CHAPTER ONE

Elena’s POV

“Father, please!” I fell to my knees, the cold stone of the throne room biting into my skin. My chains rattled with every movement, the sounds echoed through the walls of the throne room. I cried, but no one was there to help me. I was all alone.

“You can’t do this to me. I’m your daughter!”

My father, the great Vac Alderwood, alpha king of Winter Clove  barely looked at me. My dearest father’s  dark eyes were void of any compassion.

He stood tall, proud, and entirely indifferent to the pain choking my voice.

“You are not my daughter,” he said, his tone flat, almost bored.

“You are a disgrace. An omega. You were rejected! What would the people say about the daughter of an alpha king being rejected? How would the people, your people, look at us? How would they respect us? How can you rule a kingdom after me, when you can’t even keep a man?!” His tone had gone from bored to angry in a matter of split seconds, and all that vile was directed at me.

The words struck me like a physical blow. He wasn’t just disowning me; he was erasing me from his life. From our family. He was going to sell me off to the highest bidder.

I forced myself to rise to my feet, chains dragging behind me as I stumbled toward him.

“Father, I can prove myself—just “I’ll be stronger, I’ll—” I was ready to do whatever was required, even train endless days and nights until he accepted me again. I couldn’t bear the thought of being sold. I was the princess of Winter Clove!

“Enough!” His voice echoed through the room, cold and commanding.

He raised his hand, and two guards immediately stepped forward, their iron grips closing around my arms.

“You are weak, Elena. A stain on my legacy. I do not wish to be associated with a shame like you. As you have been rejected by your mate, you have been rejected by this family.”

Last night  was to be the happiest day of my life, the day of my mating ceremony, but it only turned out to be a nightmare when I was painfully rejected in front of the entire pack by my mate - the beta’s son,  and the boy I had grown to love.

My chest tightened, and I struggled against the guards holding me back. “I’m not weak! I can fight, I can be better! Father, please—just give me another chance!”

He didn’t even glance in my direction.

“Take her away.”

“No!” I tried to fight in their hold, but it was useless.

Their strength was no match for mine - after all, Ron’s rejection had taken me from alpha to omega status faster than light - and I was forced back toward the doors.

Just before they dragged me out, I turned to the one person who might save me, the one who had once promised to protect me. The boy I had spent the majority of my eighteen years in this world loving. The one person who had promised to rule by my side one day.

“Ron!” My voice cracked as tears blurred my vision.

“Ron, don’t let them do this. You’re my mate. Please… choose me.”

He stood at my sister’s side, his hand wrapped around Piper’s waist like she was the prize he’d always wanted. My heart crumbled as I saw the cold look in his eyes.

“Why would I choose you?” he scoffed, his lips curling in disdain. “Piper’s the prettier option, the stronger one. Why would I ever pick an omega when I could have her? She’s the one I want. She’s the one I’ve always wanted. You’re weak, Elena. Even when the blood of Vax Alderwood runs in your veins. Piper should be queen. She’s always been the stronger and smarter one.”

The words sliced through me, because it wasn’t a lie. During lessons, Piper had been noted by our tutors to be the stronger one or the two of us. She bested me during combat too. People liked to say I had my mother’s empathy, while she took our father’s strength. My mother’s empathy had killed her, and my father thrived on the throne of Winter Clove because of strength. Perhaps…perhaps they were right.

My sister—Piper, perfect in every way—stood beside him, a smug smile tugging at her lips. She didn’t even try to hide it.

Why would she? She had won.

I collapsed against the guards, too broken to fight anymore. My body went limp, tears streaming down my face as they pulled me from the room. I had lost everything in a matter of moments—my father, my mate, my dignity. Everything I had known was gone.

The cold halls of the castle felt endless as the guards dragged me toward the auction room.

My heart pounded in my chest, dread seeping into every fibre of my being, mixing with my blood that was slowly running dry.

I had heard the rumours. I knew what awaited me. Omegas were auctioned off like cattle—sold to the highest bidder, their fates sealed by gold. And I was next. In that hall,  greedy and evil men - and even women - waited for a chance to own me, Elena Alderwood.

I was pushed forward, stumbling into the centre of the room. Chains clinked against the ground as I raised my eyes to meet the crowd.

I recognized some of them—lords of my father’s court, nobles, people my father used to call friends. Even alphas of subordinate packs.

Somewhere in the room, towards the far left, a dark presence rested. It was too dark for me to see past the third row, but I could feel the troubled presence resting there. Someone was here. Someone who knew they weren’t supposed to be.

“Let the auction begin,” a voice boomed from the front of the room.

I barely heard the first numbers called out. My mind was spinning, a constant hum of panic blurring everything around me. I wanted to scream, to cry, to fight—but I couldn’t. I was trapped, powerless.

“Five million,” someone called.

“Seven.”

“Ten.”

The numbers kept climbing, each one louder than the last. It was happening. This was my life, my future being decided in a room full of strangers.

“Twenty million!”

I winced as the shouts grew more aggressive, my pulse racing. Was this really it? What would I be used as? A kitchen slave? A maid? No one bought a maid for twenty million.

“She’s a virgin. I’m bidding thiryu million!”

The room fell silent for a moment, murmurs rippling through the crowd. Thirty million? For an omega like me? Even I knew that was a steep price, virgin or not.

And then it happened.

“Fifty million.”

The voice was calm, commanding, and unfamiliar, and it came from the far left of the room, the dark corner where the troubling presence rested.

His voice cut through the noise like a blade. The sound of a chair scraping against the floor was held, and I could tell he had risen to his feet.

My throat dried.  

The entire room stilled.

Fifty million.

For me.

Why?

Then, he walked forward, and into the light. The gasps in the room were audible. My heart threatened to leap out of my chest.

No. It couldn’t be.

He was tall, cloaked in a dark, imposing figure, his face shadowed beneath the hood of his cloak. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I felt his gaze lock onto mine, piercing through the distance between us. A cold shiver ran down my spine, dread pooling in my stomach.

Alpha Salvatore, the man who harboured demons in his pack and ate the flesh of every man who dared stand against him.

My father might have been the alpha king, but Alpha Salvatore was the most dreaded man in all of Winter Clove. He never left Brimstone unless for war, so why was he here?

Why did he want me?

“Sold!” The auctioneer’s voice broke the silence, final and clear. “Fifty million. To the man in black.”

My breath hitched in my throat. The room erupted into whispers, shocked murmurs passing between the attendees, but I couldn’t hear them. All I could see was him—my buyer.

I backed away instinctively, my chains clinking as panic began to rise in my chest. This was wrong. Something was wrong.

The guards started moving toward me, but I barely noticed them. My eyes were glued to the man as he began walking forward, his steps slow, deliberate, and confident. He moved like he owned the room, and maybe he did.

My breathing quickened. The walls felt like they were closing in on me, my vision narrowing to that dark figure approaching. I couldn’t stop the wave of fear crashing over me, my body trembling violently.

I would rather die than be given to the monster in front of me!

“No, no, no…” I whispered under my breath, backing up until I hit the podium behind me. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

As he stopped in front of me, towering over me, I could feel his power—a dark, suffocating energy that radiated from him like a storm. He reached out a gloved hand toward me, and I flinched.

“Elena Alderwood.” His voice was deep, smooth. Never in a million years could I have thought I would see him with my own two eyes outside the throne room  of Winter Clove. But I was not only seeing him! I was going to belong to him from now on, be his damned property!

I gasped, my legs threatening to give out beneath me as his hand wrapped around my arm, pulling me closer.