AURORA

Dane had never kissed me before.

The only time we had sex, he’d avoided it.

Now his mouth descended on mine, hard and claiming and hot. It was so good, I closed my eyes and lost myself.

Dane’s mouth, his possessive hands, his hard body…it was everything I’d dreamed of.

Then his words came back to me.

You will always belong to me, but I will never love you.

I bit down and shoved with all my strength.

A wolfless woman shouldn’t have been able to move an Alpha as big and strong and powerful as Dane Montague, but I bit him hard.

“Ah!” he jumped away with a hand to his mouth, and I slipped out from between him and the wall. I couldn’t let him pin me like that again.

My breath shook. For the first time in a long time, I was flustered.

I felt like Ann Reed, and I hated it.

I wasn’t her. I was Aurora.

“If you touch me again without my permission, I will kill you,” I hissed.

His fingers came away bloody from his mouth. Good. Because my wrists were red where he grabbed them. I rubbed them.

“Ann. I’d almost think you grew fangs and found your wolf while you were gone.”

I was glad the room was dark so he couldn’t see me blush in shame. But the shame only made me angrier. I wished I had found my wolf. I wished I could rip that smirk right off his face.

“Not fangs. Just a spine. And it’s Aurora.” If I didn’t need this smug, arrogant man, I’d ask Trajan to kill him.

“Why did you come back here if not for my…” his eyes traveled hungrily down my body “…attention?”

The heat in his eyes made fire lick at my core, but my voice was ice. “Five years and you’re even less of a gentleman.”

He stepped in close again. “You used to beg me not to be gentle, if it meant I would claim you.”

I gritted my teeth, hating all these reminders of the past. “I told you who I am. You know why I’m here.”

His eyes flashed. “I know why I’m meeting with the DeVeres. I know what they claim to have.”

“Then—”

All of a sudden, music chimed into the tense space between us. My phone! I recognized the ringtone, and my stomach went cold. I reached into my clutch and silenced it.

“Who’s that? Your new lover?” Dane asked.

“None of your business.” I’d lost control of this situation. I needed to escape before he could ask more. I wrenched open the door and walked out.

Coming had been a mistake. I should have met him in a more controlled situation. And I hadn’t expected my body to react to his this way. I needed to find Trajan and leave.

But as I stepped back into the main room, someone else called my name. “Ann! Oh, my! It’s been so long! I thought you had forgotten all about me!”

My heart softened as my gaze fell on the old man who came toward me.

Connall Montague. Dane’s grandfather, and one of the only people from my old life who had truly loved me and shown me kindness.

“Grandpa,” I said, unable to help the smile that crossed my face. I went to him and kissed him on either cheek. “I could never forget you.”

He took my hand and squeezed it tightly, like he was afraid I might disappear on him again.

His worries weren’t unfounded. Because as Dane came to stand with us, I wanted to disappear more than anything.

Dane glared and said, “She abandoned us. Don’t be kind to her.”

The old man ignored him. “Come, tell me where you’ve been the last five years. I want to hear everything.”

I let him lead me up onto the balcony. It was reserved for high-ranking pack members and far less crowded than the area downstairs.

“There isn’t much to tell,” I said helplessly.

Lie. There was everything to tell. So much had happened to me that I couldn’t even wrap my brain around it. It would have been nice to be able to speak to Mr. Montague like I used to, open and honest.

But Dane lurked nearby, broad-shouldered and brooding, so I kept my mouth shut.

Besides, I couldn’t trust Mr. Montague to keep my secrets from his grandson. They were too big. Too life-shattering.

Mr. Montague tutted at me. I’d forgotten his habit of doing that, and the sound was so familiar it sharpened my bittersweet emotions.

“Come, dear. Five years don’t pass with nothing happening at all. Where have you been?”

“I…did spend some time in Europe,” I admitted reluctantly. “In fact, I have a companion downstairs.”

“Of course,” Mr. Montague said. “Show him to me.”

I pointed out Trajan and Mr. Montague tutted again, but this time he turned to me with genuine worry in his eyes. “Is this your husband? Mate? Have you really moved on from Dane?”

The pain in his eyes brought back a wave of the heartbreak I’d felt when I left. It hurt so much; it was all I could do not to press my hand against my chest. “I think it’s fair to move on from someone who never loved me,” I said quietly.

“He does love you,” Mr. Montague grumped, his old face wrinkling in consternation. “He’s blinded by his anger.”

“I gave him three years to see again. He couldn’t.” Love didn’t treat someone the way Dane had treated me, but I didn’t say that out loud. Knowing the things Dane had said to me would only hurt his grandfather, and I didn’t want to do that.

Besides, Dane was openly listening, now. “Well, Ann, have you moved on?” he asked mockingly.

I ignored him, focusing on Mr. Montague. “Trajan is just my assistant and bodyguard,” I said. “He’s—”

From down below, near the doorway, a woman screamed, “WHY IS SHE HERE?”

Evelyn Barclay had arrived.