CHAPTER ONE

“Thorne will make a good husband, don’t you think, princess?” my father asked from the opposite seat of the carriage.

His voice was soft, almost affectionate, as if we were discussing a birthday gift and not my life sentence.

I stared at him through the dim lantern light. The white wedding gown felt like wet cement on my skin. “Daddy… I’ve begged you for weeks. I don’t want to marry him, please. He’s a monster.”

Why won’t he listen? He’s my father—supposed to protect me, not trade me like a pawn. The thought twisted in my gut, sharp as a blade.

He chuckled, low and bitter. “You exaggerate things, Jessica. Even if he’s a monster, he’s paying our debts. He agreed to put a roof over our heads and keep the packs from tearing each other apart.”

My hands twisted in the silk. “That’s because you’re selfish, Dad. You don’t want to admit that you sold me. Your only daughter, because you gambled away all our riches.”

I immediately noticed the atmosphere tightening. His facial expression darkened.

Before I could register what he was trying to do, I felt his hand flash across the narrow space between us, locking his left hand tightly on my throat.

He yanked me forward until my back slammed against the carriage door. Pain exploded across my shoulders. His fingers squeezed—hard.

I couldn’t breathe.

Not again. Please, Goddess, not like this. Black spots bloomed in my vision, my lungs screaming for air.

“Listen to me,” he hissed, eyes wild in the swaying light. “You are just as useless as your mother, do you hear me? Would you expect the creditors to take over everything? Alpha Thorne just managed to take you in because you are still a virgin. You have no scent, only good to warm his bed.”

His thumb pressed against my windpipe. “You should be on your knees thanking the Goddess that any alpha is willing to touch a damaged goods like you.”

Damaged. That’s all I ever was to him—a broken thing from Mother’s death, my wolf too weak to even shift properly. If I had a scent, maybe I could’ve found a real mate, not this nightmare.

Black spots danced in my vision. I clawed at his wrist, nails scraping skin, but he only squeezed tighter.

My wolf—silent and ashamed for years—curled into a whimpering ball deep inside me. Help me, I begged it silently. Please wake up.

“Embarrass me today,” he whispered, breath hot and sour against my face, “scream, cry, run, anything stupid… and I will end you myself. Right there in front of the entire pack. Smile. Say your vows. Spread your legs tonight like the obedient little broodmare you were born to be. Do you understand?”

I managed a tiny nod.

He strangled me a second longer—just long enough for true terror to sink in—then released me.

I collapsed back against the seat, gasping, coughing, hand pressed to my bruised throat. Tears blurred everything.

How did we get here? He wasn't always this monster. He had been reading me about fated mates before the gambling, before Mother died... Now I am the villain fodder of the story.

"Clean your tears and smile. You must appear as presentable as he desires,” he ordered, settling himself on the other side of the seat.

The carriage soon stopped at the entrance of Blackthorn Manor.

The arm of my father passed through mine like he was the proudest parent on earth.

He led me down the long aisle between the rows of staring wolves. It was a palace of silk and suits, and jeweled eyes under crystal chandeliers. Thick incense burned my nose. The air was overly warm, too reeking with perfume and expectation.

They're all watching. Judging. Are they aware that I am a prisoner or do they believe that this is romantic?

Alpha Thorne was waiting at the altar.

He was all that the tales had promised, long, broad-shouldered, turned out of brutal strength. Dark hair was hanging over a sharp jaw.

A slight smile hovered on lips that had mouthed threats of atrocities upon thousands of foes.

What if he shatters me as the rumors say?

My father put my shaky hand between the big one of Thorne, and withdrew with a satisfied nod.

Traitor, I thought, looking at his shrinking back. You sold your blood for coins.

The voice of the elder was thunder rolling in the hall. “We are here under the full moon, we are binding Alpha Thorne Black, and Jessica Ross, in the sacred mate-bond.”

The fingers of Thorne tightened round mine nearly gentle, unless the nails prickled the flesh.

And is that always what it feels like? A cage disguised as a ring?

The elder continued. “Alpha Thorne, do you claim this female as your mate, your Luna, to protect and have?”

“I do,” Thorne answered at once, his voice deep, resonant, and giving me a certain unpleasant feeling.

He placed a bulky band of gold on my finger. Cold metal. Permanent cage.

The elder turned to me. “Do you, Jessica Ross, accept Alpha Thorne as your mate in order to honor him, obey him, and carry his legacy?”

There was so much silence that was choking.

Every eye burned into me.

Thorne's grip became iron.

I can't. But if I don't... Father's threat echoes. Death or this?

“I do,” I whispered, barely audible. The lie had the flavor of ash and blood.

The elder frowned. “Speak plainly, child, and that the Goddess and the pack might hear.”

Thorne drew in close in the guise of adjusting my veil. With his free hand he crept slowly up my arm, his fingers rubbing the swell of my breast with a slow, deliberate touch against the lace. A gentle, dirty caress that was not observed by the majority-but by me.

My face became hot and humiliating.

“Bastard. And what nerve hath he to handle me as if I were his property? But... why does my body react? Disloyal heat sinks low, and I clench my thighs.” I thought.

“Say it louder, little virgin," he hissed in my ear, voice velvet and venom. “Tell the whole pack you will be on your knees tonight, with your mouth open wide and begging my cock I will rip that tight, untouched body open. Or perhaps I’d just raise this pretty dress up here in the altar, lay these trembling thighs, and get them all to see how wet your new alpha is already dripping down you all."

My breath caught sharp.

My face grew hot, and my anger, my humiliation, and a traitorous aching deep in my belly made me despise myself more than I despised him.

His smell overwhelmed me, dark pine, woodsmoke, raw dominant male. It encircled my senses with transparent rope.

No. This isn't desire, it's fear. Or is it? My wolf whines, lost, dragging towards him nevertheless.

Everyone waited. The stare of my father went deep into my back.

The hand of Thorne fell on my waist, and pulled me roughly about against his body. His hands tore holes in my hip and grabbed a breath. "Say. It. Now."

I couldn't breathe again.

The fury and panic knocked in my chest.

Enough. I won't be broken. Not like this. Not by them.

There was a part of me that broke.

I kicked my knee high, hard, accurate--right in the balls--with all the desperate strength I had.

Thorne's eyes bulged. He gave a grunt that was strangled within his throat. His hold weakened to a blinking moment.

I ripped free.

Chaos erupted. The hall erupted into a frenzy--guests jumping to their feet, chairs scraping the marble, gasps rising into shouts.

Women held their pearls close; men snarled in their throats, eyes flaring amber and half turns in the press.

Sentinels at the room-edges scrambled over, knocking down the floral decorations in their haste, vases breaking like gunfire.

The elder blubbered, and cast aside his pious scroll, and the face of my father flushed with fury, and the veins rose as he pushed in the crowd at me.

I fastened my legs down the aisle, tearing off the veil, fists of layers of silk. Cold marble was slapped with bare feet. Shouts and gasps broke out behind me.

Everything was interrupted by the roar of my father--"Jessica!”

"Stop her! She’s mine!" Thorne voice thundered, with a pain-filled and angry voice. “Hunt her! Bring her back alive—I want to punish her myself!”