Aria's POV
The bucket of dirty water crashed into my face so hard that I fell backward onto the floor.
"Get up, you lazy girl!" Sarah screamed, her voice sharp like broken glass. "That floor better shine like a mirror, or you won't eat tonight!"
I wiped the dirty water from my eyes and scrambled to my knees. The wooden floor was ice cold under my hands. My whole body hurt from scrubbing for hours, but I grabbed the brush and kept working.
Today was my eighteenth birthday. Not that anyone cared.
"Maybe today your mate will finally show up," Sarah said with a mean laugh. She sat in her chair like a queen while I worked like a dog. "Then again, who would want someone like you? A killer who killed her own baby sister."
My chest squeezed tight. Those words always hurt, no matter how many times I heard them. Because they were true.
I kept cleaning the floor, trying not to cry. Sarah loved it when I cried. It made her feel strong.
"Remember what you did, Aria," Sarah continued, her voice getting nastier. "You killed sweet little Maya. Your own flesh and blood. What kind of monster does that?"
The brush fell from my shaking hands. Suddenly, I wasn't in the house anymore. I was eight years old again, standing by the banned river with my seven-year-old sister.
"Come on, Maya!" I had said, looking at the slippery rocks across the rushing water. "I dare you to cross! Don't be such a baby!"
Maya's big brown eyes looked scared. "Aria, the water is too fast. Daddy said never to go near the river."
"Daddy isn't here," I said, feeling brave and stupid. "Besides, I'll go first. See? It's easy!"
I jumped from rock to rock, my arms out for balance. The stones were wet and slippery, but I made it across. I turned around and smiled at Maya.
"Your turn!"
Maya shook her head. "I'm scared."
"Don't be a scaredy-cat!" I shouted. "If you don't cross, I'll tell everyone at school that you're a baby!"
Maya's face crumpled. She hated when kids made fun of her. Slowly, she stepped onto the first rock.
Everything happened so fast. One second Maya was jumping to the second rock. The next second, she slipped and fell into the moving water with a splash.
"Maya!" I screamed.
The river carried her away like a leaf. I jumped in after her, but I wasn't a good swimmer. The cold water filled my nose and mouth. I couldn't move. I couldn't save her.
By the time the adults found us, Maya was gone forever.
"Look at her," Sarah's words brought me back to the present. "She's remembering what she did. Good. You should never forget."
I picked up the brush with shaking hands. The memory hurt like a knife in my heart. It always did.
After Maya died, my father, Alpha Richard Keen, looked at me like I was poison. At Maya's wake, he grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard.
"Why did she die but not you?" he said, his breath smelling like the bottles he drank from. "Why couldn't you save her? She was beautiful, and you're nothing but a killer!"
Those words made me run away from my pack when I was only eight. I lived on the streets until Sarah found me and bought me like a pet. For ten years, I've been her slave, cleaning and cooking and taking her anger.
I deserved it. I killed my sister.
But today felt different. As I scrubbed the floor, something warm and strange started growing in my chest. It felt like light spreading through my whole body. My heart started beating faster.
What was happening to me?
The warm feeling got stronger and stronger. It felt like someone was pulling me, calling me from far away. I looked up from the floor, confused.
"What's wrong with you now?" Sarah snapped. "You look sick."
I touched my chest where the warm feeling was coming from. "I... I don't know. Something feels different."
Sarah's eyes got wide, then she smiled a cruel smile. "Oh my goodness. It's your mate bond, isn't it? You're eighteen now, so you can feel your mate calling you."
My mate bond?
I had heard about mate ties from other werewolves. When you turn eighteen, you can feel your right match somewhere in the world. Your mate is supposed to love you no matter what. They're supposed to make you complete.
But who would want me?
"This is perfect," Sarah said, clapping her hands. "When your mate sees what you really are, he'll reject you on the spot. Then you'll be even more broken than before!"
The warm feeling in my chest pulled harder, like an unseen rope. I could barely sit still. My mate was out there somewhere, and something inside me needed to find him.
"Can I... can I go outside?" I asked quietly.
Sarah's smile got meaner. "Oh yes, go find your mate, little killer. Go show him what kind of monster you are. When he rejects you, come back here and scrub this floor until it gleams."
I stood up on shaky legs. The pull in my chest was so strong now that I could barely think about anything else. My mate was calling me, and I had to answer.
I walked to the door, my heart beating like thunder. Maybe Sarah was right. Maybe my mate would take one look at me and run away. But I had to try. This might be my only chance to find someone who could love me.
I opened the door and stepped outside. The warm feeling instantly got stronger, pulling me toward the dark forest.
Somewhere out there was my mate.
Somewhere out there was my destiny.
I took a big breath and started walking toward the trees. Behind me, I heard Sarah laughing like a witch.
"Good luck, little killer," she called. "You're going to need it."
As I disappeared into the bush, following the invisible rope in my chest, I didn't know that my mate was the most feared Alpha in the world.
I didn't know that finding him would change everything.
And I definitely didn't know that my dead sister was still alive.