The Unity Ball

The Grand Ballroom at the Continental Hotel glimmered like a fairytale with crystal chandeliers and marble columns draped in midnight blue silk. Two hundred of North America's most powerful supernatural creatures stood under the vaulted ceiling, their conversation a mix of politics and pack dynamics.

I stood in the doorway in a silver dress that hugged every curve of my body. My hair had been brushed back perfectly so my grandmother's diamond necklace could be seen. To anyone who looked at me, I was the ideal Luna princess, innocent, spoilt and just waiting for Mr perfect.

Inside, I'm a predator stalking my prey.

"Look there," Elena sighed, her perfectly manicured nails digging into my arm with barely contained excitement. "Darius Blackthorne. Isn't he handsome?"

I allowed my gaze to wander after her's across the sea of dancing figures to where he stood with a group of pale blonde admirers. Tall, broad-shouldered with immaculately styled blonde hair, he was the very epitome of a strong Alpha. Those ice-blue eyes that had once caused my heart to race now remind me of death cold embrace.

"He's incredible," I breathed, attempting to put excitement into my voice even though my stomach kept rolling with repulsion.

"Wait till you meet him. I'm serious, Aria, it's like fate brought the two of you together."

Fate. If only she knew just how real that was.

I started the recording phone app on my phone, hidden in my clutch purse, as Elena led me through the crowd. Each conversation, each lie, each manipulation would be captured this time. I would need evidence when I cut them both loose.

"Darius!" Elena called out as we came into view. "I have someone really special that I want you to meet."

He turned around, and those hunter eyes caught mine with laser intensity. The fake mate bond Elena had helped him build struck me like a punch to the gut, overwhelming my system in fabricated attraction and lust. This time, though, I was ready for it.

This time, I could feel the magic sliding over my skin like oil.

"Aria Silvercrest," he murmured, his voice deep and cultured as he took my hand. "I've heard so much about you."

The touch sent jolts of electricity crawling up my arm— a simulation of the fake mate bond. In the previous timeline, I'd thought it was destiny. Now I knew it for what it really was: violation.

"All the best things, I hope," I said, letting my cheeks flush with feigned humility. 

"Only the best things." That very same disarming, sincere smile that has led me to believe he was in love with me for three years flashed across his face. "Would you do me the honor of a dance?"

I slipped my trembling hand into his so that he could believe the shakes were caused by attraction and not anger. As he led me to the dance floor, I caught Elena's superior grin out of the corner of my eye.

The waltz began, and Darius pulled me close enough that his cologne filled my head. Back in my own time, I'd been drenched in desire, convinced I'd found my soulmate. Now the same scent make my stomach turn.

"You're more beautiful than Elena described," he breathed on my ear, sending shivers down the back of my neck. "I've waited my whole life to find you."

"Seriously?" I gazed up at him innocently. "I do too. It feels like.... like magic."

"Just like magic." His hold on my waist tightened, and I felt yet another jolt of feigned lust. "I must admit something to you, Aria. The moment I saw you, I knew you were unique. Different from other women."

Special because of my Luna heritage. Special because of the magic that flowed through my veins that he planned to steal. But I just smiled and let him twirl me around the dance floor as I memorized his every word.

"I hope we spend more time together," I gasped. "I would really love to get to know you."

"Nothing would make me happier." He brought me up close, his face inches from mine. "In fact, I would like to ask that you allow me to court you properly. With your parents' permission, of course."

The very same parents he had brutally killed in the previous timeline. My hand tightened on his shoulder, but I maintained a smilingly hopeful expression.

"I'd like that very much."

When the music ended, there was a round of applause in the ballroom. Darius brought my hand to his lips for a gentle kiss that slithered beneath my skin, but I giggled like a lovesick teenager.

"Let me introduce you to some friends," he said and led me over to some Alphas near the refreshment table.

But as we fought our way through the crowd, the mood shifted. A scent struck me like a slap. It reeked of pine woods and wild rain, leather and something unnamably, male that made my wolf Lyra whine in recognition.

My true mate is here.

The fake mate bond Darius had built around me broke into a million pieces like shards of shattered glass when the true mate bond awakened. Every cell in my body ignited with need, with knowledge, with a bond that left me breathless.

