(Selene's POV)
The engine of my twilight-gradient Porsche hummed quietly as I pulled into Moonlight Bay.
This was the most exclusive wolf district in the Northern Territory, where only the highest-ranking pack families lived.
I parked near the iron gates of the Blackthorn estate and stepped out into the cool night air.
Talia immediately stumbled out of the passenger seat, nearly taking me down with her.
"Easy," I muttered, catching her arm and draping it over my shoulder.
She giggled against the side of my head, warm and completely oblivious to her own weight.
"Lena," she slurred happily, "did you see Dominic's face when you canceled the engagement?"
She let out a loud, unladylike snort of laughter.
"It was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life!"
I shook my head, but I could not help smiling a little.
After the ceremony, Talia had dragged me to the pack's private bar and insisted we celebrate my freedom properly.
She had celebrated far more enthusiastically than I had.
"Come on," I said, steering her toward the front entrance of Blackthorn Manor.
I paid the driver and waved him off, then focused entirely on keeping Talia upright.
She was not making it easy.
We made it through the grand front door, and I immediately faced a new problem.
The main staircase loomed ahead of us, elegant and very, very tall.
I looked at Talia, then looked at the stairs.
There was no way I could carry her up there alone.
"Talia, can you try to walk straight for just one minute?" I asked.
She blinked at me with glassy eyes.
"I am walking perfectly straight," she declared, then immediately swayed to the left.
I grabbed her before she could fall.
Then I heard footsteps on the stairs above us.
I looked up.
Kassian Blackthorn was descending the staircase, dressed in a sharp black suit, his dark hair slightly disheveled from what must have been a long evening.
The moment I saw him, something struck me hard in the chest.
My mind flashed without warning to the image burned deepest in my memory from my past life.
The roaring wall of fire.
The suffocating smoke.
And Kassian, throwing himself into the flames without a single moment of hesitation, using his own body to shield mine from the heat.
A wave of grief rose up inside me before I could stop it.
"Alpha King," I called out softly, using the formal title that felt strange and familiar all at once.
He stopped on the stairs, his sharp eyes moving from me to his unconscious sister, then back to me.
He came down the rest of the steps quickly and took stock of the situation.