CHAPTER 1: The Mate Bond Revealed

Isabella's POV

"You're trembling."

The breeder handler's voice cut through the fog in my head and I realized my hands were shaking. Actually... my entire body was shaking.

"I'm fine," I lied.

She snorted.

"Sure you are. Every girl says that before her first night with the Alpha."

I swallowed hard and stared at the massive oak door in front of me. Alpha Nolan's bedroom. The place where I was supposed to... serve him.

Goddess, I hated that word. Serve. Like I was a meal on a silver platter.

"Remember," the handler said, gripping my shoulder, "you do exactly what he wants. No complaints. No tears. You're a breeder, Isabella. This is what you were sold for."

Right. Sold. Because apparently, I was worth three hundred coins and a promise of protection for my dying aunt.

The handler knocked twice and then left without another word. Her footsteps echoed down the hall and I stood there alone... eighteen years old, wearing a thin white nightgown that left nothing to the imagination and about to walk into the bedroom of a man I'd only seen from a distance.

Alpha Nolan. Cold. Powerful. Betrothed to the beautiful Luna Giselle.

And now... me. The breeder. The omega who couldn't even shift properly.

I'd tried once when I was seventeen. Everyone said your wolf was supposed to come naturally but mine? Mine felt like she was sleeping behind a locked door I couldn't open. The pack healer said I was defective. Broken. Probably why I ended up here.

The door opened.

I almost jumped out of my skin.

Alpha Nolan stood there and... Goddess help me.

He was tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair that fell just slightly over his forehead and eyes so sharp they could've cut glass. He wore nothing but loose pants and the firelight from his room made his bare chest look like it was carved from stone.

But it wasn't his looks that made my breath catch.

It was his scent.

Pine. Rain. Something wild and untamed that hit me like a physical force. My wolf... my silent, useless wolf... suddenly stirred.

Wait. What?

"Well?" His voice was cold. "Are you coming in or are you going to stand there all night?"

I forced my legs to move and stepped inside. The door shut behind me with a soft click that sounded way too final.

The room was massive. A huge bed dominated the space with dark sheets and furs piled high. A fire crackled in the hearth and the air smelled like leather and smoke and... him.

"Turn around," he ordered.

I did and my heart hammered so hard I thought it might crack a rib.

He circled me slowly like I was livestock he was inspecting.

"They sent me a child," he muttered.

"I'm eighteen," I said quietly. "As of today."

His eyes flicked to mine and for a second... just a second... something flickered there. Then it was gone.

"Take off the gown."

My hands trembled as I reached for the hem but before I could pull it over my head, that scent hit me again. Stronger. Overwhelming.

My wolf woke up.

Not just stirred. Woke up.

She slammed into my consciousness so hard I gasped and stumbled backward.

"What's wrong with you?" Nolan snapped.

I couldn't answer. My wolf was screaming. Not in pain. In recognition.

Mate. Mate. MATE.

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no...

The word fell out of my mouth before I could stop it.

"Mate."

The room went silent.

Alpha Nolan froze. His entire body went rigid and his eyes... his eyes flashed gold.

"What did you just say?" His voice was dangerously low.

I stepped back with my hand pressed to my chest.

"I... I didn't mean to... I don't..."

"You're lying." He crossed the distance between us in two strides and grabbed my wrist. "Say it again."

"I can't... I don't even have a wolf... I..."

"SAY IT."

"Mate!" I cried. "You're my mate! I can feel it... I can smell it... Goddess, why now? Why tonight?"

He dropped my wrist like I'd burned him.

For a long moment, he just stared at me and his chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. Then he turned away and ran a hand through his hair.

"This is a mistake," he muttered.

"What?"

"You're wrong. You're confused. You don't have a wolf so you don't have a mate bond."

"But I felt her," I whispered. "Just now. For the first time in my life, I felt her and she said..."

"I don't care what she said!" He spun around and his eyes blazed. "I am betrothed to Luna Giselle. I love her. Do you understand? I. Love. Her."

Each word hit like a slap.

"I didn't ask for this," I said quietly.

"Neither did I." He stepped closer again and this time, his expression was cold. Cruel. "But let's get one thing straight. You're here to serve me. That's it. You're not my mate. You're not my Luna. You're a breeder I bought for three hundred coins."

Tears burned behind my eyes but I refused to let them fall.

"Then why haven't you rejected me?"

His jaw tightened.

"Because I don't need to. There's no bond to reject if I don't acknowledge it."

"That's not how it works..."

"It's how it works for me." He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the bed. "Now stop talking and do what you were brought here to do."

I wanted to fight. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run.

But my wolf... my stupid, newly awakened wolf... was pulling me toward him. The bond was there. Real. Undeniable. And it didn't care that he didn't want me.

He pushed me onto the bed and climbed over me with his weight pinning me down. His hands were rough as they yanked the gown up over my hips.

"Wait," I whispered. "Please... can we just..."

"Quiet."

His mouth crashed onto mine and it wasn't a kiss. It was a claim. A punishment. He tasted like whiskey and fury and when he pulled back, his eyes were still cold.

"This means nothing," he said against my lips. "Do you hear me? Nothing."

I closed my eyes as he entered me and bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. The bond screamed at me to touch him, to hold him, to whisper that he was mine.

But I didn't.

Because we could never be together.

***

When it was over, he rolled off me and sat on the edge of the bed with his back to me. I pulled the sheet up over my chest and stared at the ceiling while my body ached in places I didn't know could ache.

"Get dressed," he said flatly.

I sat up slowly and reached for my discarded gown.

"Alpha Nolan..."

"Don't." He stood and pulled on a shirt. "Don't say anything."

"I just... I wanted to..."

He turned and looked at me and for a moment, I thought I saw something. Regret? Pain? But then his face hardened again.

"You're nothing but a breeder," he said coldly. "This changes nothing. Giselle is my Luna. She's the woman I love. The woman I'll marry."

He walked to a small table by the window, opened a drawer and pulled out a pouch. Coins jingled as he tossed it onto the bed beside me.

"That's all you're worth."

The pouch landed with a dull thud and I stared at it like it was a snake.

"You're... you're paying me?"

"Consider it a tip for good service." His smile was cruel. "Now get out."

I grabbed the gown, clutched it to my chest and stumbled toward the door. My legs barely held me up. The bond pulled at me with every step... begging me to turn around, to go back, to make him see.

But I didn't.

I opened the door, stepped into the hallway and closed it behind me.

And then... I felt her.

My wolf.

She whimpered inside me. Not in pain. In heartbreak.

"Hello," I whispered into the empty hall. "I'm sorry we met like this."

She didn't answer. She just curled up in the back of my mind and went silent again.

But this time... I knew she was real.

And so was the bond.

Even if Alpha Nolan refused to see it.