Damon's POV
I lunged forward and grabbed the person hidden behind the tree before they could run away.
My hand closed around a thin arm, and I yanked hard. A girl stumbled out of the shadows with a gasp of fear. She was small and dirty, with wild hair and torn clothes.
But the moment I touched her, lightning shot through my entire body.
The mate bond hit me like a truck. Every nerve ending I had suddenly came alive, yelling that this girl - this scared, broken-looking girl - was mine.
"No," I breathed, looking down at her in shock.
This couldn't be happening. My mate was supposed to be strong and beautiful, someone worthy of being Luna. Not some pathetic rogue who smelled like fear and cleaning materials.
The girl looked up at me with big brown eyes, and I saw my own shock reflected back at me. She felt it too - the electric link that was now buzzing between us like a live wire.
"Please don't hurt me," she whispered, her voice shaking.
I realized I was still holding her arm hard enough to leave bruises. I let go so fast that she stumbled backward.
"Who are you?" I demanded, my Alpha voice making her flinch. "What are you doing on my territory?"
She rubbed her arm where I had grabbed her and lifted her chin with startling courage. "I'm Aria," she said softly. "I felt the mate bond calling me here."
Aria. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.
She held up her left wrist, and my blood turned to ice. There on her pale skin was the crescent moon mark that appeared when werewolves found their mates. It was shining softly, just like the one that had appeared on my own wrist an hour ago.
This was really happening. This broken little rogue was my fated mate.
"I know you probably don't want me," Aria said, her voice getting smaller. "I know I'm not much to look at. But the link brought me to you, and I had to come."
I stared at her, my mind running. There was something about her face that nagged at me. Something familiar about those brown eyes and the shape of her nose.
"What's your last name?" I asked suddenly.
She paused, then whispered, "Keen."
Keen. My stomach dropped as the pieces clicked into place.
Aria Keen. The Alpha's daughter who killed her own sister ten years ago. The girl who dared her seven-year-old sister to cross a dangerous river, then watched her die. The killer who ran away from her pack in shame.
Everyone in the werewolf world knew that story.
"You're the murderer," I said simply.
Aria's face went white, but she nodded. "Yes. I killed my little sister Maya. I know what you're thinking-"
"You don't know what I'm thinking," I cut her off. My mind was spinning with anger and disgust. Of all the women in the world, fate had to give me the one with blood on her hands.
But even as I felt sick about who she was, the mate bond kept pulling at me. My wolf was roaring inside my head, demanding that I protect her and comfort her. My body wanted to pull her close and promise that everything would be okay.
I hated it. I hated her. And I hated fate for doing this to me.
"I understand if you want to reject me," Aria said, tears starting to fall down her face. "I know I don't deserve a mate. I don't deserve anything good. But I had to try. This was my only chance to maybe fit somewhere."
Her words hit me harder than they should have. She looked so small and lost standing there, waiting for me to crush her last bit of hope.
But I was the Alpha of the biggest pack in the region. I had a reputation to keep. I couldn't be seen with a killer.
Still, pack law was clear. Fated mates couldn't be rejected without major consequences. The mate bond would make both of us sick until we either accepted each other or died from the split.
I was stuck.
"Pack law says I have to accept you," I said coldly, watching her face light up with desperate hope. "But don't think that means anything more than keeping you alive."
Her smile faltered, but she nodded quickly. "I understand. I'll take whatever you're willing to give me. I'll prove myself worthy. I promise."
I turned away from her because looking at her hopeful face made my chest ache in ways I didn't like.
"Marcus!" I yelled toward the training area.
My Beta came running, probably expecting trouble. When he saw Aria, his eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"This is Aria," I said without feeling. "She's my mate."
Marcus looked between us, clearly feeling the tension. "Welcome to Steele Pack," he said kindly to Aria.
"She'll need a room," I continued, ignoring the way Aria's face glowed at Marcus's welcome. "Put her in the maids' wing. She can earn her keep like everyone else."
"The servants' wing?" Marcus asked, confused. "But Alpha, shouldn't your mate-"
"She's not Luna," I said sharply. "She's a rogue who needs to prove she belongs here. The maids' wing is fine."
I saw Aria's face fall, but I forced myself not to care. She was a killer. She didn't deserve to be treated like a real Luna.
"Come on," I said, starting to walk toward the pack house. "I'll show you where you'll be staying."
As we walked, pack members stopped their training to stare. Word would spread quickly that their Alpha had found his mate, and she was nothing like what they expected.
I led Aria through the main door of the pack house, past the beautiful rooms where real pack members lived, down a narrow hallway to the small rooms where servants stayed.
"This is yours," I said, opening the door to a tiny room with just a bed and a desk.
Aria stepped inside and looked around. I expected her to complain about how small it was, but instead she smiled.
"It's perfect," she said softly. "Thank you."
Her thanks made me feel like even more of a monster. But I couldn't let myself go soft.
"There are rules," I said coldly. "You don't go anywhere without permission. You don't speak to pack members unless they speak to you first. And you don't embarrass me in front of my pack."
"I understand," she said, still smiling like I had given her the world instead of a closet.
I turned to leave, but her voice stopped me.
"Damon?" she said quietly.
I looked back at her, annoyed that hearing my name from her mouth made my wolf perk up.
"I know you hate me," she said. "But I want you to know that I'll do everything I can to make you proud to be my mate."
The hope in her voice almost broke something inside me. But I couldn't let her see that.
"Don't count on it," I said, and walked away.
But as I left her there in that tiny room, one thought kept repeating in my head: What if she wasn't the monster everyone said she was?