Chapter 1

After I went blind, the only person I trusted completely was my husband.

Because these eyes were ruined saving him in the first place.

Every day, Damian personally brushed my hair, gave me my medicine, and guided me over every stair in the keep. He told everyone, "Anyone who mocks my wife for being blind is challenging me as Alpha."

So the day my sight came back, I practically ran home.

I wanted to tell him we had finally made it through.

But the door was open.

I saw his secretary leaning against him, laughing as she asked, "Don't you think cheating right under her nose is exciting?"

Damian was silent for a few seconds, and then he bent down and kissed her.

In that moment I understood that the blind one had never been me.

I did not confront him.

I still felt my way along the wall, still let him take my hand, still listened to him say late at night, "Mara, I can't live without you."

Instead, I started counting down the days.

Ten days until the Moonspring pack opened its pass again.

That was my last chance to go home.

On the tenth day, in a hurry to get to Kelsey, Damian signed the documents I handed him without looking.

He did not know it was not an ordinary asset authorization.

It was the mate release he signed himself.

When the doctor took off the last layer of gauze, I did not dare open my eyes.

Two years ago, a silver hunter's explosive round detonated right in front of Damian.

I threw myself in front of him, and the silver fragments pierced my eyes like fire.

After that my world was nothing but black.

"Mara." The doctor kept his voice soft. "Open them slowly."

First I saw a blur of light.

Then the window frame, the white wall, the name badge on the doctor's chest.

Last of all I saw the smile on his face.

"You have recovered better than expected."

I was frozen for a long time. Then tears suddenly spilled down my cheeks.

Damian did not know.

I had deliberately not told him that today was the final check.

In two years of blindness he had almost never let me walk anywhere alone.

Every morning, he laid out my medicine in order, and before he left, he checked the placement of every piece of furniture. When someone in the council hall mocked the Luna for being unable to see the steps, he expelled him from the elite guard on the spot.

He had sworn in front of the full moon altar, "Your eyes were hurt for me. If you never see again, then I'll be your eyes for the rest of your life."

So I wanted to tell him myself.

I could see.

We had finally made it through.

It was already dark when I got back to Blackwood Keep.

The entrance hall was empty.

Damian's coat was thrown over the back of the sofa. He must have come home earlier than usual.

I was about to call out to him when a woman laughed upstairs.

I knew that laugh.

Kelsey Reed.

She was Damian's executive assistant, and the one who had turned up in our house most often over the past year.

I went slowly up the stairs.

The main bedroom door was not shut properly.

Through the gap I saw Damian sitting on the edge of the bed with his collar open, Kelsey standing between his knees with her arms around his neck.

"You obviously can't let me go," she said with a laugh. "So why do you always act as though I'm forcing you?"

Damian took hold of her waist.

"Don't push it."

"What are you afraid of?"

Kelsey leaned in and lowered her voice. "She can't see anyway."

Standing outside the door, I felt like someone had poured silver over me a second time.

Damian did not push her away.

He only said, "Mara hears very well."

Kelsey laughed even more gleefully.

"Then we'll be quiet."

The next second she kissed him.

I saw all of it.

That was the first betrayal I saw after my sight came back.

I did not go in.

I turned and went downstairs, put the blindfold back on in the entryway, and knocked my cane over on purpose.

Footsteps came down quickly.

Damian hurried downstairs.

"Mara?"

I braced against the wall and lifted my head toward the sound, the way I had for two years.

"You're home?"

His breathing hitched.

"Yes. Just got in."

When he lied, his voice was no different from usual.

He came over and took my hand.

"Why didn't you call me to pick you up?"

"The doctor was only changing the dressing."

"What did he say?"

I paused a second.

"Still nothing."

Damian's hand tightened.

He pulled me against his chest.

"It's okay.

"Mara, I'm here."

Leaning on his chest, I could see Kelsey at the turn of the stairs.

She stood there barefoot, smiling, and put a finger to her lips.

That was the first time an embrace from him made me sick.