine. Come on, Kade, you need to get ready."

"I will be right there," he said.

"Now, Kade."

He let her lead him away. Right before the door closed, he looked back at me once more, his lips moving with no sound. Midnight.

I stood alone in the driveway, my wrist still warm where his hand had been, the rest of me caught somewhere between cold and burning. Tonight my sister was supposed to be claimed forever by the man who just stood in front of me, and all I could think about, standing there like an idiot, was midnight.