Adrian's POV
She settled back against me, listening with that focused intensity I loved. The way she gave me her full attention, like nothing else in the world mattered but my words.
"Wendy was my father's mistress," I began. "They had a daughter together—a half-sister I've never acknowledged. Wendy had this delusional idea that Marcus would leave my mother for her, that she could become Luna of the Storm Pack."
"But your parents' mating was contracted," Lina said softly. "He couldn't leave even if he wanted to."
"Exactly. So Wendy got desperate." The old bitterness tried to surface, but Lina's warmth kept it at bay. "She paid off some charlatan—her half-brother, actually—to pose as this spiritual elder and convince the pack council that I was cursed. That I'd bring death to
