Chapter 5

Elias

The first thing I noticed about Ava Humphrey was her scent.

The second was that I had absolutely no business noticing it.

---

I heard her before I saw her.

He must be a fool. Or half blind.

I stood in the corridor outside the Humphreys' dining room with my hand flat against the wall, and for the first time in ten years, I forgot what I was supposed to do next.

I knew that voice. I had heard it in the dark, begging me not to stop. I had heard it three nights ago in a club restroom, telling me she hated me.

Alpha Humphrey had mentioned her often enough during the negotiations—usually with the kind of disapproval reserved for a family embarrassment. She lived among humans. She had refused to return home. She was stubborn, reckless, and apparently determined to make her father regret having a second child.

I had never imagined it was Ava.

I had never asked for her surname. She had never offered it. I told myself that was convenience—that a man in my position was better off not knowing things that made a woman real. The truth was simpler. If I knew where she came from, I would have gone looking.

My right hand closed into a fist. The signet ring bit into my palm until the pain was sharp enough to think around.

"Forgive the delay," I said, and stepped through the door.

She was standing at the end of the table in a plain black dress, her chin up, her eyes locked on me like a blade against my throat. Every thought I owned went to ash. I shook her father's hand. I let Aileen take my arm.

Aileen was a good woman. She was intelligent, composed, and the daughter of an Alpha whose territory bordered mine. Our union would strengthen both packs.

I knew what was expected of me. I would honor it.

But then Ava looked at me, and every carefully arranged thought in my head went to hell.

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second. I saw the shock. The disbelief. Then she buried it under that familiar, sharp expression. She was good at that.

So was I.

"Miss Humphrey," I said, extending my hand.

Her fingers slid into mine. The contact was brief. It still felt like a fucking wound.

"Elias Grey," I continued, keeping my voice even. "Your father mentioned a younger daughter. I'm glad to finally put a face to the name."

Her fingers tightened around mine.

"Alpha Grey." She looked me directly in the eyes. "Pleasure to meet you."

I released her hand. "Likewise."

Then, over the soup, she looked at me and said, in a voice sweet enough to rot teeth, "You look like a man I used to fuck."

I lifted my glass and drank. It was the only thing I could do to keep my face still. My jaw ticked once. I felt it. I knew she saw it, because her eyes flared with something between triumph and pain.

Under the table, my other hand balled into a fist.

---

"The Ava?"

Rafe was laughing so hard he had to pull over. My Beta, my oldest friend, and the only man alive who could do that to me and keep his teeth.

"Drive," I gritted out.

"The Ava. Little blonde thing. Mouth like a switchblade. The one you've been moping over for months—"

"I do not mope."

"You went to a club, Elias. A club. You hate clubs. You stood in the corner of one for an hour like a gargoyle." He wiped his eyes.

"And she's the sister. Your fiancée's sister. Gods, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"Rafe."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He wasn't. He pulled back onto the road, still grinning. "You do realize you're engaged to her sister."

"I realize it."

Rafe shook his head. "Do you really, though? You're fucked, Elias."

I said nothing. Outside the window, Dakota slid by in the dark.

He was right about the club. I had told myself it was the last time. The papers with the Humphreys were already drawn up, the engagement dinner was three days away, and I would never have another chance to hear her say my name.

One night, I'd promised myself. Then I will do my duty and never think of her again.

I had been a fool.

And the confession—the one she thought I'd laughed at? I still heard it in my sleep. I think I'm falling for you, Elias. Her voice was small, her hands wrapped around the seat belt like she was bracing for a crash.

But the negotiations were already on the table. I knew I would marry whoever the alliance required, and I knew she would be the one to pay for my honesty. So I laughed. I laughed because it was cruel, and cruel was the only thing that would make her leave. The next night I took another woman somewhere Ava would see.

It worked.

"Send flowers tomorrow," I told Rafe. "Aileen's. Something she'd like."

"White ranunculus," Rafe said immediately. "She mentioned it at the council luncheon. Twice. You were there."

"I was not listening."

"Clearly." He glanced at me. "You know, you could try caring about the woman you're marrying."

"I care about the pack."

