THE NIGHT THEY KILLED ME
The night they killed me, my husband held my hand.
Not to save me.
To make sure I couldn't escape.
Rain poured over the Blackthorn estate, turning the marble courtyard crimson beneath my knees. My white wedding dress was soaked with blood and rain, its once-beautiful fabric torn from the struggle.
Hundreds of wolves surrounded me.
Their eyes glowed beneath the stormy sky.
And above them all stood the man I had loved more than my own life.
Lucian Blackthorn.
My mate.
My husband.
My executioner.
“Aria Veyne,” he announced coldly, his voice echoing through the courtyard, “you are sentenced to death for betraying the Blackthorn pack.”
I stared at him.
My heart refused to understand what my eyes were seeing.
“Lucian…”
My voice trembled.
“You know I didn't betray you.”
His expression didn't change.
“Your evidence says otherwise.”
“Evidence?” I laughed bitterly through my tears. “You know me. You know I would never do this.”
For a moment, something flickered in his eyes.
Pain.
Then it vanished.
He walked toward me.
I searched his face desperately for the man who once promised to destroy the world before allowing anyone to hurt me.
But that man was gone.
“Please,” I whispered. “Just look me in the eyes and tell me you believe I'm guilty.”
Lucian stopped in front of me.
His hand closed around mine.
His fingers were shaking.
Then he leaned toward my ear.
“Forgive me.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
A sharp pain exploded through my chest.
I looked down.
A silver blade was buried beneath my ribs.
I gasped.
Blood stained my wedding dress.
Lucian caught me before I hit the ground.
I stared into his eyes, unable to understand how the man I loved could be the one killing me.
“Why?” I whispered.
His face broke for the first time.
“Because if I don't kill you tonight, they will kill everyone you love.”
My vision blurred.
“Lucian…”
He pressed his forehead against mine.
“When you return,” he whispered so quietly that nobody else could hear, “don't forgive me.”
Then darkness swallowed me.
I died believing my husband had betrayed me.
Five years later…
The doors of the Blackthorn Grand Hall suddenly burst open.
Every conversation stopped.
Hundreds of supernatural nobles turned toward the woman standing in the doorway.
She wore a long black dress.
Her dark hair fell over her shoulders, and her silver-brown eyes held a terrifying calm.
Nobody recognized her.
Nobody except the man sitting upon the Alpha throne.
Lucian Blackthorn stood so quickly that his chair crashed behind him.
His wineglass slipped from his hand and shattered across the marble floor.
His wolf roared inside his mind.
MATE.
His face went completely pale.
“Impossible…”
The woman smiled.
A cold, beautiful smile.
“Hello, Lucian.”
The entire hall fell silent.
Lucian couldn't breathe.
Five years ago, he had watched Aria Veyne die.
Five years ago, he had buried her.
Five years ago, he had convinced himself that the woman he loved was gone forever.
Yet she was standing before him.
Alive.
Beautiful.
And more dangerous than he had ever known her to be.
She slowly walked toward him.
“Did you miss me?”
Lucian's lips parted, but no words came out.
Aria stopped only a few feet away.
“I heard you got married after I died.”
A murmur swept through the hall.
Lucian's eyes darkened.
“I never married anyone.”
Aria's smile disappeared.
“Then who is the woman carrying your child?”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Lucian stared at her.
And for the first time since her return, Aria saw genuine fear in his eyes.
Good.
She had spent five years preparing for this moment.
She hadn't returned to reclaim her husband.
She hadn't returned to beg for an explanation.
She had returned for revenge.
But revenge was only the beginning.
Because Aria had discovered something during those five missing years.
Her father's death had been a lie.
Her execution had been a lie.
And the greatest secret of all…
The child she had been told died the night she was murdered…
was alive.
Somewhere inside the Blackthorn kingdom.
And whoever had hidden that child from her was about to regret ever letting her survive.
