Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Ava's POV

Two days later, I stood in a small courthouse wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. Not exactly the wedding I had planned, but then again, nothing about this was planned. Marcus stood beside me in dark jeans and a black henley, looking nothing like the dangerous man I had met at the hotel.

"Do you have the rings?" The clerk asked, looking bored.

Marcus pulled out two simple silver bands. "These will do for now."

The ceremony took less than five minutes. No flowers, no music, no guests. Just us, the clerk, and two witnesses Marcus had hired. When the clerk pronounced us husband and wife, Marcus leaned in and kissed my cheek. His lips barely brushed my skin, but my wolf practically purred.

"Save the real kiss for when we have an audience," he whispered.

As we signed the papers, my phone exploded with notifications. Somehow, word had already gotten out.

"Did you tell someone?" I asked Marcus.

He smiled. "I may have had someone waiting at the pack house to spread the news the moment we were official."

My phone rang. Garry's name flashed on the screen.

"Answer it," Marcus said. "Put it on speaker."

I hit the button. "Hello?"

"What the hell have you done?" Garry's voice was furious. "You married Marcus? Are you insane?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," I said calmly.

"He's using you! He just wants to get back at me and the pack. You're nothing but a pawn to him."

Marcus took the phone from my hand. "Hello, little brother."

Silence. Then, "You're supposed to be dead."

"Disappointed? I'm sure you are. Just like you were disappointed when father chose you as Beta instead of me. Oh wait, that was only because I was gone."

"You were banished. You challenged the Alpha and lost."

"I was set up, and you know it. But that's old news. I'm calling about the future. Specifically, three days from now."

"You can't challenge him. You're not a memeber of our pack anymore."

"Actually, according to law, any wolf of Alpha blood can challenge for leadership if they have a legitimate claim. And marriage to a pack member reinstates my connection to Moonvalley." Marcus grinned at me. "Thanks for throwing away your bride, by the way. She's perfect for my plans."

"If you hurt her..."

"Like you did? Don't worry, brother. I take care of what's mine."

He hung up and handed me back my phone. "Ready for phase two?"

An hour later, we stood outside the pack house. The same building where I had discovered Garry's betrayal just three days ago. But this time, I wasn't here as the rejected bride. I was here as the wife of Marcus Stone, the wolf who was about to shake up everything.

The doors burst open before we could knock. Alpha Blackwood stood there, looking older than I remembered. His gray hair was thinner, his face more lined. But his eyes were still sharp and dangerous.

"Marcus." He said the name like it tasted bad. "You've got some nerve showing up here."

"Hello, Alpha. I've come to formally announce my challenge for your title."

A crowd had gathered behind the Alpha. I saw familiar faces filled with shock. Mia, my former best friend, stood with her mouth open. Sophia pushed through the crowd, her face twisted with rage.

"You can't be here," Sophia spat. "You're banished."

"Not anymore," Marcus said smoothly. "My marriage to a pack member voids the banishment. Section twelve, paragraph four of pack law."

"You little bitch," Sophia turned on me. "You married him to get back at us?"

"No," I said, finding my voice. "I married him because I wanted to. Because unlike your mate, he doesn't lie to me."

Garry appeared then, pushing past Sophia. When he saw me standing with Marcus, his face went pale. "Ava, please. Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about," Marcus said, putting his arm around my waist. "My wife and I are here on official business."

"Your wife," Garry said the words like they hurt him. "You don't even know him, Ava. You don't know what he's capable of."

"I know he didn't cheat on me. That's enough."

Alpha Blackwood raised his hand for silence. "Marcus Stone, you wish to challenge me for leadership of the Moonvalley Pack?"

"I do."

"And you understand that this is a fight to submission or death?"

"I do."

"Then the challenge will take place in three days, at the full moon. According to tradition." The Alpha's eyes moved to me. "And you, Ava? You stand with this man?"

Everyone was watching me. Waiting to see if I would back down. If I would run away like the weak little girl they thought I was.

"I stand with my husband," I said clearly. "My mate."

The lie rolled off my tongue easily, but I felt Marcus stiffen beside me. We hadn't discussed claiming to be mates.

"Mates?" Sophia laughed harshly. "You're not mates. You can't be."

"True mates," I continued, warming to the lie. "We discovered it the day after Garry rejected me. The Moon Goddess has a sense of humor, doesn't she? Giving me a true mate right after I lost someone who was never meant for me."

The crowd erupted in whispers. True mates were so rare that most wolves never found theirs. For me to find mine right after being rejected? It was the kind of story that would spread through every pack in the country.

Garry's face was thunderous. "You're lying."

"Are we?" Marcus pulled me closer, and suddenly his scent was everywhere. Pine and winter storms and something else, something that made my wolf howl with recognition. "Can't you smell it? The bond?"

And the strange thing was, there was something there. Not a true mate bond, but something. A connection I couldn't explain.

"Enough," Alpha Blackwood said. "Three days. Midnight. The challenge circle. And if you lose, Marcus, this time your banishment will be permanent."

"I won't lose," Marcus said simply.

As we turned to leave, Sophia called out, "You think you've won something, Ava? You've just signed your own death warrant. When Marcus loses, you'll be banished too. Or worse."

I stopped and looked back at her. At all of them. The people who had smiled to my face while knowing about Garry's betrayal.

"Then I guess Marcus better win."

We walked out together, his arm still around me. I could feel everyone's eyes on us. The rejected bride and the banished son, returning to claim everything.

When we reached his car, Marcus finally spoke. "True mates? That was bold."

"Too bold?"

"No. It was perfect. But now we need to sell it." He opened my door for me. "Which means from now on, we need to act like mates in public. Can you handle that?"

I thought about Garry's face when Marcus had touched me. The way Sophia's confidence had cracked, just for a moment.

"I can handle anything," I said.

As we drove away, my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "You don't know what Marcus really is. What he did five years ago. Meet me tonight at midnight, at the old oak tree by the lake. Come alone, or more people will die because of him."

I deleted the text without showing Marcus. But the words echoed in my mind: more people will die.

What had I gotten myself into?