"That's not what I said."

---

The boutique smelled like perfume and money. I wanted to be anywhere else but here.

Aileen had asked me to come. Her mother had hinted that it would look well. Rafe had shoved me out of the car with a smile that promised he'd tell this story at my funeral.

I saw Ava before she saw me. She stood at the back of the shop beside her sister in a wrinkled shirt, looking like she'd slept in a ditch and was daring anyone to mention it.

I stopped inside the door and let myself look at her. Five seconds. That was all I allowed.

Then Aileen glowed at me, and I kissed her cheek, and I said "Miss Humphrey" in a voice I had perfected over a decade of keeping my pack alive.

Ava turned. I watched her search my face for any crack, but I gave her none.

And then she smiled. Slowly, sweetly, with that fire I knew too well. "Alpha Grey," she said. "What a pleasure to see you again."

I felt it land like a blade. Something was off, and I had no idea what she planned.

"Elias," Aileen said, "isn't green lovely?"

I had no idea what she was holding.

"Beautiful," I said.

---

The Grand Hall was filled with the sort of people who measured each other by the size of their packs. I moved through them like a man in a dream—shaking hands, saying the right things, letting Aileen's hand rest on my sleeve.

"Left of the bar," Rafe murmured beside me. "Black dress. The one that makes grown Alphas forget how to breathe."

"I saw." I had seen her the moment I walked in. I had been seeing her for forty minutes without looking.

She wore a dress that should have been illegal—midnight black, a slit up one leg, two gold chains for a back. I knew what that dress was. I knew who it was for.

"And that," Rafe said, nodding, "is Nathan Pierce, if you're keeping score."

I turned my head. Pierce was a rival in the business industry. While we didn't see eye to eye, we maintained a cordial relationship in our respective packs.

He stood three feet from Ava with his hands in his pockets, smiling at something she'd said, and the way he looked at her was not the way a man looks at a woman he considered family.

"He's been very interested in the Humphrey girl since last night, apparently," Rafe said lightly. "Drove her home from a bar."

My jaw tightened at the news.

"Elias." Rafe's voice dropped. "You've got one sister. You can't have the other. Leave her alone."

"I'm not touching anyone."

"That's not what I said either." He replied, but it was of no use.

Alpha Humphrey called the room to order, and the speeches began. I stood on the dais with Aileen's hand in mine and let her father announce it. Aileen turned to me, radiant, and I put my arm around her waist because that was what a man in my position did.

Across the hall, Ava watched.

I held her eyes for three seconds, because I could not do less, and she did not look away, because she never did. Then Aileen kissed my cheek, and something in Ava's face shut like a door.

I stayed through the toasts. I stayed while the music started, and Pierce held out his hand, and Ava took it. He led her onto the floor.

"Elias," Aileen said, "Elias, are you listening? Father wants us to meet the Marlows."

"Of course." I said, but I did not move.

Pierce's hand was at the small of her back. Her hand was on his shoulder. She moved closer to him, and I knew—I knew—that every inch was for me.

It was working.

My jaw ached from clenching. I could feel Rafe's eyes on the side of my face like a furnace.

The song ended. Ava rose onto her toes and pressed her mouth to the edge of Pierce's jaw, and held it, and I felt the glass in my hand begin to crack.

She slipped out of the hall without looking back. Pierce watched her go for half a heartbeat, then he followed.

"Elias," Rafe said, very quietly.

"I need the restroom," I replied stiffly.

"Elias. Don't."

"Tell Aileen I'll be back." I set the glass on a passing tray and walked.

The door at the rooftop was ajar. I heard a gasp—soft and breathless and so familiar it nearly dropped me where I stood. I heard her whisper something I couldn't catch, and a man's low voice answer.

I put my hand on the handle only to catch sight of them kissing. I nearly saw red. My wolf, who had been silent for hours, rose up behind my eyes and said one word.

Mine. Fucking mine.

I should have walked away. I should have gone back downstairs, found Aileen, and reminded myself why I was here. I should have remembered the alliance, the territory, the thousands of wolves who depended on me to make the right decisions.

Instead, I pushed the door open.

"Get your hands off her."