---- studying and training, determined to become strong enough to inherit Shadow Pack and refuse the arranged marriage his family planned. The proud Alpha heir learned to cook and make soup for me. He learned to play violin, even though he hated it. He learned to wait outside the girls' dormitory, night after night. On Valentine's Day, in the crowded campus courtyard, he dropped to one knee and begged me to give him a chance to take care of me. But I rejected him. The pain of being abandoned by my birth mother was too fresh. I couldn't risk giving my heart to anyone. That day, everyone at the university saw Kieran sprawled on the campus road, crying and drinking, drinking and crying. Even the wind that night felt broken and desolate. That summer, during a school research trip, I was attacked by rogue wolves. ---- In the chaos of battle, Kieran rushed to my side without regard for his own safety. When a massive rogue wolf struck me in the head and I collapsed, losing consciousness, he used his own body to shield me from a silver blade. The blade pierced straight through his chest. He fell right in front of me. A day and night later, I woke up in the hospital. The healer told me about Kieran's rescue with envy in her voice. While unconscious, I had caught the faint scent of pine. That smell made me feel safe even in the midst of danger. Icried, saying I wasn't worth it. Kieran's eyes reddened as he spoke each word clearly: "Aria, you never understood-in this world, no one but you could ever stop me from loving you." In that noisy, chaotic hospital, all I could hear was my own thundering heartbeat. I accepted his mark at the age of twenty-two, rejecting my Winters pack Alpha's request to ---- inherit the Winters Pack. I thought we'd be happy forever. Until I turned twenty-nine, and Kieran started keeping our pack's healer, Scarlett, as his mistress. My phone screen showed Scarlett's latest message: "Want to make a bet? I bet Kieran won't bid on those green healing stones. He'll go for the red ones instead. Because I love red."