Chapter 2_The Stitches

I scrubbed my hands until they burned.

Hot water, then soap, then more hot water. I stood at our small kitchen sink and watched the pink water swirl down the drain. His blood. The stranger's blood. The Alpha's blood.

*No.* I shook my head hard. *It wasn't him. It can't be him.*

There were a lot of wolves in Blackthorn Ridge. A lot of black wolves. A lot of men who fought rogues by the creek.

Yeah, right.

"Sienna!" Mom called from the bedroom. "Are you almost ready? Garrett is sending a car at six!"

A car. Garrett Thorne was sending a car for the laundry woman and her Hollow daughter. Yesterday, nobody in this pack would even hold a door open for us.

I looked down at my right hand. On the tip of my first finger was a tiny red cut from the needle. It was so small you could hardly see it.

I wrapped a little bandage around it anyway.

Then there was my ankle. It was fat and purple and it hurt every time I put weight on it. Kael Thorne had carried me to that ranger station because I couldn't walk. If I came limping into his house tonight, I might as well wear a sign that said *IT WAS ME.*

So I wrapped the ankle tight, put on my old black boots, stood up straight and practiced.

Step. Smile. Step. Smile.

It hurt like hell. I smiled anyway.

---

The Thorne house sat on top of the hill like it owned the whole valley. In a way, it did. It was big and made of stone and dark wood, with tall windows that glowed gold in the evening light. I had seen it from far away my whole life. I had never been this close.

Mom held my hand in the back of the car. Her palm was sweaty.

"Be nice," she whispered.

"I'm always nice."

She gave me a look.

"I'll be nice," I said.

Garrett Thorne met us at the front door himself. He was a big man with silver hair and a kind, crinkled face. He didn't look like the old Alpha who had ruled this pack with an iron fist for thirty years. He looked like somebody's grandpa.

"Elena," he said softly, and he kissed my mother's hand like she was a queen.

My mother blushed. I had never seen my mother blush in my life.

Then he turned to me and smiled warmly.

"And you must be Sienna. Welcome home, sweetheart."

*Home.* The word felt strange, like a coat that didn't fit.

"Thank you, sir," I said.

"Garrett," he corrected. "We're family now."

He led us inside. The floors were so shiny I could see myself in them. There were paintings of old Alphas on the walls, all of them staring down at me with cold eyes, like they knew I didn't belong.

Step. Smile. Step. Smile.

"You're walking funny," said a voice behind me.

I turned. A young man was leaning against the wall with a glass of wine in his hand. He had messy blond hair, blue eyes, and a grin that was trouble.

"I'm not," I said.

"You are. Like a baby deer." He grinned wider. "I'm Rhys. The cousin. The fun one."

"He's the Beta," Garrett said, rolling his eyes. "Though you wouldn't know it."

"Hurt," Rhys said, putting a hand on his heart. Then he looked me up and down and leaned close. "So you're the Hollow girl."

The word hit me like a slap. Even here, even tonight.

"Rhys," Garrett warned.

"What? I'm just saying." Rhys sniffed the air near my neck, and frowned. "Huh. She really doesn't smell like anything. That's wild."

I stepped back. "Do you sniff every girl you meet?"

"Only the pretty ones."

Before I could tell him where to put his wine glass, a door opened at the end of the hall.

And everything inside me went still.

It was him.

Kael Thorne walked into the room like the room belonged to him. He wore a dark gray shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and black pants. His dark hair was combed back. His face was hard and serious, and those gray eyes, those same winter-storm eyes, moved over every person in the hall.

They passed over me, then came back.

I stopped breathing.

My heart started pounding so loud I was sure everyone could hear it. And deep down, in that same place as last night, something warm and wild woke up and whispered the word again.

*Mine.*

*Shut up,* I told it. *Shut up, shut up, shut up.*

"Kael," Garrett said. "Come meet Elena and her daughter."

Kael walked toward us. Every step he took, my legs wanted to run. He stopped in front of my mother and bowed his head politely.

"Ms. Vale. Welcome."

Then he looked at me.

"Sienna," his father said.

"Sienna," Kael repeated.

