A shadow fell over us as Riven, the pack's cold-eyed strategist, appeared at my other side. "Your father's waiting," he murmured, his voice like ice sliding down my spine.
The walk back to our cottage was a blur. My heart pounded so loudly I barely heard Mira's frantic whispers, barely felt her fingers clutching mine. The pack followed at a distance, their presence a dark cloud at my back.
Father was standing in the doorway when we arrived, his face ashen.
"daddy?" My voice sounded small, childlike.
He wouldn't meet my eyes.
Kael stepped forward, his voice a low growl. "The debt is due, Elias."
Debt? What debt?
Father's hands trembled as he reached for me. "Elara, I " His voice broke. "I had no choice."
The words hit me like a physical blow. No. No, he wouldn't. He couldn't.
But the truth was in his eyes.
"You sold me?" The words tore from my throat, raw and broken.
Father flinched. "It was the only way. The crops failed, the debts piled up"
"I'm your daughter, what the fuck!"
The silence that followed was suffocating. Even the pack seemed to still, watching the unraveling of a family with predatory interest.
Mira lunged forward, her fists clenched. "You can't do this! She's not some…..some thing to be traded!"
Jax, the wildest of the alphas, let out a dark chuckle. "Too late, little firebrand. She's ours now."
Lucian, who had been leaning against the fence with deceptive laziness, pushed off and sauntered toward me. His fingers brushed my cheek, his touch deceptively gentle. "Don't look so heartbroken, sweet thing. We'll take very good care of you."
I slapped his hand away, my entire body shaking. "I'll never accept this."
Kael's grin turned feral. "You will."
They gave me an hour to pack.
An hour to say goodbye to the life I'd known.
Mira helped me in furious silence, shoving my few belongings into a bag with trembling hands. "We'll find a way out of this," she swore, her voice thick with tears. "I'll ....I'll talk to the elders, to"
"It won't matter." I stared at the worn wooden floor, numb. The Bloodmoon Pack didn't answer to village elders. They answered to no one.
When the time came to leave, Father finally broke. He grabbed my hands, his tears wet against my skin. "Forgive me," he begged. "Please, Elara, forgive me."
I wanted to hate him. I did hate him. But the broken look in his eyes….the sheer regret…..made my throat close up.
"I don't know if I can," I whispered.
Then Kael was there, pulling me away. "Enough."
Mira tried to follow, but Riven blocked her path. "Don't," he warned.
I turned back just once, memorizing the sight of my home, my friend, the life I was leaving behind.
Mira's scream followed me into the trees. "I'll come for you! I swear it!"
Then the forest swallowed us whole.
The pack didn't speak as we walked. Jax led the way, his broad shoulders cutting through the undergrowth. Lucian lingered at my side, his fingers occasionally brushing my arm as if to steady me or to remind me I couldn't run.
Kael and Riven brought up the rear, their low voices a constant murmur.
I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, on breathing, on not breaking down.
Then Lucian leaned close, his breath warm against my ear. "You're stronger than you look, little omega. That's good." He smirked. "You'll need to be."
The promise in his words sent a shiver down my spine.
And as the sun dipped below the trees, I realized with dawning horror that this was only the beginning.
The first time they made me kneel, I fought like a wild thing.
Kael's hand was a vise around the back of my neck, forcing me down onto the stone floor of their private chamber. The cold seeped through my thin dress, biting at my bare knees.
"No!" I twisted, nails raking across his wrist. "Let me go—"
A sharp crack echoed through the room as Jax backhanded me across the face.
The pain was bright, shocking. My vision blurred, tears springing to my eyes as the metallic tang of blood filled my mouth.
"That," Jax growled, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look up at him, "was your first mistake."
Lucian crouched beside me, his fingers trailing through my hair almost tenderly. "You don't say no to us, little rabbit. Not ever."
Kael's grip tightened, his thumb pressing into the fluttering pulse at my throat. "You will learn your place. And you will learn to enjoy it."
They started small.
"Head down," Riven commanded, his voice like ice.
I clenched my jaw, refusing.
