Chapter 03

Evalina's pov

"Your pack promised me Leah of Redwater," Magnus said. "Not you."

His gray eyes moved over me slowly, from my wet boots to my messy hair. I wanted to hide, but I made myself stand still.

"Leah is pregnant," I said. "With my chosen mate's child."

His eyebrows rose. "So they sent you instead. And you agreed?"

"Yes."

He stepped closer. Snow crunched under his bare feet, but he didn't seem to feel the cold at all.

"Haven't you heard the stories about me?" he asked. "That I'm cursed. That I lose control. That I killed my last Alpha and my own Luna. That I hurt my daughter so badly she can only walk with a crutch."

My heart was pounding, but I kept my voice steady.

"I've heard them."

"And you still came?"

"I don't listen to rumors," I said. "I care about getting away from my horrible family. I care about bringing peace between our packs. As long as I can do that, I don't care who I marry."

For a long moment, he just looked at me. Something in his face changed. The hard lines around his mouth softened a little.

"Interesting," he said quietly, almost to himself.

Before I could ask what he meant, he pulled the long black fur coat off the branch and wrapped it around my shoulders. It was heavy and warm and smelled like pine trees and smoke.

"You're my wife now," he said. "I can't have you freezing to death on your first night."

I looked up at him. He was terrifying. He was huge and scarred and cold. Yet somehow, I couldn't look away.

"It seems we were meant to meet tonight," he said. "Maybe even destined."

"Destined?" I repeated.

He lifted his hand and touched my cheek. His fingers were warm. Then he leaned down, closer and closer, until I could feel his breath on my lips.

My whole body froze. Was he going to kiss me? We had only just met! Wasn't this too fast?

I turned my face away at the last second.

Magnus stopped. He pulled back and frowned at me, like I was a puzzle he couldn't solve.

"You really don't feel it," he said slowly. "Do you?"

"Feel what?"

He studied my face. Then his eyes went wide with understanding.

"You don't have a wolf."

My stomach dropped. There it was. The truth I had been dreading.

"No," I whispered. "Your old Alpha took it from me. There was a battle on the border two years ago. I lost my wolf saving someone I loved."

I waited for the disgust. I waited for him to tell me to go back to Redwater.

"So now you know," I said, lifting my chin. "Your Luna has no wolf."

He was quiet. I was sure he was going to reject me right there in the snow.

Instead, he said, "You don't care about rumors."

"No."

"Then I don't care that you're wolfless."

I blinked at him. "You don't?"

A small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. It was the first time I had seen him smile.

"I'm enough wolf for both of us," he said.

Something warm moved inside my chest. This man was nothing like the monster in the stories. He was actually kind.

"Come," he said. "We should get inside before the storm gets worse."

I pulled his coat tighter around me. "How far is your house?"

He pointed up.

I followed his finger and my mouth fell open. High above us, on the very top of the mountain, tiny lights glowed in the dark. Between us and those lights was a wall of rock so steep it looked like it went straight up into the sky.

"You expect me to walk up there?" I asked.

"I don't recommend walking," he said. "The path is covered in ice. You would slip and fall before you reached the first bend."

"Then how do we get up there?"

He bent down and lifted me into his arms like I weighed nothing at all.

"Hold on to me," he said. "Tight. The wind up there is strong enough to blow you right off."

I looked at the cliff, then at his face. "Is now a bad time to tell you that I'm scared of heights?"

He laughed. It was a deep, rough sound.

"Yes," he said. "Very bad time."

Then he jumped.

I screamed and wrapped my arms around his neck. He landed on a ledge high above the ground, then jumped again to the next one. And the next. Rocks rushed past us. The wind roared in my ears and pulled at my hair.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face into his chest.

I hated this. I hated heights. I hated the wind. I already hated this freezing mountain and this lonely house at the top of it.

When I opened my eyes again, I realized his shirt had come open in the wind. His chest was bare, and right in front of my face were rows of hard, strong muscles.

Okay. I didn't hate those.

"Are you enjoying the view?" Magnus asked.

My face burned. I quickly turned my head toward the mountains.

"Yes," I said. "The mountains are very beautiful."