Chapter 3

Althea POV:

Two hours after getting off the cargo truck at the city limits, I pushed open the heavy oak doors of the Langley Pack headquarters and stepped into the brightly lit marble foyer.

In the center of the hall, my half-sister Aubree stood swirling a glass of champagne, her honey-blonde curls bouncing under the crystal chandelier. As the pampered Beta princess of the family, she wore custom silk while my jacket was caked in dried forest mud.

Spotting me, Aubree covered her mouth with a dramatic gasp, her eyes gleaming with disgust.

"Oh my god, look what the cat dragged in. Our family's pathetic little wolfless freak looks like she crawled here through a ditch—you look like you haven't bathed in ten years."

"And that face. Ugh." She wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something rotten. "Just thinking about you sharing the Langley name makes my stomach turn."

I stared at her blankly, keeping my fingers still at my sides. In werewolf society, being born wolfless without an inner wolf was treated as a genetic curse worse than a servant's, and their arrogance was the best shield I had.

Footsteps sounded on the grand staircase. My stepmother, Valerie, glided down, a massive emerald ring flashing on her left hand.

"Aubree, watch your tongue. We are family, after all," Valerie scolded lightly before turning to me with a stiff, painted-on smile.

"Althea, since you made it back in one piece, the substitute marriage will proceed tonight. You are taking Aubree's place to marry Kenton Frost."

I kept my face expressionless. Kenton Frost was the disgraced Alpha heir of the billionaire Frost Pack-a man rumored to have had his leg meridians shattered, leaving him a violent, crippled outcast. Valerie wanted Frost's alliance money without sacrificing her precious daughter.

"Where are my mother's belongings?" I asked, my voice flat. That was the only reason I had agreed to this deal.

Valerie's smile flickered. "Once you settle into the Frost estate and behave yourself, I will have them sent over. The car is waiting outside."

Aubree folded her arms over her chest and snickered. "A hideous, scarred freak and a crippled lunatic Alpha. You two are a match made in hell, sister. They didn't even bother holding a Moon Goddess blessing ceremony for you-just pack you up and ship you out."

Ignoring her, I turned around and walked back out the oak doors toward the black sedan bearing the Frost Pack crest. Fighting with fools wasted energy; I needed to get inside the Frost territory to investigate the fire that had ruined my life twelve years ago.

That fire took my mother's life and left my grandfather badly injured. Because of it, I was exiled to the borderlands for twelve years. I have to find out what caused that fire.

Two burly Beta guards yanked the rear door open and shoved me onto the leather seat before slamming the door shut. As the sedan pulled away, I watched Valerie and Aubree laughing on the steps, my fingertips lightly brushing my chin.

Leaning back against the headrest, I closed my eyes as the car sped out of downtown. Unbidden, the memory of that golden mask and the searing electric jolt of his kiss flashed through my mind. The Moon Goddess had given me a Fated Mate in the sky, yet I did not even know his name, and now I was bound by contract to a crippled stranger.

The sedan climbed a winding cliffside road and stopped before an imposing fortress overlooking the black ocean—Clearwater Cliff Estate. Armed warriors patrolled the perimeter, the air thick with lethal security.

A middle-aged Beta butler in a tailored suit, Jody Clarke, waited on the front steps. When I stepped out of the car, his gaze hit my scarred cheek and widened for a fraction of a second before smoothing over.

"Miss Althea, follow me. Young Master Kenton is waiting in the study," Jody said with polite detachment.

Clutching my small canvas bag, I followed him down a dim hallway lined with ancient Dire Wolf tapestries. At the end of the corridor stood a pair of heavy mahogany doors. Even through the thick wood, a suffocating wave of pure Alpha dominance leaked into the hall, pressing heavily against my chest.

Jody knocked twice. "Young Master, the girl from the Langley Pack has arrived."

"Tell her to get the hell in here," a freezing, gravelly baritone cut through the door.

Jody pushed the door open, gestured me inside, and shut it behind me. The study was dark save for the crackling fireplace. A tall, broad-shouldered man sat facing the hearth in a custom black wheelchair.

Slowly, he spun the wheelchair around, locking his pitch-black eyes onto mine. My breath hitched—not from fear, but because beneath the heavy smell of medicinal herbs in the room, he carried the exact same winter cedar scent as the masked man in the sky.