Elena’s POV
Marcus appeared at my door.
His green eyes dragged up my body. Slowly. Inch by inch. His intense gaze burned as he examined in the gown he had sent.
My heart beat so hard I could feel it in my teeth.
I wanted to cover myself. I wanted to laugh in his face. I did neither.
“You’re staring,” I said.
His jaw snapped shut.
“We are leaving for the Alpha ball,” he ordered coldly. He turned on his heel and walked out.
I let out the breath I had been holding, grabbed the small beaded clutch from the bed, and followed him out.
The sleek black limousine waiting at the curb was glossy. Windows tinted so dark you could see yourself in them. The driver stood with the rear door open, eyes forward, pretending he couldn’t see a thing.
I was three steps from the car when she ca out of nowhere.
“You bastard.”
Viviana.
She suddenly appeared like a vengeful ghost. Her designer gown was torn at the hem, dragging in the dirt. One strap hung loose off her shoulder. Mascara had run in two black streaks down her cheeks and dried there. Her hair, which I had only ever seen salon-perfect, was half out of its pins.
“You bastard,” she said again. Her voice cracked. “Why her. Why are you taking that worthless slut when I’m standing right here.”
Marcus stopped walking.
“Vivi,” he said. His body went rigid under the black of his suit jacket. He let out a low growl. “I don’t owe you an explanation. When I co back, you will look presentable.”
Her lip trembled.
Beta Hugo stepped forward out of the dark, firmly catching both of Viviana’s shoulders to stop her. She struggled, but he didn’t let go.
“Alpha,” Hugo said quietly. “Go.”
Marcus didn’t look back at her.
He guided into the car and slid in after . The door thudded shut.
The last thing I saw through the tinted glass was Viviana’s face crumpling in on itself under the streetlight.
The car pulled away.
I pressed my knees together and stared straight ahead.
“Where are we going.”
“A long drive out.”
“A pack function.”
“An Alpha ball,” he explained coldly. “Shadow Peak territory. Alphas and Lunas are both invited. Since fate saw fit to make you my mate, you will accompany , so that no Alpha at that table questions my pack’s power.”
“So I’m a decorative centerpiece to save face.”
“Call it what you like.”
I almost laughed. “A vase. I’m a vase.”
“Elena.”
“An expensive vase. With a slit up the thigh.”
He finally looked at .
“Tonight I need alliances. I need deals signed before the sun cos up. Do you understand what that ans.”
“I understand that you need the room to think you are a stable man with a stable pack. So you paraded out in front of Viviana, who will probably burn the packhouse down while we’re gone—”
“Enough about pack business.”
His voice cut across mine like a blade.
I closed my mouth.
He turned his face back to the window.
I turned mine to the opposite one.
We drove.
After a while, I realized I could not feel the ache in my ankle anymore.
“You’re not limping,” he noted.
“No.”
“The pain.”
“Mostly gone.”
He nodded once. He did not say anything else.
I pressed my forehead gently against the cool dark tinted glass. Trees slid past, dark and full. Then houses I had never seen, with porches and painted shutters. A gas station, lit up like a little blue island. A man walking a dog under a streetlamp. A diner with a neon sign I could not read from this far.
I had not been outside pack territory since I was ten.
My throat closed up. Despite my anxiety over Marcus’s terrifying reputation and the unknown punishnt waiting for at ho, there was another feeling. It had to do with a gas station sign. A stranger walking a dog. A world I had forgotten existed.
I did not let him see my face.
Through the dark tinted windows, I silently reveled in the joy of seeing the outside world. I watched, and I watched, and I let myself, for a long while, be a girl in a beautiful gown being driven sowhere.
The car slowed.
Gates opened. Gravel crunched.
I looked up.
The stone and heavy dark wood packhouse rose out of the trees like sothing out of a storybook, windows lit gold from the inside. Cars lined the curving drive. Won in long gowns stepped down onto the path on the arms of n in dark suits.
My stomach turned over.
“Marcus.”
“Don’t speak unless spoken to. Don’t drink anything I don’t hand you. Smile when I say your na.”
“Anything else, Alpha.”
His jaw ticked.
The driver opened my door.
I stepped out into cool night air that slled like pine and woodsmoke and soone’s expensive perfu. Marcus ca around the car and offered his arm. I looked at it.
Then I put my hand through it.
His skin was hot even through the sleeve of his jacket.
We walked up the stone steps together. The front doors were already open. Light spilled out. Music, soft and stringed, floated down to et us.
At the top of the steps stood the hosts, Alpha Kaelen and Luna Faye.
The Alpha was tall, almost as tall as Marcus, with black hair cut short and a warm, easy mouth. His Luna stood beside him in pale green, her hand tucked into the crook of his elbow as if it belonged there and nowhere else.
“Marcus.” The Alpha’s voice carried. “You made it.”
“Kaelen.”
“And this charming lady?”
There was a beat. A heartbeat. Two.
Marcus’s hand tightened just slightly over mine where it rested on his arm.
“This is Elena.” His voice was clear. Public. “My mate.”
Luna Faye’s eyes ward. She inclined her head to , not down, not up, just across. Like I was soone.
Alpha Kaelen laughed. A real laugh, not a polite one.
“Well. Well, well, well.” He looked up and down, but not the way Marcus had in my bedroom. Just curious. Amused. “I’m glad to finally et the woman who managed to ta the infamous Alpha Marcus. I was beginning to think no such creature existed.”
I felt Marcus go still beside .
I felt Luna Faye watching with the kind of polite attention that was actually very sharp.
I smiled.
I smiled the way a Luna smiles. Soft at the corners. A little shy. A little private, like the joke was between and my mate and no one else.
“He’s not as bad as they say,” I said.
Kaelen threw his head back and laughed again.
“Co in. Co in, both of you. Faye has been waiting to et you.”
Faye offered her hand. I took it. Her fingers were warm.
“Elena,” she said. “What a beautiful gown.”
“Thank you, Luna.”
“Just Faye. Please.”
“Let’s go, Elena. We have guests to et.” Marcus’s hand found the small of my back, his touch scorching through the fabric of my gown as I was guided deeper into the ballroom.
The sight before stole my breath. Crystal chandeliers spilled iridescent light across the polished marble floor. An elaborate buffet lined one wall, and satin-draped round tables ringed the room.
In the exact center, the dance floor glowed under soft lights, already crowded with couples moving to the orchestra’s lody.
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