Damian's POV
"Marianna."
The name didn't just land in the airless dining room. It shattered the silence outright.
My wolf snapped to attention, the hair at my nape rising. Beside me Damon went utterly still, and the air around him dropped a dozen degrees.
"How do you know my mother's name?" Kate's voice trembled, brittle as cracked glass. She tipped forward, one hand fisting the edge of the table as if it were the only thing holding her up, knuckles bleaching white.
My father frowned, that unflappable face genuinely puzzled for once.
"Know her? Kate, every summer Marianna brought her daughters to the old country house to escape the heat. That land borders our ancestral territory." His chin tipped toward us. "These boys are bound to remember. Did something happen to you? Though you'd