The way he said my name made my skin feel hot. He didn't offer his hand, and I didn't offer mine. We just stood there, looking at each other, while the whole world got very small and very quiet.

He couldn't smell me. I knew that. He'd said so himself last night. And I'd washed my hands three times.

But he was looking at me like he was trying to remember a dream.

"Have we met?" he asked quietly.

"No," I said, too fast. "I mean, I've seen you around. Everybody's seen you around. You're the Alpha."

"I am."

"So. Yeah. No."

Rhys snorted into his wine.

Kael's eyes narrowed a tiny bit. Then he turned away, and I could finally breathe again.

---

Dinner was long and terrible.

The table was so big you could have landed a plane on it. Garrett sat at one end with my mother beside him. Kael sat at the other end. I was put right in the middle, facing Rhys, which meant I could feel Kael watching me from the side like heat from a fire.

And then there was the woman beside Kael.

She came in late, just as the soup was served. She was tall and beautiful, with long red hair and a green dress that probably cost more than our whole house. She kissed Kael on the cheek and sat down like she'd done it a thousand times.

"Margot Hale," Rhys whispered to me across the table. "Daughter of the Silver Creek Alpha. She's going to be our Luna."

My spoon froze halfway to my mouth.

"Kael's marrying her?"

"In the spring. Political deal. Two packs, one big happy family." He shrugged. "Why? You jealous already?"

"Of course not," I said, and put the spoon down because my hand was shaking.

I didn't care. Why would I care? He was a stranger. One night in a ranger station didn't mean anything.

So why did it feel like somebody had reached inside my chest and squeezed?

Margot looked at me across the table. Her green eyes went from my old boots to my cheap dress to my plain brown hair. Then she smiled sweetly.

"So you're the new little sister. How sweet. Do you shift yet, darling? Or is it true what they say?"

The table went quiet.

"It's true," I said.

"Oh." She put her hand on her heart. "You poor thing."

I wanted to throw my soup at her. I smiled instead.

"It's okay. I've had twenty-one years to get used to it."

Kael said nothing. But he was still watching me.

When the main dinner was served, Garrett lifted his glass. He wanted to make a toast.

"To new family," he said, smiling at my mother.

Everyone stood up.

And that was my mistake.

I stood up too fast. My bad ankle gave way under me. I gasped and caught the edge of the table, and my water glass tipped over and spilled across the white cloth.

"Sienna!" Mom said.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Sorry. I just tripped."

Margot laughed softly.

But Kael wasn't laughing. His eyes went straight down to my feet, then slowly back up to my face.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

"Excuse me," Kael said, standing. "It's warm in here."

He began to roll his sleeve higher. Then he unbuttoned the top of his gray shirt and pulled the collar aside, like he needed air.

And there, on his shoulder, was a white bandage.

My bandage. I knew it because I had tied that crooked knot myself, at three in the morning, with shaking hands.

He looked right at me as he touched it.

I sat down hard. The room spun.

"Sienna, honey, you look pale," Garrett said.

"I'm just tired," I whispered. "Can I use the bathroom?"

"Down the hall, second door on the left."

I didn't walk. I fled, as fast as my ankle would let me.

The hallway was long and dark, lit only by small lamps on the wall. I found the second door, pushed it open, slipped inside and leaned my back against it, breathing hard.

*It was him. It was really him.*

My fated mate was the Alpha. My fated mate was about to be my stepbrother. My fated mate was going to marry a woman named Margot in the spring.

I pressed both hands over my face and tried not to cry.

Then I heard footsteps in the hall outside.

Slow and heavy, they stopped right outside the door.

I held my breath.

The door handle began to turn.

I jumped back just as the door swung open, and Kael Thorne stepped inside and shut it behind him. The bathroom was suddenly very small.

"What are you doing?" I hissed. "This is the bathroom!"

He didn't answer. He just reached out, slowly and carefully, and took my right hand in his.

His thumb brushed over the little bandage on the tip of my finger.

"Funny," he said, very quietly. "The girl who stitched me up last night cut her finger with the needle."

He lifted his gray eyes to mine.

"Right here.”