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Chapter 1

Aria's POV

His cock was stretching me so deep that I forgot my own name.

I planted my palms on his chest and rolled my hips in slow‚ filthy circles before slamming back down on him. The wet sound of our bodies connecting filled the room while the bass thumped through the VIP walls.

"Fuck‚" he groaned beneath me as his fingers dug into my hips. "Just like that. Don't fucking stop."

I bounced faster while my moans spilled out shameless and broken. He was hitting that spot inside me over and over‚ making my thighs tremble as I clenched around him.

His hands slid up my stomach and found my breasts. He squeezed them rough and greedy‚ rolling my nipples between his fingers while I whimpered and ground down harder on his cock.

"Goddamn‚" he growled. "You're going to milk me dry."

"I can't help it‚" I moaned‚ because he felt too good inside me. Too thick. Too deep. "Your cock feels so fucking good."

"Yeah? Come here."

His fingers wrapped around my throat and tilted my face down to his as his other hand slid behind my neck and dragged me to his mouth. I whimpered against his lips while I kept rocking on his cock‚ and the new angle made him slide even deeper inside me.

"Oh God‚" I gasped. "Right there. Fuck—yes—"

Then his fingers caught the edge of my mask and yanked it off. I ripped his away too because I was desperate to see the man who was making me feel like this.

Our eyes met. Grey. Familiar. Horrifyingly familiar.

I screamed.

"What the FUCK!" he roared as he jerked upright‚ grabbing my waist and shoving me off him.

I stumbled off the bed and hit the wall while my thighs were still shaking. He stood on the other side of the room‚ breathing hard‚ staring at me as if he had just seen a ghost.

Well I fucking have‚ cause the man I'd just been fucking was no other person than my Alpha stepfather.

My mother's husband.

Kael Stone.

And my fucking professor!

How the fuck did this happen?

---

~An hour ago~

I heard them before I even got through the front door.

"You followed me?!" my mom screamed. "You actually followed me to a hotel like some kind of stalker?"

I stood in the doorway with my bag on my shoulder and just listened for a second because I already knew what this was about. I didn't even need to hear the details.

"I followed you because one of my betas saw you walk into the Regency with a man who wasn't me‚ Diane‚" Kael said‚ and his voice was so calm that it was scary. "And when I got there‚ the front desk confirmed you'd been checking in every Thursday for the past two months. Same room. Same time. So don't stand there and act like I'm the crazy one."

"You had no right—"

"I had every right! You're my wife! You're the Luna of this pack! Do you have any idea what this does to us? To me? To my reputation?"

"Oh‚ here we go with the reputation bullshit again—"

"It's not bullshit‚ Diane! I'm running for Alpha King! Every move we make is being watched and you're out here spreading your legs for some random nobody in a hotel every fucking Thursday!"

I closed the front door quietly behind me and walked through the living room while they kept going at it in the kitchen. My mom was standing by the counter with her arms crossed‚ still in her going-out dress‚ her hair freshly done‚ her makeup perfect. She looked like she was ready for a date. Because she had been on one.

Kael was standing across from her with his tie loosened and his jaw tight. He looked exhausted. The kind where a man has been fighting the same fight so many times that he doesn't even have the energy to be surprised anymore.

"I saw the messages on your phone‚" he said quietly. "Don't even try to deny it."

"You went through my phone?"

"Really‚ Diane‚ is that all you have to say?!"

My mom opened her mouth and then closed it. For a second she looked caught‚ and I thought maybe this time she'd actually own up to it. Maybe this time she'd say sorry and mean it.

"It didn't mean anything‚" she said instead.

I almost laughed. That was her favorite line. It never meant anything. And yet she kept doing it.

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt and walked up the stairs to my room. I shut the door behind me and dropped my bag on the floor while their voices kept going back and forth downstairs. My room wasn't even that far from the kitchen and the mansion had thin walls‚ so I could hear every word even when I didn't want to.

I sat on my bed and stared at the ceiling while my mom called Kael controlling and Kael asked her how many men she'd slept with behind his back. She said he was being dramatic. He said he had photos from the hotel security camera. She started crying. Fake crying. I knew the difference by now.

I loved my mom. I really did. She was the woman who raised me on her own for nineteen years before she met Kael. She had me when she was fifteen‚ which meant she basically grew up with me. We were more like sisters sometimes than mother and daughter. She was fun and wild and beautiful and she loved me in her own messy way.

