Chapter 1
Seven years before Darius Black broke my heart, I thought he was going to be the man who saved it.
I was nineteen when I first met him.
He was twenty-two.And, at the time, he seemed impossibly perfect.
Darius was the heir to the Blackwood Alpha position, which meant everyone in our territory knew who he was.
I didn't care.
At least, that's what I told myself.
He was standing outside the pack clinic when I first saw him, leaning against a black sports car with his arms crossed over his chest.I'd just finished a twelve-hour shift.
My hair was a mess.
My scrubs were covered in blood.
And I had a coffee stain down the front of my shirt.
He smiled when he saw me.
"You look tired."
I frowned.
"You look annoying."
His smile widened.
"I've been called worse."
I tried to walk past him.
He stepped in front of me.
"Coffee?"
"No."
"Dinner?"
"No."
"Five minutes?"
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because I've been standing here for an hour waiting for you."
I laughed.
"Why?"
"Because I like you."
I rolled my eyes.
"You don't even know me."
"Then give me five minutes."
I should have walked away.
Instead, I stayed.
That five minutes became an hour.
That hour became dinner.
Dinner became dates.
And eventually, Darius became my entire world.I didn't realize how quickly it happened.One moment, he was simply the annoying Alpha heir who kept appearing outside the clinic.The next, I was checking my phone between lectures just to see whether he'd messaged me.
Darius: You eaten?
Me: No.
Darius: Of course not.
Me: I'm busy.
Darius: I'm outside.
I remembered looking out the university window and seeing his black car parked across the street.
I had laughed.He had held up a takeaway bag.He always knew when I was too busy to take care of myself.He remembered everything.My favorite coffee.The flowers I liked.The songs that made me smile.
He would sneak into my apartment after late shifts just to bring me food because he knew I forgot to eat when I was working.
Sometimes he'd sit on the kitchen counter while I studied.
"You know," he'd say, "normal people sleep."
"I'm not normal."
"I've noticed."
I'd throw a pen at him.
He'd catch it.
Then he'd grin.
I loved that grin.
I loved the way he looked at me like I was the only person in the room.
I loved the way his hand always found mine whenever we walked somewhere together.
Most of all, I loved how safe I felt around him.
Darius made the future seem simple.
There would be a house.
A family.
Children.
My medical career.
His Alpha responsibilities.
And us.
Always us.
When I graduated from medical school, he was standing in the front row.
I remember searching through the crowd before my name was called.
Then I saw him.
He was wearing a dark suit and smiling like an idiot.When I walked across the stage, he stood and applauded louder than anyone else.Later, outside the auditorium, he pulled me into his arms.
"I'm proud of you."
I laughed against his chest.
"You sound surprised."
"I'm not."
He kissed my forehead.
"I always knew you could do it."
"Even when I nearly failed anatomy?"
"You didn't nearly fail."
"I got sixty-two percent."
"Exactly."
I pulled away and stared at him.
"That's nearly failing."
He laughed.
"You're going to be an amazing surgeon."
I believed him.
When I became a surgeon, he was the first person I called.
When I was terrified before my first major surgery, he held my hands and told me I could do it.
"You were born for this," he whispered.
I believed him.
I believed everything he told me.
Especially when our wolves recognized each other.The day I discovered Darius was my mate was the happiest day of my life.
I was twenty-one.We were standing beside the river outside the pack territory.
It had been an ordinary afternoon.I'd been complaining about my exams.Darius had been teasing me.Then everything changed.
The mate bond snapped into place so violently that I dropped my phone.
I gasped.
Darius went completely still.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then his eyes changed.
His wolf came forward.
His pupils darkened, and his scent surrounded me.
"Aria."
My own wolf was practically screaming.
Mate.
I started laughing.
Then crying.
Then laughing again.
Darius crossed the distance between us and pulled me against his chest.
"Mine."
I buried my face against him.
"Yours?"
He kissed my forehead.
"My mate."
His arms tightened around me.
"My future Luna."
I had believed him.
God, I had believed him.
For years, I built my future around those words.
When Darius eventually became Alpha, I stood beside him during the ceremony.
Thousands of wolves gathered in the territory's central square.
He wore the Alpha crest around his neck.
I remember watching him kneel before the elders and swear his oath.
Then he stood and looked directly at me.
His eyes found mine in the crowd.
Later that night, when we were alone, he pulled me against him.
"One day," he whispered, "I'll put a Luna crown on your head."
I smiled.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
I never imagined that one day, that same promise would become something he'd give to someone else.
At the time, though, everything was perfect.
We bought a house on the edge of Blackwood territory.
It wasn't a mansion.
Not then.
Just a modern three-bedroom home surrounded by trees, with huge windows and a small pool at the back.
It was ours.
We chose the furniture together.
Argued over the color of the kitchen.
Burned the first dinner we tried to cook together.
Darius blamed me.
I blamed him.
We ordered pizza.
Those were some of the happiest days of my life.
We talked about children.
Marriage.
Growing old together.
Sometimes we'd lie in bed late at night, discussing where we'd travel when his responsibilities allowed it.
"I want to see Paris," I told him once.
"Done."
"You don't even know when."
"Doesn't matter."
"What if we can't afford it?"
He laughed.
"Aria, I'm going to be Alpha of the largest pack in the region."
