Damon's POV
The wine glass broke against the wall of my office, red liquid dripping down like blood. My hand was shaking - actually shaking - and that made me even angry.
"Alpha!" Marcus burst through the door without knocking. "What's wrong?"
I turned away from him, looking out the window at the training grounds where Aria was trying to learn combat moves from one of my warriors. She fell again, dirt covering her clothes, but she got right back up.
"Nothing's wrong," I lied.
"Right," Marcus said, looking at the broken glass. "That's why you're destroying your office."
I couldn't tell him the truth. I couldn't say that watching Aria get hurt during training made my chest feel tight. That when she smiled at the warrior helping her, I wanted to rip the man's head off. That the mate tie was getting stronger every day, no matter how hard I fought it.
"She's pathetic," I said, pushing my voice to stay cold. "Look at her. She can't even throw a punch without falling over."
Marcus joined me at the window. "She's been a slave for ten years, Damon. She's never had good training."
"Exactly my point." I turned away from the window before I could see Aria fall again. "She's weak. Broken. Everything a Luna shouldn't be."
"Or maybe she's stronger than you think," Marcus said softly. "It takes strength to keep trying when everyone treats you like garbage."
His words hit too close to home. I grabbed another wine glass and poured myself a drink, my hands steadier now. " She killed her own sister, Marcus. A seven-year-old child. What kind of person does that?"
"A scared eight-year-old who made a terrible mistake," Marcus answered. "You've heard the real story, haven't you? It wasn't murder. It was an accident."
I had heard the real story. I'd done my research after Aria arrived. She'd dared her sister to cross a dangerous river, and the little girl had fallen in. Aria had tried to save her but wasn't strong enough. By the time adults arrived, it was too late.
But knowing the truth didn't make it easy. It made it worse.
"Accident or not, she's still responsible," I said, taking a long drink. "And I won't be mated to someone with blood on her hands."
Marcus was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Is that really why you're pushing her away? Or are you scared of something else?"
Before I could answer, a knock came at the door. My heart jumped, thinking it might be Aria, but Jessica's voice called out.
"Alpha? There's a problem in the kitchen."
I opened the door to find Jessica looking unhappy. "What kind of problem?"
"Your mate tried to cook dinner again," Jessica said with a sneer. "She burned the chicken, over-salted the veggies, and somehow managed to set off the smoke alarm. The whole kitchen is a mess."
I heard Marcus sigh behind me, but I felt something else entirely. The mate bond was pulling at me, making me want to go to Aria and comfort her. Making me want to tell Jessica to shut up and leave my mate alone.
Instead, I pushed those thoughts down deep.
"Where is she now?" I asked.
"Crying in the pantry," Jessica said with clear satisfaction. "She's been in there for twenty minutes."
The pulling in my chest got stronger. I could picture Aria curled up in the small pantry, tears running down her face, thinking she was a failure. The picture made me want to punch something.
"I'll handle it," I said, walking past Jessica toward the kitchen.
"Damon," Marcus called after me. "Don't make it worse."
I found Aria exactly where Jessica said she'd be. She was sitting on the kitchen floor, knees pulled up to her chest, crying quietly into her hands. The sight of her like that did something to my wolf that I didn't like.
"Get up," I said coldly.
She looked up at me with red, swollen eyes. "I'm sorry. I know I messed up again. I was just trying to make something you'd like, but I-"
"Stop," I interrupted. "Just stop trying so hard. It's embarrassing."
She flinched like I'd hit her. "I just want to be a good mate for you."
"You can't be," I said, hating myself for the words even as they came out. "You're not Luna material, Aria. You never will be."
She stood up slowly, wiping her tears. "Then why don't you just reject me? Why keep me here if I'm so awful?"
The question caught me off guard. Why didn't I reject her? Pack law said I could. It would be easy. One line, and she'd be gone forever.
But the thought of saying those words made my dog howl in pain.
"Because I don't want to deal with the paperwork," I lied.
Something flickered in her eyes - hurt, but also something else. Something that looked almost like anger.
"Fine," she said quietly. "I understand."
She walked past me toward the door, but as she did, her smell hit me full force. Vanilla and jasmine, mixed with something uniquely hers. My wolf went crazy, wanting to grab her, to claim her, to never let her go.
I grabbed her wrist without thinking.
The moment our skin touched, lightning shot through me. The mate bond burst to life, stronger than it had ever been. I could feel her pulse under my fingers, fast and scared. I could smell her fear, but underneath it was something else.
Hope.
She still had hope that I might care about her.
I dropped her wrist like it burned me.
"Don't touch me again," I said angrily.
She nodded and left without another word.
I stood in the closet for a long time after she was gone, my hand still tingling where I'd touched her. I was losing control, and that scared me more than anything.
That night, I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Aria's face when I'd called her embarrassing. I heard her quiet sobs ringing through the house. I felt the mate bond pulling at me, asking me to go to her.
At 3 AM, I gave up trying to sleep and went for a walk around the pack house. I told myself I wasn't looking for her, but somehow I found myself outside her door.
I could hear her inside, crying again. The sound made my chest ache.
I raised my hand to knock, to maybe apologize or at least check if she was okay. But then I remembered who she was. What she'd done. The blood on her hands.
I forced myself to walk away.
But as I reached the end of the hallway, I heard something that made my blood freeze.
A scream. High-pitched and frightened.
Aria.
I ran back to her door and threw it open without knocking. The room was empty, her window wide open. On the bed was a note written in messy handwriting: "If you want to see your mate again, come to the old oak tree at the pack border. Come alone, or she dies. You have one hour."
My wolf burst with rage and fear. Someone had taken Aria. Someone had taken my mate.
And for the first time since she'd arrived, I admitted the truth to myself: I couldn't lose her.
Not now. Not when I'd finally understood that maybe, just maybe, I was falling in love with the girl I'd been trying so hard to hate.