Chapter 3

I had tea with a friend that afternoon and didn't head home until the sun was going down.

When I pulled up to the estate gates and reached for the fingerprint scanner, I spotted two familiar figures hanging around outside. Marcus and Tessa. They looked like two strays nobody had let in.

"Aria!" Marcus jogged over to my car. "What are you doing here?"

I rolled the window down. "Is there a problem?"

He frowned, then brightened like he'd figured it all out.

"I'm barely off the plane, and you're already coming to see Grandfather with me?" He leaned on my door. "Relax. Play nice, and I'll put in a good word for us."

He jerked his chin at the gate. "And since you're here, help me out. This stupid system's broken. My fingerprint won't scan, and the guard won't let me in. I'm Adrian's nephew. How do I not have access?"

"Maybe they updated the system," I said.

I knew exactly why it wasn't working. The night Adrian and I bonded, he'd had Marcus's access wiped. He'd said a man that heartless would never set foot on our land again.

"Then come vouch for me." Marcus nodded toward the wolf guards at the gate. "Tell them who I am."

I sighed and got out of the car. Before I could say a word, Tessa spoke up in a thin, shaky voice.

"Aria, I know you don't like me. But could you please let me come in and sit down for a minute? I don't think I can stand much longer."

She did look pale. But there was something cold and watchful in her eyes that didn't match the rest of her face.

Before she even finished, she went limp and pitched straight toward me.

On instinct, I let a little of my aura rise. A Luna protects her territory.

Tessa cried out and dropped to the ground.

For half a second, I wondered if my aura really had spooked her wolf. Then I saw her hold up her scraped elbow, angling it so Marcus couldn't miss it, her breath hitching just loud enough for him to hear.

She'd landed right at my feet. I hadn't laid a finger on her.

"Aria!" Marcus rushed over and knelt beside her. "Are you insane? You used your aura on an Omega?"

"I didn't touch her."

"She's bleeding! Your aura hurt her!"

Tessa sniffled, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm okay... my wolf just got scared. Aria didn't mean it."

Marcus looked at his poor, fragile sister, and his face went ice cold. "Apologize."

I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You'd really throw your power around at an Omega? Apologize to Tessa. Now."

"She fell on her own."

"Stop making excuses! We all saw it. You hit her with your aura, and that's why she fell."

I glanced over at the guards. They'd felt the threat and drawn their weapons. Every one of them was pointed at Marcus.

He didn't even notice.

"I'm only going to say this one more time, Aria. Apologize to Tessa, or we're done."

The guards edged closer. I slid my hands into my coat pockets. "And if I don't?"

Marcus sneered. "Then you can forget about ever being my mate. And you'll never set foot in this house again."

I almost laughed out loud. He was standing outside my front gate, threatening to keep me out of my own home.

Tessa tugged his sleeve. "Don't be mad at her, Marcus. If she'd just let me borrow her Porsche for a while, I'd forgive her."

He patted her hand, then turned back to me. "You hear that? She's giving you an easy way out. Hand over the keys."

That did it. I laughed.

"Marcus, do you even know whose house this is?"

"Of course I do. It's the Ravenswood—"

A heavy wooden cane came flying through the gate and cracked him right across the back.

"You idiot!"

Adrian's father stormed out, red with fury. "That's your Luna! Who do you think you are, giving her orders?"

Marcus clutched his back and stared up at him. "Grandfather? What are you talking about? What Luna?"

Then he noticed the guards.

Every last one of them had lowered his head and tipped it to the side, baring his neck.

To me.