Chapter 4: The Only Way Out

"Five years," I said.

I was still standing on the cabin's rag rug in a torn ceremony dress, and my voice came out much steadier than I felt.

"You've known for five years and you never said a word to me."

"No."

"Not a note. Not a text. Not one hello at a pack gathering."

"No," Ash said. "Your father threatened to burn out the Northlake border posts if I came within a mile of you."

"My father said he'd cut off my mother's pension."

"You could have said it anyway."

"I could have."

He rubbed the scar through his eyebrow with one thumb.

"You were eighteen. I was twenty-six. Your whole house was telling you to be quiet and careful."

"I thought the kindest thing was to stay out of it until you were old enough to choose for yourself."

"I'm twenty-three."

"I know how old you are, Sigrid."

I didn't have an answer for that.

He walked past me to the kitchen and opened a cupboard, and I realized his hands were not entirely steady.

"Why did you leave Northlake?" I asked.

"My father wants the Garrick pack and the Garrick land. He's wanted it since before you were born."

"When you turned eighteen, he started building the plan, and I was supposed to help."

He set down a skillet harder than he needed to.

"I told him I wouldn't. He said that made me a stranger."

"So Rowan was always meant for me."

"Rowan was always meant for whichever twin your father handed over."

He glanced over his shoulder.

"I want you to hear this clearly. I'm not going to mark you to get you out of this."

"If you want a mate's mark, you say so, and you mean it."

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