Chapter 3

The news of my refusal spread through the Capital Territory in three days.

The rumors got wilder and wilder.

By the end it had turned into "Ivy Pemberton looked down on the Calloway Alpha Heir" and "Ivy Pemberton already has a secret lover."

My family was low-ranked in the Pack.

My father was no more than a minor Beta.

My mother had spent her whole life wanting a good match for me.

"The Calloways. Do you know how few people could ever reach them?"

"And you turn them down in public, and tell everyone there's someone you love—"

My mother wiped her tears.

"Tell me. Who is this man?"

I looked down.

"There is no one."

"I just didn't want to bond with Dorian."

My mother cried harder.

Like I had done something unforgivable.

But what had I actually done wrong?

I just didn't want to bond with a man who didn't love me and whom I didn't love.

I was living a second life.

I wasn't willing to go through that again.

At dusk, the ghost appeared.

"Who's going to take you now?" Dorian sneered.

"Even if you get another chance, you'll end up right back with me."

He had been following me for days.

During daylight, invisible. At night, he showed up.

Sometimes standing in the corridor, sometimes sitting on the rafters.

Mostly drifting close behind me, whispering.

I didn't care.

He had no body.

Just a stray soul.

His biggest power.

Was blowing that strange wind through the gathering hall.

I pushed back.

"You've been following me for days. What do you want?"

The ghost was quiet for a moment.

"I want you to reconsider."

I laughed.

"Reconsider what? Bonding with a man who spent five years calling me by another woman's name?"

The ghost flinched.

He stared at me with something close to despair.

"He's different now. The real Dorian — he's not what you remember."

"He's exactly what I remember," I said.

"And so are you."

I looked at him steadily.

"You're both the same man. Just one has a body and one doesn't."

The ghost went still.

"That's not fair."

"None of it was fair," I said.

I turned back to the room.

"I'm done talking about this."

The Pack Hunt day was clear.

I hadn't wanted to come.

But the Pack Queen sent the invitation herself.

It was obvious whose idea that was.

"It's the young Alpha Heir. He hasn't forgotten you," my mother said.

She finally stopped crying.

She held my hands and talked on and on.

"Ivy, this is a great honor. Don't be stubborn."

A great honor, or a great joke?

I looked down and said nothing.

The Pack Queen's tent smelled of candles and herbs.

She-wolves sat in groups of two and three, talking low.

"Is that the Pemberton girl?"

"She turned down the Alpha Heir publicly. No sense at all."

I had heard those lines so many times in my past life.

Back then, after I bonded with Dorian, they said I was reaching above my rank.

Now that I'd refused him, they said I didn't know a good thing.

Dorian arrived.

Half the tent went red-faced.

He wore dark riding gear today.

Broad-shouldered, straight-backed.

He bowed to the Pack Queen.

Then his gaze drifted over to me, easy and slow.

"Ivy Pemberton is here too."

I didn't answer. He didn't seem to care.

The Pack Queen laughed.

"Why aren't you on the hunt? Coming to pester me for tea?"

"There's no rush." Dorian smiled.

"Auntie's tea is worth the stop."

While he talked.

He kept glancing down at me.

"Ivy."

"That man you mentioned — is he here today?"

I looked up at him.

His posture was easy. His smile had an edge.

He had looked into me thoroughly since that night.

He already knew the man I mentioned didn't exist.

"There is no one."

Dorian raised an eyebrow.

"Then at the gathering, you said—"

"I wasn't feeling well that night. I spoke without thinking."

I looked down, posture careful.

"Please forgive me."

The tent went quiet for a moment.

The other she-wolves exchanged looks.

Dorian laughed.

Completely unhurried. Completely superior.

"Ivy Pemberton. This isn't your call."

"Whether you want it or not, you picked up my flower. You belong to me."

The Pack Hunt grounds were in the forest.

Before we went in, the Pack Queen pulled me over to ride with her.

"Dorian is a bad talker, but he means it. He really does care about you."

She smiled with a tired edge.

"Look at him. He won't let this go."

I kept my head down, polite and careful.

The Pack Queen looked me over for a moment.

She couldn't figure out why Dorian had picked me.

And she looked even more worried.

Our carriage moved slowly along the forest path.

Spring air carried the scent of pine.

Everything seemed fine.

I reached into my sleeve and touched the cloth she'd handed me.

A she-wolf in a yellow riding jacket had slipped it to me before we entered the forest.

Said there were insects in the woods. Gave it to me to keep them away.

I knew her.

At the gathering, she was the first one to find Dorian's flower.

When Dorian announced he'd take me as his mate, she went red-eyed.

I didn't push it away.

I took it with a polite, uncertain expression.

In my past life I had heard the old Pack members mention it.

There was an herb from the Border Territory.

Harmless to wolves. Made wild animals go berserk.

I hadn't expected it to show up again in this life.

Aimed at me.

Too bad.

Our carriage reached a quiet stretch of the path.

I quietly tucked the cloth into the gap in the seat cushion.

This spot was right next to the Pack Queen.

Close enough that if anything came.

The first one it would go for wouldn't be me.