Jax's hand fisted in my hair, yanking my head back until my throat was exposed, vulnerable. His teeth grazed the delicate skin, not biting…..not yet…..just teasing the threat.
"When we tell you to bare your throat, you do it," he murmured against my skin. "This is ours. Just like the rest of you."
A shudder wracked my body, but not just from fear.
Something deeper, darker, coiled low in my belly.
Kael's nostrils flared, scenting my traitorous reaction. His lips curled into a satisfied smirk. "Good girl."
The praise shouldn't have made my breath catch.
It did.
By the third day, I could kneel without being forced.
My thighs trembled, my pulse racing, but I held the position head bowed, throat bared, hands resting palm-up on my thighs.
Lucian circled me like a predator, his fingers trailing over my shoulders, down my spine. "Look at you," he purred. "Already so much prettier when you obey."
Kael cupped my chin, tilting my face up. "Open."
I hesitated just for a second before parting my lips.
His thumb pressed down on my tongue, heavy and claiming. "Good."
The warmth that flooded me at that single word was wrong. I shouldn't crave their approval. Shouldn't feel this treacherous heat between my thighs when they praised me.
But when Jax dragged me onto his lap, his hard cock pressing against my backside, I didn't fight.
When Riven's cool fingers slipped beneath my dress, tracing the dampness between my legs, I whimpered.
And when Kael leaned down, his breath hot against my ear, and growled "You were made for this," I believed him.
That night, they let me sleep in their bed.
Not as a prisoner.
Not as a toy.
But as theirs.
Kael's arm was a heavy weight around my waist, his teeth grazing the mark he'd one day leave on my throat. Jax's chest pressed against my back, his low growl vibrating through me. Lucian and Riven bracketed my legs, their touches possessive even in sleep.
And as I lay there, surrounded by them, a terrible realization settled over me:
I didn't want to escape.
The next morning, I was dragged from sleep by a sharp yank on my hair.
"Up," Jax growled, his breath hot against my ear. "You're not here to laze around, omega."
I barely had time to blink before he hauled me out of the furs and shoved a pile of clothes into my arms.
"Dress us."
My stomach twisted.
Kael, Lucian, and Riven were already waiting, their massive frames lounging around the chamber like kings. And I—I was to be their servant.
Kael went first.
He stood before me, naked save for the low-slung towel around his hips, his golden eyes daring me to look away. My fingers trembled as I reached for his tunic, my breath hitching when his chest brushed my knuckles.
"Eyes down," he rumbled.
I obeyed.
But not fast enough.
His hand snapped out, gripping my chin and forcing my gaze up. "When you dress your Alphas, you look at what's yours."
Heat flooded my cheeks as I took in the hard planes of his body…..the scars, the power, the maleness of him.
Lucian smirked from where he leaned against the bedpost. "Careful, Kael. She might enjoy this too much."
Kael's thumb brushed my lower lip. "Good."
Breakfast was worse.
They sat me at their feet, a platter of fruit and meat in my lap, and ordered me to feed them by hand.
Jax was the cruelest. He'd bite my fingertips every time I offered him a piece, his teeth sharp enough to sting but not break skin. "Tastes better from your fingers," he taunted.
Riven said nothing, but his icy gaze burned as I lifted a grape to his lips. When my fingers lingered too long, he caught my wrist and licked a slow stripe up my palm.
"You're shaking," he observed.
I was.
Lucian leaned in, his voice a whisper against my ear. "Just wait until it's our cocks you're feeding on."
Then came the worst part.
Kael dragged me between his spread thighs, his calloused hands gripping my hips. "Now you learn how to serve properly."
My breath hitched.
But he didn't force me to my knees. Not yet.
Instead, he made me rub oil into his muscles, my hands sliding over the hard ridges of his abdomen, his shoulders, his thighs. Every touch was a humiliation, every gasp he drew from me a victory for them.
Jax watched with dark amusement. "Bet she's wet just from this."
I wasn't.
I wasn't.
But when Lucian's fingers suddenly dipped between my legs from behind, his laugh was triumphant.
"Liar."