The knock came at dusk — three sharp raps that made Selene's stomach knot.
She had been expecting it. Dreading it. The moment had circled her like a hawk for weeks now, growing closer with every hushed argument behind closed doors, every clipped glance exchanged between her parents when they thought she wasn't looking.
The sound echoed through the small house like a thunderclap, loud despite the gentle crackling of the hearth fire. Outside, the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the cottage in the soft gloom of twilight. Shadows stretched across the wooden walls, wrapping themselves around the corners like silent witnesses.
Her mother stood in the doorway, wringing her hands in her apron. Her knuckles were white, her posture stiff, and her eyes — usually so full of warmth — were dulled by something else now. Not just fear. Resignation.
"Selene," she said softly, not meeting her daughter's gaze. "Come — your father needs you."
The finality in her tone left no room for questions. Selene wiped her hands on her dress with shaking fingers, her palms slick with sweat. Her legs felt heavy, like her bones had been replaced with stone, but she followed anyway.
Each step down the narrow hall echoed louder than the last. Her pulse beat in her throat like a war drum. She knew. Deep down, in the part of her that had stopped dreaming months ago, she had known this day would come.
There was only one reason her father, the proud but desperate Alpha of a dying fringe pack, would summon her like this.
The front room hung heavy with smoke from the fire, but it couldn't hide the presence of the two men seated in the shadows.
One was her father — or the shell of the man who had once held her on his shoulders and promised he'd never let anything happen to her. He looked far older than his fifty years. His thick brown hair, once streaked only lightly with gray, now looked pale in the firelight. His shoulders sagged under the invisible weight of too many choices made for survival, not love.
The other man was a stranger.
Dressed in black from boots to collar, he sat still and straight as a blade. His presence filled the room like a gathering storm. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just… inevitable. A force that needed no introduction. His silver eyes flicked toward her as she entered — sharp, cold, and assessing.
Selene stopped in the doorway, unsure whether to step forward or run. Her fingers curled at her sides, nails digging into her palms.
"This is the girl?" the man asked. His voice was low and cutting, each word crisp like the crack of a whip.
Her father nodded stiffly, not daring to look at her.
"Selene, this is Beta Marcus of the Mooncrest Pack. He speaks for Alpha Kael."
Selene's mouth went dry. Her vision tunneled for a moment.
The Mooncrest Pack.
She had heard the name whispered in stories — tales of brutal conquests, of wolves that ran silent as shadow and killed just as quickly.
Their territory spanned half the northern forests, and their Alpha, Kael Thorn Mooncrest, was more myth than man. A legend wrapped in bloody rumors.
And now his Beta was here. For her.
"You will marry Alpha Kael," Beta Marcus said, as if stating the weather. His tone did not soften. "The contract has been signed. The dowry will save your family's land and status. You leave at first light."
Selene's knees nearly gave out. Her breath caught in her chest. She gripped the back of the nearest chair like it was the only thing keeping her upright.
A marriage?
She'd expected something bad — a punishment, a banishment, maybe even exile — but not this. Not a fate she couldn't claw her way out of.
"A marriage?" she whispered. "But… but I don't even know him."
"It is done," her father said hoarsely.
He finally met her gaze. And in his eyes, she didn't see strength or determination. She saw guilt. Shame. The look of a man who had traded something sacred and now couldn't bear the mirror of his daughter's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Selene," he said. "This is the only way."
The only way to save the pack.
The only way to hold on to the last threads of their crumbling status.
Selene wanted to scream. To grab something and throw it. To rip up the floorboards and tear down the walls that had heard so many lies. But no sound escaped her lips.
Tears burned in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She had been raised better than this. Raised to be strong. To put the needs of the pack above her own. Even if that meant being bartered away like livestock.
Beta Marcus stood, towering over her.
"Prepare yourself. Your new life begins tomorrow."
Without another word, he turned and swept from the room, the front door slamming shut behind him with a dull finality.
Silence dropped like a stone.
Selene turned slowly to her parents. Her mother stood by the hearth, tears streaming down her face. Her father sat slumped in his chair, as if Beta Marcus had taken the last of his spine with him.
"You sold me," Selene said, her voice cracking. "You sold me to a monster."
Her father flinched.
"He's not a monster," he muttered. "He's… powerful. You will be safe."
Safe.
With a man known for tearing enemies limb from limb. Safe in the den of a wolf who ruled by fear. Safe in a place where her name would mean nothing but what it bought others.
She swallowed the scream clawing at her throat.
She wouldn't break. Not in front of them. Not tonight.
Instead, Selene straightened her spine, even as her chest ached with the effort. Her chin lifted.
"If I'm to be married off like a broodmare," she said coldly, "then I will walk into it with my head held high."
Her mother sobbed harder.
Her father said nothing.
Without waiting for their reply, Selene turned and climbed the stairs with slow, deliberate steps, each one like a drumbeat echoing the death of her freedom.
She did not pause when she reached her room.
She closed the door gently. Then locked it.
She stared at the bed she'd slept in since she was a girl, at the books on the shelf, the cracked mirror, the worn slippers beneath the chair — the pieces of a life that no longer belonged to her.
This was her last night in the home that had betrayed her.
And she would not waste it crying.