The champagne bubbles tickled my nose as I raised my glass, forcing a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes. Seven years. Seven years since I'd fled Silverpine territory like a coward in the night, and here I was, standing in my best friend's living room while she threw me a welcome home party I definitely didn't deserve. "To Maya!" Jenna announced, her voice bright with genuine joy as she clinked her glass against mine. "Finally back where she belongs!" I took a long sip, letting the alcohol burn away the protest forming on my tongue. Back where I belong. If only she knew how wrong that statement was. The small gathering of familiar faces—pack members I'd grown up with—echoed Jenna's sentiment, and I nodded graciously, playing the part of the prodigal daughter returned. But my wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin, anxious and alert in a way that had nothing to do with the crowd. Something felt off. "You okay?" Jenna whispered, leaning close enough that her blonde curls brushed my shoulder. Her blue eyes studied me with the kind of perception that came from two decades of friendship. "You look like you're about to bolt." "I'm fine," I lied smoothly, the words coming easily after years of practice. "Just jet-lagged. The flight from London was brutal." She didn't look convinced, but before she could press further, the doorbell chimed. Jenna's expression shifted to confusion. "That's weird. Everyone's already here." My wolf suddenly went completely still—the kind of predatory stillness that preceded either a hunt or an attack. Every hair on the back of my neck stood at attention, and my heart began to hammer against my ribcage with such force I was certain everyone could hear it. No. It couldn't be. "I'll get it!" Jenna chirped, already moving toward the foyer. I should have run. Every instinct screamed at me to shift and crash through the nearest window, consequences be damned. Instead, I stood frozen, my fingers white-knuckled around the champagne flute as I heard the front door open. "Derek! What are you doing here?" Jenna's surprise was evident even from the living room. The glass slipped from my hand, shattering against the hardwood floor in a spray of crystal and champagne. The chatter around me died instantly. "I heard Maya was back," a deep voice replied, sending shivers down my spine despite my best efforts to remain impassive. "I needed to see her." Seven years hadn't dulled the effect of Derek Stone's voice. If anything, it had gotten worse—richer, deeper, with an authority that spoke of an Alpha who'd grown into his power. My traitorous body remembered every touch, every whispered promise, every moment before everything had shattered into irreparable pieces. He appeared in the doorway, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. Derek had always been handsome in that dangerous, rough-edged way that made sensible girls lose their minds. But the man standing before me now was something else entirely. He'd filled out, his shoulders broader beneath the black henley that hugged his frame. His dark hair was shorter than I remembered, styled in a way that suggested he'd finally learned to tame it. But his eyes—those storm-gray eyes that had haunted my dreams for seven years—were exactly the same. They found me instantly, pinning me in place with an intensity that stole the breath from my lungs. "Maya." My name on his lips was somewhere between a prayer and an accusation. I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't do anything but stare at the man who'd destroyed me in front of everyone who mattered, who'd chosen someone else so publicly and cruelly that I'd had no choice but to leave everything behind. The memory crashed over me like a tidal wave—standing in the Alpha's meeting hall, wearing the silver engagement dress my mother had spent months creating, while Derek faced me with Olivia Chen at his side. "I can't do this," he'd said, his voice carrying to every corner of the packed hall. "I'm sorry, Maya, but I can't marry you. Not when my heart belongs to someone else. I'd rather bond with a rogue wolf than trap myself in a loveless match." The gasps. The whispers. My mother's broken sob. My father's rage. And me, standing there in silver silk, feeling my heart crack open while he publicly chose another woman. "What are you doing here, Derek?" I finally managed, proud that my voice came out steady despite the chaos raging inside me. He took a step forward, and several people shifted nervously. Pack dynamics were complicated—Derek was Alpha of the Silverpine Pack now, his authority absolute. But this was Jenna's home, and I was her guest. The territorial lines were blurred enough to give me some protection. "We need to talk." "No, we really don't." I bent down, carefully picking up the larger pieces of broken glass, grateful for the excuse to break eye contact. "I think you said everything that needed saying seven years ago. In front of three hundred witnesses, if I recall correctly." A muscle ticked in his jaw. "Maya—" "Alpha Stone," I interrupted, straightening and meeting his gaze with all the ice I could muster. "I appreciate the welcome, but I'm only in town temporarily. There's nothing to discuss." "Temporarily?" Jenna interjected, her voice pitched high with distress. "Maya, you said—" "I said I was visiting," I cut her off gently. "I have a life in London. A career. I'm just here to handle some family business with my parents' estate." That was partially true. My parents had passed away eighteen months ago—a car accident that had severed the last real ties binding me to Silverpine. I'd avoided coming back for the funeral, sending my regrets and a generous donation to the pack's memorial fund instead. Cowardly? Absolutely. But I'd built a good life in London, far from the memories that haunted these mountains. Except now those mountains had called me back for reasons I couldn't share with anyone in this room. Derek's expression darkened. "Your parents' estate could have been handled remotely. Why come back now?" "That's none of your concern." I stepped around the broken glass, very deliberately putting distance between us. "Jenna, I'm sorry, but I think I should go. I'm not feeling well." "Maya, wait—" Derek moved to block my path, and the room erupted in low growls. Pack members who'd been watching the exchange with rapt attention suddenly tensed. Derek might be Alpha, but I was still pack-born, still protected by certain codes of conduct. He couldn't simply corner me in another wolf's home. "Back off, Derek." Jenna's voice carried a warning despite the significant power differential between them. "You don't get to show up uninvited and harass my guests." For a moment, I thought he might pull rank, might use his Alpha authority to force compliance. But Derek had always been a fair leader, even if he'd been a terrible fiancé. He stepped aside, though his eyes never left my face. "This isn't over, Maya. We have unfinished business." I laughed, the sound bitter even to my own ears. "Our business finished the moment you humiliated me in front of the entire pack. You made your choice, Derek. You chose Olivia. So where is she, anyway? Your perfect mate, the love of your life?" The question was cruel, designed to hurt, but I didn't care. He'd forfeited the right to my kindness seven years ago. Something flickered across his face—pain, regret, something else I couldn't quite identify. "Olivia's gone. She left two years after you did." The revelation should have brought me satisfaction. Instead, it just made me tired. "I'm sorry to hear that. But it doesn't change anything between us. There is no 'us.' There hasn't been for a long time." I moved past him, heading for the door, desperate to escape before the carefully constructed walls around my heart started to crumble. But his hand shot out, fingers wrapping around my wrist with a gentleness that was somehow worse than force would have been. "Please, Maya. Five minutes. That's all I'm asking." The contact sent electricity racing up my arm, and my wolf surged forward with a desperation that terrified me. After all this time, after everything he'd done, my body still recognized him. Still wanted him. I jerked my arm free, stumbling back. "Don't touch me." "Maya—" "I said don't!" The words came out sharper than intended, edged with the pain I'd spent seven years trying to bury. "You don't get to touch me. You don't get to show up and demand my time. You gave up any right to either when you threw me away like I was nothing." "You were never nothing," he said quietly, and the raw honesty in his voice made me want to scream. "You were everything. You still are." "Liar." The word barely made it past the lump in my throat. "If I was everything, you wouldn't have chosen her. You wouldn't have—" I stopped myself before I could say too much, before I could reveal the secret that had driven me away. Some truths were too dangerous to speak aloud.