Chapter 2

Destiney POV:

I led Kane onto the crowded cross-town bus, his six-foot-two muscular frame looking painfully out of place squeezed between rusted handrails as his brows drew into a tight knot.

Halfway down the avenue, the driver slammed on the brakes.

My boots slipped on the grimy floor, and I crashed straight into Kane's rock-hard chest, the crisp scent of winter cedar wrapping around me until my cheeks burned.

His large hand shot out and clamped firmly around my waist, pulling me close to protect me from falling. His deep voice dropping from above my head.

"Stand steady."

A strange warmth spread through my chest at his protective gesture, making my cheeks burn.

"Sorry," I muttered, taking a flustered half-step back and staring out the scratched window while my pulse hammered in my ears.

Thirty minutes later, we stepped off the bus and stood before the peeling wooden door of the old Aguilar house.

I gripped the hem of my trench coat, drew a deep breath, and pushed the door open.

The living room reeked of cheap perfume, and my stepmother Rosa sat on the floral sofa counting crystal gambling chips, her eyelids lifting in a nasty sneer the moment she saw the stranger behind me.

"Destiney, you finally decided to crawl back?" Rosa barked shrilly. "Young Master Collin's betrothal gifts arrive tomorrow morning, so go scrub yourself clean and get ready to serve him!"

I met her greedy gaze without flinching and slammed the red-stamped blood contract onto the coffee table.

"I'm mated. This is my legal husband, Kane."

Rosa froze, snatched up the parchment, and burst into ear-splitting laughter.

"A landless retired grunt who can't even sense his own inner wolf? Have you lost your mind, you stupid girl?"

Kane stood behind my right shoulder with his hands in his pockets, his dark-gray eyes as cold as a frozen abyss while he stayed completely silent, playing the part of a helpless bottom-tier wolf.

"He is not trash!" I snapped, stepping squarely in front of Kane to shield him. "He bled on the border to protect our kind, which makes him a hundred times nobler than bloodsuckers like you!"

Rosa flinched at my outburst, though her eyeballs rolled slyly before she plastered a fake smile across her face.

"Oh my, since you two already signed the blood bond, stay for dinner while I go check the kitchen."

Knowing she was plotting something foul, I turned to Kane and kept my voice low.

"Wait for me here. I'm going to check on Daisy."

I hurried down the narrow hallway to the damp, windowless storage closet at the end that served as a bedroom for my daughter and me.

Pushing the door open, I found five-year-old Daisy curled up on the thin mattress, her small face pale as paper while the faint surgical scar over her chest rose and fell with her shallow breaths.

"Mommy..." Daisy whispered weakly, reaching out her thin arms as I scooped her against my chest and kissed her forehead. "Sweetheart, Mommy is taking you away from here today. We have a new home now."

After tucking the blanket around her until she drifted back to sleep, I stepped out of the storage room, only to find the living room sofa completely empty.

Kane POV:

The moment that greedy stepmother ducked into the kitchen and Destiney went to check on her little bastard, I glided into the hallway without making a sound.

Years of lethal combat as the supreme Alpha had honed my stealth to perfection.

Slipping into the cramped bedroom right after Destiney stepped out to grab a towel in the washroom, I wrinkled my nose at the suffocating stench of damp mold.

A frail cub lay asleep on the cot. She was innocent, and my gaze softened slightly as I looked at her pale face.

I swept my hands through the battered wardrobe, under the mattress, and inside the cardboard boxes in the corner.

There was no trace of the mythril rune watch anywhere.

Irritation pricked at my temples as I wondered if she had hidden it at her mural shop, and just as I turned to leave, a faded photograph on the nightstand caught my eye.

It showed an eighteen-year-old Destiney with long, cascading silver-white curls and bright golden eyes, smiling wildly under the moonlight.

My heart contracted violently.

On that full moon night five years ago at The Moonlit Velvet club, the woman who had tangled with me in a delirious frenzy of The Heat had possessed that exact same silver hair.

Could it be Destiney? No, that was impossible. Alexa Fletcher was the one who claimed she was with me that night and bore my son Jared. But I had always despised Alexa's greedy face. I only acknowledged her as Jared's biological mother and absolutely refused to accept her as my wife or fiancee.

I squeezed my eyes shut to banish the absurd thought, but just then, the little girl on the bed rolled over and let out a soft sigh.

A faint, unmistakable scent drifted into my nose, making my blood boil instantly.

It was the unique aura of the Gutierrez golden wolf bloodline!

How could a dying, bottom-tier cub carry the royal genetic signature of my family? Destiney clearly had many secrets. My brows furrowed in deep suspicion just as Destiney's hurried footsteps echoed right outside the hallway.

Suppressing my aura immediately, I slipped out the side gap and returned to the living room sofa, picking up the chipped teacup to take a slow sip right as Destiney pushed the hallway door open.