Chapter 10 · Her Engagement Party

I shouldn't be here.

The ballroom smells like champagne and lilies and wolves pretending to be civilized, and I'm standing near the back in a borrowed black dress that's too tight in the shoulders because my wolf keeps trying to push through every time I catch Cain's scent across the room. The invite came three hours ago, unsigned, shoved under my motel door with a single line: *You want proof? Come see.*

So yeah. I'm at Ivy Grey's engagement party. To my Alpha. The one who threw me past the border three years ago.

The crowd's thick enough I can blend if I keep my head down and my hair forward. I dyed it this morning, dark brown instead of the red that gets me killed, but my roots are already showing and the wolf under my skin doesn't care about hair dye. She wants out. She wants him.

Cain's at the front of the room, standing on a raised platform next to Ivy. He's in a black suit, no tie, and he looks like he hasn't slept in a week.