But I wasn't on her side with this one. I couldn't be.

Kael had been nothing but good to us. When he married my mom a year ago‚ he moved us into the mansion‚ gave us everything we never had‚ and treated me like his own even though I was just his wife’s daughter. He paid for things my mom couldn’t afford. Thanks to his reputation and influence‚ I was even granted a scholarship to one of the most prestigious universities in the country. He made sure I never lacked anything. He never once made me feel like a burden or an outsider in his home.

And my mom thanked him by cheating on him over and over again.

This wasn’t the first or the second or even the third time. It was just the latest in a long line of men my mom couldn’t resist. If the pack found out about this‚ it would destroy Kael’s reputation—especially now that he was running for Alpha King of the entire city.

I pulled out my phone and texted my best friend Silvia. My ride or die.

Me: I need to get out of this house tonight. Is that club thing still happening?

Three dots appeared immediately.

Silvia: HELL YES IT IS. Wear a fucking hot dress and bring a mask. Tonight's theme is masquerade.

Me: What club again?

Silvia: The Veil. It's that underground club on 8th. VIP rooms‚ open bar if you know the right people‚ and I know the right people. Meet me there at 7pm sharp.

Me: I'll be there.

Silvia: THAT'S MY GIRL. Wear something slutty. I mean it. Tonight we forget our problems and make new ones 😈

I checked the time. It was just past five‚ which gave me enough time to shower‚ get dressed‚ and get the hell out of this house before my mom and Kael's fight turned into round forty-seven.

I took a long hot shower and tried not to think about anything. Not about my mom. Not about Kael. Not about the fact that this family was falling apart at the seams and I was stuck in the middle of it with nowhere to go except a club where I could pretend to be someone else for a few hours.

I dried off and stood in front of my closet trying to figure out what to wear. Silvia said slutty. I could do slutty.

I pulled out a red dress I'd bought months ago and never had the guts to wear. It was tight‚ short‚ with a low neckline that showed just enough cleavage to make someone look twice. The fabric hugged my waist and my hips and stopped mid-thigh. I put it on and looked at myself in the mirror.

Damn. I looked good.

I did my makeup quick and simple‚ just enough to make my eyes pop behind a mask. I grabbed a black lace mask from a costume box in my closet that I still had from Halloween and tucked it into my clutch. Then I slipped on my black heels and checked myself one more time.

I looked like someone who didn't have a care in the world. Which was funny because I had about a thousand.

I opened my bedroom door quietly and listened. They were still going at it downstairs‚ but it had moved from the kitchen to the living room now.

"I have given you everything‚ Diane‚" Kael was saying‚ and his voice sounded tired and heavy. "Everything. This house. This life. My name. My pack. And you throw it in my face every single time."

"Oh please‚ spare me the martyr act—"

"I'm starting to think marrying you was the biggest mistake I've ever made."

That one hit different. Even from the top of the stairs I could feel the weight of it. My mom went quiet for a second and I thought maybe it actually landed. Maybe she actually felt something.

"Well maybe it was‚" she snapped back. "Maybe we should just end this."

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

I didn't wait to hear the rest. I walked down the stairs quietly‚ slipped past the living room while they were too busy glaring at each other to notice me‚ and walked right out the front door.

The evening air hit my face and I took a deep breath as I pulled out my phone and ordered an Uber. The car would be here in eight minutes.

I stood on the porch and looked back at the mansion. Through the window I could see Kael standing with his back to me‚ one hand on his hip and the other rubbing his face like he was trying to hold himself together. My mom was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed‚ looking away from him.

Two people who should have never gotten married‚ stuck in a house together‚ tearing each other apart.

I turned away and waited for my ride.

Truth be told‚ I felt bad for Kael. Not for my mom. My mom made her choices and kept making them. But Kael didn't deserve this. No one did. He was a good man who married the wrong woman‚ and now he was paying for it every single day.

My Uber pulled up and I got in.

"The Veil on 8th‚" I told the driver.

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror like he knew exactly what kind of place that was‚ but he didn't say anything. He just drove.

I put my mask on in the backseat and stared out the window while the city blurred past me. Tonight I wasn't Aria. I wasn't the Alpha's stepdaughter. I wasn't the girl caught between her cheating mother and her suffering stepfather. I was just a girl in a red dress and a black mask looking for an escape.

That was the plan‚ anyway.