Nathan’s POV

My jaw tightened and pain shot up the side of my face. My wolf snarled at the possessiveness in his tone. Take her? Like she was something that could just be carried off.

Rowland’s words hung in the air like a challenge.

A challenge my wolf was more than willing to answer.

"She’s your sister-in-law," I said, my voice turning to frost. I hated how brittle it sounded, like the words were glass I was breaking in my own mouth.

"Uncle Nathan, you divorced her long ago, didn’t you?" Rowland’s expression shifted. It became serious, but with a spark of provocation dancing in his eyes. "And if I remember right... I met Aria first, didn’t I?"

He tilted his head, all innocence and daggers.

My wolf lurched, claws raking at the inside of my ribs. He met her first? Memories slammed into me. Aria’s scent in the rain, her laughter, her warmth the first night I realized she was my mate.

Silence devoured the air inside the car. Even Collins stiffened, his pulse a skittering drumbeat I could hear from the front seat. I could smell his fear, metallic and sharp.

Rowland held my gaze; his wolf rose to the surface in his stare. Mine answered with a growl curling low in my throat, the faintest brush of a snarl.

I used to admire him. The boy who worshipped my success from afar. But that boy was gone. Now he saw me as the villain, the man who broke Aria.

Maybe he wasn’t wrong.

When I finally spoke, it was more instinct than strategy. "The Garfield family’s calling. You should take it."

I’d already texted a silent signal to trigger the call. It was a dirty, petty move. I knew it but the wolf in me didn’t care.

The phone rang. Rowland’s eyes darkened.

"That’s low," he hissed.

I raised a brow, unaffected. "Answer it."

He put the phone on speaker. Immediately, Luna Garfield’s voice exploded through the car.

"Rowland! When are you coming back to Veridale?!"

Her voice was like claws on stone, sharp, grating, and full of the weight of expectation. I felt Rowland’s wolf coil in discomfort. .

I watched him press his hand to his forehead, frustration rolling off him in waves.

"Mom, I have things to do. I can’t come back right now."

"Searching for that girl isn’t a —thing,’ Rowland. You’ve been chasing a ghost for months! The family is covering for you, how long will you run?!"

Ghost.

She called Aria a ghost.

If she only knew how Aria haunted me. How she lived in every corner of my mind.

Rowland’s voice dropped, quiet and tired. "Didn’t I just come back recently?"

Luna Garfield didn’t relent.

"Remember the promise you made your grandfather. Don’t make me remind you again. Come home within two days. That is final."

The word "grandfather" hit Rowland like a silver dagger. His breath stuttered. Whatever fight he had simmering boiled right down to steam. The call ended, nothing but static hissing in the car like an angry spirit.

He hurled the phone at me.

I caught it without effort, my fingers barely tingling. My wolf didn’t even flinch.

"Three hours by flight between Veridale and Asterfell," I murmured, letting just a whisper of smugness lace the words. It slipped out before I could stop it, like my wolf wanted him to know just how close he’d always be to losing.

Rowland’s jaw clenched, his fangs pressing behind his human teeth.

"You don’t treat her well," he snapped, his eyes blazing, "and you’re afraid others might."

Collins stiffened in the front seat like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over him.

My gaze sharpened, my pupils narrowing to slits. My wolf rose, cold and coiled.

"This is none of your business," I growled, my voice low, rough as gravel. I could feel the frost spreading in my tone, the cold that clings to bone after heartbreak. "You’re a still very young. You have no right to meddle in matters between me and her."

But Rowland didn’t back down.

"It does concern me," he threw back, his voice shaking with the force of what he felt. "She’ll be your niece-in-law. And you, Uncle Nathan..." he spat the title like poison... "will have no connection to her."

He didn’t wait for my answer. He stormed out and slammed the door so hard the car shuddered.

My wolf growled at the insult, fur standing on end. The air turned frigid, breath misting like winter wind.

"Alpha Nathan...?" Collins ventured, his voice trembling.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, pulse pounding behind my eyes. For a moment, I wanted to shift, run, tear something apart just to drown the hurt.

Then I exhaled, slow and lethal.

"Get his family to call him again," I ordered. I was being petty and vindictive. I knew it, but I didn’t care. Let him feel the pull of his chains.

Collins scrambled out to obey.

I fixed my tie, smoothed the lapel of my deep navy suit. Even my reflection in the window looked tired.

When I stepped out, her scent hit me.

Aria.

Rowland was already approaching her when Collins intercepted him with a call that halted him.

I got to Aria first.

"Didn’t have breakfast?" I asked, my voice steady, though my wolf was pacing inside my chest. "There’s a chef in my car. I’ll have him make you porridge."

I kept my tone gentle and controlled. Concern bleeding through every word I didn’t say.

Her eyes flickered to mine.

"There is no need." She stepped back.

My voice cracked before I could stop it.

"So you’re that averse to me?"

I didn’t even get to hear her answer.

Rowland appeared like a storm, grabbing her hand, pulling her toward him like he had a right. Like she was already his. His wolf bristled at me, and mine rose in response, a low growl vibrating through my bones.