"Excuse me," I breathed, moving away from Darius's hold. "I need some air."

Before he could protest, I followed the scent through the crowd, pushing past chuckling couples and gossiping wolves. The scent grew stronger as I made my way towards the terrace doors, my chest laboring so heavily that I could hardly catch my breath.

I found him on the marble balcony above the hotel gardens. He stood alone under the moonlight with his hands braced on the stone railing. He was enormous and muscular, with a jet of black hair across his forehead and broad shoulders that strained against his dark suit. Even from the back, he seemed to emanate barely contained violence.

"You're him," I whispered.

He at the sound of my voice, each muscle in his physique tensing as he spun around slowly to face me, and I saw for the very first time the man who's rightfully mine.

Dark amber-colored eyes on a face carved from granite. Stubborn, high cheekbones and a set jaw lined with the hint of stubble. Full lips pressed into a hard line over the slight dent of a scar on the chin. He's handsome in the worst way possible, like a wolf in a man's clothing.

And in his eyes was a pain so deep it took my breath away.

"You," he snarled, his voice rough with contained feelings. "You're the one who've been torturing me."

The true mate bond hit us both like lightning. I was pulled into his shock, his agony, his corrosive fury. Decades of anguish over rejection, over not being loved and wanted, crashed over me in giant waves.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, reaching out to him instinctively "I didn't know—"

"Didn't know?" He laughed again, and this time there was no humor in the sound. "You didn't know that every time you'd let another man lay his hands on you, it felt like silver burning through my veins? You didn't know I wasted four years trying to find out what was wrong with me that my own mate had a preference for being with anyone else but me?"

The raw anguish in his voice shattered something inside me. This is what my stupidity had led to— I've not merely lost my own life, but the mind of an innocent man who'd done nothing more than be. 

"Please, let me explain—"

"Explain what? That you've been promised to another Alpha the entire time? That you danced here this evening on his arm like the good little Luna that you are, while I stood here bleeding in the shadows?" His amber eyes blazed with rage. "I saw you dance with him. I felt the pleasure you derived from his caress."

Tears streamed down my face, but I wasn't a bit worried about ruining my makeup. "It isn't real. None of it was real. They've been using dark magic to manipulate—"

"Dark magic." He laughed, shaking his head. "Is that the story you're holding on to? That someone forced you to suppress the mate bond all these years?"

"Yes! I know it sounds nuts, but—"

"It sounds like bullshit." He crept closer, and I could smell the rage mixed with starvation hunger. "You want to know what I think? I think you knew all along who I was. I think you left me to suffer so you can play politics with the most influential Alphas ."

"That's not true—"

"Why are you here now, then?" His tone dropped to a low, menacing whisper. "Why come to me at all? Did your precious Darius not work out? Are you looking for a plan B?"

The accusation burned like a slap. Everything I'd endured, everything I'd lost, and he thought I was just playing games.

"My name is Kael," he answered coldly. "Kael Nightfang, Alpha of the Shadowmere Pack. Don't forget it, because tonight is the last time you're going to see me."

He started walking away, and fear flared in my heart. I'd finally found him. My true mate, the missing half of my soul. And he was walking away thinking I was a manipulative monster.

"Wait!" I called out to him, but he didn't turn.

I gathered my dinner gown, removed my heels and followed his scent down the corridors of the hotel. He was heading toward the exit, probably to vacate and make a run back to whatever pack he belongs to.

I couldn't let it happen. Not after I'd finally met someone on the planet who might possibly understand what I'd gone through. Not after I'd finally gotten a chance to make everything right.

"Kael, please!" I shouted, not even caring who heard me. "Give me five minutes!"

He stood in front of the hotel entrance, his broad back rigid with fury. When he turned toward me, his eyes blazed with nothing but cold contempt.

"Five minutes," he barked. "And then I never want to lay eyes on you again."

My heart thudded against my ribcage as I gazed up at the man who was to be my all—and now looked at me as if I were his worst enemy.

I had one opportunity make it right. One opportunity to maintain the connection that was to redeem both of us.

I could only hope it would take five minutes.