Chapter 4

My spirit drifted behind my family all the way to the healer's clinic.

Adrian arrived soon afterward. He rushed straight to Celeste, taking her hand gently to examine the blistering burn on her palm. His eyes were wild with frantic panic.

"What happened? What did the healer say?"

"Don't look so worried." Celeste gave him a small smile through her tears. "Mara probably wanted to surprise me. Maybe she forgot we can't touch silver."

Adrian looked toward the door.

"Where is she? Still hiding?"

Celeste lowered her eyes.

The more "understanding" she acted, the darker Adrian's face grew.

"Don't cry," he told her. "I'll deal with Mara."

We hadn't completed our Mate Bond. Until we sealed that bond, he couldn't feel whether I was hurt or dead. I had told him on the phone, but he'd chosen not to believe me.

I stood beside him now. He never looked my way.

Outside the clinic, Adrian called my phone. When I didn't answer, he left a message.

“How could you be so vicious, Mara? Using silver against your own sister? I thought you were kind, but you're doing this out of pure jealousy!”

He paced beside the steps.

"I was going to give you a pendant for your award. It's been in my family for generations. Well, you can forget it. Consider this your punishment. You don't deserve it."

He paused, waiting for an answer that couldn't come through a voicemail.

"You'd better hope Celeste's all right. If she isn't, consider our Mate Bond ceremony cancelled!"

He ended the call and went back inside.

I listened to his accusations, my soul too weary to even feel a thing. I should have known long ago.

I remembered a hunting exercise when I had caught my foot on a root and fallen. Adrian had called me clumsy without stopping to help. A moment later, he was praising how lightly Celeste moved through the trees.

At meals, he forgot I couldn't eat spicy food. Yet he had learned to bake more than twenty desserts because Celeste liked them.

Whenever I brought it up, he gave me the same answer.

"You're overthinking it. She's like a little sister to me."

After enough arguments, I began to wonder whether I was the problem. Maybe I asked for too much. Maybe loving him meant learning not to mind.

I had believed the Moon Goddess sent him to me so I would finally have someone of my own. But I was wrong. So completely wrong.

My parents preferred Celeste's bloodline. I never understood what had drawn Adrian to her. I still didn't.

That question would remain unanswered forever.

The bitter truth was, his rejection couldn't shatter my heart anymore. Just like a nasty fall or a brutal beating, no physical or emotional torment could touch me now. The dead don't feel.

I only knew how quickly he had gone to her when she was hurt.

When my parents and Blake returned from the clinic, the night was still dark. Celeste had stayed there for the healer to tend to her silver burn. Adrian was with her again.

Mom shut the front door and sighed.

"Did you see how attentive he was? It's a shame his bloodline isn't good enough for Celeste. They'd be perfect together."

Dad nodded. "He's capable. She seems fond of him, too. But the Moon Goddess chose Mara."

"Well, they're both gray wolves. That makes more sense." Mom set down her bag. "Even if he completes the Mate Bond with Mara, he can still dote on Celeste. There's no harm in that."

They had spoken about my mate while I stood there. Neither had considered what it would mean for me to live that way.

Dad reached for the moonstone lamp by the stairs. It gave only a faint flicker. The other lamps had gone dark.

"These lighting stones are spent. Blake, get a fresh one from the basement."

Blake headed down the hall. A metallic odor grew stronger as he approached the door. The wolf beneath his skin flattened its ears, uneasy, but he told himself it was nothing.

He wrinkled his nose. "Did something die down here? A rat?"

Mom stopped behind him. Dad followed, looking irritated.

Blake opened the door. The smell of old blood filled the hall.

At the foot of the steps, a body lay beside the table in a dark, dried pool. Its eyes were partly open.

Blake gripped the doorframe, stopping dead in his tracks.

"Mara?"