Chapter 3

Avery’s POV

I sat up fully, shivering a little in the cool morning air, and lightly ran two fingers over the mark.

It was still fresh, still a little sore. It stung when I touched it, making me hiss through my teeth. But I smiled, welcoming the pain. The pain meant that it was real. That it had finally happened.

So last night wasn’t a dream after all.

I didn’t feel my wolf’s presence yet, but it didn’t matter. Ryan had marked me last night. Our bond was complete. Nothing else mattered to me so long as we could be together now, as we were meant to be. Fated. One.

And yet…

As I raised my fingers to my nose and inhaled, it wasn’t Ryan whose scent filtered through me. It was someone else’s; another male, a powerful one at that, although who it was, I couldn’t say. Either way, it wasn’t Ryan.

My heart screeched to a stop as the realization hit me, lingering there in that suspension for a moment before it began to pound so fast I felt sick to my stomach.

“No,” I whispered. I slid down the rock, landing on my feet, and touched the mark again. The skin was raised and swollen, blood still trailing down my collar bone. “No, no, no…”

It couldn’t be. Had I slept with another male last night, when it was Ryan who I was supposed to meet?

No. I refused to believe it. This had to be some kind of mistake. I needed to find Ryan, he would know what to do—

Just as I was reaching for my dress, still laying discarded on the dewy grass, I heard the sound of voices approaching.

“Where is she?”

I straightened, pressing my dress to my front, and stepped back as a tall, handsome young Alpha walked into the clearing. Dark brown hair that curled around his ears, gray eyes scanning the clearing, his doublet open in the front with the loose white tunic underneath undone around the neck. He stopped when he saw me, and his eyes went wide.

“Ryan—”

“There she is.” Zara emerged into the clearing behind him, her lips curled upward with smug satisfaction. Blue eyes swept over the space as if looking for someone other than me, and when she found I was alone, I swore she looked disappointed.

“Ryan,” I said, stepping forward. Tears pricked my eyes, and I dropped my dress without thinking, stretching my arms out. “Ryan, something happened—”

“Avery. What is that?”

I froze as his eyes flicked to the mark on my neck, still throbbing slightly. My gaze went down to the spot where it sat just above my collarbone. In the morning sunlight, it was on full display, the crescent shape with a puncture on either end clearly visible.

“I…”

Before I could finish, Ryan moved swiftly across the clearing, long legs closing the space in just a few strides. He gripped my wrist and shoved me back against the rock. I gasped as the stone bit straight through the lace and dug painfully into my skin.

“Ryan—”

“You let another male mark you?” He shoved me down against the rock, hard, leaning down over me. His free hand pinned my other wrist down, and he dipped his head to study the mark for a moment before releasing me with a small push and stumbling back.

“I can explain,” I said, sitting up.

Ryan dragged a hand through his hair and whirled on me. “What’s there to explain, Avery?! You let another man mark you.” His eyes darkened with fury as they met mine. His voice went low and dangerous, which was even more terrifying than if he had been shouting. “Who was it? One of the pack males? I’ll kill him—”

“No!” I shot to my feet again and stumbled forward, clasping my hands together. “I swear, I don’t know who it was. I really don’t.”

Ryan’s brows lifted. “You don’t even know who marked you? Did you fuck him, too?”

My cheeks flamed, and Ryan cursed under his breath. “After everything we’ve been through, Avery… After everything I’ve sacrificed to be with you! You go whoring around with a man you can’t even remember!”

“It wasn’t my fault!” I insisted. “I-I don’t remember it, because… Because ! I was attacked by rogues, and they were going to…” I stopped, unable to say it out loud. Swallowed and tried again. “Someone came and saved me. I thought it was you.”

Zara stepped forward. “How insulting,” she said. She was looking at Ryan. Not me. “She mistook a rogue for you. She let a rogue take her purity and mark her, thinking it was you. As if you could ever pass for a lowly rogue.”

Ryan’s face had gone crimson.

I’d seen him angry before—after intense Alpha meetings, or when packmates misbehaved. Once, I saw him strike an Omega male for stealing, and his anger had been palpable enough in the air to frighten me even though it hadn’t been directed at me.

But he’d never looked at me like this before.

Not once.

I dropped to my knees. “You have to believe me,” I said. “I… I think I was drugged.”

Silence fell. Zara pulled her head back, looking down her nose at me.

“Drugged by whom?” she whispered.

I looked up at her. My brain was slow to recall the moments leading up to the clearing. It was all a blur. But I forced myself to remember, and finally, the pieces fell into place.

The cider.

I pointed my finger at Zara. “You drugged me,” I said. “That cider you gave me—it had something in it. Did you hire the rogues, too? Why would you do this, Zara?”

Zara was silent. Her eyes flashed dangerously in that way I’d come to know all too well in the sixteen years since we’d known each other. It always happened right before she showed her true colors. When the calm, pleasant mask finally wore off to reveal the hateful sneer underneath.

“That’s ridiculous, Avery,” Ryan said. “Zara cares about the pack. She would never—”

“And where were you?” I blurted out. I lifted my chin and met his gaze. “You were supposed to be here! So why did another male come to save me from those rogues? And why are you defending her now, knowing how she’s treated me in the past?”

Ryan’s lips parted, then shut again. He looked away and said nothing.

“Where were you, Ryan?” I whispered.

Before he could answer, Zara walked up to me, bending down to look at my mark. “Let me see that ugly thing,” she cooed.

“Get away from me.” I slapped her hand away, but she caught my wrist with a snarl and touched the mark, making me hiss. She lifted her finger to her nose and sniffed.

Zara’s eyes went huge, pupils dilating until they nearly swallowed up the deep blue irises, the moment the scent hit her. She dropped her hand, releasing me, and stumbled back.

“What?” Ryan asked, turning to her. “What is it?”

My stepsister raised a shaking finger toward me.

“That mark,” she snarled. “It smells like the mark of a powerful Alpha!”