The heavy oak doors of the pack house slammed shut behind the last of them, sealing the room in a thick cloud of cigar smoke and expensive whiskey. Moonlight sliced through the tall windows, painting silver stripes across the long table where the most dangerous wolves in the Blackwood pack now lounged like kings who already owned the world.
Alpha Aiden Blackwood sat at the head, one ankle resting on his knee, fingers spinning a crystal tumbler. The amber liquid caught the light every time he moved. At thirty-two he was already a legend—six-foot-four of raw muscle, black hair always a little too long, and eyes the colour of winter steel. Everyone who looked at him saw power. Only the men in this room knew how cruel that power could get.
Marcus, his beta, poured himself another drink and smirked. "I'm guessing the meeting wasn't to talk about the food arrangements for when you take over the pack?"
A low ripple of laughter moved around the table.
Aiden's mouth curved, but the smile never reached his eyes. "The council has decided my ascension needs… stability. They've arranged for me to marry Gabriella Santos from the Trimoon pack."
The room went quiet for half a second, then exploded.
Jax, the enforcer with the scarred face and the mean streak, leaned forward so fast his chair scraped the floor. "The Trimoon princess? The one who still thinks she's going to university in the human world?"
"Same one," Aiden said, voice smooth as silk. "Apparently my father promised her parents protection in exchange for her hand the day she was born. They're calling in the debt."
Silence again. Then Kade, the pack's tech genius and resident psychopath, started laughing—low, delighted, the sound of a man who'd just been handed a new toy.
"So what?" Jax spread his hands. "When have you ever backed down from a challenge?"
Aiden lifted one dark brow. "How exactly is tying my life to another person in marriage a challenge?"
Marcus grinned like a shark. "The challenge is to make her submit to you."
The words hung in the air, heavy and delicious.
Kade's eyes lit up. "We can make it more interesting."
Every head turned to him.
"I bet you won't be able to get it done before the end of the year," Kade said, tapping the table with two fingers. "Full submission. On her knees, calling you Alpha in public, begging in private. The whole package."
Aiden's fingers stilled on the glass.
Jax jumped in, always ready to raise the stakes. "I'll have her submitting to me—well, to you—by the end of the month."
"Not just submit," Marcus corrected, voice dropping. "You have to have her wrapped around your finger. Hopelessly in love with you by the end of the year. The kind of love that makes her defend you even when she knows you're destroying her."
Kade pulled out his phone and opened a betting app they used for pack games. "Ten grand to whoever wins. Rules are simple: no one touches her but Aiden. Everything else—mind games, public humiliation, private lessons—is fair game. We get to watch and place side bets on how long she lasts."
Aiden stared at the amber liquid, swirling it slowly. He could already picture her: the photos the council had sent showed a girl with long dark hair, big hazel eyes, and the kind of soft mouth that looked like it had never been properly ruined. Twenty-one years old. Still believed in love. Still believed she had a future that didn't include him.
He felt the familiar dark thrill coil low in his stomach—the same feeling he got before a hunt.
He set the glass down with a soft clink.
"Deal."
The men cheered. Money was transferred on the spot. Phones lit up with new group chat notifications titled "The Santos Project."
Aiden leaned back, the leather chair creaking under his weight. "You all seem to forget one thing."
They quieted, waiting.
He smiled, slow and terrifying. "I don't just want her to submit. I want her to break so beautifully that when she finally realises what I've done to her, she'll still crawl back and thank me for it."
He raised his glass.
"To the game."
Five glasses met his in the centre of the table, crystal ringing like a death knell.
Across the city, in a quiet bedroom that still smelled of lavender and childhood, Gabriella Santos stared at the ceiling, completely unaware that her entire life had just been turned into a wager between monsters.
She would find out soon enough.