Mag-log inDAMON'S POV "Can we talk alone for just a minute?" I ask again, expecting Aria to hurry over to my side the way she always does. But she doesn't. She stays where she is, her arm linked through Dana's, watching me as if she's waiting for me to explain why I stopped her. I frown, because usually I barely have to say her name before she's at my side, eager to hear whatever I have to say. Some days I'd swear she can sense when I need her before I even ask. Tonight, though, she looks just as uninterested as she has all day. It's strange, because Aria has never been good at hiding her feelings for me. I can usually read her at a glance. But today it's as if something inside her has switched off, so when she does look my way, the spark I'm used to seeing in her eyes is gone. I don't know what's gotten into her, but I'm starting to find it annoying. It's even worse because I spent nearly an hour getting ready for her tonight. I wore my best suit she once said made my eyes look sex
ARIA'S POV But just as we're about to walk out of the house, my stepmom's sharp voice stops me. "Aria." Oh, Goddess. What does she want now? I suppress a sigh, keeping my irritation off my face because we're already running behind schedule, and we still need to find a date for tonight's mate ball. Beside me, Dana shifts her weight, looking like she's two seconds away from dragging me out of here herself. 'What do you think she wants?' Dana asks through the mindlink. 'No idea. Let's just play it cool.' We turn towards the kitchen, where Linda emerges in a deep green silk gown. As one of the evening's guests of honor, alongside Dad, she's dressed for the occasion. Yet she still has a dish towel dangling from one hand, even though it's already perfectly dry. I stare at her for a moment, wondering why she called me. Then I remember this morning's encounter. Oh, right. That. I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to lecture me about my attitude earlier. The old Aria would have sp
ARIA'S POVMy photo's been up for eleven minutes.I know because I've checked the time almost as often as I've checked my messages, phone gripped so tight in my hand that Dana finally reached over and physically peeled it away from me once, before I grabbed it back.The plan was simple enough in my head. Post a hot picture in the pack group chat, let it circulate, wait for a few of the unmated guys in the pack to slide into my DMs the way half of them apparently do with every other she-wolf who posts something like this. Then I pick whoever seems least likely to embarrass me in public because that's what you call a date — secured, with minimal effort and zero groveling.Except nobody's messaged me.I've only gotten forty-three likes and a handful of fire emojis in the comments from pack mates who are definitely not potential dates. It makes me sigh heavily for the hundredth time since we got home."Anything?" Dana asks, for what feels like the fortieth time."No.""Give it a few more
DAMON'S POV I don't remember much of the walk back to the pack house. My head is still stuck on what Aria said, and the more I think about it, the more irritated I get. She has a date to the Mate Ball, and I had no idea. To make matters worse, I can't figure out when it happened. Aria has never been good at keeping things from me. She's always telling me where she's going, who she's with, what she's doing, even when I don't ask. For years, if something was happening in her life, I heard about it first. So why didn't I know about this? And why did she look at me like it didn't matter whether I knew or not? That's the part that keeps bothering me, like a splinter under a nail. By the time I reach my room, I'm annoyed enough that I shove the door open harder than I mean to, and it slams against the wall. I stand there for a second, staring at it. What the hell is going on with her today? I close the door and walk over to my bed, but I don't sit right away, because I kee
ARIA'S POV "Well," I start, "it's complicated, because earlier I said—" I stop and backtrack. "What I mean is, things changed, and then they changed again, and—" "Changed how?" Lily cuts me off, frowning deeper. "I'm not saying I'm not going. I'm also not saying I am. There's just a lot of factors that—" "Aria." My father cuts in too. I can tell his patience is visibly fraying from the way a muscle in his jaw works, just like it does right before he raises his voice at the dinner table. "We just want a simple yes or no." I open my mouth to buy myself another five seconds, and nothing comes out except air. 'Just make a decision already,' Sasha growls. 'Dragging this out is only making it worse.' I'm about to argue with her when the actual problem catches up with me, cold and sudden. If I say no, I'm not going, the whole beauty-treatment story falls apart in front of everyone and my father will want to know what we actually went out for, and why it took hours, and why no
ARIA'S POV "I wasn't asking you. I was asking Damon." My father's voice cracks through the clearing like a whip. For a second, I actually forget how to breathe, because if Damon tells him the truth, I'm screwed. I reach for the mind-link before I've even decided to. 'Damon. Please don't tell him we went into the Dark Forest,' I say, but he doesn't answer. 'Damon, I know you can hear me.' Still nothing but I can feel him at the edge of my mind, and that he is deliberately ignoring me like a smug bastard. The previous me might have begged him to answer. But I'm not that girl anymore. I refuse to let Damon treat me like I'm beneath him, like I have to chase after him or beg for his attention. If he wants to play games, fine. But I'm not going to sit here and take his attitude. My patience snaps. 'DAMON.' 'What.' His voice finally slides into my head, flat and unbothered, like he's commenting on the weather. 'Didn't you tell me not to worry about your father? That







