Chapter 6

Faye's POV

The woman in the mirror was not Aiden's housewife.

She wore the midnight-blue Valenthier, hair swept up, gold at her throat and ears — not borrowed, not rented. My mother's diamond earrings, the ones I had hidden at the bottom of a suitcase for three years, catching the light like they were glad to be seen again.

Rylan knocked. "You ready to cause a scene?"

"Born ready," I said.

The car pulled up to the summit hall, and the wolves outside stopped talking. A dozen northern Alphas turned as one, and I saw it in their faces — the flicker of confusion, the shift from curiosity to hunger as they tried to place me. Then Rylan stepped out first, offered me his hand, and the confusion turned to something else.

No one recognized me. Three years of plain blouses and kitchen aprons had erased the daughter of the Moonshade Alpha completely. To this room, I was just Rylan's stunning new companion — a woman worth wondering about.

"Is that his mate?" someone whispered. "Rylan, the zero-rumor Alpha, shows up with her and no announcement — who is she?"

"Quiet, she's a guest of the Moonshades. That's enough."

I heard it all. I smiled and did not correct them.

Then a voice I recognized cut through the crowd. "Wait — isn't that the Blackfang Luna? Aiden's wife?"

A group of Aiden's friends — his poker circle, the ones I'd fed at our house a dozen times — stared at me like I'd grown a second head.

"What is she doing dressed like that? Did Aiden dump her and she's already latched onto someone else?" A pause, then a snicker. "Or is she trying to make him jealous now that the ex is back?"

Three years, I thought. Three years they had watched Aiden ignore me, cheat on me, treat me like furniture — and laughed about it behind my back. They'd all known. Every single one of them had known, and not one had said a word.

I smiled at them — slow, sweet — and kept walking. Their confusion would have to wait. Tonight had a schedule.

The doors at the far end of the hall opened, and Aiden walked in with Julia on his arm.

They were wearing the same color. Ivory and gold, like a wedding that hadn't happened yet — three years of never matching my own husband, and the moment I leave him, he shows up dressed to a theme with the other woman.

I didn't feel the sting. I felt the nausea.

Aiden saw me. His step faltered, then he smoothed it over and marched toward Rylan with his best business smile, eyes darting to me the whole way.

Julia's gaze landed on me, and her mouth opened before she could stop it. "What are you doing here? This event has an invitation list — and you're not on it."

I opened my mouth to retort, but Rylan got there first. "I'm sorry," he said with perfect courtesy, "you are?"

Julia blinked, thrown. "I'm Julia Frostclaw. Aiden's business partner."

"I see." Rylan's expression didn't waver. "I look forward to Miss Frostclaw's professional contributions at this summit—rather than anything of a purely... decorative nature."

Julia's face tightened, but she dared not show any disrespect toward Rylan. Instead, she turned to me with practiced composure and said, "This is a gathering for the upper circle. Faye is about to become Aiden's ex-wife—she has no standing to attend under the Blackfang name."

I laughed — low, clear, deliberate. "Whether I have standing isn't for you to decide, Julia." I looked at her, then at Aiden. "And for the record — I'm the one leaving him. Not the other way around. But go ahead and keep telling the story that makes you feel like you won."

Aiden's face went dark. "Faye. We need to talk. Privately."

Rylan stepped forward, but I put a hand on his arm. "It's fine. Go mingle. I can handle this."

Aiden grabbed my elbow and pulled me toward a quiet corner, his grip hard enough to leave marks. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how this looks? You come here dressed like —" He lowered his voice. "You're making a scene at the most important event of my career. Leave. Now. Before someone asks questions."

"I'm not leaving," I said.

"You don't get a choice." He gestured, and two of his wolves peeled away from the crowd, moving toward me. "I said you're leaving."

"Get your hands off —"

A voice cut through the room like a blade. Low, unhurried, and carrying a weight that made every conversation stop dead.

"Take your hands off her."

I turned. And forgot how to breathe.

A man stood at the entrance of the hall, still in his coat like he'd come straight from somewhere important. Six-four, dark hair swept back, a watch on his wrist that cost more than most packs — and eyes the color of gold.

My night. My host. The stranger I'd kissed in a hotel elevator and paid like a service.

He walked toward us, and the crowd parted like water. A dozen Alphas stepped back without realizing they were doing it. And then I felt it — the weight of his presence pressing on every wolf in the room, a command woven into the air itself.

Aiden's wolves buckled. One of them actually went down on one knee, breath ragged, before scrambling back. Aiden's face went from red to white as sweat beaded on his forehead.

The man stopped in front of me. Close. Too close.

"Careful," he said, and his voice was warmer now — the teasing edge I remembered from the bar.

"What — who —" I couldn't find the words.

"Alpha Dorian." Aiden whispered, and his voice cracked on the name like it hurt him. "I — I didn't know you were attending, Alpha. We were told — you usually send your beta —"

I froze.

Dorian Nighthowl.

The man I had kissed in a bar. The man I had slept with in a hotel suite. The man I had paid and walked away from like a service — was Dorian Nighthowl. The Alpha I had run from three years ago.

The one my father had wanted me to marry. The one I'd fled across the border to escape, convinced that a stranger with a playboy reputation could never be anything but a cage.

I stood perfectly still and waited for the floor to swallow me.

Dorian didn't look at him. He looked at me.

"I changed my plans." Dorian hadn't taken his eyes off me. His mouth carried the same easy curve from the bar, but his gold eyes were sharper now — amused, predatory, patient. "I heard tonight might be interesting."

Dorian raised an eyebrow at me. "Wouldn't you say?"

He reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear — a gesture so intimate my wolf grew restless against his hand. Then he leaned in, his mouth close to my ear, his breath warm on my skin, and said, low enough that only I could hear:

"You can't run from me this time, my fiancée."