I smiled.
"You're arrogant."
"I'm realistic."
I pushed his shoulder.
He caught my hand and kissed my palm.
"You'll have everything you want."
I looked into his eyes.
"I already do."
He smiled.
I believed that moment would last forever.
Or at least until the first crack appeared.
It was so small I almost didn't notice it.
Two years after Darius became Alpha, he started working late.At first, I understood.
Being Alpha was difficult.There were pack disputes.
Council meetings.
Territory negotiations.
Security concerns.
Corporate responsibilities.
Blackwood had expanded rapidly, and Darius had begun investing in businesses outside the supernatural community.
His face appeared in business magazines.
His name was mentioned on financial news.
He was becoming powerful.
Important.
I was proud of him.
I never complained.
If anything, I tried to make his life easier.
I handled his meals.
Organized his schedule when his assistant couldn't.
Helped with medical emergencies.
Even attended meetings with him when the pack needed a doctor.
But slowly, his appreciation disappeared.
"Did you eat?" I'd ask.
"Later."
"There's dinner."
"I'm busy."
"I can wait."
"Don't."
The answers became shorter.
The kisses became less frequent.
The nights we spent together became fewer.
I told myself it was temporary.
Then came the first night he forgot our anniversary.
I'd prepared everything.
His favorite meal.
Candles.
A bottle of expensive wine.I'd even bought him a watch I'd spent months saving for.I waited until midnight.He never came home.
At 1:17 a.m., I heard the front door.
Darius walked inside.
I stood from the couch.
"You forgot."
He frowned.
"Forgot what?"
I smiled.
Except there was nothing behind it.
"Our anniversary."
His expression changed.
For one second, I saw guilt.
Then irritation.
"Aria, I'm tired."
I stared at him.
"You forgot."
"I said I'm tired."
"You could have called."
"I had more important things to deal with."
The words landed harder than he probably intended.More important things.
I looked at the dinner I'd prepared.
The candles had burned almost completely down.
I swallowed.
"Right."
He walked past me.
I watched him disappear upstairs.That night, I ate dinner alone.I told myself it didn't matter.People forget things.
Relationships change.
Love isn't always romantic.
That was what I told myself.
Because admitting the truth would have meant admitting that the man I'd built my life around was slowly becoming a stranger.
Months passed.Then years.
The little things kept changing.
He stopped calling me beautiful.
Stopped asking about my day.
Stopped caring when I worked late.
Stopped noticing when I was exhausted.
And yet, whenever someone asked about us, Darius smiled.
"We're perfect."
So I smiled too.
Because I loved him.
That was my mistake.
I loved him enough to keep making excuses for him.One evening, I came home from the hospital after performing a six-hour emergency surgery.I was exhausted.
My feet hurt.
My head was pounding.I walked into the kitchen expecting to find Darius.Instead, there was a note on the counter.Emergency Council meeting. Don't wait up.I stared at it.
No kiss.No phone call.Nothing.I put the note down.Then my phone rang.
It was one of my closest friends.
"Aria?"
"Hey."
"Are you sitting down?"
I frowned.
"Why?"
There was a pause.
"I saw Darius tonight."
My heart skipped.
"Where?"
"At the Meridian."
The Meridian was the most exclusive supernatural club in the city.
"Okay."
"He wasn't alone."
My stomach tightened.
"Who was with him?"
Another pause.
"Her name is Selene Rivers."
I laughed.
"Probably a Council member."
"Aria..."
Something in her voice made the smile disappear from my face.
"What?"
"She was sitting very close to him."
I looked toward the note on the counter.
Emergency Council meeting.
My chest tightened.
"Maybe it was business."
"Maybe."
But neither of us believed it.I ended the call.For a long time, I stood in my kitchen.
Then I picked up my phone.I called Darius.
Once.
No answer.
Twice.
No answer.
Three times.
Straight to voicemail.
I stared at his contact photo.The man in the picture was smiling.The man I'd loved for seven years.My mate.My Alpha.My future.
I whispered the words I'd repeated to myself a thousand times.
"He loves me."
But for the first time...
I didn't believe myself.
That night, I went upstairs and opened the wardrobe.
I stood there staring at the clothes Darius had bought me over the years.
The dresses he'd chosen.
The jackets he'd loved.
The little things I'd collected because they reminded me of him.
I touched one of the dresses.
A red one.
He had bought it for our fifth anniversary.
I'd never worn it.He'd told me I was beautiful in it.I closed my eyes.
For a moment, I could almost hear his voice.
Then my phone buzzed.
I looked down.
A message.
Unknown Number: You deserve better than him.
My heart stopped.
I stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
Unknown Number: You just don't know it yet.
I quickly typed a response.
Me: Who is this?
The message showed as read.
No reply came.
I stood in the dark bedroom, staring at those words.
A cold feeling moved through me.
I didn't know who had sent them.
I didn't know how they knew what was happening in my relationship.
And I certainly didn't know that the stranger behind that message would eventually become the most dangerous man in my life.
The man who would claim me.
The man who would challenge everything I believed about love.
The man whose wolf had already begun searching for mine.But that night, I knew only one thing.Something was changing.And for the first time in seven years, I was afraid that the future I'd spent my entire life dreaming about...
wasn't mine anymore.
