Chapter 42

Kestrel’s POV

I examined the red gown in my hands once more, turning it over to catch the light. This will be perfect, I thought to myself. If Hunter sees me in this, the image of how I look will be seared into his mind. I knew exactly why I’d chosen this dress—it was all to impress Hunter, to make him see me in a way he had never before.

Probably, to look at me in the same way he looked at that little wench, Akira, at the party. The image which still burned in my memory.

I could recall it vividly: the way Hunter’s eyes never left Akira, how his gaze followed her around the room like she was the only person there.

I knew Hunter well enough to recognize that those looks weren’t just for show, weren’t just part of the act they were putting on to fool the werewolves at the gathering.

No, there was something more. Something filled with admiration and desire. It pained me to admit that Hunter had never looked at me that way, not once, even after all these years of being by his side.

We’