3

Alpha Conrad sat across from Danielle, his appearance stoic and unmoving, his very commanding aura intimidating her. He was the pinnacle of sophistication whose family bloodline ruled the kingdom of Irongard the longest; this was because they survived on ancient traditions that valued purity in a mate to ensure the absolute legitimacy of the bloodline.

Danielle sat stiffly, her hands folded in her lap. She was tense, her eyes darting toward the folder in his hands while she tried to maintain a calm demeanor.

"This should do," Conrad said, his voice deep and devoid of emotion. He closed the folder with a definitive snap.

"Right," Danielle responded. She leaned in just an inch, trying to snoop into the documents, but she caught the cold glint in his eyes and restrained herself. She forced a polite, shallow smile.

"I apologize for the little inconvenience," Conrad said, though he didn't look sorry at all. "It is just protocol. In a family like mine, certain standards must be verified before any formal arrangements are made."

Danielle nodded quickly, her voice a bit too eager. "I completely understand. I mean, you are royalty. It is only natural that your family would want to be certain of who is entering the bloodline."

She picked her words slowly.

Conrad looked at her sternly, his imposing gaze made her skin crawl.

She cleared her throat.

"So," Danielle began, "since your pack doctors have confirmed that I am a virgin, just as your family demands, when can we proceed with the engagement and the royal wedding?"

Conrad leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. "Not yet."

Danielle’s smile faltered. "Why?."

"I will have to spend a night with you first," Conrad stated. It wasn't a request. It was a condition.

Danielle blinked, her voice rising in a pitch of controlled panic. "A night with you?"

"Yes."

"Your Highness," she said softly. "I am keeping myself for my mate. I have maintained my purity for years. What if we spend the night together and then you change your mind about marrying me? I would have lost everything."

Conrad didn't blink. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a checkbook. He scribbled a figure with a fountain pen and tore the slip of paper off, sliding it across the table toward her.

"Fifty million dollars," he said.

Danielle looked down at the check.

Her breath hitched.

It was more money than she had seen in her entire life. Her shock was visible, her mouth hanging open just a fraction.

"If you agree," Conrad continued, "my lawyers will have a formal contract ready by the close of business today. The money will be yours."

Danielle stared at the check, then back at the man who looked at her like she was a business transaction. "I... I will have to think about it."

Conrad stood up, adjusting the cuffs of his bespoke suit. He didn't wait for her to finish. "You have until five o'clock."

And then he proceeded to walk away.

* *

Danielle stormed into the living room. Her mother, Katerina, was sitting on a velvet sofa, sipping a glass of white wine. She looked up with an expectant gaze.

"Well?" Katerina asked. "How did your day go with Alpha Conrad? Is the date set?"

Danielle threw her designer purse onto the rug and paced the floor. "He is impossible, Mom. He is so arrogant"

Katerina waved a hand dismissively. "He is the Alpha of the most powerful pack in the country. He is allowed to be arrogant. Thousands of girls from packs across the country would kill to be in your shoes, so be thankful you even earned his grace’s attention. Did Dr. Benson deliver the results as promised?"

Danielle stopped pacing and looked at her mother. "Yes. On paper, I am a pure and fit to carry his heir. The medical records he sent to Conrad’s family were flawless."

Katerina let out a satisfied chuckle. "Dr. Benson had better have done his job. I was going to teach him a lesson he would never forget if he messed this up for us. We paid him enough to buy his silence for a lifetime." She lifted her glass. "We should cheers to that, Danielle. You are halfway to becoming the most powerful Luna in the world."

"But there is a problem," Danielle mentioned, her voice tight with worry.

Katerina froze, her glass halfway to her lips. "What problem?"

"Alpha Conrad wants to sleep with me before the engagement," Danielle said, dropping into an armchair. "He said he needs a night with me before he commits to the wedding."

Katerina set her glass down on the glass coffee table. "That is a complication. He is more traditional and more suspicious than I thought."

"What am I supposed to do?" Danielle hissed. "We just faked a purity test. If I go to his bed, he will know that I am not what the papers say I am."

Katerina narrowed her eyes, her mind working through the problem with cold mental calculation. "It can be arranged, Danielle. We just need a substitute."

Danielle frowned. "A substitute? How?"

Katerina thinks for a bit, and says, “Ahah!”

"Your cousin, Nadia," Katerina started, a cruel smile spreading across her face. "She is almost your spitting lookalike, same body size, skin tone and shape. In the dark, under the right conditions, he wouldn't know the difference."

Danielle’s face twisted in disgust. "May the moon goddess forbid! Nadia is nothing like me. I am classy, high value. Nadia is a wretched scum of the earth. She could never be like me or even pretend to be me. Conrad would even notice her scent of poverty from a mile away."

Katerina stood up and walked over to her daughter, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, Danielle. Right now, only your cousin can bail us out. We need a girl who is actually a virgin to take that first night for you."

"And what makes you think Nadia is a 'good girl'?" Danielle asked mockingly. "What makes you think she is a virgin? For all we know, she could be tangling with half the Omegas in the pack."

"Nadia is a first-class graduate of business administration," Katerina said, her voice tinged with a bitterness she couldn't hide. "She spent all her time studying and working while I had to pay for your degree just so you could pass. A girl with that much academic focus doesn't have time to entertain advances from potential mates."

Danielle’s eyes flashed with jealousy. "Don't rub it in my face, Mom. So she’s smart. Big deal. She’s still a pauper. What makes you think she will even accept? My father took everything from them. He stripped her father’s company away and made her mother a cleaner. They hate us."

Katerina laughed, a cold, hollow sound. "I have my ways, Danielle. Trust me, lowlives like Nadia and her mother will jump at this offer if we present it with a good reason to make her accept. People like that don't have the luxury of holding onto a grudge when a life-changing sum of money is involved."

"Mom is there no other way? Maybe some random girl from another pack, but not her?" Danielle argued.

"Non. You must trust me, Danielle," Katerina replied.

"But what if she stabs us in the back and tells Conrad?"

"She won't," Katerina said firmly. "What is a Non disclosure for? We may not even need that. She is an Omega, Danielle. She has no power to fight us."

Danielle looked at her reflection in the mirror.

She thought about the fifty million dollars.

She thought about the crown and the title of Luna. "It’s risky, Mom. If he finds out later, he will kill us. According to what I heard about him, he is very hot tempered and stoic, I would not want to upset him with a lie.”

"He won't find out," Katerina promised. "Once the wedding is over and the marriage is sealed, It would not matter. We just need to get through that one night."

Danielle bit her lip. "Fine. But I don't want to be the one to talk to her. I can't stand the sight of her."

"You won't have to," Katerina said, heading toward the door to find her phone. "I will handle the dirty work."

Danielle sat back in the chair, her mind racing.

She hated Nadia.

She hated that her cousin was the smart one.

But if Nadia’s purity was the key to her beautiful future, she would swallow her pride. She would let the scum of the earth save her, just this once.