Aria's POV
The wooden tray slipped from my shaking hands and crashed to the floor. Hot tea splashed everywhere as I pressed myself against the wall outside Damon's office. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst from my chest.
"She's not working out, Marcus," Damon's words came through the slightly open door. "I can't keep pretending this mate bond means something when it clearly doesn't."
I stopped breathing. They were talking about me.
"Give her more time," Marcus said. "She's trying her best."
"Her best isn't good enough," Damon answered coldly. "Look at Maya. She's everything a Luna should be - graceful, loved by the pack, helpful without being desperate. Aria just... she makes everything harder."
Tears burned my eyes. I knew I should walk away, but my feet wouldn't move.
"You're being unfair," Marcus protested. "Aria has been through terrible things. She needs kindness, not rejection."
"I'm thinking about rejecting her officially," Damon said, and my world tilted. "The pack would be better off with Maya as Luna instead of some broken rogue who killed her own sister."
The words hit me like claws ripping through my chest. I stumbled backward, knocking over a plant. The crash made both men go quiet inside the office.
"Someone's out there," Marcus whispered.
Panic filled my body. I turned to run, but the door flew open before I could escape.
"Aria?" Damon's green eyes found mine instantly. His face went pale when he saw my tear-stained cheeks. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," I whispered, my voice breaking.
Marcus looked between us with worried eyes. "Aria, maybe we should talk about this-"
"No," I said, lifting my chin even though my heart was breaking. "I need to hear this from him."
Damon's jaw tightened. "Fine. Come in."
I followed them into the office, my legs shaking. The room felt smaller than normal, like the walls were pressing in on me. Damon sat behind his big desk while Marcus stood by the window. I stayed standing, afraid I might fall if I tried to sit.
"Is it true?" I asked quietly. "Are you going to reject me?"
Damon stared at me for a long moment. "I'm considering it."
The words were like ice water in my blood. "Why? What did I do wrong?"
"It's not about what you did," he said. "It's about what you are."
"What am I?"
"Broken," he said simply. "Damaged. You carry death and sadness wherever you go. The pack feels it. I feel it."
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold the pieces together. "I can change. I can be better."
"Can you?" Damon stood up, walking around the desk to face me. "Can you bring back your sister? Can you undo the pain you've caused? Can you make me forget that every time I look at you, I see a killer?"
"I'm not a killer," I said desperately. "It was an accident. I was just a child."
"A child who made a choice that ended a life," he responded harshly. "Maya would be alive if not for you."
"But Maya is alive," I said, confused. "She's here. She's living."
Damon's face went hard. "That's not your Maya. That's a different person who looks similar. Your Maya is dead, and you killed her."
"Then why do you love this Maya and not me?" I asked, hating how needy I sounded.
"Because she's everything you're not," he said, his words cutting deep. "She's clean. Innocent. She makes people happy just by being near them. You... you suck the joy out of everything."
Marcus stepped forward. "Damon, that's enough."
But Damon kept going. "Do you know what the pack says about you? They call you the ghost who haunts the pack house. They're afraid to get too close because bad things happen to people you care about."
"That's not true," I whispered, but my voice had no power.
"Isn't it?" Damon moved closer, and I could smell his scent - the one that used to comfort me. "Your sister died. Your father turned into a drunk. The rogue family that owned you probably cheered when you left. Face it, Aria. You're poison."
The words hit me like physical blows. I stumbled backward, hitting the wall.
"Please," I begged, and I hated myself for asking. "Give me a chance. I'll show I can be a good mate. I'll work harder. I'll be better."
"You'll what?" Damon laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "You'll try harder? Aria, you're already sad. Watching you desperately try to win everyone's love is embarrassing."
"I'm not pathetic," I said, but my voice cracked.
"Yes, you are," he said bitterly. "You follow me around like a lost puppy, looking for scraps of attention. You cook my favorite food, decorate my office, plan parties no one wants to attend. It's sad."
"I'm trying to be a good mate," I argued.
"You're trying too hard," he snapped. "Stop it. Stop trying so hard to be something you're not. You're not Luna material. You're not worthy of leading this pack. You're barely worthy of being in it."
My heart shattered into a million pieces. I felt each one cutting me from the inside.
"Damon," Marcus said warningly.
"No, she needs to hear this," Damon continued. "Maya doesn't have to try. She just exists and makes everything better. You try constantly and make everything worse. Do you see the difference?"
I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat.
"Good," he said. "Now stop embarrassing yourself and go back to your room. I have real pack business to discuss."
I turned to leave, my vision blurry with tears. But at the door, I stopped and looked back.
"I won't stop trying," I said quietly. "I can't. You're my mate, and I love you."
Damon's face went cold. "Then you're even more pathetic than I thought."
I ran from the office, my feet beating against the wooden floors. Behind me, I heard Marcus yelling at Damon, but I couldn't make out the words over the sound of my own sadness.
I burst through the front doors of the pack house and into the night air. The moon was full overhead, casting silver light on everything. I ran toward the bush, needing to get away from everyone, needing to hide.
But as I reached the tree line, I heard something that made me freeze.
Maya's voice, coming from the darkness between the trees.
"The plan is working perfectly," she was saying to someone I couldn't see. "Damon is falling for me just like we hoped. Soon he'll refuse his pathetic mate, and I'll be Luna."
"And then?" a man's voice asked - a voice I didn't recognize.
"Then we destroy the Steele Pack from within," Maya answered, her sweet voice turning cold. "Just like we destroyed the others."
My blood turned to ice. I pressed closer to the trees, trying to see who Maya was talking to.
"What about the sister?" the man asked. "She's becoming suspicious."
Maya laughed, and the sound made my skin crawl. "Aria? She's too broken to be a threat. Besides, after what happened to her sweet sister, she deserves every bit of pain she gets."
"You talk like you know her," the man said.
"Oh, I do," Maya answered, and I could hear the smile in her voice. "I know her better than anyone. After all, I really am her sister."
The world spun around me. Maya was my sister? But how was that possible? She had died. I had watched her drown.
"The memory spell is holding?" the man asked.
"Perfectly," Maya said. "She remembers me dying, and I remember nothing about her. It's almost too easy."
I couldn't move. Memory spell? What was Maya talking about?
"The Shadow Pack will be pleased," the man said. "Once you're Luna, you can weaken their shields from inside. The Steele Pack will fall just like the others."
"And my dear sister will watch it all happen," Maya said sweetly. "She'll lose everything again, just like she deserves."
A twig snapped under my foot, and both voices went silent.
"Someone's listening," the man hissed.
"Find them," Maya ordered, her voice no longer sweet but deadly cold.
I turned to run, but it was too late. Red eyes glowed in the darkness, and I realized the man Maya was talking to wasn't human at all.
He was something much worse.
And he was coming for me.